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<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_001.jpg" width-obs="440" height-obs="600" alt="Cover" title="" /></div>
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<div class="figcenter"> <SPAN name="frontispiece" id="frontispiece"></SPAN> <ANTIMG src="images/image_002.jpg" width-obs="600" height-obs="383" alt="THE NEW HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT: DESIGNED BY BARRY, OPENED 1852." title="" /> <span class="caption">THE NEW HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT: DESIGNED BY BARRY, OPENED 1852.</span></div>
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<h1><span style="font-size: 50%;">THE<br/></span> <br/> HISTORY OF LONDON</h1>
<p class='center'>BY<br/>
<br/>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">WALTER BESANT</span></p>
<p class='center'>AUTHOR OF 'LONDON' 'CHILDREN OF GIBEON' ETC.</p>
<p class='center'><i>SECOND EDITION</i></p>
<p class='center'>LONDON<br/>
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.</p>
<p class='center'>1894</p>
<p class='center'><i>All rights reserved</i></p>
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<h2><SPAN name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></SPAN>CONTENTS.</h2>
<div class="center">
<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
<tr><td align='left'>LESSON</td><td></td><td align='right'>PAGE</td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>1.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_1_THE_FOUNDATION_OF_LONDON">The Foundation of London (I)</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_7">7</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>2.</td><td align='left'><SPAN href="#chap_2_THE_FOUNDATION_OF_LONDON">The Foundation of London (II)</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_10">10</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>3.</td><td align='left'><SPAN href="#chap_3_ROMAN_LONDON">Roman London (I)</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_13">13</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>4.</td><td align='left'><SPAN href="#chap_4_ROMAN_LONDON">Roman London (II)</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_16">16</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>5.</td><td align='left'><SPAN href="#chap_5_AFTER_THE_ROMANS">After the Romans (I)</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_19">19</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>6.</td><td align='left'><SPAN href="#chap_6_AFTER_THE_ROMANS">After the Romans (II)</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_23">23</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>7.</td><td align='left'><SPAN href="#chap_7_AFTER_THE_ROMANS">After the Romans (III)</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_26">26</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>8.</td><td align='left'><SPAN href="#chap_8_THE_FIRST_SAXON_SETTLEMENT">The First Saxon Settlement</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_29">29</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>9.</td><td align='left'><SPAN href="#chap_9_THE_SECOND_SAXON_SETTLEMENT">The Second Saxon Settlement</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_32">32</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>10.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_10_THE_ANGLO-SAXON_CITIZEN">The Anglo-Saxon Citizen</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_34">34</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>11.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_11_THE_WALL_OF_LONDON">The Wall of London</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_38">38</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>12.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_12_NORMAN_LONDON">Norman London</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_42">42</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>13.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_13_FITZSTEPHENS_ACCOUNT_OF_THE_CITY">Fitzstephen's Account of the City (I)</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_45">45</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>14.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_14_FITZSTEPHENS_ACCOUNT_OF_THE_CITY">Fitzstephen's Account of the City (II)</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_50">50</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>15.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_15_LONDON_BRIDGE">London Bridge (I)</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_54">54</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>16.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_16_LONDON_BRIDGE">London Bridge (II)</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_57">57</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>17.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_17_THE_TOWER_OF_LONDON">The Tower of London (I)</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_60">60</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>18.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_18_THE_TOWER_OF_LONDON">The Tower of London (II)</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_63">63</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>19.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_19_THE_PILGRIMS">The Pilgrims</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_67">67</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>20.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_20_ST_BARTHOLOMEWS_HOSPITAL">St. Bartholomew's Hospital</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_70">70</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>21.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_21_THE_TERROR_OF_LEPROSY">The Terror of Leprosy</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_74">74</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>22.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_22_THE_TERROR_OF_FAMINE">The Terror of Famine</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_78">78</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>23.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_23_ST_PAULS_CATHEDRAL">St. Paul's Cathedral (I)</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_82">82</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>24.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_24_ST_PAULS_CATHEDRAL">St. Paul's Cathedral (II)</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_86">86</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>25.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_25_PAULS_CHURCHYARD">Paul's Churchyard</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_91">91</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>26.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_26_THE_RELIGIOUS_HOUSES">The Religious Houses</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_95">95</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>27.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_27_MONKS_FRIARS_AND_NUNS">Monks, Friars, and Nuns</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_100">100</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>28.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_28_THE_LONDON_CHURCHES">The London Churches</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_103">103</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>29.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_29_THE_STREETS">The Streets</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_106">106</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>30.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_30_WHITTINGTON">Whittington (I)</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_110">110</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>31.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_31_WHITTINGTON">Whittington (II)</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_115">115</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>32.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_32_WHITTINGTON">Whittington (III)</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_118">118</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>33.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_33_GIFTS_AND_BEQUESTS">Gifts and Bequests</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_121">121</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>34.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_34_THE_PALACES_AND_GREAT_HOUSES">The Palaces and Great Houses</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_124">124</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>35.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_35_AMUSEMENTS">Amusements</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_127">127</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>36.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_36_WESTMINSTER_ABBEY">Westminster Abbey</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_131">131</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>37.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_37_THE_COURT_AT_WESTMINSTER">The Court at Westminster</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_134">134</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>38.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_38_JUSTICE_AND_PUNISHMENTS">Justice and Punishments</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_137">137</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>39.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_39_THE_POLITICAL_POWER_OF_LONDON">The Political Power of London</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_140">140</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>40.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_40_ELIZABETHAN_LONDON">Elizabethan London (I)</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_144">144</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>41.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_41_ELIZABETHAN_LONDON">Elizabethan London (II)</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_147">147</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>42.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_42_ELIZABETHAN_LONDON">Elizabethan London (III)</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_151">151</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>43.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_43_TRADE">Trade (I)</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_155">155</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>44.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_44_TRADE">Trade (II)</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_158">158</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>45.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_45_TRADE">Trade (III)</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_164">164</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>46.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_46_PLAYS_AND_PAGEANTS">Plays and Pageants (I)</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_168">168</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>47.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_47_PLAYS_AND_PAGEANTS">Plays and Pageants (II)</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_170">170</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>48.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_48_PLAYS_AND_PAGEANTS">Plays and Pageants (III)</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_173">173</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>49.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_49_PLAYS_AND_PAGEANTS">Plays and Pageants (IV)</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_177">177</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>50.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_50_THE_TERROR_OF_THE_PLAGUE">The Terror of the Plague (I)</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_180">180</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>51.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_51_THE_TERROR_OF_THE_PLAGUE">The Terror of the Plague (II)</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_183">183</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>52.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_52_THE_TERROR_OF_FIRE">The Terror of Fire (I)</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_187">187</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>53.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_53_THE_TERROR_OF_FIRE">The Terror of Fire (II)</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_192">192</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>54.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_54_ROGUES_AND_VAGABONDS">Rogues and Vagabonds</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_197">197</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>55.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_55_UNDER_GEORGE_THE_SECOND">Under George the Second (I)</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_201">201</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>56.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_56_UNDER_GEORGE_THE_SECOND">Under George the Second (II)</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_206">206</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>57.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_57_UNDER_GEORGE_THE_SECOND">Under George the Second (III)</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_210">210</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>58.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_58_UNDER_GEORGE_THE_SECOND">Under George the Second (IV)</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_214">214</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>59.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_59_UNDER_GEORGE_THE_SECOND">Under George the Second (V)</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_218">218</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>60.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_60_THE_GOVERNMENT_OF_THE_CITY">The Government of the City (I)</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_222">222</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>61.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_61_THE_GOVERNMENT_OF_THE_CITY">The Government of the City (II)</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_226">226</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>62.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_62_THE_GOVERNMENT_OF_THE_CITY">The Government of the City (III)</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_228">228</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>63.</td><td align='left'> <SPAN href="#chap_63_LONDON">London</SPAN></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_230">230</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'><SPAN href="#NOTES">Notes</SPAN></td><td></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_235">235</SPAN></td></tr>
</table></div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS" id="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS"></SPAN>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2>
<div class="center">
<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
<tr><td></td><td></td><td align='right'>PAGE</td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>1.</td><td align='left'>The New Houses of Parliament: designed by Barry, opened 1852</td><td align='right'><i><SPAN href="#frontispiece">Frontispiece</SPAN></i></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>2.</td><td align='left'>Early British Pottery</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_9">9</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>3.</td><td align='left'>Roman London</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_15">15</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>4.</td><td align='left'>Remains of a Viking Ship, from a Cairn at Gokstad</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_22">22</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>5.</td><td align='left'>Martyrdom of St. Edmund by the Danes</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_31">31</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>6.</td><td align='left'>Saxon Horsemen</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_33">33</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>7.</td><td align='left'>Saxon Church at Bradford-on-Avon, Wilts</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_36">36</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>8.</td><td align='left'>City Gates</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_39">39</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>9.</td><td align='left'>Remains of the Wall</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_40">40</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>10.</td><td align='left'> Part of the Roman Wall at Leicester</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_40">41</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>11.</td><td align='left'> Tower in the Earlier Style. Church at Earl's Barton</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_44">44</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>12.</td><td align='left'> A Norman Ship</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_46">46</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>13.</td><td align='left'> Building a Church in the later Style</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_47">47</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>14.</td><td align='left'> Lay Costumes in the Twelfth Century</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_50">50</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>15.</td><td align='left'> Costume of Shepherds in the Twelfth Century</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_51">51</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>16.</td><td align='left'> Ecclesiastical Costume in the Twelfth Century</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_52">52</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>17.</td><td align='left'> Royal Arms of England from Richard I. to Edward III.</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_54">54</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>18.</td><td align='left'> Old London Bridge</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_57">57</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>19.</td><td align='left'> The Tower of London</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_61">61</SPAN>, <SPAN href="#Page_64">64</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>20.</td><td align='left'> A Bed in the Reign of Henry III.</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_67">67</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>21.</td><td align='left'> Interior of the Hall at Penshurst, Kent</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_72">71</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>22.</td><td align='left'> The Upper Chamber or Solar at Sutton Courtenay Manor-house</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_74">73</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>23.</td><td align='left'> The Lepers Begging</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_77">77</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>24.</td><td align='left'> London before the Spire of St. Paul's was burned; showing
the Bridge, Tower, Shipping, &c.</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_83">83</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>25.</td><td align='left'> Old St. Paul's, from the East</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_85">85</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>26.</td><td align='left'> Old St. Paul's on Fire</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_87">87</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>27.</td><td align='left'> West Front of St. Paul's Cathedral
Church. (Built by Sir Christopher Wren)</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_89">89</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>28.</td><td align='left'> Paul's Cross</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_91">92</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>29.</td><td align='left'> Bermondsey Abbey</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_96">96</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>30.</td><td align='left'> Ruins of Gateway of Bermondsey Abbey</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_96">97</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>31.</td><td align='left'> Christ's Hospital</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_98">99</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>32.</td><td align='left'> Chepe in the Fifteenth Century</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_108">108</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>33.</td><td align='left'> Large Ship and Boat of the Fifteenth Century</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_110">111</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>34.</td><td align='left'> A Sea-Fight</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_113">113</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>35.</td><td align='left'> Durham, Salisbury, and Worcester Houses</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_125">125</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>36.</td><td align='left'> Bear-baiting</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_129">128</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>37.</td><td align='left'> Shooting at the Butts with the Long-bow</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_129">129</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>38.</td><td align='left'> Tomb of Edward III. in Westminster Abbey</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_132">132</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>39.</td><td align='left'> The Embarkation of Henry VIII. from Dover, 1520</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_141">141</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>40.</td><td align='left'> Coaches in the Reign of Elizabeth</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_149">148</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>41.</td><td align='left'> The City from Southwark</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_149">150</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>42.</td><td align='left'> South-east Part of London in the Fifteenth Century,
showing the Tower and Wall</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_153">153</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>43.</td><td align='left'> King Edward VI.</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_159">159</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>44.</td><td align='left'> Sir Thomas Gresham</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_161">161</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>45.</td><td align='left'> First Royal Exchange</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_162">162</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>46.</td><td align='left'> Shipping in the Thames, <i>circa</i> 1660</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_166">166</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>47.</td><td align='left'> Sir Francis Drake, in his Forty-third Year</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_167">167</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>48.</td><td align='left'> The Globe Theatre</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_179">179</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>49.</td><td align='left'> Civil Costume about 1620</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_180">181</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>50.</td><td align='left'> Costume of a Lawyer</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_180">181</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='center'>Ordinary Civil Costume; <i>temp.</i> Charles I.:</td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>51.</td><td align='left'> A Countryman</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_185">185</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>52.</td><td align='left'> A Countrywoman</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_185">185</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>53.</td><td align='left'> A Citizen</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_187">187</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>54.</td><td align='left'> A Citizen's Wife</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_187">187</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>55.</td><td align='left'> A Gentleman</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_189">189</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>56.</td><td align='left'> A Gentlewoman</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_189">189</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>57.</td><td align='left'> Lud-gate on Fire</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_190">190</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>58.</td><td align='left'> Paul Pindar's House</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_192">191</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>59.</td><td align='left'> London, as Rebuilt after the Fire</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_193">193</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>60.</td><td align='left'> Coach of the latter half of the Seventeenth Century</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_195">195</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>61.</td><td align='left'> Waggon of the second half of the Seventeenth Century</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_195">195</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>62.</td><td align='left'> Ordinary Dress of Gentlemen in 1675</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_197">197</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>63.</td><td align='left'> Dress of Ladies of Quality</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_200">199</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>64.</td><td align='left'> Ordinary Attire of Women of the Lower Classes</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_200">199</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>65.</td><td align='left'> Group showing Costumes and Sedan Chair, about 1720</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_201">202</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>66.</td><td align='left'> Temple Bar, London</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_203">203</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>67.</td><td align='left'> Fleet Street and Temple Bar</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_205">205</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>68.</td><td align='left'> A Coach of the Middle of the Seventeenth Century</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_206">207</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>69.</td><td align='left'> View of School connected with Bunyan's Meeting House</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_209">209</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>70.</td><td align='left'> Grenadier in the time of the Peninsular War</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_211">211</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>71.</td><td align='left'> Uniform of Sailors, about 1790</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_213">213</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>72.</td><td align='left'> Costumes of Gentlefolk, about 1784</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_214">215</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>73.</td><td align='left'> Vessels unloading at the Customs House, at the beginning
of the Eighteenth Century</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_217">217</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>74.</td><td align='left'> The Old Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey, 1803</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_221">221</SPAN></td></tr>
</table></div>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_7" id="Page_7"></SPAN></span></p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="LONDON" id="LONDON"></SPAN>LONDON</h2>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_1_THE_FOUNDATION_OF_LONDON" id="chap_1_THE_FOUNDATION_OF_LONDON"></SPAN>1. THE FOUNDATION OF LONDON.<br/> <br/> <span style="font-weight: normal;">PART I.</span></h2>
<p>'In the year 1108 <span class="smcap lowercase">B.C.</span>, Brutus, a descendant of �neas,
who was the son of Venus, came to England with
his companions, after the taking of Troy, and founded
the City of Troynovant, which is now called London.
After a thousand years, during which the City grew and
flourished exceedingly, one Lud became its king. He
built walls and towers, and, among other things, the
famous gate whose name still survives in the street called
Ludgate. King Lud was succeeded by his brother Cassivelaunus,
in whose time happened the invasion of the
Romans under Julius C�sar. Troynovant, or London,
then became a Roman city. It was newly fortified by
Helena, mother of Constantine the Great.'</p>
<p>This is the legend invented or copied by Geoffrey of
Monmouth, and continued to be copied, and perhaps
believed, almost to the present day. Having paid this
tribute to old tradition, let us relate the true early
history of the City, as it can be recovered from such
documents as remain, from discoveries made in excavation,
from fragments of architecture, and from the lie<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_8" id="Page_8"></SPAN></span>
of the ground. The testimony derived from the lie of
the ground is more important than any other, for several
reasons. First, an historical document may be false, or
inexact; for instance, the invention of a Brutus, son of
�neas, is false and absurd on the face of it. Or a document
may be wrongly interpreted. Thus, a fragment of
architecture may through ignorance be ascribed to the
Roman, when it belongs to the Norman, period—one needs
to be a profound student of architecture before an opinion
of value can be pronounced upon the age of any monument:
or it may be taken to mean something quite apart
from the truth, as if a bastion of the old Roman fort, such
as has been discovered on Cornhill, should be taken for
part of the Roman wall. But the lie of the ground cannot
deceive, and, in competent hands, cannot well be
misunderstood. If we know the course of streams, the
height and position of hills, the run of valleys, the site
of marshes, the former extent of forests, the safety of
harbours, the existence of fords, we have in our hands a
guide-book to history. We can then understand why
towns were built in certain positions, why trade sprang
up, why invading armies landed at certain places, what
course was taken by armies, and why battles have been
fought on certain spots. For these things are not the
result of chance, they are necessitated by the geographical
position of the place, and by the lie of the ground.
Why, for instance, is Dover one of the oldest towns in
the country? Because it is the nearest landing ground
for the continent, and because its hill forms a natural
fortress for protecting that landing ground. Why was
there a Roman station at Portsmouth? On account of
the great and landlocked harbour. Why is Durham an
ancient city? Because the steep hill made it almost
impregnable. Why is Chester so called? Because it<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_9" id="Page_9"></SPAN></span>
was from very ancient times a fort, or stationary camp
(L. <i>castra</i>), against the wild Welsh.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_003.jpg" width-obs="250" height-obs="300" alt="EARLY BRITISH POTTERY." title="" /> <span class="caption">EARLY BRITISH POTTERY.</span></div>
<p>Let us consider this question as regards London.
Look at the map called 'Roman London' (p. <SPAN href="#Page_15">15</SPAN>). You
will there see flowing into the river Thames two little
streams, one called Walbrook, and the other called the
Fleet River. You will see a steep slope, or cliff, indicated
along the river
side. Anciently,
before any buildings
stood along
the bank, this cliff,
about 30 feet high,
rose over an immense
marsh which
covered all the
ground on the
south, the east,
and the west. The
cliff receded from
the river on the
east and on the
west at this point:
on either side of
the Walbrook it
rose out of the
marsh at the very edge of the river at high tide. There
was thus a double hill, one on the east with the Walbrook
on one side of it, the Thames on a second side, and a
marsh on a third side, and the Fleet River on the west.
It was thus bounded on east, south, and west, by streams.
On the north was a wild moor (hence the name Moorfields)
and beyond the moor stretched away northwards a vast
forest, afterwards called the Middlesex forest. This forest<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_10" id="Page_10"></SPAN></span>
covered, indeed, the greater part of the island, save
where marshes and stagnant lakes lay extended, the
haunt of countless wild birds. You may see portions and
fragments of this forest even now; some of it lies in
Ken Wood, Hampstead; some in the last bit left of
Hainault Forest; some at Epping.</p>
<p>The river Thames ran through this marsh. It was
then much broader than at present, because there were
no banks or quays to keep it within limits: at high tide it
overflowed the whole of the marsh and lay in an immense
lake, bounded on the north by this low cliff of clay, and
on the south by the rising ground of what we now call
the Surrey Hills, which begin between Kennington and
Clapham, as is shown by the name of Clapham Rise.
In this marsh were a few low islets, always above water
save at very high tides. The memory of these islands is
preserved in the names ending with <i>ea</i> or <i>ey</i>, as Chelsea,
Battersea, Bermondsey. And Westminster Abbey was
built upon the Isle of Thorns or Thorney. The marsh,
south of the river, remained a marsh, undrained and
neglected for many centuries. Almost within the
memory of living men Southwark contained stagnant
ponds, while Bermondsey is still flooded when the tide is
higher than is customary.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_2_THE_FOUNDATION_OF_LONDON" id="chap_2_THE_FOUNDATION_OF_LONDON"></SPAN>2. THE FOUNDATION OF LONDON.<br/> <br/> <span style="font-weight: normal;">PART II.</span></h2>
<p>On these low hillocks marked on the map London was
first founded. The site had many advantages: it was
raised above the malarious marsh, it overlooked the
river, which here was at its narrowest, it was protected by
two other streams and by the steepness of the cliff, and it
was over the little port formed by the fall of one stream<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_11" id="Page_11"></SPAN></span>
into the river. Here, on the western hill, the Britons
formed their first settlement; there were as yet no ships
on the silent river where they fished; there was no
ferry, no bridge, no communication with the outer
world; the woods provided the first Londoners with
game and skins; the river gave them fish; they lived in
round huts formed of clay and branches with thatched
roofs. If you desire to understand how the Britons fortified
themselves, you may see an excellent example not
very far from London. It is the place called St. George's
Hill, near Weybridge. They wanted a hill—the steeper
the side the better: they made it steeper by entrenching
it; they sometimes surrounded it with a high earthwork
and sometimes with a stockade: the great thing being to
put the assailing force under the disadvantage of having
to climb. The three river sides of the London fort presented
a perpendicular cliff surmounted by a stockade,
the other side, on which lay the forest, probably had an
earthwork also surmounted by a stockade. There were
no buildings and there was no trade; the people belonged
to a tribe and had to go out and fight when war was
carried on with another tribe.</p>
<p>The fort was called Llyn-din—the Lake Fort. When
the Romans came they could not pronounce the word
Llyn—Thlin in the British way—and called it Lon—hence
their word Londinium. Presently adventurous
merchants from Gaul pushed across to Dover, and sailed
along the coast of Kent past Sandwich and through the
open channel which then separated the island of Thanet
from the main land, into the broad Thames, and, sailing
up with the tide, dropped anchor off the fishing villages
which lay along the river and began to trade. What did
they offer? What Captain Cook offered the Polynesians:
weapons, clothes, adornments. What did they take<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_12" id="Page_12"></SPAN></span>
away? Skins and slaves at first; skins and slaves, and
tin and iron, after the country became better known and
its resources were understood. The taste for trading
once acquired rapidly grows; it is a delightful thing to
exchange what you do not want for what you do want,
and it is so very easy to extend one's wants. So that
when the Romans first saw London it was already a
flourishing town with a great concourse of merchants.</p>
<p>How long a period elapsed between the foundation of
London and the arrival of the Romans? How long
between the foundation and the beginnings of trade? It
is quite impossible even to guess. When C�sar landed
Gauls and Belgians were already here before him. As
for the Britons themselves they were Celts, as were the
Gauls and the Belgians, but of what is called the
Brythonic branch, represented in speech by the Welsh,
Breton and Cornish languages (the last is now extinct).
There were also lingering among them the surviving
families of an earlier and a conquered race, perhaps
Basques or Finns. When the country was conquered by
the Celts we do not know. Nor is there any record at
all of the people they found here unless the caves, full of
the bones which they gnawed and cut in two for the
marrow, were the homes of these earlier occupants.</p>
<p>When the Romans came they found the town prosperous.
That is all we know. What the town was
like we do not know. It is, however, probable that the
requirements of trade had already necessitated some
form of embankment and some kind of quay; also, if
trade were of long standing, some improvement in the
huts, the manner of living, the wants, and the dress of
the people would certainly have been introduced.</p>
<p>Such was the beginning of London. Let us repeat.</p>
<p>It was a small fortress defended on three sides by<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_13" id="Page_13"></SPAN></span>
earthworks, by stockades, by a cliff or steeply sloping
bank, and by streams; on the fourth side by an earthwork,
stockade, and trench. The ground was slightly
irregular, rising from 30 to 60 feet. An open moor full
of quagmires and ponds also protected it on the north.
On the east on the other side of the stream rose another
low hill. The extent of this British fort of Llyn-din
may be easily estimated. The distance from Walbrook
to the Fleet is very nearly 900 yards; supposing the
fort was 500 yards in depth from south to north we
have an area of 450,000 square yards, i.e. about 100
acres was occupied by the first London, the Fortress on
the Lake. What this town was like in its later days when
the Romans found it; what buildings stood upon it; how
the people lived, we know very little indeed. They went
out to fight, we know so much; and if you visit Hampstead
Heath you may look at a barrow on the top of a
hill which probably contains the bones of those citizens
of London who fell in the victory which they achieved
over the citizens of Verulam when they fought it out in
the valley below that hill.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_3_ROMAN_LONDON" id="chap_3_ROMAN_LONDON"></SPAN>3. ROMAN LONDON.<br/> <br/> <span style="font-weight: normal;">PART I.</span></h2>
<p>The Romans, when they resolved to settle in England,
established themselves on the opposite hillock, the eastern
bank of the Walbrook. The situation was not so strong
as that of the British town, because it was protected by
cliff and river on two sides only instead of three. But
the Romans depended on their walls and their arms
rather than the position of their town. As was their
habit they erected here a strong fortress or a stationary
camp, such as others which remain in the country.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_14" id="Page_14"></SPAN></span>
Perhaps the Roman building which most resembles this
fort is the walled enclosure called Porchester, which
stands at the head of Portsmouth Harbour. This is
rectangular in shape and is contained by a high wall built
of rubble stone and narrow bricks, with round, hollow
bastions at intervals. One may also see such a stationary
camp at Richborough, near Sandwich; and at Pevensey,
in Sussex; and at Silchester, near Reading, but the two
latter are not rectangular. One end of this fort was on
the top of the Walbrook bank and the other, if you look
in your map, on the site of Mincing Lane. This gives
a length of about 700 yards by a breadth of 350,
which means an enclosure of about 50 acres. This is a
large area: it was at once the barrack, the arsenal, and
the treasury of the station; it contained the residences
of the officers, the offices of the station, the law court
and tribunals, and the prisons; it was the official residence.
Outside the fort on the north was the burial
place. If we desire to know the character of the buildings
we may assure ourselves that they were not mean
or ignoble by visiting the Roman town of Silchester.
Here we find that the great Hall of Justice was a hall
more spacious than Westminster Hall, though doubtless
not so lofty or so fine. Attached to this hall were other
smaller rooms for the administration of justice; on one
side was an open court with a cloister or corridor running
all round it and shops at the back for the sale of
everything. This was the centre of the city: here the
courts were held; this was the Exchange; here were
the baths; this was the place where the people resorted
in the morning and lounged about to hear the news;
here the jugglers and the minstrels and the acrobats came
to perform; it was the very centre of the life of the city—as
was Silchester so was London.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_15" id="Page_15"></SPAN></span></p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_004.jpg" width-obs="500" height-obs="358" alt="Walker & Boutallse. ROMAN LONDON." title="" /> <span class="caption">ROMAN LONDON.</span></div>
<p>Outside the Citadel the rude British town—if it was
still a rude town—disappeared rapidly. The security of
the place, strongly garrisoned, the extension of Roman
manners, the introduction of Roman customs, dress, and
luxuries gave a great impetus to the development of the
City. The little ports of the rivers Walbrook and Fleet
no longer sufficed for the shipping which now came up
the river; if there were as yet no quays or embankments
they were begun to be erected; behind them rose warehouses
and wharves. The cliff began to be cut away; a
steep slope took its place; its very existence was forgotten.
The same thing has happened at Brighton, where,
almost within the memory of living man, a low cliff ran
along the beach. This embankment extended east and
west—as far as the Fleet River, which is now Blackfriars,
on the west, and what is now Tower Hill on the
east. Then, the trade still increasing, the belt of ground<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_16" id="Page_16"></SPAN></span>
behind the embankment became filled with a dense
population of riverside people—boatmen, sailors, boat-builders,
store-keepers, bargemen, stevedores, porters—all
the people who belong to a busy mercantile port. As for
the better sort, they lived round the Citadel, protected
by its presence, in villas, remains of which have been
found in many places.</p>
<p>The two things which most marked the Roman occupation
were London Wall and Bridge. Of the latter we will
speak in another place. The wall was erected at a time
between <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 350 and <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 369—very near the end of the
Roman occupation. This wall remained the City wall
for more than a thousand years; it was rebuilt, repaired,
restored; the scanty remains of it—a few fragments
here and there—contain very little of the original
wall; but the course of the wall was never altered, and
we know exactly how it ran. There was first a strong
river wall along the northern bank. There were three
water gates and the Bridge gate; there were two land
gates at Newgate and Bishopsgate. The wall was 3 miles
and 205 yards long; the area enclosed was 380 acres.
This shows that the population must have been already
very large, for the Romans were not accustomed to erect
walls longer than they could defend.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_4_ROMAN_LONDON" id="chap_4_ROMAN_LONDON"></SPAN>4. ROMAN LONDON.<br/> <br/> <span style="font-weight: normal;">PART II.</span></h2>
<p>We must think of Roman London as of a small stronghold
on a low hill rising out of the river. It is a strongly-walled
place, within which is a garrison of soldiers;
outside its walls stretch gardens and villas, many of them
rich and beautiful, filled with costly things. Below the fort
is a long river wall or quay covered with warehouses, bales<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_17" id="Page_17"></SPAN></span>
of goods, and a busy multitude of men at work. Some
are slaves—perhaps all. Would you like to know what
a Roman villa was like? It was in plan a small, square
court, surrounded on three sides by a cloister or corridor
with pillars, and behind the cloister the rooms of the
house; the middle part of the court was a garden, and
in front was another and a larger garden. The house
was of one storey, the number and size of the rooms
varying according to the size of the house. On one side
were the winter divisions, on the other were the summer
rooms. The former part was kept warm by means of a
furnace constructed below the house, which supplied hot-air
pipes running up all the walls. At the back of the
house were the kitchen, stables, and sleeping quarters of
the servants. Tesselated pavements, statues, pictures,
carvings, hangings, pillows, and fine glass adorned the
house. There was not in London the enormous wealth
which enabled some of the Romans to live in palaces,
but there was comparative wealth—the wealth which
enables a man to procure for himself in reason all the
things that he desires.</p>
<p>The City as it grew in prosperity was honoured by
receiving the name of Augusta. It remained in Roman
hands for nearly four hundred years. The Citadel, which
marks the first occupation by the Romans, was probably
built about <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 43. The Romans went away in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 410.
During these four centuries the people became entirely
Romanised. Add to this that they became Christians.
Augusta was a Christian city; the churches which stand—or
stood, because three at least have been removed—along
Thames Street, probably occupied the sites of older
Roman churches. In this part of the City the people
were thickest; in this quarter, therefore, stood the greater
number of churches: the fact that they were mostly<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_18" id="Page_18"></SPAN></span>
dedicated to the apostles instead of to later Saxon saints
seems to show that they stood on the sites of Roman
churches. It has been asked why there has never been
found any heathen temple in London; the answer is
that London under the Romans very early became
Christian; if there had been a temple of Diana or Apollo
it would have been destroyed or converted into a church.
Such remains of Augusta as have been found are inconsiderable:
they are nearly all in the museum of
the Guildhall, where they should be visited and
examined.</p>
<p>The history of Roman London is meagre. Seventeen
years after the building of the Citadel, on the
rebellion of Boadicea, the Roman general Suetonius
abandoned the place, as unable to defend it. All those
who remained were massacred by the insurgents.
After this, so far as we know, for history is silent, there
was peace in London for 200 years. Then one
Carausius, an officer in command of the fleet stationed
in the Channel for the suppression of piracies, assumed
the title of emperor. He continued undisturbed for
some years, his soldiers remaining faithful to him on
account of his wealth: he established a Mint at London
and struck a large amount of money there. He was murdered
by one of his officers, Allectus, who called himself
emperor in turn and continued to rule in Britain for three
years. Then the end came for him as well. The Roman
general landing with a large force marched upon London
where Allectus lay. A battle fought in the south of
London resulted in the overthrow and death of the
usurper. His soldiers taking advantage of the confusion
began to plunder and murder in the town, but were
stopped and killed by the victors.</p>
<p>Constantine, who became emperor in 306, was then<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_19" id="Page_19"></SPAN></span>
in Britain, but his name is not connected with London
except by coins bearing his name.</p>
<p>Tradition connects the name of Helena, Constantine's
mother, with London, but there is nothing to prove that
she was ever in the island at all.</p>
<p>Late in the fourth century troubles began to fall
thick upon the country. The Picts and the Scots overran
the northern parts and penetrated to the very walls of
London. The general Theodosius, whose son became
the emperor of that name, drove them back. About this
time the wall of London was built; not the wall of the
Roman fort, but that of the whole City. From the year
369, when Theodosius the general landed in Britain, to
the year 609 we see nothing of London except one brief
glimpse of fugitives flying for their lives across London
Bridge. Of this interval we shall speak in the next
chapter. Meanwhile it is sufficient to say that the decay
of the Roman power made it necessary to withdraw the
legions from the outlying and distant portions of the
Empire. Britain had to be abandoned. It was as if
England were to give up Hong Kong and Singapore and
the West Indies because she could no longer spare the
ships and regiments to defend them. The nation which
abandons her possessions is not far from downfall.
Remember, when you listen to those who advocate abandonment
of our colonies, the example of Rome.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_5_AFTER_THE_ROMANS" id="chap_5_AFTER_THE_ROMANS"></SPAN>5. AFTER THE ROMANS.<br/> <br/> <span style="font-weight: normal;">PART I.</span></h2>
<p>The Romans left London. That was early in the fifth
century; probably in the year 410.</p>
<p>Two hundred years later we find the East Saxons in
London.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_20" id="Page_20"></SPAN></span></p>
<p>What happened during this long interval of seven
generations? Not a word reaches us of London for two
hundred years except once when, after a defeat of the
British by the Saxons at Crayford in the year 457, we
read that the fugitives crossed over London Bridge to
take refuge within the walls of the City. What happened
during this two hundred years?<SPAN name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></SPAN><SPAN href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</SPAN></p>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></SPAN> On this subject, see the author's book <i>London</i> (Chatto & Windus).</p>
</div>
<p>We know what happened with other cities. Anderida,
now called Pevensey, was taken by the Saxons, and all
its inhabitants, man, woman and child, were slaughtered,
so that it became a waste until the Normans built a
castle within the old walls. Canterbury, Silchester,
Porchester, Colchester—all were taken, their people
massacred, the walls left standing, the streets left
desolate. For the English—the Saxons—loved not city
walls. Therefore, we might reasonably conclude that
the same thing happened to London. But if it be
worthy of the chronicler to note the massacre of Anderida,
a small seaport, why should he omit the far more important
capture of Augusta?</p>
<p>Let us hear what history has to tell. Times full of
trouble fell upon the country. Long before the Romans
went away the Picts and Scots were pouring their wild
hordes over the north and west, sometimes getting as far
south as the Middlesex Forest, murdering and destroying.
As early as the year 368, forty years before they left the
country, the Romans sent an expedition north to drive
back these savages. Already the Saxons, the Jutes and
the Angles were sending piratical expeditions to harry
the coast and even to make settlements. The arm of
the Roman was growing weak, it could not stretch out
so far: the fleets of the Romans, under the officer called<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_21" id="Page_21"></SPAN></span>
the 'Count of the Saxon Shore'—whose duty was to
guard the eastern and southern coasts—were destroyed
and their commander slain. So that, with foes on the
eastern seaboard, foes in the Channel, foes in the river,
foes in the north and west, it is certain that the trade of
Augusta was declining long before the City was left to
defend itself.</p>
<p>What sort of defence were the people likely to offer?
For nearly four hundred years they had lived at peace,
free to grow rich and luxurious, with mercenaries to
fight for them. Between the taking of the City by
Boadicea and the departure of the Romans, a space of
three hundred and fifty years, the peace of the City was
only disturbed by the lawlessness of Allectus's mercenaries.
Their attempt to sack the City was put down,
it is significant to note, not by the citizens but by the
Roman soldiers who entered the City in time. The
citizens were mostly merchants: they were Christians
in name and in form of worship, they were superstitious,
they were luxurious, they were unwarlike. Many of
them were not Britons at all, but foreigners settled in the
City for trade. Moreover, for it is not true that the
whole British people had grown unfit for war, a revolt
of the Roman legions in the year 407 drew a large
number of the young men into their ranks, and when
Constantine the usurper took them over into Gaul for
the four years' fighting which followed, the country
was drained of its best fighting material. The City,
then, contained a large number of wealthy merchants,
native and foreign; it also contained a great many slaves
who were occupied in the conduct of the trade, and few,
since the young men went away with Constantine, who
could be relied upon to fight.</p>
<p>One more point may be made out from history.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_22" id="Page_22"></SPAN></span>
Since London was a town which then, as now, lived
entirely by its trade and was the centre of the export
and import trade of the whole country, the merchants,
as we have seen, must have suffered most severely long
before the Romans went away. We are, therefore, in
the year 410, facing a situation full of menace. The
Picts and Scots are overrunning the whole of the north,
the Saxons are harrying the east and the south-east, trade
is dying, there is little demand for imports, there are
few exports, it is useless for ships to wait cargoes which
never arrive, it is useless for ships to bring cargoes for
which there is no demand.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_005.jpg" width-obs="500" height-obs="364" alt="REMAINS OF A VIKING SHIP" title="" /> <span class="caption">REMAINS OF A VIKING SHIP, FROM A CAIRN AT GOKSTAD. <br/> (<i>Now in the University at Christiania.</i>)</span></div>
<p>A declining city, a dying trade, enemies in all directions,
an unwarlike population. When the curtain falls
upon the scene in the year 410 that is what we see.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_23" id="Page_23"></SPAN></span></p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_6_AFTER_THE_ROMANS" id="chap_6_AFTER_THE_ROMANS"></SPAN>6. AFTER THE ROMANS.<br/> <br/> <span style="font-weight: normal;">PART II.</span></h2>
<p>Consider, again, the position of London. It stood, as
you have seen, originally on two low hills overlooking the
river. A strong wall built all along the bank from
Blackfriars (now so called) to the present site of the
Tower kept the river from swamping the houses and
wharves which sprang up behind this wall. The walls
of the City later on, but only about fifty years before the
Romans went away, enclosed a large area covered over
with streets, narrow near the river and broad farther
north, and with residences, warehouses, villas, and workshops.
There was probably a population of 70,000
or even more. On the west, in the direction of Westminster,
the City wall overlooked an immense marsh: on
the south across the river there was a still broader and
longer marsh: on the east there was another great
marsh with the sea overflowing the sedgy meadows at
every high tide: on the north there was a wild moor and
beyond the moor there was an immense forest. Four
roads not counting the river-way kept the City in communication
with the rest of the island. The most important
of these roads was that afterwards called Watling Street,
which passed out at Newgate and led across the heart of
the country to Chester and Wales, to York and the
north. The second, afterwards called Ermyn Street,
left the City at Bishopsgate and ran through Lincoln to
York, a third road called the Vicinal Way ran into the
eastern counties, and by way of London Bridge Watling
Street was connected with Dover.</p>
<p>London, therefore, standing in its marshes had no
means of providing for itself. All the food for its great
population was imported. It was brought on pack asses<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_24" id="Page_24"></SPAN></span>
along these roads. It came from the farms and gardens
of the country inland by means of these high roads,
strong, broad, and splendid roads, as good as any we
have since succeeded in making. In peaceful times
these roads were crowded all the way from Chester and
Lincoln and Dover with long trains of animals laden
with provisions for the people of London, as well as with
goods for export from the Port of London. They were
met by long trains of animals laden with imports being
carried to their destination. The Thames in the same
way was filled with barges laden with provisions as well
as with goods going down the river to the people and the
Port of London. Below Bridge the river was filled with
merchant ships bringing cargoes of wine and spices and
costly things to be exchanged for skins and slaves and
metals. Let us remember that the daily victualling of
70,000 people means an immense service. We are so
accustomed to find everything ready to hand in cities
containing millions as well as in villages of hundreds,
that we forget the magnitude of this service. No mind
can conceive the magnitude of the food supply of modern
London, Paris, New York, or even such towns as Portsmouth,
Plymouth, Bristol. Yet try to understand what
it means to feed every day, without interruption, only a
small town of 70,000 people. So much bread for every
day, so much meat, so much fish, so much wine, beer,
mead, or cider—because at no time did people drink water
if they could get anything else—so much milk, honey,
butter, cheese, eggs, poultry, geese and ducks, so much
beans, pease, salad, fruit. All this had to be brought in
regularly—daily. There was salted meat for winter;
there was dried fish when fresh could not be procured;
there were granaries of wheat to provide for emergencies.
All the rest had to be provided day by day.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_25" id="Page_25"></SPAN></span></p>
<p>First, the East Saxons, settling in Essex and spreading
over the whole of that county, stopped the supplies and
the trade over all the eastern counties; then the Jutes,
landing on the Isle of Thanet, stopped the ships that
went up and down the river; they also spread over the
south country and stopped the supplies that formerly
came over London Bridge. Then the Picts and Scots,
followed by more Saxons, harassed the north and middle
of the island, and no more supplies came down Watling
Street. Lastly, the enemy, pressing northward from the
south shore, gained the middle reaches of the Thames,
and no more supplies came down the river.</p>
<p>London was thus deprived of food as well as of trade.</p>
<p>This slowly, not suddenly, came to pass. First, one
source of supply was cut off, then another. First, trade
declined in one quarter, then it ceased in that quarter
altogether. Next, another quarter was attacked. The
foreign merchants, since there was no trade left, went on
board their own ships and disappeared. Whether they
succeeded in passing through the pirate craft that
crowded the mouth of the river, one knows not. The
bones of many lie at the bottom of the sea off the Nore.
They vanished from hapless Augusta; they came back no
more.</p>
<p>Who were left? The native merchants. Despair
was in their hearts; starvation threatened them, even
amid the dainty appointments of their luxurious villas;
what is the use of marble baths and silken hangings,
tesselated pavements, and pictures, and books, and
statues, if there is no food to be had, though one bid for
it all the pictures in the house? With the merchants,
there were the priests, the physicians, the lawyers, the
actors and mimics, the artists, the teachers, all who
minister to religion, luxury, and culture. There were next<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_26" id="Page_26"></SPAN></span>
the great mass of the people, the clerks and scribes, the
craftsmen, the salesmen, the lightermen, stevedores,
boatmen, marine store keepers, makers of ships' gear,
porters—slaves for the most part—all from highest to
lowest, plunged into helplessness. Whither could they
fly for refuge? Upon whom could they call for help?</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_7_AFTER_THE_ROMANS" id="chap_7_AFTER_THE_ROMANS"></SPAN>7. AFTER THE ROMANS.<br/> <br/> <span style="font-weight: normal;">PART III.</span></h2>
<p>Abroad, the Roman Empire was breaking up. The
whole of Europe was covered with war. Revolts of conquered
tribes, rebellions of successful generals, invasions
of savages, the murders of usurpers, the sacking of
cities. Rome itself was sacked by Alaric; the conquest
of one country after another made of this period the
darkest in the history of the world. From over the seas
no help, the enemy blocking the mouth of the river, all
the roads closed and all the farms destroyed.</p>
<p>There came a day at length when it was at last apparent
that no more supplies would reach the City. Then
the people began to leave the place: better to fight their
way across the country to the west where the Britons still
held their own, than to stay and starve. The men took
their arms—they carried little treasure with them,
because treasure would be of no use to them on their
way—their wives and children, ladies as delicate and as
helpless as any of our own time—children as unfit as our
own to face the miseries of cold and hunger and nakedness—and
they went out by the gate of Watling Street,
not altogether, not the whole population, but in small
companies, for greater safety. They left the City by the
gate; they did not journey along the road, but for
safety turned aside into the great forest, and so marching<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_27" id="Page_27"></SPAN></span>
across moors and marshes, past burned homesteads, and
ruined villages, and farm buildings thrown down, those
of them who did not perish by the way under the
enemies' sword or by malarious fever, or by starvation,
reached the Severn and the border of the mountains
where the Saxon could not penetrate.</p>
<p>There was left behind a remnant—after every massacre
or exodus there is always left a remnant. The people
who stayed in the City were only a few and those of the
baser sort, protected by their wretchedness and poverty.
No one would kill those who offer no defence and have no
treasures; and their condition under any new masters
would be no worse. They shut the gates and barred
them: they closed and barred the Bridge: they took out
of the houses anything that they wanted—the soft warm
mantles, the woollen garments, the coverlets, the pillows
and hangings, but they abode in their hovels near the
river banks; as for the works of art, the pictures,
statues, and tesselated pavements, these they left where
they found them or for wantonness destroyed them.
They fished in the river for their food: they hunted over
the marshes where are now Westminster, Battersea,
and Lambeth: the years passed by and no one disturbed
them: they still crouched in their huts while the thin
veneer of civilisation was gradually lost with whatever
arts they had learned and all their religion except the
terror of the Unknown.</p>
<p>Meanwhile the roofs of the villas and churches fell
in, the walls decayed, the gardens were overgrown.
Augusta—the proud and stately Augusta—was reduced
to a wall enclosing a heap of ruins with a few savages
huddled together in hovels by the riverside.</p>
<p>For the East Saxon had overrun Essex, the Jute
covered Kent and Surrey, the South Saxon held Sussex,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_28" id="Page_28"></SPAN></span>
the West Saxon held Wessex. All around—on every side—London
was surrounded by the Conqueror of the Land.
Why, then, did they not take London? Because London
was deserted; there was nothing to take: London was
silent. No ships going up or down the river reminded
the Saxon of the City. It lay amid its marshes and its
moors, the old roads choked and overgrown; it was forgotten;
it was what the Saxons had already made of
Canterbury and Anderida, a 'Waste Chester,' that is, a
desolated stronghold.</p>
<p>Augusta was forgotten.</p>
<p>This is the story that we learn from the actual site of
London—its position among marshes, the conditions
under which alone the people could be maintained.</p>
<p>How long did this oblivion continue? No one knows
when it began or when it ended. As I read the story
of the past, I find a day towards the close of the sixth
century when there appeared within sight of the deserted
walls a company of East Saxons. They were hunting:
they were armed with spears: they followed the chase
through the great forest afterwards called the Middlesex
Forest, Epping Forest, Hainault Forest, and across the
marshes of the river Lea, full of sedge and reed and
treacherous quagmires. And they saw before them the
gray walls of a great city of which they had never
heard.</p>
<p>They advanced cautiously: they found themselves on
a firm road, the Vicinal Way, covered with grass: they
expected the sight of an enemy on the wall: none appeared.
The gates were closed, the timbers were rotten
and fell down at a touch: the men broke through and
found themselves among the streets of a city all in
ruins. They ran about—shouting—no one appeared:
the City was deserted.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_29" id="Page_29"></SPAN></span></p>
<p>They went away and told what they had found.</p>
<p>But Augusta had perished. When the City appears
again it is under its more ancient name—it is again
London.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_8_THE_FIRST_SAXON_SETTLEMENT" id="chap_8_THE_FIRST_SAXON_SETTLEMENT"></SPAN>8. THE FIRST SAXON SETTLEMENT.</h2>
<p>A hundred and fifty years passed away between the landing
of the East Saxons and their recorded occupation of
the City. This long period made a great difference in
the fierce savage who followed the standard of the White
Horse and landed on the coast of Essex. He became
more peaceful: he settled down contentedly to periods of
tranquillity. Certain arts he acquired, and he learned
to live in towns: as yet he was not a Christian. This
means that the influence of Rome with its religion, its
learning and its arts had not yet touched him.</p>
<p>But he had begun to live in towns; and he lived in
London.</p>
<p>Perhaps the first of the new settlers were the foreign
merchants returning, as soon as more settled times
allowed, with their cargoes. London has always been a
place of trade. But for trade no one would have settled
in it. Therefore, either the men of Essex invited the
foreign merchants to return; or the foreign merchants
returned and invited the men of Essex to come into the
City and to bring with them what they had to exchange.</p>
<p>In the year 597 Augustine, prior of a Roman monastery,
was sent by Pope Gregory the Great with forty
monks, to convert the English. Ethelbert, King of Kent,
and most powerful of the English kinglets, was married
to Bertha, a Christian princess. She had brought with
her a chaplain and it was probably at her invitation or
through her influence, that the monks were sent. They
landed at Thanet. They obtained permission to meet<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_30" id="Page_30"></SPAN></span>
the King in the open air. They appeared wearing their
robes, carrying a crucifix, and chanting Psalms. It is
probable that the conversion of the King had been
arranged beforehand; for without any difficulty or delay
the King and all his Court, and, following the King's
example, all the people were baptised.</p>
<p>Augustine returned to Rome where he was consecrated
Archbishop of the English nation. A church was
built at Canterbury, and the work of preaching the
Faith went on vigorously. The East Saxons made no
more hesitation at being baptised than the men of Kent.
Ethelbert, indeed, could command obedience; he was
Over Lord of all the nations south of the Humber.
He it was, according to Bede, who built the first church
of St. Paul in London, a fact which proves his authority
and influence in London, and his sincere desire that the
East Saxons should become Christians.</p>
<p>They did, in a way. But when King Siebehrt died,
they relapsed and drove their Bishop into exile.</p>
<p>Then—Bede says that they were punished for this
sin—the East Saxons fell into trouble. They went to
war with the men of Wessex and were defeated by them.
After this, we find London in the hands of the Northumbrians
and the Mercians—that is to say—these nations
one after the other obtained the supremacy. It was in
the year 616 or thereabouts, that Bishop Mellitus had to
leave his diocese. Forty years later another conversion
of London took place under Bishop Cedd, consecrated at
Lindisfarne. The new faith was not strong enough to
stand against a plague, and the East Saxons of London
went back once more to their old gods. After another
thirty years, before the close of the seventh century,
London was again converted: and this time for good.</p>
<p>In the eighth century London passed again out of the<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_31" id="Page_31"></SPAN></span>
hands of the East Saxon kings into those of the
Mercians. The earliest extant document concerning
London is one dated 734, in which King Ethelbald
grants to the Bishop of Rochester leave to send one ship
without tax in or out of London Port.</p>
<p>A witan—i.e. a national council—was held in London
in 811. It is
then spoken of as
an illustrious place
and royal city.
The supremacy of
Mercia passed to
that of Wessex—London
went with
the supremacy. In
833 Egbert, King
of Wessex, held a
witan in London.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_006.jpg" width-obs="333" height-obs="400" alt="MARTYRDOM OF ST. EDMUND BY THE DANES" title="" /> <span class="caption">MARTYRDOM OF ST. EDMUND BY THE DANES. <br/> (<i>From a drawing belonging to the Society of Antiquaries.</i>)</span></div>
<p>When Egbert
died the supremacy
of Wessex fell with
him. Then the
Danish troubles fell
thick and disastrous
upon the
country. When
Alfred succeeded to the Crown the Danes held the
Isle of Thanet, which commanded the river; they had
conquered the north country from the Tweed to the
Humber; they had overrun all the eastern counties
twice—viz., in 839 and in 852: they had pillaged
London, which they presently occupied, making it their
headquarters. With this Danish occupation ends the
first Saxon settlement of the City.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_32" id="Page_32"></SPAN></span></p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_9_THE_SECOND_SAXON_SETTLEMENT" id="chap_9_THE_SECOND_SAXON_SETTLEMENT"></SPAN>9. THE SECOND SAXON SETTLEMENT.</h2>
<p>The Danes held the City for twelve years at least. One
cannot believe that these fierce warriors, who were exactly
what the Saxons and Jutes had been four hundred years
before—as fierce, as rude, as pagan—suffered any of the
inhabitants, except the slaves, to remain. Massacre
and pillage—or the fear of both—drove away all the
residents. But the City was the headquarters of the
Danes. Alfred recovered it in the year 884.</p>
<p>He found it as the East Saxons had found it three
hundred years before, a city of ruins; the wall a ruin;
the churches destroyed.</p>
<p>King Alfred has left many imperishable monuments
of his reign. One of the greatest is the City of London,
which he rebuilt. A recent historian (Loftie, <i>Historic
Towns</i>, 'London') says that it would hardly be wrong to
write, 'London was founded, rather more than a thousand
years ago, by King Alfred—who chose for the site
of his city a place formerly fortified by the Romans but
desolated successively by the Saxons and the Danes.'</p>
<p>The first thing he did was to rebuild the wall. This
work re-established confidence in the minds of the citizens.
Alfred placed his son-in-law Ethelred, afterwards Alderman
(i.e. Chief man—Governor) of the Mercians, in
command of the City, which seems to have been immediately
filled with people. The London citizens went out
with Ethelred to defeat the Danes at Benfleet, and with
Alfred to defeat the Danes at the mouth of the river
Lea; they went out with Athelstan to fight at Brunanburgh.
London was never again taken by the Danes.
Twice Sweyn endeavoured to take the City but was
repulsed. Nor did London open her gates to him until
the King had left the City. And when the Danes again<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_33" id="Page_33"></SPAN></span>
entered the City there was no more pillage or massacre;
London was too strong to be pillaged or massacred, and
too rich to be abandoned to the army.</p>
<p>King Ethelred came back and died, and was buried
in St. Paul's; the old St. Paul's—that of King Ethelbert
or that of Bishop Cedd—was burned down and the
Londoners were building a new cathedral.</p>
<p>Edmund Ironside was elected and crowned within
the City walls. Then followed a siege of London by
Canute. He dug a canal through the swamps, and
dragged his ships
by its means from
Redriff to Lambeth.
But he could not
take the City. But
the Treaty of Partition
between Edmund
and himself
was agreed upon
and the Dane once
more obtained the
City. He has left
one or two names
behind him. The
church of St.
Olave's in Hart Street, and that in 'Tooley,' or
St. Olave's Street, Southwark, and the Church of St.
Magnus, attest to the sovereignty of the Dane.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_007.jpg" width-obs="350" height-obs="312" alt="SAXON HORSEMEN" title="" /> <span class="caption">SAXON HORSEMEN. <br/> (<i>Harl. MS. 603.</i>)</span></div>
<p>At this time the two principal officers of the City
were the Bishop and the Portreeve: there was also the
'Staller' or Marshal. The principal governing body
was the 'Knighten Guild,' which was largely composed
of the City aldermen. But these aldermen were not like
those of the present day, an elected body: they were<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_34" id="Page_34"></SPAN></span>
hereditary: they were aldermen in right of their estates
within the City. What powers the Knighten Guild possessed
is not easy to define. Besides this, the aristocracy
of the City, there were already trade guilds for religious
purposes and for feasting—but, as yet, with no powers.
The people had their folk mote, or general gathering:
their ward mote: and their weekly hustings. We
must not seek to define the powers of all these bodies
and corporations. They overlapped each other: the
aristocratic party was continually innovating while the
popular party as continually resisted. In many ways
what we call the government of the City had not begun
to be understood. That there was order of a kind is
shown by the strict regulations, as strictly enforced, of
the dues and tolls for ships that came up the river to
the Port of London.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_10_THE_ANGLO-SAXON_CITIZEN" id="chap_10_THE_ANGLO-SAXON_CITIZEN"></SPAN>10. THE ANGLO-SAXON CITIZEN.</h2>
<p>The Londoner of Athelstan and Ethelred was an Anglo-Saxon
of a type far in advance of his fierce ancestor who
swept the narrow seas and harried the eastern coasts.
He had learned many arts: he had become a Christian:
he wanted many luxuries. But the solid things which
he inherited from his rude forefathers he passed on to
his children. And they remain an inheritance for us to
this day. For instance, our form of monarchy, limited
in power, comes straight down to us from Alfred and
Athelstan. Our nobility is a survival and a development
of the Saxon earls and thanes; our forms of justice,
trial by jury, magistrates—all come from the
Saxons; the divisions of our country are Saxon, our
municipal institutions are Saxon, our parliaments and
councils are Saxon in origin. We owe our language to<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_35" id="Page_35"></SPAN></span>
the Anglo-Saxon, small additions from Latin, French,
and other sources have been made, but the bulk of our
language is Saxon. Three-fourths of us are Anglo-Saxon
by descent. Whatever there is in the English
character of persistence, obstinacy, patience, industry,
sobriety, love of freedom, we are accustomed to attribute
to our Anglo-Saxon descent. In religion, arts, learning,
literature, culture, we owe little or nothing to the Anglo-Saxon.
In all these things we are indebted to the
South.</p>
<p>Let us see how the Anglo-Saxon Londoner lived.</p>
<p>He was a trader or a craftsman. As a trader he
received from the country inland whatever it had to produce.
Slaves, who were bred like cattle on the farms,
formed a large part of the exports; hides, wool, iron,
tin, the English merchant had these things, and nothing
more, to offer the foreigner who brought in exchange
wine, spices, silk, incense, vestments and pictures for the
churches and monasteries, books, and other luxuries.
The ships at first belonged to the foreign merchants:
they traded not only at London, but also at Bristol,
Canterbury, Dover, Arundel, and other towns. Before
the Conquest, however, English-built ships and English-manned
fleets had already entered upon the trade.</p>
<p>The trader, already wealthy, lived in great comfort.
He was absolute master in his own house, but the household
was directed or ruled by his wife. Everything was
made in the house: the flour was ground, the bread was
baked, the meat and fish were salted; the linen was
woven, the garments were made by the wife, the
daughters, and the women servants. The Anglo-Saxon
ladies were remarkable for their skill in embroidery;
they excelled all other women in this beautiful art.</p>
<p>The Anglo-Saxon house developed out of the common<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_36" id="Page_36"></SPAN></span>
hall. Those who know the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge
can trace the growth of the house in any of them.
First there is the Common Hall. In this room, formerly,
the whole family, with the serving men and women, lived
and slept. There still exists at Higham Ferrars, in
Northampton, such a hall, built as an almshouse. It is
a long room: at the east end, raised a foot, is a little
chapel; on the south side is a long open stove; the almsmen
slept on the floor on reeds, each man wrapped in
his blanket.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_008.jpg" width-obs="500" height-obs="328" alt="SAXON CHURCH AT BRADFORD-ON-AVON, WILTS." title="" /> <span class="caption">SAXON CHURCH AT BRADFORD-ON-AVON, WILTS.</span></div>
<p>Everybody lived and slept in the Common Hall. All
day long the women worked at the spinning and weaving
and sewing and embroidery. Women were defined by
this kind of work—we still speak of spinsters. Formerly
relationship through the mother was called 'on the
spindle side,' while, long after the men had to fight every
day against marauding tribes, relationship through the
father was called 'on the spear side.' All day long the
men worked outside in the fields, or in the warehouse,
and on the quays or at their craft. In the evening they<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_37" id="Page_37"></SPAN></span>
sat about the fire and listened to stories, or to songs
with the accompaniment of the harp.</p>
<p>The first improvement was the separation of the
kitchen from the hall: in the Cambridge College you see
the hall on one side and the kitchen the other, separated
by a passage. The second step was the construction of
the 'Solar,' or chamber over the kitchen, which became
the bedroom of the master and the mistress of the house.
Then they built a room behind the solar for the daughters
and the maidservants; the sons and the menservants
still sleeping in the Hall. Presumably the house was at
this stage in the time of King Ethelred, just before the
Norman Conquest. The ladies' 'bower' followed, and
after that the sleeping rooms for the men.</p>
<p>There was no furniture, as we understand it.
Benches there were, and trestles for the tables, which
were literally laid at every meal: a great chair was provided
for the Lord and Lady: tapestry kept out the
draughts: weapons, musical instruments, and other
things hung upon the walls. Dinner was at noon:
supper in the evening when work was over: they made
great use of vegetables and they had nearly all our
modern fruits: they drank, as the national beverage,
beer or mead.</p>
<p>But everybody was not a wealthy merchant: most
of the citizens were craftsmen of some kind. These
lived in small wooden houses of two rooms, one above
the other: those who were not able to afford so much
slept in hovels, consisting of four uprights with 'wattle
and daub' for the sides, a roof of thatch, no window,
and a fire in the middle of the floor. They lived very
roughly: they endured many hardships: but they were
a well-fed people, turbulent and independent: their
houses were crowded in narrow lanes—how narrow may<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_38" id="Page_38"></SPAN></span>
be understood by a walk along Thames Street; they
were always in danger of fire—in 962, in 1087, in 1135,
the greater part of the City was burned to the ground.
They lived in plenty: there was work for all: they had
their folk mote—their City parliament—and their ward
mote—which still exists: they had no feudal lord to
harass them: as for the dirt and mud and stench of the
narrow City streets, they cared nothing for such things.
They were free: and they were well fed: and they were
cheerful and contented.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_11_THE_WALL_OF_LONDON" id="chap_11_THE_WALL_OF_LONDON"></SPAN>11. THE WALL OF LONDON.</h2>
<p>Let us examine into the history and the course of the
Wall of London, if only for the very remarkable facts that
the boundary of the City was determined for fifteen
hundred years by the erection of this Wall; that for some
purposes the course of the Wall still affects the government
of London; and that it was only pulled down bit
by bit in the course of the last century.</p>
<p>You will see by reference to the map what was the
course of the Wall. It began, starting from the east
where the White Tower now stands. Part of the foundation
of the Tower consists of a bastion of the Roman
wall. It followed a line nearly north as far as Aldgate.
Then it turned in a N.W. direction just north of
Camomile Street and Bevis Marks to Bishopsgate.
Thence it ran nearly due W., north of the street called
London Wall, turning S. at Monkwell Street. At Aldersgate
it turned W. until it reached Newgate, where
it turned nearly S. again and so to the river, a little
east of the present Blackfriars Bridge. It ran, lastly,
along the river bank to join its eastern extremity. The
river wall had openings or gates at Dowgate and Bishopsgate,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_39" id="Page_39"></SPAN></span>
and probably at Queen Hithe. The length of the
Wall, without counting the river side, was 2 miles and
608 feet.</p>
<p>This formidable Wall was originally about 12 feet
thick made of rubble and mortar, the latter very hard,
and faced with stone. You may know Roman work by
the courses of tiles or bricks. They are arranged in
double layers about 2 feet apart. The so-called bricks
are not in the least like our bricks, being 6 inches long,
12 inches wide and 1� inch thick. The Wall was 20
feet high, with towers and bastions at intervals about
50 feet high. At first there was no moat or ditch, and
it will be understood that in order to protect the City
from an attack of barbarians—Picts or Scots—it was
enough to close the gates and to man the towers. The
invaders had no ladders.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_009.jpg" width-obs="500" height-obs="283" alt="CITY GATES." title="" /> <span class="caption">CITY GATES.</span></div>
<p>In the course of centuries a great many repairs and rebuildings
of the Wall took place. The Saxons allowed it to
fall into a ruinous condition. Alfred rebuilt it and strengthened
it. The next important repairs were made in the<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_40" id="Page_40"></SPAN></span>
reign of King John in 1215, by Henry III., Edward I.,
Edward II., Edward III., Richard II., Edward IV. After
these various rebuildings there would seem to be little
left of the original Wall. That, however, a great part of
it continued to be the hard rubble core of the Roman
work seems evident from the fact that the course of the
Wall was never altered. The only alteration was when
they turned the Wall west at Ludgate down to the Fleet
River and so to the confluence of the Fleet and the
Thames. The river side of the Wall was also allowed
to be removed.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_010.jpg" width-obs="500" height-obs="358" alt="REMAINS OF THE WALL." title="" /> <span class="caption">REMAINS OF THE WALL.</span></div>
<p>The City was thus protected by a great wall pierced
by a few gates, with bastions and towers. At the East
End after the Norman Conquest rose the Great White
Tower still standing. At the West End was a tower
called Montfichet's Tower.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_011.jpg" width-obs="500" height-obs="384" alt="PART OF THE ROMAN WALL AT LEICESTER." title="" /> <span class="caption">PART OF THE ROMAN WALL AT LEICESTER.</span></div>
<p>But a wall without a ditch, where a ditch was possible,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_41" id="Page_41"></SPAN></span>
became of little use as soon as scaling ladders were
invented with wooden movable towers and other devices.
A ditch was accordingly constructed in the year 1211 in
the reign of King John. It appears to have been from
the very first neglected by the citizens, who trusted
more to their own bravery than to the protection of a
ditch. It was frequently ordered to be cleansed and
repaired: it abounded, when it was clean, with good
fish of various kinds: but it was gradually allowed to
dry up until, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, nothing
was left but a narrow channel or no channel at all but a
few scattered ponds, with market gardens planted in the
ditch itself. In Agas's map of London these gardens
are figured, with summer houses and cottages for the
gardeners and cattle grazing. On the west side north
of Ludgate the ditch has entirely disappeared and
houses are built against the Wall on the outside.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_42" id="Page_42"></SPAN></span>
Houndsditch is a row of mean houses facing the moat.
Fore Street is also built over against the moat. Within
and without the Wall they placed churchyards—those of
St. Alphege, Allhallows, and St. Martin's Outwich,
you may still see for yourselves within the Wall: that of
St. Augustine's at the north end of St. Mary Axe, has
vanished. Those of the three churches of St. Botolph,
Bishopsgate, Aldgate, Aldersgate, and that of St. Giles
are churchyards without the Wall. Then the ditch
became filled up and houses were built all along the Wall
within and without. Thus began unchecked, perhaps
openly encouraged, the gradual demolition of the Wall.
It takes a long time to tear down a wall of solid rubble
twelve feet thick. It took the Londoners about 160 years.
In the year 1760 they finally removed the gates. Most
of the Wall was gone by this time but large fragments
remained here and there. You may still see a considerable
piece, part of a bastion in the churchyard of St.
Giles, and the vestry of All Hallows on the Wall is built
upon a bastion. In Camomile Street and in other places
portions of the Wall have been discovered where excavations
have been made: and, of course, the foundation
of the Wall exists still, from end to end.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_12_NORMAN_LONDON" id="chap_12_NORMAN_LONDON"></SPAN>12. NORMAN LONDON.</h2>
<p>When William the Conqueror received the submission
of the City he gave the citizens a Charter—their first
Charter—of freedom. There can be no doubt that the
Charter was the price demanded by the citizens and
willingly paid by the Conqueror in return for their submission.
The following is the document. Short as it is,
the whole future of the City is founded upon these few
words:<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_43" id="Page_43"></SPAN></span>—</p>
<p>'William King greets William Bishop and Gosfrith
Portreeve and all the burghers within London, French
and English, friendly.</p>
<p>'I do you to wit that I will that ye be all law worthy
that were in King Edward's day, and I will that every
child be his father's heir after his father's day: and I
will not endure that any man offer any wrong to you.</p>
<p>'God keep you.'</p>
<p>The ancient Charter itself is preserved at Guildhall.
Many copies of it and translations of it were made from
time to time. Let us see what it means.</p>
<p>The citizens were to be 'law worthy' as they had
been in the days of King Edward. This meant that
they were to be free men in the courts of justice, with
the right to be tried by their equals, that is, by jury.
'All who were law worthy in King Edward's day.'
Serfs were not law worthy, for instance. That the
children should inherit their father's property was, as
much as the preceding clause, great security to the freedom
of the City, for it protected the people from any
feudal claims that might arise. Next, observe that
there was never any Earl of London: the City had no
Lord but the King: it never would endure any Lord but
the King. An attempt was made, but only one, and
that was followed by the downfall of the Queen—Matilda—who
tried it. Feudal customs arose and flourished
and died, but they were unknown in this free city.</p>
<p>But the City with its strong walls, its great multitude
of people, and its resources, might prove so independent
as to lock out the King. William therefore began to
build the Tower, by means of which he could not only
keep the enemy out of London but could keep his own
strong hand upon the burghers. He took down a piece
of the wall and enclosed twelve acres of ground, in which<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_44" id="Page_44"></SPAN></span>
he built his stronghold, within a deep and broad ditch.
The work was entrusted to Gundulph, Bishop of Rochester,
who left it unfinished when he died thirty years after.</p>
<p>The next great Charter of the City was granted by
Henry the First. He remitted the payment of the
levies for feudal service,
of tax called Danegeld,
originally imposed for
buying off the Danes:
of the murder tax: of
wager of battle, that is,
that form of trial in
which the accused and
the accuser fought it out,
and from certain tolls.
He also gave the citizens
the county of Middlesex
to farm on payment to
the Crown of 300<i>l.</i> a
year—a payment still
made: they were to appoint
a Sheriff for the
county: and they were
to have leave to hunt in
the forests of Middlesex,
Surrey, and the Chiltern
Hills. They were also
empowered to elect their
own justiciar and allowed
to try their own cases within their own limits.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_012.jpg" width-obs="300" height-obs="524" alt="TOWER IN THE EARLIER STYLE" title="" /> <span class="caption">TOWER IN THE EARLIER STYLE. CHURCH AT EARL'S BARTON. <br/> (<i>The battlements are much later.</i>)</span></div>
<p>This was a very important Charter. No doubt, like
the first, it was stipulated as a price for the support of
the City. William Rufus was killed on Thursday—Henry
was in London on Saturday. He must therefore<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_45" id="Page_45"></SPAN></span>
have ridden hard to get over the hundred and twenty
miles of rough bridle track between the New Forest and
London. But the City supported him and this was their
reward.</p>
<p>We are gradually approaching the modern constitution
of the City. The Portreeve or first Magistrate, in
the year 1189, in the person of Henry Fitz Aylwin,
assumed the title of Mayor—not Lord Mayor: the title
came later, a habit or style, never a rank conferred.
With him were two Sheriffs, the Sheriff of the City and
the Sheriff of the County. There was the Bishop: there
was the City Justiciar with his courts. There were also
the Aldermen, not yet an elected body.</p>
<p>The Londoners elected Stephen King, and stood by
him through all the troubles that followed. The plainest
proof of the strength and importance of the City is
shown in the fact that when Matilda took revenge on
London by depriving the City of its Charters the citizens
rose and drove her out of London and made her
cause hopeless.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_13_FITZSTEPHENS_ACCOUNT_OF_THE_CITY" id="chap_13_FITZSTEPHENS_ACCOUNT_OF_THE_CITY"></SPAN>13. FITZSTEPHEN'S ACCOUNT OF THE CITY.<br/> <br/> <span style="font-weight: normal;">PART I.</span></h2>
<p>The White Tower is the only building in modern London
which belongs to Norman London. Portions remain—fragments—a
part of the church of St. Bartholomew the
Great, a part of the church of St. Ethelburga, the crypt
of Bow Church: very little else. All the rest has been
destroyed by time, by 'improvements,' or by fire, the
greatest enemy to cities in every country and every age.
Thus, three great fires in the tenth and eleventh century
swept London from end to end. No need to ask if anything
remains of the Roman or the Saxon City. Not a<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_46" id="Page_46"></SPAN></span>
vestige is left—except the little fragment, known as the
London Stone, now lying behind iron bars in the wall of
St. Swithin's Church. Churches, Palaces, Monasteries,
Castles—all perished in those three fires. The City, no
doubt, speedily sprang again from its ashes, but of its
rebuilding on each occasion we have no details at all.</p>
<p>Most fortunately, there exists a document priceless
and unique, short as it is and meagre in many of its
details, which describes London as it was in the reign of
Henry II. It is written by one FitzStephen, Chaplain
to Thomas Becket. He was present at the murder of
the Archbishop and wrote his life, to which this account
is an introduction.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_013.jpg" width-obs="500" height-obs="316" alt="A NORMAN SHIP." title="" /> <span class="caption">A NORMAN SHIP. <br/> (<i>From the Bayeux Tapestry.</i>)</span></div>
<p>He says, first of all, that the City contained thirteen
larger conventual churches and a hundred and twenty-six
parish churches. He writes only fifty years after the
Great Fire, so that it is not likely that new parishes had
been erected. All the churches which had been destroyed<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_47" id="Page_47"></SPAN></span>
were rebuilt. Most of them were very small parishes,
with, doubtless, very small churches. We shall return
presently to the question of the churches.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_014.jpg" width-obs="501" height-obs="600" alt="BUILDING A CHURCH IN THE LATER STYLE." title="" /> <span class="caption">BUILDING A CHURCH IN THE LATER STYLE. <br/> (<i>From a drawing belonging to the Society of Antiquaries.</i>)</span></div>
<p>On the east was the White Tower which he calls the<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_48" id="Page_48"></SPAN></span>
'Palatine Castle:' on the west there were two towers—there
was the Tower called Montfichet, where is now
Blackfriars station, and Baynard's Castle, close beside it.
The walls of the City had seven double gates. The river
wall had by this time been taken down. Two miles from
the City, on the west, was the Royal Palace (Westminster),
fortified with ramparts and connected with the City by a
populous suburb. Already, therefore, the Strand and
Charing Cross were settled. The gates were Aldgate,
Bishopsgate, Cripplegate, Aldersgate, Newgate, Ludgate,
and the Bridge.</p>
<p>FitzStephen says that the citizens were so powerful
that they could furnish the King with 20,000 horsemen
and 60,000 foot. This is clearly gross exaggeration. If
we allow 500 for each parish, we get a population of only
63,000 in all, and in the enumeration later on, for the
poll tax by Richard the Second, there were no more than
48,000. This, however, was shortly after a great Plague
had ravaged the City.</p>
<p>But the writer tells us that the citizens excelled those
of any other city in the world in 'handsomeness of
manners and of dress, at table, and in way of speaking.'
There were three principal schools, the scholars of which
rivalled each other, and engaged in public contests of
rhetoric and grammar.</p>
<p>Those who worked at trades and sold wares of any
kind were assigned their proper place whither they
repaired every morning. It is easy to make out from the
surviving names where the trades were placed. The
names of Bread Street, Fish Street, Milk Street, Honey
Lane, Wood Street, Soapers' Lane, the Poultry, for
instance, indicate what trades were carried on there.
Friday Street shows that the food proper for fast days
was sold there—namely, dried fish. Cheapside preserves<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_49" id="Page_49"></SPAN></span>
the name of the Chepe, the most important of all the
old streets. Here, every day, all the year round, was a
market held at which everything conceivable was sold,
not in shops, but in <i>selds</i>, that is, covered wooden sheds,
which could be taken down on occasion. Do not think
that 'Chepe' was a narrow street: it was a great open
space lying between St. Paul's and what is now the Royal
Exchange, with streets north and south formed by rows of
these <i>selds</i> or sheds. Presently the sheds became houses
with shops in front and gardens behind. The roadway
on the south side of this open space was called the Side
of Chepe. There was another open space for salesmen
called East Chepe, another at Billingsgate, called Roome
Lane, another at Dowgate—both for purposes of exposing
for sale imports landed on the Quays and the ports of
Queenhithe and Billingsgate. Those who have seen a
market-place in a French town will understand what
these places were like. A large irregular area. On
every side sheds with wares for sale: at first all seems
confusion and noise: presently one makes out that there
are streets in orderly array, in which those who know
can find what they want. Here are mercers; here goldsmiths;
here armourers; here glovers; here pepperers
or grocers; and so forth. West Chepe is the place of
shops where they sell the things made in the City and all
things wanted for the daily life.</p>
<p>On the other side of the Walbrook, across which there
is a bridge where is now the Poultry, is East Chepe,
whither they bring all kinds of imported goods and sell
them to the retailers: and by the river side the merchants
assemble in the open places beside Queenhithe
and Billingsgate to receive or to buy the cargoes sent
over from France, Spain, and the Low Countries. One
more open space there was, that round St. Paul's, the<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_50" id="Page_50"></SPAN></span>
place where the people held their folkmotes. But
London was not, as yet, by any means built over. Its
northern parts were covered with gardens. It was here,
as we shall see, that the great monasteries were shortly
to be built.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_015.jpg" width-obs="300" height-obs="334" alt="LAY COSTUMES IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY." title="" /> <span class="caption">LAY COSTUMES IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY.</span></div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_14_FITZSTEPHENS_ACCOUNT_OF_THE_CITY" id="chap_14_FITZSTEPHENS_ACCOUNT_OF_THE_CITY"></SPAN>14. FITZSTEPHEN'S ACCOUNT OF THE CITY.<br/> <br/> <span style="font-weight: normal;">PART II.</span></h2>
<p>Outside the walls, he says, there were many places of
pleasant resort, streams and springs among them. He
means the Fleet River winding at the bottom of its broad
valley: farther west Tyburn and Westbourne: on the
south the Wandle, the Effra, the Ravensbourne. There
was a well at Holywell
in the Strand—it lies
under the site of the
present Op�ra Comique
Theatre: and at Clerkenwell:
these wells had
medicinal or miraculous
properties and there
were, no doubt, taverns
and places of amusement
about there. At
Smithfield—or Smooth
Field—just outside the
City walls, there was
held once a week—on
Friday—a horse fair.
Business over, horse racing followed. Then the river
was full of fish: some went fishing for their livelihood:
some for amusement: salmon were plentiful and great
fish such as porpoises sometimes found their way above
Bridge.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_51" id="Page_51"></SPAN></span></p>
<p>Then there were the sports of the young men and the
boys. They played at ball—when have not young men
played at ball? The young Londoners practised some
form of hockey out of which have grown the two noble
games of cricket and golf. They wrestled and leaped.
Nothing is said about boxing and quarterstaff. But
perhaps these belonged to the practice of arms and archery,
which were never neglected, because at any moment
the London craftsman might have to become a soldier.
They had cock
fighting, a sport to
which the Londoner
was always greatly
addicted. And they
loved dancing with
the girls to the
music of pipe and
tabor. In the winter,
when the broad
fens north of the
walls were frozen,
they skated. And
they hunted with hawk and hound in the Forest of
Middlesex, which belonged to the City.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_016.jpg" width-obs="325" height-obs="232" alt="COSTUME OF SHEPHERDS IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY." title="" /> <span class="caption">COSTUME OF SHEPHERDS IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY.</span></div>
<p>The City, he tells us, is governed by the same laws
as those of Rome. Like Rome, London is divided into
wards: like Rome the City has annually elected magistrates
who are called Sheriffs instead of Consuls: like
Rome it has senatorial and inferior magistrates: like
Rome it has separate Courts and proper places for law
suits, and like Rome the City holds assemblies on ordered
days. The writer is carried away by his enthusiasm for
Rome. As we have seen, the government, laws, and
customs of London owed nothing at all, in any single<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_52" id="Page_52"></SPAN></span>
respect, to Rome. Everything grew out of the Anglo-Saxon
laws and customs.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_017.jpg" width-obs="425" height-obs="379" alt="ECCLESIASTICAL COSTUME IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY." title="" /> <span class="caption">ECCLESIASTICAL COSTUME IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY.</span></div>
<p>By his loud praise of the great plenty of food of every
kind which could be found in London, FitzStephen reminds
us that he has lived in other towns, and especially
in Canterbury, when he was in the service of the Archbishop.
We see, though he does not mention it, the
comparison in his mind between the plentiful market
of London and the meagre market of Canterbury. Everything,
he says, was on sale. All the roasted meats and
boiled that one can ask for; all the fish, poultry, and
game in season, could every day be bought in London:
there were cookshops where dinners and suppers could
be had by paying for them. He dwells at length upon
this abundance. Now in the country towns and the
villages the supplies were a matter of uncertainty and
anxiety: a housewife had to keep her pantry and her<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_53" id="Page_53"></SPAN></span>
larder well victualled in advance: salt meat and salt fish
were the staple of food. Beef and mutton were scarce:
game there was in plenty if it could be taken; but game
laws were strict; very little venison would find its way
into Canterbury market. To this cleric who knew the
country markets, the profusion of everything in London
was amazing.</p>
<p>Another thing he notices—'Nearly all the Bishops,
Abbots, and Magnates of England are, as it were, citizens
and freemen of London; having their own splendid houses
to which they resort, where they spend largely when summoned
to great Councils by the King, or by their Metropolitan,
or drawn thither by their own private affairs.'</p>
<p>In another century or two London will become, as
you shall see, a City of Palaces. Observe that the palaces
are already beginning. Observe, also, that London
is already being enriched by the visits and residence
of great lords who, with their retinues, spend 'largely.'
Down to the present day the same thing has always
gone on. The wealthy people who have their town
houses in the West End of London and the thousands of
country people and foreigners who now flock to the
London hotels are the successors of the great men and
their following who came up to London in the twelfth
century and spent 'largely.'</p>
<p>'I do not think,' says FitzStephen, 'that there is
any city with more commendable customs of church
attendance, honour to God's ordinances, keeping sacred
festivals, almsgiving, hospitality, confirming, betrothals,
contracting marriages, celebration of nuptials, preparing
feasts, cheering the guests, and also in care for funerals
and the interment of the dead. The only pests of London
are the immoderate drinking of fools and the frequency
of fires.'<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_54" id="Page_54"></SPAN></span></p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_15_LONDON_BRIDGE" id="chap_15_LONDON_BRIDGE"></SPAN>15. LONDON BRIDGE.<br/> <br/> <span style="font-weight: normal;">PART I.</span></h2>
<p>Nobody knows who built the first Bridge. It was there
in the fourth century—a bridge of timber provided with
a fortified gate, one of the gates of the City. Who put it
up, and when—how long it stood—what space there was
between the piers—how broad it was—we do not know.
Probably it was quite
a narrow bridge consisting
of beams laid
across side by side
and a railing at the
side. That these
beams were not close
together is known by
the fact that so many
coins have been found
in the bed of the
river beneath the old
Bridge.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_018.jpg" width-obs="283" height-obs="325" alt="ROYAL ARMS OF ENGLAND" title="" /> <span class="caption">ROYAL ARMS OF ENGLAND FROM RICHARD I. TO EDWARD III. <br/> (<i>From the wall arcade, south aisle of nave, Westminster Abbey.</i>)</span></div>
<p>Besides the Bridge
there were ferries
across the river, especially
between Dowgate
and the opposite
bank called St. Mary
Overies Dock, where was afterwards erected St. Mary
Overies Priory, to which belonged the church now called
St. Saviour's, Southwark. The docks at either end of
the old ferry still remain.</p>
<p>The Bridge had many misfortunes: it is said to have
been destroyed by the Danes in 1013. Perhaps for
'destruction' we should read 'damage.' It was, however,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_55" id="Page_55"></SPAN></span>
certainly burned down in the Great Fire of 1136.
Another, also of wood, was built in its place and, in the
year 1176, a bridge of stone was commenced, which took
thirty years to build and remained standing till the year
1831, when the present Bridge was completed and the
old one pulled down.</p>
<p>The Architect of this stone Bridge, destined to stand
for six hundred and fifty years, was one Peter, Chaplain
of St. Mary Colechurch in the Old Jewry (the church
was destroyed in the Great Fire and not rebuilt).</p>
<p>Now the building of bridges was regarded, at this
time, as a work of piety. If we consider how a bridge
helps the people we shall agree with our forefathers.
Without a bridge, those living on one side of a river
can only carry on intercourse with those on the other side
by means of boats. Merchants cannot carry their wares
about: farmers cannot get their produce to market:
wayfarers can only get across by ferry: armies cannot
march—if you wish to follow an army across a country
where there are no bridges you must look for fords.
Roads are useless unless bridges cross the rivers. The
first essential to the union of a nation is the possibility
of intercommunication: without roads and bridges the
man of Devon is a stranger and an enemy to the man of
Somerset. We who have bridges over every river: who
need never even ford a stream: who hardly know what
a ferry means: easily forget that these bridges did not
grow like the oaks and the elms: but were built after
long study of the subject by men who were trained for
the work just as other men were trained and taught to
build cathedrals and churches. A religious order was
founded in France in the twelfth century: it was called
the Order of the 'Pontife' Brethren—<i>Pontife</i> is Pontifex—that
is—Bridge Builder. The Bridge Building<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_56" id="Page_56"></SPAN></span>
Brothers constructed many bridges in France of which
several still remain. It is not certain that Peter of
Colechurch was one of this Brotherhood, perhaps not.
When he died, in 1205, before the Bridge was completed,
King John called over a French 'Pontife' named Isembert
who had built bridges at La Rochelle and Saintes.
But the principal builders are said to have been three
merchants of London named Serle Mercer, William
Almain, and Benedict Botewrite. The building of the
Bridge was regarded as a national work: the King: the
great Lords: the Bishops: as well as the London Citizens,
gave money to hasten its completion. The list of
donors was preserved on 'a table fair written for posterity'
in the Chapel on the Bridge. It was unhappily
destroyed in the Great Fire.</p>
<p>It must not be supposed that the Bridge of Peter Colechurch
was like the present stately Bridge of broad arches.
It contained twenty arches of irregular breadth: only
two or three being the same: they varied from 10 feet
to 32 feet: some of them therefore were very narrow:
the piers were also of different lengths. These irregularities
were certainly intentional and were based upon
some observations on the rise and fall of the tide. No
other great Bridge had yet been constructed across a
tidal river.</p>
<p>When the Bridge was built it was thought necessary
to consecrate it to some saint. The latest saint, St.
Thomas Becket, was chosen as the titular saint of this
Bridge. A chapel, dedicated to him, was built in the
centre pier of the Bridge: it was, in fact, a double
chapel: in the lower part, the crypt, was buried Peter of
Colechurch himself: the upper part, which escaped the
Great Fire, became, after the Reformation, a warehouse.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_57" id="Page_57"></SPAN></span></p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_16_LONDON_BRIDGE" id="chap_16_LONDON_BRIDGE"></SPAN>16. LONDON BRIDGE.<br/> <br/> <span style="font-weight: normal;">PART II.</span></h2>
<p>Houses were erected in course of time along the Bridge on
either side like a street, but with intervals; and along the
roadway in the middle were chain posts to protect the
passengers. As the Bridge was only 40 feet wide the
houses must have been small. But they were built out
at the back overhanging the river, and the roadway
itself was not intended for carts or wheeled vehicles.
Remember that everything was brought to the City on
pack horse or pack ass. The table of Tolls sanctioned
by King Edward I. makes no mention of cart or waggon
at all. Men on horseback and loaded horses can get
along with a very narrow road. Perhaps we may allow
twelve feet for the road which gives for the houses on
either side a depth of 14 feet each.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_019.jpg" width-obs="500" height-obs="359" alt="OLD LONDON BRIDGE." title="" /> <span class="caption">OLD LONDON BRIDGE.</span></div>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_58" id="Page_58"></SPAN></span></p>
<p>These houses were occupied chiefly by shops, most of
which were 'haberdashers and traders in small wares.'
Later on there were many booksellers. Paper merchants
and stationers, after the Reformation, occupied the chapel.
The great painter Hans Holbein lived on the Bridge and
the two marine painters Peter Monamy and Dominic
Serres also lived here.</p>
<p>The narrowness of the arches and the rush of the
flowing or the ebbing tide made the 'shooting' of the
Bridge a matter of great danger. The Duke of Norfolk
in 1429 was thrown into the water by the capsizing of
his boat and narrowly escaped with his life. Queen
Henrietta, in 1628, was nearly wrecked in the same way
by running into the piers while shooting the Bridge.
Rubens the painter was thrown into the water in the
same way.</p>
<p>One of the twenty arches formed a drawbridge
which allowed vessels of larger size than barges to pass
up the river and could be used to keep back an enemy.
In this way Sir Thomas Wyatt in 1557 was kept out of
London. Before this drawbridge stood a tower on the
battlements of which were placed the heads of traitors
and criminals. The heads of Sir William Wallace, Jack
Cade, Sir Thomas More and many others were stuck up
here. On the Southwark side was another tower.</p>
<p>The Bridge, which was the pride and boast of London,
was endowed with lands for its maintenance: the rents
of the houses were also collected for the same purpose:
a toll was imposed on all merchandise carried across,
and a Brotherhood was formed, called the Brothers of
St. Thomas on the Bridge, whose duty it was to perform
service in the chapel and to keep the Bridge in repair.</p>
<p>Repairs were always wanting: to keep some of the
force of the water off the piers these were furnished<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_59" id="Page_59"></SPAN></span>
with 'starlings,' i.e. at first piles driven down in front
of the piers, afterwards turned into projecting buttresses
of stone. Then corn mills were built in some of the
openings, and in the year 1582 great waterworks were
constructed at the southern end. The tower before the
drawbridge was by Queen Elizabeth rebuilt and made a
very splendid house—called Nonesuch House. The Fire
destroyed the houses on the Bridge, some of which were
not rebuilt: and in the year 1757 all the houses were
removed from the Bridge.</p>
<p>The New Bridge was finished and opened in 1831—it
stands 180 feet west of its predecessor. Then the Old
Bridge was pulled down. The work of Peter Colechurch
lasted from 1209 to 1831 or 622 years. The Pontife
Brothers, therefore, knew how to put in good and lasting
work.</p>
<p>This is the history of London Bridge. First a narrow
wooden gangway of beams lying on timber piles with a
fortified gate; then a stone structure of twenty irregular
arches, the Bridge broad but the roadway still narrow
with houses on either side and a fortress and a chapel
upon it—in those times there was always a fortress, and
there was always a chapel. It must have been a pleasant
place of residence: the air fresh and clear: the supply
of water unlimited—one drew it up in a bucket: always
something going on: the entrance of a foreign ambassador,
a religious procession, a riding of the Lord
Mayor, a pageant, a nobleman with his livery, a Bishop
or a Prior with his servants, a pilgrimage, a string of
pack horses out of Kent bringing fruit for the City:
always something to see. Then there were the stories
and traditions of the place, with the songs which the
children sang about the Bridge. Especially there was
the story of Edward Osborne. He was the son of one<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_60" id="Page_60"></SPAN></span>
Richard Osborne, a gentleman of Kent. Like many
sons of the poor country gentlemen, he was sent up to
London and apprenticed to Sir William Hewitt a cloth
worker who lived on London Bridge. His master had a
daughter named Anne, a little girl who one day, while
playing with her nurse at an open window overhanging
the river, fell out into the rushing water sixty feet below.
The apprentice, young Osborne, leaped into the river
after her and succeeded in saving her. When the girl
was grown up her father gave her to his ex-apprentice,
Edward Osborne, to wife. Edward Osborne became
Lord Mayor. His descendant is now Duke of Leeds.
So that the Dukedom of Leeds sprang from that gallant
leap out of the window overhanging the river Thames from
London Bridge.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_17_THE_TOWER_OF_LONDON" id="chap_17_THE_TOWER_OF_LONDON"></SPAN>17. THE TOWER OF LONDON.<br/> <br/> <span style="font-weight: normal;">PART I.</span></h2>
<p>In an age when every noble's house was a castle, and when
every castle was erected in order to dominate, as well
as to defend, the town and the district in which it stood,
the Tower of London was erected. The builder of the
White Tower was William the Conqueror, who gave the
City its Charter but had no intention of giving up his own
sovereignty; the architect, as has been already said, was
one Gundulph, Bishop of Rochester. Part of the City
wall was pulled down to make room for it, and it was
intended at once for the King's Palace, the King's Castle,
and the King's Prison. It was also the key of London—who
held the Tower, held the City.</p>
<p>William Rufus built a wall round the Tower so as to
separate it entirely from the City and to prevent the<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_61" id="Page_61"></SPAN></span>
danger of a hasty rising of the people: with the same
object he gave it a water gate.</p>
<p>A hundred years later, while Richard Cœur de Lion
was on his Crusade, the moat was constructed. Henry
III. and his son Edward I. added to the outer walls and
strengthened them.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_020.jpg" width-obs="500" height-obs="346" alt="TOWER OF LONDON." title="" /> <span class="caption">TOWER OF LONDON.</span></div>
<p>There is a plan of the Tower made from a survey of
the year 1597 and published by the Society of Antiquaries.
A study of the plan should be made before
visiting the place. Remark first of all that the fortress
has three entrances only: one at the S.W. angle to
the City; one to the river now called Traitors' Gate;
and one on the S.E. angle called the Irongate: that it is
surrounded by a broad and deep moat which could be
filled at every high tide: that from the moat rises a
battlemented wall, and that within this first wall is another,
flanked with protecting towers; that the City
entrance is most jealously guarded by a strong gate first:<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_62" id="Page_62"></SPAN></span>
then by a narrow way passing under a tower: then over
a bridge. In all medi�val castles the first thought was
to make it impossible to carry the place by a rush. If
we would restore the Tower of Queen Elizabeth to the
Tower of Edward III. we must abolish all those buildings
which stand on the north and east sides, with those
called 'Lieutenants' Lodgings' on the south. The
space on the north side of the Keep was the exercising
ground: stables there must have been somewhere in
this great area; the men at arms would live in the
smaller towers. If you will study this plan carefully,
you will understand the general arrangement of a
medi�val castle.</p>
<p>In the sixteenth century the place was no longer
regarded as a fortress for the defence or the domination
of the City. But the old forms were kept up: nobody
was admitted who carried arms: the guard kept
the gate: a garrison was maintained. Within, there
was an armoury, the beginning of the splendid collection
which is now shown: there was a Mint for the coining
of money: there were collections of tapestry, saddles,
bed furniture and robes belonging to the Crown: here
were kept the Crown and sceptre and insignia: here was
the Royal menagerie. Here were the rooms reserved for
state criminals. It was no longer the Royal Palace but
the sovereign sometimes occupied the Tower. James the
First was here, for instance, in 1604.</p>
<p>Near the outer gate where is now the Refreshment
Room were kept the King's lions. Henry I. began this
menagerie which was continued until the year 1834.
At the entrance of the fortress is the Bell Tower where
Queen Elizabeth was once confined. The Water Gate
called Traitors' Gate is under St. Thomas's Tower. The
Beauchamp Tower has been the prison of, among others,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_63" id="Page_63"></SPAN></span>
Queen Anne Boleyn and Lady Jane Grey. In the Great
White Tower Richard II. abdicated in favour of Henry
IV. In the vaults are dungeons, once the prison of Guy
Fawkes. In the Chapel the newly made Knights of the
Bath watched their armour all night long. The collection
of arms contains examples of weapons and armour
of every age. In the Church of St. Peter ad Vincula
you will find the graves of the unfortunate Princes,
Queens, and nobles who have been executed for State
offences. Nothing, except the Royal tombs of Westminster,
so much helps to prove the reality of History,
as this collection of graves and slabs and tablets in this
little church. And here were kept the Crown jewels
about which many a chapter might be written.</p>
<p>But to study the Tower of London one must visit it
with the History of England in hand. Hither were
brought all the State prisoners: here they were confined:
here they were executed. Every tower, every stone
reminds one of sufferers and criminals and traitors and
innocent victims. Do not, however, forget that this
Tower was built for the restriction of the liberties of the
people. That purpose has been defeated. The liberties
have grown beyond what could ever have been hoped
while the privileges of the Crown, which this Tower
was built to protect and to enlarge, have been restricted
beyond the greatest fears of the medi�val kings.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_18_THE_TOWER_OF_LONDON" id="chap_18_THE_TOWER_OF_LONDON"></SPAN>18. THE TOWER OF LONDON.<br/> <br/> <span style="font-weight: normal;">PART II.</span></h2>
<p>Of all the prisoners who suffered death at the termination
of their captivity in the Tower, there is none whose
fate was so cruel as that of Lady Jane Grey. Her story
belongs to English history. Recall, when next you visit<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_64" id="Page_64"></SPAN></span>
the Tower, the short and tragic life of this young Queen
of a nine days' reign.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_021.jpg" width-obs="500" height-obs="407" alt="Tower of London" title="" /></div>
<p>She was not yet eighteen when she was beheaded,
not through any fault of her own, but solely because her
relationship to the Crown placed her in the hands of
men who used her for their own political purposes. She
was the second cousin of Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth.
Her grandmother was the sister of Henry VIII.,
widow of Louis XII. of France, and wife of Charles, Duke
of Suffolk. The young King on his deathbed was persuaded
to name her as his successor. She was sixteen
years of age: she was already married to Lord Guilford
Dudley, son of the Duke of Northumberland: when she
was proclaimed Queen. Nine days after the proclamation
she was a prisoner. On the 8th of July she was<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_65" id="Page_65"></SPAN></span>
acknowledged Queen by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen:
on the 10th she was taken by water from Greenwich to
the Tower, and proclaimed Queen in the City: on the
17th another proclamation was made of Queen Mary,
and her reign was over. But the Tower she was never
more to leave.</p>
<p>On the 13th of November—after five months of suspense—she
was tried for high treason with Cranmer, her
husband Lord Guilford, and her husband's brother,
Lord Ambrose. They were all four found guilty, and
condemned to death—their judges being the very men
who had sworn allegiance to her as Queen. It would
seem that Mary had no desire to carry out the sentence:
Cranmer she reserved for a more cruel death than that
of beheading—he was to be burned as a heretic. The
other three, two boys and a girl, it would be dangerous
to execute on account of the popular sympathy their
death would awaken. They were therefore sent back to
the Tower. Probably it was intended that Lady Jane,
at least, should pass the rest of her life in honourable
captivity, as happened later on to Arabella Stuart. But
the rebellion of Wyatt showed that her name could still
be used as a cry in favour of a Protestant succession. It
was therefore resolved to put both husband and wife to
death. What further harm the young Lord Guilford
Dudley could do is not apparent. Even then the Queen's
advisers shrank from exhibiting on Tower Hill the
spectacle of a young and beautiful girl, taken forth to
be beheaded because certain hot-headed partizans had
used her name. She was executed therefore within the
verge of the Tower itself, on the so-called 'Green.'</p>
<p>'The Green' is a place where no grass will grow—it
used to be said—on account of the blood that had been
shed upon it. Among the sufferers here was Hastings,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_66" id="Page_66"></SPAN></span>
executed by order of King Richard: Anne Boleyn:
Katharine Howard: and Lady Jane Grey. A stone
marks the spot on which the scaffold was set up.</p>
<p>It was on the morning of the 12th of February that
Lady Jane Grey was put to death. She was then confined
in the 'Brick' Tower, the residence of the Master of
the Ordnance. From her window she saw the headless
body of her husband brought back from Tower Hill in a
cart. She looked upon it without shrinking. 'Oh! Guilford,'
she said, 'the antipast is not so bitter after thou
hast tasted, and which I shall soon taste, as to make my
flesh tremble: it is nothing compared to the feast of
which we shall partake this day in Heaven.' So she
went forth with her two gentlewomen, Elizabeth Tylney
and Mistress Helen, but she shed no tears. When she
was on the scaffold she spoke to the officers of the Tower
and the soldiers that stood around. No man or woman,
however wise and dignified, could speak more clearly and
with greater dignity than this girl of sixteen. They had
been trying to make her a Catholic. Therefore, she
made confession of the Protestant Faith: 'Good Christian
people, bear witness that I die a true Christian
woman and that I do look to be saved by no other means
but only by the mercy of God, in the blood of his only
son, Jesus Christ.'</p>
<p>So she made her gentlewomen bare her neck and
bind her eyes and kneeling down laid her head upon the
block, and while she was saying, 'Lord, into Thy hands
I commend my spirit,' the axe fell and she was dead.</p>
<p>She lies buried before the altar of St. Peter's Church,
near the bodies of the Queens Anne Boleyn and Katharine
Howard.</p>
<p>So she died, this poor innocent child of whom all we
know is that she was so scholarly that she could read<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_67" id="Page_67"></SPAN></span>
Greek in the original: that she was beautiful: of a grave
and sweet disposition: and raised far above the voice of
calumny. She had, says Foxe, 'the innocency of childhood,
the beauty of youth, the gravity of age: she had
the birth of a princess, the learning of a clerk, the life of
a saint, and the death of a malefactor for her parents'
offences.'</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_022.jpg" width-obs="350" height-obs="249" alt="A BED IN THE REIGN OF HENRY III." title="" /> <span class="caption">A BED IN THE REIGN OF HENRY III.</span></div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_19_THE_PILGRIMS" id="chap_19_THE_PILGRIMS"></SPAN>19. THE PILGRIMS.</h2>
<p>In the time when the road connecting village with village
and town with town was but an uncertain bridle path
through woods and over waste places, where in winter
horse, man, and wayfarer struggled with bog and quagmire,
where robbers lurked in the thickets, and fevers
and agues haunted the marsh, where men went armed
and every stranger
was a foe: it would
seem as if most men
stayed where they
were born and desired
not to court the
dangers of the unknown
world. In
many villages, especially
in the remote
places of the country,
this was the case. The men of Somerset abode where
they were born, speaking their own language, a race
apart: the men of Norfolk abode in their county cut
off from the rest of the world by fens in the west and
sea on the north and east: their language was not
understood by the men of the west or the south country.
Had the other conditions of life allowed this isolation to<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_68" id="Page_68"></SPAN></span>
continue undisturbed, the nation could never have been
created: we should have remained a scattered collection
of tribes speaking each its own language and developing
its own customs.</p>
<p>There were three causes which stirred the stagnant
waters. The first was War. The Baron, or Feudal
Lord, carried off the young men of the village to fight:
those of them who returned had things to tell of the
outside world. They fired the imagination and awakened
the enterprise of the lads. The second was Trade at
the trading ports: the lads saw, and continued to talk
with, the foreign sailors—the Fleming, the German, the
man of Rouen or Bordeaux: some of them went on
board the ships of the merchant adventurers and sailed
to foreign lands. Lastly, there were the Pilgrimages.</p>
<p>From the tenth to the fifteenth century there was a
rage for pilgrimage. Everybody wanted to become a
pilgrim. No money was wanted: there would certainly
be found every day some monastery at which bed and
a supper would be provided for the pilgrim: it was a
joyous company which fared along the road, some riding,
some on foot, travelling together for safety, all bound to
the same shrine where they would hear the masses and
make their vows and so return, light-hearted: it was, in
fact, the medi�val way of taking a holiday. Sometimes
it was to Canterbury, where was the shrine of Thomas
Becket, that the pilgrims were bound: sometimes to
Walsingham, where was the miraculous image of the
Virgin: sometimes to Glastonbury, hallowed by the
thorn miraculously flowering every year on Christmas
Day, planted by Joseph of Arimathea himself: sometimes
it was farther afield—to Compostella in Spain,
Rome, or even Jerusalem—that the pilgrims proposed to
go. Chaucer describes such a company all starting<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_69" id="Page_69"></SPAN></span>
together, riding from London to Canterbury on pilgrimage
to the shrine of Thomas Becket. They are pilgrims,
but there is very little piety in their discourse:
one can see that, whatever the motive, whether for the
expiation of sin, or any other cause, the journey is full
of cheerfulness and enjoyment. The Crusades were one
outcome of this passion for pilgrimage. Nay, the first
Crusade itself was little better than a great pilgrimage of
the common people, so ignorant that they asked at the
sight of every walled town if that was Jerusalem. It
was a pilgrimage from which few, indeed, returned.</p>
<p>In England, the chief gain from pilgrimage was the
bringing together of men from the different parts of the
country. Remember that the men of the North could
not understand the speech of the men of the South: a
Norfolk rustic at the present day would hardly understand
a man of Devon: there was always danger of
forgetting that they all belonged to the same realm, the
same nation, and the same race.</p>
<p>But the love of pilgrimage spread so wide that it
became a danger. The rustic left the plough: the
blacksmith his anvil: the carpenter his bench: all
left their wives and their children in order to tramp
across the country on pilgrimage to some shrine. By
day they marched together: at night they sat round
the fire in the strangers' room of the monastery, and
took their supper and slept on the reeds. A delightful
change from the monotony and hard work of the village!
But the Bishops interposed. Let no one go on pilgrimage
without his Bishop's license. Let not the monasteries
give a bed and supper to any pilgrim who could
not show his Bishop's license. Then the rustics and the
craftsmen had to remain at home where they have
stayed, except when they went out to fight, ever since.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_70" id="Page_70"></SPAN></span></p>
<p>When the pilgrim—especially the pilgrim who had
been over the seas—came home, he was able to entertain
his friends with stories he had seen all the rest of his
life. Thus, the earliest plan of the Holy Sepulchre is
one drawn by a pilgrim for the instruction of certain
monks who entertained him. The pilgrims were the
travellers of the time. They observed foreign manners
and customs: they brought home seeds and told of
strange food: they extended the boundaries of the
world: they prevented the native village from becoming
the whole world: they taught and encouraged men to
cease from regarding a stranger as an enemy. The
world was thus opened out by War, Trade, and Pilgrimage,
but most of all by Pilgrimage.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_20_ST_BARTHOLOMEWS_HOSPITAL" id="chap_20_ST_BARTHOLOMEWS_HOSPITAL"></SPAN>20. ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S HOSPITAL.</h2>
<p>The oldest of the City Hospitals is that great and
splendid Foundation which stands in Smithfield—the
Smooth Field. It was first founded by one Rahere, of
whom we know little or nothing except that he lived in
the reign of Henry I., and that he founded the Priory
and Monastery of St. Bartholomew. In the church of
St. Bartholomew the Great you may see a very beautiful
tomb said to be his, but the work is of a later date. It
is related that while on a pilgrimage to Rome he fell ill
and was like to die. And he vowed that if he were
restored to health he would erect and establish a hospital
for poor sick people. He did recover and he fulfilled his
vow. He built the Priory of St. Bartholomew, whose
church still stands in part and beside it established his
hospital. The place called Smithfield was then a swampy
field used for a horse fair: it was also a place of execution
without the City wall. At first the hospital was a<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_71" id="Page_71"></SPAN></span>
very small place. It consisted probably of two large
rooms or halls, one for men and one for women—with
a chapel. If it had any endowment at all it must
have been very small, because the Master or Hospitaller
had to go every morning to the Shambles, Newgate, in
order to beg meat for the maintenance of the sick.
Two hundred years later the hospital was taken in hand
by Edward IV. and provided with an establishment of
Master, eight brethren, priests, and four sisters, who
served the sick. They were all subject to the Rule of
St. Austin. After the death of Whittington, the hospital<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_72" id="Page_72"></SPAN></span>
buildings were repaired by his bequests. On the dissolution
of the religious houses, the Priory and Hospital
of Bartholomew fell with the rest, but five years later
the hospital was refounded and endowed by the King and
the City.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_023.jpg" width-obs="500" height-obs="442" alt="INTERIOR OF THE HALL AT PENSHURST, KENT" title="" /> <span class="caption">INTERIOR OF THE HALL AT PENSHURST, KENT. <br/> (<i>Showing the screen with minstrels' gallery over it, and the brazier for fire in the middle; built about 1340.</i>)</span></div>
<p>If you visit a hospital and are taken into a ward,
you see a row of clean white beds arranged in orderly
position on either side of the long room: the temperature
is regulated: the ventilation is perfect: there are means
by which the patient can be examined in private: the
diseases are apportioned to separate wards: every thing
is managed with the greatest cleanliness and order: if
an operation is performed the patient is kept under
chloroform and feels nothing. The physicians are men
of the highest scientific reputation: the nurses are
trained assistants: the food is the best that can be
procured. The poorest man brought to the hospital is
treated with the same care, the same science, the same
luxuries as the richest.</p>
<p>Look, however, at the hospital as founded by Rahere.</p>
<p>There is a great hall with a chapel at one end: at
which mass is daily sung. The room is narrow and
lofty, lit by Norman windows, two or three on a side:
there is a lanthorn in the roof: under the lanthorn a
fire is burning every day, the smoke rising to the roof:
the hall is dark and ill ventilated, the air foul and
heavy with the breath of sixty or seventy sick men
lying in beds arranged in rows along the wall. There
are not separate beds for each patient, but as the
sick are brought in they are laid together side by
side, in the same bed, whatever the disease, so that he
who suffers from fever is placed beside another who
suffers from palsy. There are four in a bed, and in
times of pressure even more. Sometimes one arrives<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_73" id="Page_73"></SPAN></span>
who develops the plague, when the whole of the patients
in the hospital catch the infection and all die together.
The surgeons are especially skilled in the dressing of
wounds received in battle or in fray: the sisters can
tie up a broken limb and stop a bleeding wound. The
brethren go about the beds administering the last offices
of the Church to the dying. The food is scanty: the
appliances are rude: there is small hope of recovery:
yet to die in hospital tended and consoled instead of in<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_74" id="Page_74"></SPAN></span>
the hut where life has been passed is something for which
to be grateful.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_024.jpg" width-obs="387" height-obs="500" alt="THE UPPER CHAMBER OR SOLAR AT SUTTON COURTENAY MANOR-HOUSE." title="" /> <span class="caption">THE UPPER CHAMBER OR SOLAR AT SUTTON COURTENAY MANOR-HOUSE. <br/> (<i>Date, about 1350.</i>)</span></div>
<p>Consider into how great, how noble a Foundation the
little hospital of Rahere has grown. The modern
hospital contains 676 beds: it receives about 150,000
patients every year, of whom 7,000 are inpatients, 18,000
out patients, and 130,000 casuals. The eight brethren
have become 30 physicians and surgeons besides the
assistants called clinical clerks and dressers. The four
sisters are now 159 sisters and nurses. There is a noble
school of medicine: there are museums, libraries, lecture
rooms, and there is a residential college for medical
students: there is a convalescent hospital in the
country. No hospital in the world has a larger or
a more noble record than this of St. Bartholomew. And
it all sprang from the resolution of one man, who started
a humble house for the reception of the sick in a poor
and despised place outside the City wall, but near to the
Shambles where one could beg for broken victuals and for
the pieces of meat that the butchers could not sell.
Thus out of one good deed, apparently of small importance,
has grown a never-ending stream of refreshment
and healing. It has lasted for 700 years already:
there seems no reason why it should ever stop.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_21_THE_TERROR_OF_LEPROSY" id="chap_21_THE_TERROR_OF_LEPROSY"></SPAN>21. THE TERROR OF LEPROSY.</h2>
<p>One mile outside the City walls, on the west, stood for
four hundred years the Hospital of St. Giles in the
Fields.</p>
<p>Here was a Lazar House, i.e. a Hospital for Lepers.
It was founded by Maud, Queen of Henry I. It was
dedicated to St. Giles because this saint was considered
the protector of cripples. Hence the name Cripplegate,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_75" id="Page_75"></SPAN></span>
which really means the Little Gate, was applied to the
church of St. Giles, and supposed to mean the gate near
the church dedicated to the Patron Saint of Cripples. A
common result of leprosy was to make the sufferer lame
and crippled. Hence the connection. Generally, however,
Lazarus, whom our Lord raised from the dead, was
esteemed the Saint of Lepers, whence a Leper's Hospital
was always called a Lazar House.</p>
<p>In the middle ages the mysterious disease called
leprosy was an ever present terror. Other plagues
appeared at intervals and disappeared. Leprosy remained.
It never left the land. It struck the King on
his Throne, the Bishop in his Cathedral, the Abbess in
her Nunnery, the soldier in camp, the merchant in his
counting house, the sailor at sea. No class could escape
it. Robert Bruce died of it; Orivalle, Bishop of London,
died of it; Baldwin, King of Jerusalem, died of it. To
this day it prevails in India, at the Cape, in the Pacific
Islands, while there are occasional cases found in our own
hospitals. The disease was incurable: the man, woman,
or child, attacked by it would surely and slowly die of it.
The leper was unclean: he was thrust out of the town:
he had to live apart, or congregated in hospitals with
other wretches similarly afflicted: if he walked abroad
he wore a grey gown for distinction and carried a clapper
as he went along, crying 'Unclean, Unclean,' so that the
people might stand aside and not so much as touch his
garments. And since he could not work with his hands,
he was permitted to carry into the market a 'clap dish,'
that is to say, a bowl or basin in which to receive food
and alms.<SPAN name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></SPAN><SPAN href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</SPAN></p>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></SPAN> Lacroix, <i>Science</i>, p. 146.</p>
</div>
<p>Leprosy is supposed to have had its origin in Egypt:<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_76" id="Page_76"></SPAN></span>
the laws laid down in the Book of Leviticus for the separation
of lepers are stringent and precise: it was believed,
partly, no doubt, on account of these statutes in the
Book of the Jewish Law, that the disease was brought
into Western Europe by the Crusaders; but this was
erroneous, because it was in this country before the
Crusaders. Thus the Palace of St. James stands upon
the site of a lazar house founded before the Conquest for
fourteen leprous maidens.</p>
<p>This is not the place to describe the symptoms and
the results of this dreadful disease. Suffice it to say that
the skin thickens, is discoloured and ulcerates: that the
limbs swell: that the fingers and toes drop off: that the
voice sinks to a whisper: and that the sufferer's mind is
weakened by his malady.</p>
<p>The fearful scourge was so prevalent that there was
not a town, hardly a village, in any country of Europe
which had not, in those centuries, its lepers and its lazar
house, great or small. Every effort was made to isolate
them: they were not allowed to worship with the rest of
the people: they were provided with a separate building
or chapel where, through a hole in the wall, they could
look on at the performance of mass. And in addition,
as you have seen, they lived apart and took their food
apart.</p>
<p>As for their houses—the lazar houses—the chief of
them all, the place where Abbot possessed some kind of
authority over the others, was one built in a village near
Melton Mowbray called Burton Lazars. The Hospital of
St. Giles, for instance, became shortly after its foundation
a 'cell,' or dependency, of this House.</p>
<p>Whatever the cause of this malady, whether it be
contagious, i.e. communicated by touch; or infectious,
that is, communicated by breathing the same air; or<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_77" id="Page_77"></SPAN></span>
hereditary; it is quite certain that it was greatly aggravated
by the habits of the time. Bad food, uncleanly
habits, bad air, all contributed to the spread of leprosy.
Especially it has been considered that the long fasts
during which meat was prohibited encouraged the
disease: not because abstinence from meat is in itself a
bad thing, but because the people had to eat fish imperfectly
cured or kept too long, and unwholesome.
Fresh-water fish could not be procured in sufficient
quantities and it was impossible to convey fish from the
sea more than a certain distance inland.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_025.jpg" width-obs="500" height-obs="302" alt="THE LEPERS BEGGING." title="" /> <span class="caption">THE LEPERS BEGGING.</span></div>
<p>The dreadful appearance of the lepers, their horrible
sufferings, produced loathing more than pity. People
were horror stricken at the sight of them: they drove
them out of their sight: they punished them cruelly if
they broke the rules of separation: they imprisoned any
citizen who should harbour a leper: they kept bailiffs at
the City gates to keep them from entering. Fourteen of
these afflicted persons were required to be maintained in<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_78" id="Page_78"></SPAN></span>
accordance with Queen Maud's Foundation by the Hospital
of St. Giles: there was also a lazar house in the
Old Kent Road, Southwark: one between Mile End and
Bow: one at Kingsland between Shoreditch and Stoke
Newington: one at Knightsbridge, west of Charing
Cross, and one at Holloway.</p>
<p>On the Dissolution of the Monasteries, all these
lazar houses were suppressed. Now, since we hear very
little more about lepers, and since no new lazar houses
were built, and since the prohibitions to enter churches,
towns, &c., are no more renewed, it is tolerably certain
that leprosy by the middle of the sixteenth century had
practically disappeared. The above will show, however,
how great and terrible a thing it was between the ninth
and the sixteenth centuries.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_22_THE_TERROR_OF_FAMINE" id="chap_22_THE_TERROR_OF_FAMINE"></SPAN>22. THE TERROR OF FAMINE.</h2>
<p>Suppose that all the ocean traffic were stopped; that
there was no communication, or exchange of commodities,
between our country and another; suppose that
the people of this island depended entirely on their own
harvests and their own cattle for their support. You
would then easily understand how a single bad year
might produce scarcity of food, and a very bad year might
produce a famine. That was our condition down to the
fifteenth century. Some corn may have been brought
over from Prussia or from Hamburg; but there was no
regular supply; the country depended on its own
harvests. Therefore, the fear of a famine—or of scarcity—was
ever present to the people.</p>
<p>Many of these famines are on record. In the year
990 a famine raged over the whole of England; in 1126
there was a terrible scarcity. Wheat was sold at 6<i>s.</i> a<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_79" id="Page_79"></SPAN></span>
horseload. Now, in the twelfth century a shilling meant
more than a pound of our money, in purchasing power.
It is not stated how much constituted a horseload. It would
probably mean the filling of the two baskets hanging on
either side of the packhorse. In 1257, after a wet season
and a bad harvest, wheat rose to 24<i>s.</i> a quarter, a price
which prohibited all but the richest from eating wheaten
bread. It is said that 20,000 perished of starvation. In
1316, after the same cause, wheat became so scarce that
its price rose to 4<i>l.</i> a quarter. So great was the distress
this year, that great nobles had to dismiss their retainers;
the roads in the country were crowded with robbers.
Robberies were openly committed in the streets for the
sake of food: in the prisons the unfortunate criminals,
left to starve, murdered and devoured each other. The
people ate carrion and dead dogs. In 1335 there was
another time of scarcity and suffering; in 1439, the
distress was so great that the people made bread of fern
roots and ivy berries. Then, for the first time, we read
of the famine being assuaged by the arrival of rye from
Prussia. In 1527 a threatened famine was checked by
the Hanseatic merchants who gave, or sold, a hundred
quarters of wheat to the City and sent three ships to
Dantzig for more. In 1593 and in 1597 wheat rose to
an enormous price. The last time of scarcity was during
the long war with France, which lasted, from 1792 to
1815, nearly a quarter of a century. We were then compelled
to depend almost entirely upon our own harvests.
Wheat went up as high as 103<i>s.</i> a quarter.</p>
<p>At no time did the poorer classes depend much upon
wheat. Rye and oats made the bread of the working
people. But bad harvests affected rye and oats as much
as wheat.</p>
<p>The famine prices of wheat may be explained by the<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_80" id="Page_80"></SPAN></span>
following facts. In the reign of Henry I., at ordinary
prices, bread enough for one meal for 100 men could be
bought for a shilling and a whole sheep cost fourpence.
In the next century, when wheat was at 6<i>s.</i> a quarter, a
farthing loaf was to weigh 24 oz. whole meal and 16 oz.
white. When it was at 1<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> a quarter the farthing
loaf was to weigh 96 oz. whole grain and 64 oz. white.
The quartern loaf of 4 lb. or 64 oz. now costs 5<i>d.</i>, wheat
being very cheap. So that prices in time of plenty being
supposed the same, money was worth twenty times in that
century as much as it is worth now. In the reign of
Edward I. wheat went down to 1<i>s.</i> a quarter.</p>
<p>The food of the craftsmen in London was, in
ordinary times, plentiful and cheap. The City, as we
have seen, was always remarkable for the great abundance
of provision which was brought there. And there is
every reason to believe that while the rustic fared poorly
and was underfed, the craftsman of the towns always
enjoyed good food and enough of it. This made a time
of scarcity hard to bear for one who habitually lived
well.</p>
<p>Once or twice an attempt was made to provide the
City with granaries in case of famine. Thus the origin
of Leadenhall, the great City market, was the erecting
of a public granary here by Sir Simon Eyre in 1419.
Attached to the Hall, after the manner of the time, was
a chapel dedicated to the Holy Trinity, which the founder
endowed for 60 priests who were to prepare service every
day for those who frequented the market.</p>
<p>Another public granary was established in 1610 at
Bridewell Palace. This was built to contain 6,000
quarters of wheat.</p>
<p>Nothing more is heard about these public granaries.
Probably the public mind grew more assured on the<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_81" id="Page_81"></SPAN></span>
subject of famine as it became better understood that
the loss of one country might be made up from the
superfluous harvests of another. The lesson taught by
the Hanseatic merchants in sending to Prussia for corn
was not likely to be lost.</p>
<p>At the present moment, with means of transport
always in readiness and the electric wire joining the most
distant countries, it might seem that famine was a thing
no longer to be feared. There cannot be bad harvests
all over the world. Not only can we every year import
so much wheat that we need grow little in this country,
but we import frozen meat in vast quantities: we bring
fruit of all kinds from the most distant countries, insomuch
that there are some fruits, such as apples, oranges,
grapes, bananas, which we can enjoy the whole year round.
But famine may yet play a great and a disastrous part in
our history. We must not forget that we enjoy our present
abundance of all things on one of two conditions; first,
that we are strong enough to protect the waterway and
keep it open, or, secondly, that we remain at peace. The
latter we cannot hope to do always. Therefore it is of
vital importance that we maintain a strong fleet, well
equipped, ready to fight, at all times and at the shortest
notice, superior to any likely combination that may be
brought against us. Therefore, again, it behoves every
man in these Isles to be jealous of the fleet, for a time
may come when the way of the ocean may be closed and
when Great Britain, through the neglect of her rulers,
may be starved into a shameful and ruinous surrender.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_82" id="Page_82"></SPAN></span></p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_23_ST_PAULS_CATHEDRAL" id="chap_23_ST_PAULS_CATHEDRAL"></SPAN>23. ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL.<br/> <br/> <span style="font-weight: normal;">PART I.</span></h2>
<p>When London was converted to Christianity, in the year
610, the first Bishop of London, Mellitus, built a
church on the highest ground within the walls of the
City. This church he dedicated to St. Paul the Apostle
who first preached to the Gentiles. What kind of
church this was—whether great or small—whether of
wood or of stone—how often rebuilt or repaired—we
know not. Probably it was quite a small church at
first. This church, or its successor, was taken down in
the year 1087 when Bishop Maurice began to build a
new and far more stately Cathedral. Fifty years later
most of the church, not yet completed, was burned
down. Its building, thus delayed, was continued for
nearly two centuries. The steeple was not completed,
for instance, till a hundred and fifty years after the
commencement of the building. The drawing shows
the church as it was in the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries. Old St. Paul's was one of the largest
churches in Europe: its length was at least 600 feet;
the spire reached the height of 460 feet. The church
stood in a large walled enclosure, still kept partly open,
though the wall has long since been pulled down and
there have been encroachments on the north side.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_83" id="Page_83"></SPAN></span></p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_026.jpg" width-obs="600" height-obs="381" alt="LONDON BEFORE THE SPIRE OF ST. PAUL'S WAS BURNED: SHOWING ALSO THE BRIDGE, THE TOWER, SHIPPING, ETC." title="" /> <span class="caption">LONDON BEFORE THE SPIRE OF ST. PAUL'S WAS BURNED: SHOWING ALSO THE BRIDGE, THE TOWER, SHIPPING, ETC.</span></div>
<p>The church in the fourteenth century was not
regarded only as a place for public worship. Masses
and services of all kinds were going on all day long: the
place was bright, not only with the sunlight streaming
through the painted glass, but with wax tapers burning
before many a shrine—at some, all day and all night.
People came to the church to walk about, for rest, for
conversation, for the transaction of business—to make<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_84" id="Page_84"></SPAN></span>
or receive payments: to hire servants. The middle aisle
of the church where all this was done was called Paul's
Walk or Duke Humphrey's Walk. Here were tables
where twelve licensed scribes sat writing letters for those
who wanted their services. They would also prepare a
lease, a deed, a conveyance—any legal document. The
church was filled with tombs and monuments, some of
these very ancient, some of the greatest interest. Here
was one called the tomb of Duke Humphrey—Humphrey
Duke of Gloucester, who was really buried at St.
Alban's. On May Day the watermen used to come to
St. Paul's in order to sprinkle water and strew herbs
upon this tomb—I know not why. Those who were out
of work and went dinnerless were said to dine with Duke
Humphrey: and there was a proverb—'Trash and
trumpery is the way to Duke Humphrey.' Trumpery
being used in its original meaning—<i>tromperie</i>—<i>deceit</i>.
Among other tombs there were those of the Saxon Kings
Sebbi and Ethelred. The first of these was King of the
East Saxons. He was converted by Bishop Erkenwald.
The second was the elder brother of King Alfred. There
were tombs or shrines to many saints now forgotten—that
of St. Erkenwald, whose fame rivalled that of
Edward the Confessor at Westminster, St. Cuthbert at
Durham, and St. Thomas � Becket at Canterbury: that
of St. Ethelbert: that of St. Roger, Bishop of London—a
cope which St. Roger wore is still preserved in the
Sacristy: and that of St. Wilford. At every one of
these shrines miracles were wrought—or believed to be
wrought. There was also a miraculous crucifix said to
have been discovered by Lucius, the first Christian King
of ancient Britain in the year 140. Great gifts were
constantly made to this crucifix.</p>
<p>Under the Cathedral, in the crypt, was a parish<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_85" id="Page_85"></SPAN></span>
church—that of St. Faith's—it is now united with the
parish church of St. Augustine's in Watling Street.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_027.jpg" width-obs="500" height-obs="370" alt="OLD ST. PAULS" title="" /> <span class="caption">OLD ST. PAUL'S, FROM THE EAST. <br/> (<i>Showing its condition just before the Great Fire; from an engraving by Hollar.</i>)</span></div>
<p>Outside the church, almost against the south wall, was
the parish church of St. Gregory. In the same way the
parish church of St. Margaret's stands outside Westminster
Abbey. Within, we can see, in imagination,
the people walking about—they have not yet begun to
stand bareheaded in church—some dictating to the
scribes: some leaning against the tombs: some sitting
on the bases of the great round pillars—there
were no pews, benches, or chairs in the Cathedral: the
chantry priests are saying masses in the chapels: the<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_86" id="Page_86"></SPAN></span>
people are kneeling before the golden shrine of St.
Erkenwald, resplendent with lights, jewels, gold, and
silver: women lay their offerings before the miraculous
crucifix praying for the restoration to health of son or
husband: a wedding is celebrated in one chapel: a
funeral mass is being said in another: servants gather
about a certain pillar waiting to be hired: porters carrying
baskets on their heads enter at the north door and tramp
through, going out of the south: processions of priests
and choir pass up and down the aisles: the organ peals
and echoes along the long and lofty roof. See; here
comes a troop of men. They carry instruments of
music: they are dressed in a livery, a cloak of green:
they march together entering at the western doors and
tramping through the whole length of the church to the
chapel of Our Lady in the East. This is the Guild of
the Minstrels. There were many other guilds attached
to the Cathedral. You shall learn presently what was
the meaning of these guilds.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_24_ST_PAULS_CATHEDRAL" id="chap_24_ST_PAULS_CATHEDRAL"></SPAN>24. ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL.<br/> <br/> <span style="font-weight: normal;">PART II.</span></h2>
<p>Such was Paul's in the fifteenth century. In the sixteenth
the Reformation came. The candles were all put
out; the shrines were destroyed; the altars were taken
out of the chapels: the miraculous images were taken
away: the church, compared with its previous condition,
became a shell. The choir was walled off for public
worship: the rest of the church became a place of public
resort: the poets of the time are full of allusions to
Paul's Walk. It was a common thoroughfare even for
men leading pack horses and asses. The Cathedral, left
to neglect, began to fall into a ruinous condition. An<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_87" id="Page_87"></SPAN></span>
attempt was made at restoration: funds were collected,
but they came in slowly. Laud, who became Bishop of
London in 1631, gave an impetus to the work: the celebrated
Inigo Jones was appointed architect: in order to
prevent the church from being turned into an Exchange,
he built a West Porch, which is shown in some of the
pictures of St. Paul's. In the time of the Commonwealth
this portico was let off in shops and stalls: the
nave of the church actually became a cavalry barrack.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_028.jpg" width-obs="500" height-obs="320" alt="OLD ST. PAULS ON FIRE" title="" /> <span class="caption">OLD ST. PAUL'S ON FIRE. <br/> (<i>From Longman's 'A History of the Three Cathedrals of St. Paul's.'</i>)</span></div>
<p>When King Charles returned it was resolved to repair
and restore the cathedral, by this time almost in ruins:
but while the citizens were considering what should be
done, the Great Fire of London settled the question
by burning down all that was left.</p>
<p>Then Christopher Wren began the present building.
The first stone was laid on June 21, 1675, nine years<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_88" id="Page_88"></SPAN></span>
after the Fire. Divine service was performed on December
2, 1697, the day of thanksgiving for the Peace of
Ryswick. The work was completed in 1710, thirty-five
years after its commencement. The present church is
100 feet shorter than its predecessor: its dome is also
100 feet lower than the former spire. The grandeur of
the building cannot be appreciated by any near view,
because the houses block it in on all sides, and the
former view from the bottom of Ludgate Hill is now
spoiled by the railway bridge. Those who wish to see
what St. Paul's really is—how splendid a church it is—how
grandly it stands above the whole City—must cross
the river and look at it from Bankside, Southwark.</p>
<p>The dome is three fold: it consists of an outer casing
of wood covered with lead: a cone of bricks which supports
the lantern and cross: and an inner cupola of
brick which supports nothing. The towers at the west
end are 222 feet in height.</p>
<p>St. Paul's, especially since the crowding at Westminster
Abbey, is becoming the National Burial Church.
It is already well filled with monuments of British
worthies and heroes of this and the last century. Of men
distinguished in Literature, Art, and Science, there are
buried here Dr. Johnson, Hallam the historian, Sir
Joshua Reynolds the painter, Turner the painter, Rennie
the engineer who built Waterloo Bridge, Sir William
Jones, the great Oriental scholar, and Sir Astley Cooper,
the great surgeon. There is also buried here, as he should
be, Sir Christopher Wren himself. But those who visit the
Cathedral desire most to see the tombs of Wellington and
Nelson. The remains of the former lie in a great sarcophagus
worked out of a single piece of Cornish porphyry.
Those of the Admiral were placed first in a coffin made
from the main mast of the French ship <i>Orient</i>, taken<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_89" id="Page_89"></SPAN></span>
at the Battle of the Nile. This was deposited in a sarcophagus
made by Cardinal Wolsey and intended for the
burial of King Henry the Eighth. In the Cathedral, too,
you will find the monuments of those splendid fighting
men, Lord Collingwood, Nelson's friend: Howe and
Rodney: Earl St. Vincent, who won the battle of Cape St.
Vincent: Lord Duncan of Camperdown, and many others.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_029.jpg" width-obs="353" height-obs="500" alt="WEST FRONT OF ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL CHURCH." title="" /> <span class="caption">WEST FRONT OF ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL CHURCH. <br/> (<i>Built by Sir Christopher Wren.</i>)</span></div>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_90" id="Page_90"></SPAN></span>In the crypt you will find, if you look for it, the brass
tablet which marks the spot where lie the remains of a
man whose history should be an encouragement to every
boy who reads this book. His name was Edward Palmer.
Born without family influence, plainly educated at the
grammar school of his town, he taught himself in the
teeth of all difficulties—that of bad health especially—Arabic,
Persian, and all the languages which belong to
that group: at the age of twenty-four he was so splendid
an Oriental scholar that the greatest Orientalist at Cambridge
declared that he could teach him nothing. He
was elected to a Fellowship at St. John's College and
became the Lord Almoner's Professor of Arabic. He
mastered, in addition to his Oriental studies, all the
European languages except Russian and the Slavonic
group. He explored the Desert of the Exodus and the
Peninsula of Sinai. He did a great deal of literary work.
But he was not buried in St. Paul's Cathedral for these
studies. In the year 1882, when the Egyptian War
broke out, he was sent on a secret mission to the tribes
of the Desert. He knew them all: he could talk their
language as well as his own: he was the equal of any
one in his knowledge of Arabic poetry and his power of
telling stories: they welcomed him with open arms: the
service that he rendered to his country for which he was
honoured with a funeral at St. Paul's, was that he prevented
these tribes from destroying the Suez Canal. He<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_91" id="Page_91"></SPAN></span>
succeeded in reaching the British camp at Suez in safety,
his task accomplished, the safety of the Canal assured.
He was murdered in return by a party of Egyptian
Arabs sent from Cairo. His bones were recovered by
Sir Charles Warren—who further tracked down and
hanged every man connected with the murder. The
road to possible greatness lies open to all, but the way
leads through a difficult and thorny way only to be
passed, as Palmer found, by resolution invincible and by
long patient industry.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_25_PAULS_CHURCHYARD" id="chap_25_PAULS_CHURCHYARD"></SPAN>25. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD.</h2>
<p>St. Paul's Cathedral stood in the centre of an oval-shaped
enclosure very much like the present St. Paul's Churchyard,
save that the houses now in the north are an
encroachment. This open space was surrounded by a
wall, in which were six gates embattled. The first was
the Great Western Gate, facing Ludgate Hill: the
second in Paul's Alley in Paternoster Row: the third at
Canon Alley: the fourth, or Little Gate, where is now
the entrance into Cheapside: the fifth, St. Augustine's
Gate, Watling Street: the sixth at Paul's Chain.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_030.jpg" width-obs="452" height-obs="500" alt="PAUL'S CROSS." title="" /> <span class="caption">PAUL'S CROSS.</span></div>
<p>Walking round this enclosure we come first upon the
Bishop's Palace, standing on the north side of the Nave.
The Palace was provided with a private entrance into
the Cathedral. Beyond the Palace was a very beautiful
cloister called Pardon Church Haugh. In this cloister
stood a chapel built by Gilbert, father of Thomas �
Becket. Many monuments and tombs of great persons
stood within this cloister, which was also remarkable for
its 'Dances of Death.' This was a series of paintings
representing Death as a skeleton armed with a dart, leading
by the hand men and women of every degree, from
the highest to the lowest. There were formerly many<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_92" id="Page_92"></SPAN></span>
examples of such dances. Next to the cloister was the
library, the catalogue of which still exists to show what
a scholar's collection of books then meant. Next to the
library stood the College of the Minor Canons: then
came Charnel Chapel, beneath which was a crypt filled
with human bones taken from the churchyard. Remember
that this has been a burial place ever since<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_93" id="Page_93"></SPAN></span>
the year 610, when a church was first built here. From
the year 610 till the year 1840, or for a period of 1,200
years, new graves were continually made in this ground.
Who can guess how many thousands lie buried here?
Every handful of the dust is a handful of human remains.
From time to time, however, the bones were
collected and placed in this crypt of Charnel Chapel.
The chapel itself was apparently a large building, for
when it was pulled down the materials were used by the
Duke of Somerset at the Reformation in building Somerset
House in the Strand. There are yet standing some
portions of the original house, so that the stones of
Charnel Chapel may still be seen. As for the crypt, they
carried away the bones, which made a thousand cartloads,
and laid them over Finsbury Fields, covering them
with ground, on which were erected three windmills.
The site is marked by the street called Windmill Street.</p>
<p>Next to Charnel Chapel stood the famous Paul's
Cross.</p>
<p>This famous place was a Pulpit Cross, from which
sermons might be preached in the open air. Several
London churches had their open-air pulpits: notably
St. Michael's, Cornhill; St. Mary's Spital, without
Bishopsgate—at this Cross a sermon was preached
every Easter to the Lord Mayor and aldermen. When
Paul's Cross was erected is not known: it probably
stood on the site of some scaffold or steps, from which
the people were anciently harangued, for this was the
place of the folk-mote, or meeting of the people. Here
were read aloud, and proclaimed, the King's Laws and
Orders: here the people were informed of War and
Peace: here Papal Bulls were read. There was a cross
standing here in the year 1256—very likely it was
already ancient. In the year 1387 it was ruinous and<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_94" id="Page_94"></SPAN></span>
had to be repaired. It was again repaired or rebuilt in
1480. Paul's Cross played a very important part in the
Reformation. Here the 'Rood' of Bexley, which was a
crucifix where the eyes and lips were made to move
and the people were taught that it was miraculous, was
exposed and broken to pieces: here the famous images
of Walsingham and Ipswich, the object of so many pilgrimages,
were brought to be broken to pieces before the
eyes of the people. Here Latimer preached, a man of
the people who could speak to them in a way to make
them understand. Had it not been for the preaching of
Latimer and others like him in plain language, the
Reformation would have been an attempt, and probably
a failure, to enforce upon the people the opinions of
certain scholars. Paul's Cross did not perish in the
Fire: it was taken down in the year 1643, or thereabouts,
in order to be rebuilt; but this was not done,
and when the Fire destroyed the Cathedral Paul's Cross
was forgotten. Its site may be seen in the churchyard
at the N.E. corner of the choir, marked by a flat stone,
but it must be remembered that the old church was
wider but farther south.</p>
<p>On the south side of Paul's Churchyard we pass
in succession the beautiful Chapter House: the Church
of St. Gregory and the Deanery. Close to the western
gate are residences for the Canons, south of the enclosure
are the Cathedral Brewhouse and Bakehouse.</p>
<p>Such are some of the buildings in Paul's Churchyard.
The Cathedral establishment supported a great
army of priests and people. For many of them, perhaps
for most, there were residences of some kind either
within the enclosure or close beside it. Thus the
priests, including Bishop, Dean, Archdeacons and Canons,
a hundred and thirty in number: then there were the<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_95" id="Page_95"></SPAN></span>
inferior officers: yet persons of consideration and
authority, such as Sacrist, Almoner, Bookbinder,
Chief Brewer, Chief Baker, with all their servants:
scribes, messengers, bookbinders, illuminators and copyists:
singing-men and choir boys, and women to keep
the church clean. When we add that the Brewer had
to provide 200 gallons of beer a day, it is obvious that
there must have been a good many people belonging to
the Cathedral who lived in the enclosure called the
Churchyard.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_26_THE_RELIGIOUS_HOUSES" id="chap_26_THE_RELIGIOUS_HOUSES"></SPAN>26. THE RELIGIOUS HOUSES.</h2>
<p>If we take a map of London in the fourteenth century
and lay down upon it all the monasteries and religious
Houses that then existed we shall find twenty, all rich
and splendid Foundations, without counting those of
Westminster and the villages within a few miles of
London Stone. These were built for the most part either
just within or just without the City wall. The reason
was that the City was less densely populated near the wall
than lower down along the river-side. Every one of these
Societies was possessed of estates in the country and
streets and houses in the City. Every one then retained,
besides the monks or friars and nuns, a whole army of
officers and servants. A great monastery provided employment
for a very large number of people. In every
separate estate which belonged to it, the monastery
wanted tenant farmers, foresters and hunters, labourers,
stewards and bailiffs, a curate or vicar in charge of the
church and all the officers who are required for the management
of an estate. For the House itself there were
wanted first, the service of the chapel, apart from the
singing which was done by the brethren: the school:<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_96" id="Page_96"></SPAN></span>
the library: lawyers and clerks to administer the
estates and guard the rights and privileges of the House:
the brewhouse, bakehouse, kitchen, cellar, stables, with
all the officers and servants required in a place where
everything was made in the house; the architects, surveyors,
carpenters and people wanted to maintain the
buildings. It is not too much to reckon that a fourth
part of the population of London belonged in some way
or other to the monasteries, while these Houses were
certainly the best customers for the wines, silks and
spices which were brought to the quays of Queenhithe
and Billingsgate.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_031.jpg" width-obs="500" height-obs="308" alt="BERMONDSEY ABBEY." title="" /> <span class="caption">BERMONDSEY ABBEY.</span></div>
<p>It is generally believed that the monasteries, besides
relieving the sick and poor and teaching the boys and
girls, threw open their doors readily to any poor lad who
desired to take the vows of the Order.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_032.jpg" width-obs="500" height-obs="381" alt="RUINS OF GATEWAY OF BERMONDSEY ABBEY." title="" /> <span class="caption">RUINS OF GATEWAY OF BERMONDSEY ABBEY.</span></div>
<p>All this is a misconception: there were the same difficulties
about relieving the poor as there are with us at the
present moment. That is to say, indiscriminate charity<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_97" id="Page_97"></SPAN></span>
then, as now, turned honest working men into paupers.
This the monks and friars understood very well. They
were therefore careful about their charities. Also in
many Houses the school was allowed to drop into disuse.
And as regards the admission of poor boys it was done
only in cases where a boy showed himself quick and
studious. It has been the glory of the Church in all
ages that she has refused to recognise any barrier of
birth: but she has also been careful to preserve her distinctions
for those who deserve them. Most of the
brethren in a rich Foundation were of gentle birth and
good family. If a poor boy asked to join a monastery he
was lucky if he was allowed to become one of its servants
and to wear its livery. Then his livelihood was assured.
There is every reason to believe that the rule of the<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_98" id="Page_98"></SPAN></span>
brethren, strict for themselves, was light and easy for
their servants. You may find out for yourselves where
the London monasteries were, by the names of streets now
standing on their sites. Thus, following the line of the
wall from the Tower north and west you find St. Katharine's
Dock where stood St. Katharine's Hospital: the
Minories marks the House of the Minorites or Sisters
of St. Clare; Great St. Helens is on the site of St.
Helen's Nunnery: Spital Square stands where St. Mary's
Spital formerly received the sick: Blackfriars, Charter
House and Bartholomew's still keep their name: Austin
Friars is the name of a court and the Friars' Church
still stands: Whitefriars is still the name of a street:
Grey Friars is Christ's Hospital: the Temple is now the
lawyer's home; part of the Church of the Knights Hospitallers
is still to be seen. Three great Houses, it is
true, have left no trace or memory behind. Eastminster
or the Cistercian Abbey of St. Mary of Grace, which
stood north of St. Katharine's, and was a very great and
stately place indeed: the Priory of the Holy Trinity,
which stood where is now Duke's Place, north of the
church of St. Catharine Cree: and St. Mary of Bethlehem,
which stood just outside Bishopsgate. The memory of
Bermondsey Abbey and St. Mary Overy on the south
side of the river has also departed, but the church of
the latter still stands, the most beautiful church in
London next to Westminster Abbey.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_033.jpg" width-obs="500" height-obs="356" alt="Christ's Hospital" title="" /> <span class="caption">Christ's Hospital</span></div>
<p>But besides all these religious Houses employing
thousands of people, there were in the City of London
no fewer than 126 parish churches. Many of the parishes
were extremely small—a single street—or half a street:
many of the churches were insignificant: but many were
rich and costly structures, adorned and beautified by the
piety of many generations: all were endowed with funds<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_99" id="Page_99"></SPAN></span>
for the saying of masses for the dead, so that there were
many priests to every parish. Consider these things and
you will understand that the City was filled with ecclesiastics—priests,
friars, servants of the Church: at
every corner rose a church: to one standing on the other
bank of the river the City presented a forest of spires and
towers. The church then occupied a far larger part of
the daily life than is now the case even with Catholic
countries. All were expected to attend a daily service:
the trade companies went to church in state:
young men belonged to a guild: the ringing of the bells
was never silent: no one could escape, if he desired, from
the Church. No one did desire to escape, because every
one belonged to the Church. You must understand, not
only that the Church was so great and rich that it owned
and ruled a very large part of the country, but also that<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_100" id="Page_100"></SPAN></span>
the people all belonged to the Church: it was part of
their life as much as their daily work, their daily food,
their daily rest.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_27_MONKS_FRIARS_AND_NUNS" id="chap_27_MONKS_FRIARS_AND_NUNS"></SPAN>27. MONKS, FRIARS, AND NUNS.</h2>
<p>We must not speak of monks indiscriminately as if they
were all the same. There were as many varieties
among the Orders as there are sects among Protestants
and as much rivalry and even hatred of one with the
other. Let us learn some of the distinctions among
them.</p>
<p>Monks were first introduced into Western Europe in
the year 529. There had long been brotherhoods,
hermits, and solitaries in the East, where they existed
before the Christian age. St. Benedict founded at Monte
Casino in Campania a monastery for twelve brethren in
that year. The Benedictines are the most ancient Order:
they have also been always the most learned. The Priory
of the Holy Trinity in London was Benedictine. Several
branches sprang out of this Order, mostly founded with
the view of practising greater austerities. Among them
were the Carthusians, a very strict Order—in London
they had the Charter House, a name which is a corruption
of Chartreuse, their original House: and the Cistercians,
founded at Citeaux in France—they had Eastminster,
or the Abbey of St. Mary of Grace. All these
were monks.</p>
<p>The Augustine, or Austin Friars, pretended to have
been founded by Augustine, but were not constituted
until the year 1256. They had the monastery of Austin
Friars in London. There were several branches of this
Order.</p>
<p>There were next the three great Mendicant Orders,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_101" id="Page_101"></SPAN></span>
Franciscans, Dominicans, and Carmelites. These were
the popular Orders. The monks remained in their
Houses alone, separated from the world. The friars
went about among the people. By their vows they were
to possess nothing of their own: they were to sleep
where they could: they were to beg their food and
raiment: they were to preach to the people in the
streets and in their houses: they were to bring the rites
of the Church to those who would not enter the doors of
the Church. None were to be too poor or too miserable
for them. In their humility they would not be called
fathers but brothers—fratres—friars. In their preaching
they used every way by which they could move the
hearts of the people; some thundered, some wept,
some made jokes. They preached in the midst of the
markets, among the sports of the Fair, wherever they
could get an audience together.</p>
<p>The Franciscans, who had Grey Friars House, now
the Bluecoat School, were founded by St. Francis of
Assisi in the beginning of the thirteenth century. They
came over to England and appeared in London a few
years later. On account of their austerities and the
faithfulness with which the earlier Franciscans kept
their vows and the earnestness of their preaching they
became very popular in this country. Their name—Grey
Friars—denotes the colour of their dress. The old
simplicity and poverty did not last long. It must, however,
be acknowledged that wealth was forced upon
them.</p>
<p>The Dominicans were founded by St. Dominic about
the year 1215. Sixty years later they came to London
and established themselves in the place still known by
their name—Blackfriars. Their dress was white with a
black cloak. They were never so popular as the Franciscans<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_102" id="Page_102"></SPAN></span>
perhaps because they insisted more on doctrine,
and were associated with the Inquisition.</p>
<p>The third of the Mendicant Orders was the Carmelite.
They were the Whitefriars, their dress being white with
a black hood. Their House was in Fleet Street. Here
was a sanctuary whose privileges were not abolished till
the year 1697.</p>
<p>Other Orders represented in London were the Cluniacs,
a branch of Benedictines—they had the Abbey of St.
Saviour in Bermondsey; the Black Canons, established
at St. Bartholomew's: the Canons Regular of St.
Augustin—who had the Southwark Priory of St. Mary
Overie: the Knights Templars; and the Knights of St.
John.</p>
<p>As a general rule it is enough to remember that the
monks were Benedictines with their principal branches of
Carthusians, Cistercians, and Cluniacs: that the friars
were those named after Augustine, Dominic, Francis,
and Mount Carmel; that the monks remained in their
Houses, practising a life of austerity and prayer—so long
as they were faithful to their vows: and that the friars
went about among the people, preaching and exhorting
them.</p>
<p>Of the nunneries some were Benedictine, some Franciscan:
that of the Minorites belonged to the latter
Order: that of St. Helen's, to the former.</p>
<p>The Religious Houses were dissolved at the Reformation.
You must remember that if it had not been for
the existence of these Houses, most of the arts, science,
and scholarship of the world would have perished utterly.
The monks kept alive learning of all kinds: they
encouraged painting: they were discoverers and inventors
in science: they were the chief agriculturists
and gardeners: they offered an asylum to the poor and<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_103" id="Page_103"></SPAN></span>
the oppressed. 'The friendship of the poor,' said Bernard,
'makes us the friends of Kings.' And in an age
of unrestrained passions they showed an example of self-restraint
and austerity. The friars did more: they
were poor among the poor: no one was below their
care and affection: they had nothing—they would take
nothing—at first: till the love and gratitude of the
people showered gifts upon them and even against their
will, if they still retained any love for poverty, they
became rich.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_28_THE_LONDON_CHURCHES" id="chap_28_THE_LONDON_CHURCHES"></SPAN>28. THE LONDON CHURCHES.</h2>
<p>Before the Great Fire of London there were 126
churches and parishes in the City. Most of these were
destroyed by the Fire, and many were never rebuilt at
all. Two or even three and four parishes were united
in one church. Of late years there has been a destruction
of City churches almost as disastrous as that of the
Fire. Those who have learned from this book, and elsewhere,
to respect the monuments of the past and to
desire their preservation, should do their utmost to prevent
the demolition of these churches, in consideration
of their history and their association with the past.</p>
<p>Looking at a picture of London after the Fire, you
will certainly remark the great number of spires and
towers. London, in fact, was then, and much more so
before the Fire, a city of churches. Those which are
here represented and those which now remain are nearly
all the work of Christopher Wren, the architect of St.
Paul's. Many of them are very beautiful internally;
many have been decorated and adorned with the most
splendid carved woodwork. About many there cling the
memories of dead men and great men who worshipped<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_104" id="Page_104"></SPAN></span>
here and made gifts to the church and were buried
here.</p>
<p>Let us show, by a few examples, how worthy these
City churches are of preservation and respect.</p>
<p>First, many of them stand on the sites of the most
ancient churches in the history of London. Those about
Thames Street, dedicated to St. Peter, St. Paul (the
Cathedral), St. James, probably represent Christian
temples of Roman London. The church of St. Martin's,
Ludgate Hill, was traditionally built by a British prince:
that of St. Peter, Cornhill, by a Roman general. The
tradition proves at least the antiquity of the churches.
St. Augustine's preserves the memory of the preacher
who converted the Saxons. St. Olave's and St. Magnus
mark the Danish rule: St. Dunstan's, St. Alphege, St.
Ethelburga, St. Swithin, St. Botolph, commemorate Saxon
saints. Why, for instance, are there three churches
all dedicated to St. Botolph just outside City gates?
Because this saint—after whom the Lincolnshire town
of Icanhoe changed its name to Botolph's town, now
Boston—was considered the special protector of travellers.
Then the names of churches still commemorate some
fact in history. St. Mary Woolnoth, marks the wool
market: St. Osyth's—the name exists in Sise Lane, was
changed into St. Bene't Shere Hog—or Skin-the-Pig—because
the stream called Walbrook which ran close by
was used for the purpose of assisting this operation. St.
Austin's was the chapel of Austin Friars Monastery.
St. Andrew's Undershaft tells that the City May Pole
was hung up along its wall. St. Andrew's-by-the-Wardrobe
commemorates the existence of the Palace formerly
called the King's Wardrobe. In St. Michael's Bassishaw
survives the name of an old City family—the Basings.
In St. Martin Orgar's—now destroyed—we have another
old City name—Orgar.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_105" id="Page_105"></SPAN></span></p>
<p>Or, again, there are the people who are buried or were
baptised in these churches.</p>
<p>In All Hallows, Bread Street, now pulled down, was
baptised the greatest poet of our country, John Milton.
For this cause alone the church should never have been
suffered to fall into decay. It was wickedly and wantonly
destroyed for the sake of the money its site would fetch in
the year 1877. When you visit Bow Church, Cheapside,
look for the tablet to the memory of Milton, now fixed
in that church. It belonged to All Hallows, Bread Street.</p>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">Three poets in three distant ages born,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Greece, Italy, and England did adorn:<br/></span>
<span class="i0">The first in loftiness of thought surpassed,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">The next in majesty—in both the last.<br/></span>
<span class="i0">The force of Nature could no further go;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">To make a third she joined the other two.<br/></span></div>
</div>
<p>Christ Church, Newgate, stands on part of the site
once occupied by the splendid church of the Grey Friars.
Four Queens lie buried here, and an immense number
of princes and great soldiers and nobles.</p>
<p>Very few people, of the thousands who daily walk up
and down Fleet Street, know anything about the statue
in the wall of St. Dunstan's Church. This is the statue
of Queen Elizabeth which formerly stood on the west side
of Lud Gate. This gate was taken down in the year
1760, and some time after the statue was placed here.
One of the sights of London before the old church was
pulled down was a clock with the figure of a savage on
each side who struck the hours and the quarters on a
bell with clubs. London has seldom been without some
such show. As long ago as the fifteenth century there
was a clock with figures in Fleet Street. Tyndal the
Reformer, and Baxter the famous Nonconformist were
preachers in this church.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_106" id="Page_106"></SPAN></span></p>
<p>St. Mary le Bow, was so called because it was the
first church in the City built on arches—bows—of stone.
The church is most intimately connected with the life
and history of the City. Bow Bell rang for the closing
of the shops. If the ringer was late the prentice boys
reminded him pretty plainly.</p>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">'Clarke of the Bow Bell with thy yellow lockes:<br/></span>
<span class="i0">In thy late ringing, thy head shall have knockes.'<br/></span></div>
</div>
<p>To which the clerk replied:</p>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">'Children of Chepe, hold you all stille:<br/></span>
<span class="i0">For you shall have Bow Bell ring at your will.'<br/></span></div>
</div>
<p>St. Mary's Woolnoth was for many years the church
of the Rev. John Newton, once the poet Cowper's friend.
He began his life in the merchant service and was for
many years engaged in the slave trade.</p>
<p>For these reasons—their antiquity, their history,
their associations—the destruction of the City churches
ought to be resisted with the utmost determination.
You who read this page may very possibly become
parishioners of such a church. Learn that, without the
consent of the parishioners, no church can be destroyed.
A meeting of parishioners must be called: they must
vote and decide. Do not forget this privilege. The
time may come when your vote and your's alone, may
retain for your posterity a church rich in history and
venerable with the traditions of the past.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_29_THE_STREETS" id="chap_29_THE_STREETS"></SPAN>29. THE STREETS.</h2>
<p>You have seen how the wall surrounded Roman London.
The same wall which defended and limited Augusta
defended and limited Plantagenet London. Outside the
wall on the east there continued to extend wide marshes<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_107" id="Page_107"></SPAN></span>
along the river; moorlands and forest on the north;
marshes with rising ground on the west; marshes on the
south. Wapping was called Wapping in the Wose
(Wash or Ouze), meaning in the Marsh: Bermondsey
was Bermond's Island, standing in the marsh: Battersea
was Batter's Island, or perhaps Island of Boats: Chelsea
was the Island of Chesel or Shingle: Westminster Abbey
was built on the Isle of Thorns. The monasteries
standing outside the wall attracted a certain number of
serving people who built houses round them: some of the
riverside folk—boat-builders, lightermen, and so forth—were
living in the precinct of St. Katharine, just outside
the Tower: all along the Strand were great men's houses,
one of which, the Somerset House, still stands in altered
form, and another, Northumberland House, was only
pulled down a few years ago. Southwark had a single
main street with a few branches east and west: it also
contained several great houses, and was provided with
many Inns for the use of those who brought their goods
from Kent and Surrey to London Market. It was
also admitted as a ward. On either side of the High
Street lay marshes. The river was banked—hence the
name Bank Side—but it is not known at what time.</p>
<p>That part of the wall fronting the river had long
been pulled down, but the stairs were guarded with iron
chains, and there was a river police which rowed about
among the shipping at night.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_108" id="Page_108"></SPAN></span></p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_034.jpg" width-obs="600" height-obs="430" alt="CHEPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY." title="" /> <span class="caption">CHEPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.</span></div>
<p>The streets and lanes of London within the walls were
very nearly the same as they are at present, except for
the great thoroughfares constructed within the last
thirty years. That is to say, when one entered at
Lud Gate and passed through Paul's Churchyard, he
found himself in the broad street, the market place of
the City, known as Chepe. This continued to the place
where the Royal Exchange now stands, where it broke
off into two branches, Cornhill and Lombard Street.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_109" id="Page_109"></SPAN></span>
These respectively led into Leadenhall Street and Fenchurch
Street, which united again before Aldgate.
Another leading thoroughfare crossed the City from
London Bridge to Bishopsgate, and another, Thames
Street, by far the most important, because here the
merchant adventurers—those who had ships and imported
goods—met for the transaction of business. The rough
cobbled pavement of Thames Street was the Exchange
of Whittington and the merchants of his time, who all
had their houses on the rising ground, among the
narrow lanes north of the street. You have seen what
splendid houses a London merchant loved to build.
What kind of house did the retailer and the craftsman
occupy? It was of stone in the lower parts, but the
upper storey was generally of wood, and the roof was
too often thatched. The window was glazed in the
upper part, but had open work and shutter for the lower
half: this half, with the door, stood open during the
greater part of the year. The lower room was the
living room, and sometimes the work room of the
occupant. The upper floor contained the bed rooms.
There was but one fireplace in the house—that in the
living room. At the back of the house was generally a
small garden. But, besides these houses, there were
courts dark, narrow, noisome, where the huts were still
'wattle and daub,' that is, built with posts, the sides
filled in with branches or sticks and clay or mud, the
fire in the middle of the floor, the chimney overhead.
And still, as in Saxon times, the great danger to the
City was from fire.</p>
<p>Men of the same trade still congregated together for
convenience. When all lived together the output would
be regulated, prices maintained, and wages agreed upon.
Nothing was more hateful to the medi�val trader than<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_110" id="Page_110"></SPAN></span>
forestalling and regrating. To forestall was to buy
things before they arrived at market with intent to sell
at a higher price. To regrate was to buy up in the
market and sell again in the same market at an advanced
price. To undersell your neighbour was then also an
unpardonable crime. You discover, therefore, that trade
in Plantagenet London was not like trade in Victorian
London. Then, all men of the same trade stood by
each other and were brothers: now, too often, men of
the same trade are enemies.</p>
<p>The names of streets show the nature of the trades
carried on in them. Turners and makers of wooden
cups and platters, Wood Street: ironmongers, in their
Lane: poultry sellers, the Poultry: bakers, Bread
Street: and so on. Chepe was the great retail market
of the City. It was built over gradually, but in early
times it was a broad market covered with stalls, like the
market-place of Norwich, for instance; these stalls were
ranged in lines and streets: churches stood about among
the lines. Then the stalls, which had been temporary
wooden structures, were changed into permanent shops,
which were also the houses of the tenants: the living
room and kitchen were behind the shop: the master
and his family slept above, and the prentices slept under
the counter.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_035.jpg" width-obs="382" height-obs="500" alt="LARGE SHIP AND BOAT OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY." title="" /> <span class="caption">LARGE SHIP AND BOAT OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. <br/> (<i>The mainsail of the ship has the Beauchamp arms, and the streamer the bear and ragged staff. From the 'Life of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick,' by John Rous; drawn about 1485.</i>)</span></div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_30_WHITTINGTON" id="chap_30_WHITTINGTON"></SPAN>30 WHITTINGTON.<br/> <br/> <span style="font-weight: normal;">PART I.</span></h2>
<p>The story of Dick Whittington has been a favourite
legend for many generations. The boy coming up to
London poor and friendless; lying despairing on the
green slope of Highgate; resolved to return to the
country since he can find no work in London: the falling
upon his ears of the bells of Bow, wafted across the<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_111" id="Page_111"></SPAN></span>
fields by the south wind—every child knows all this.
What did the bells say to him—the soft and mellow
bells, calling to him across four miles of fields? 'Turn
again, Whittington—Turn again, Whittington—Lord
Mayor of London—Turn again, Whittington.' He did
turn, as we know, and became not once, but four times
Lord Mayor of London and entertained kings, and was
the richest merchant of his time. And all through a cat—we
know how the cat began his fortune.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_112" id="Page_112"></SPAN></span></p>
<p>That is the familiar legend. Now you shall learn
the truth.</p>
<p>There was a Dick Whittington: and he was Lord
Mayor of London—to be accurate, he was Mayor of
London, for the title of Lord Mayor did not yet exist.</p>
<p>He was not a poor and friendless lad by any means.
He belonged to a good family, his father, Sir William
Whittington, Knight, being owner of an estate in Herefordshire
called Soler's Hope, and one in Gloucestershire
called Pauntley. The father was buried at Pauntley
Church, where his shield may still be seen. Richard was
the youngest of three sons of whom the eldest, William,
died without children: and the second, Robert, had sons
of whom one, Guy, fought at Agincourt. From the
second son there are descendants to this day.</p>
<p>Richard, at the age of fourteen, was sent to London,
where he had connections. Many country people had
connections in London who were merchants. Remember
that in those days it would be impossible for a boy to
rise from poverty to wealth and distinction by trade.
Such a lad might rise in the church, or even, but I know
not of any instance, by distinguished valour on the field
of battle. Most certainly, he would be prenticed to a craft
and a craftsman he would remain all his life. Whittington
was a gentleman: that was the first and necessary condition
to promotion: he came to London, not to learn
a craft at all, but to be apprenticed to his cousin Sir John<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_113" id="Page_113"></SPAN></span>
Fitzwarren, Mercer and Merchant Adventurer. The
Mercers were the richest and most important company
in London: the merchant adventurers were those—the
foremost among the Mercers—who owned ships which
they despatched abroad with exports and with which
they imported stuffs and merchandise to the Port of
London. Whittington's master may have had a shop
or stall in Chepe—but he was a great importer of silks,
satins, cloth of gold, velvets, embroideries, precious
stones, and all splendid materials required for an age of
splendid costume.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_036.jpg" width-obs="358" height-obs="500" alt="A SEA-FIGHT." title="" /> <span class="caption">A SEA-FIGHT. <br/> (<i>From the 'Life of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick'; drawn by John Rous about 1485.</i>)</span></div>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_114" id="Page_114"></SPAN></span>What is the meaning of the 'cat' story? Immediately
after Whittington's death the story was spread
about. When his executors repaired Newgate they
placed a carven cat on the outside: when Whittington's
nephews, a few years later, built a house in Gloucester
they placed a carven cat over the door in recognition of
the story. All sorts of explanations have been offered.
First, that there never was any cat at all. Next, that
by a 'cat' is meant a kind of ship, a collier. Thirdly,
that the cat is symbolical and means something else.
Why need we go out of our way at all? A cat at that
time was a valuable animal: not by any means common:
in certain countries where rats were a nuisance a cat
was very valuable indeed. Why should not the lad
entrust a kitten to one of his master's skippers with
instructions to sell it for him in any Levantine port at
which the vessel might touch? Then he would naturally
ever afterwards refer to the sale of the cat, the first venture
of his own, as the beginning and foundation of his
fortune. But you must believe about the cat whatever
you please. The story has been told of other men. There
was a Portuguese sailor, named Alphonso, who was
wrecked on the Coast of Guinea. He carried a cat safely<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_115" id="Page_115"></SPAN></span>
ashore and sold her to the King for her weight in gold:
with this for his first capital he rapidly made a large
fortune. Again, one Diego Almagro, a companion of
Pizarro, bought the first cat ever taken to South America
for 600 pieces of eight. And the story is found in
Persia and in Denmark, and I dare say all over the
world. Yet I believe in its literal truth.</p>
<p>In the year 1378 Whittington's name first appears
in the City papers. He was then perhaps twenty-one—but
the date of his birth is uncertain—and was already
in trade, not, as yet, very far advanced, for his assessment
shows that as yet he was in the lowest and poorest class
of the wholesale Mercers.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_31_WHITTINGTON" id="chap_31_WHITTINGTON"></SPAN>31. WHITTINGTON.<br/> <br/> <span style="font-weight: normal;">PART II.</span></h2>
<p>For nearly fifty years after this Whittington leads an
active, busy, prosperous life. It was a distracted time,
full of troubles and anxieties. A Charter obtained in 1376,
two or three years before he began business, was probably
the real foundation of Whittington's fortune. For it
forbade foreign merchants to sell by retail. This meant
that a foreign ship bringing wine to the port of London
could only dispose of her merchandise to the wholesale
vintners: or one bringing silk could only sell it to wholesale
mercers. The merchants, no doubt, intended to use
this Charter for the furtherance of their own shipping
interests.</p>
<p>This important Charter, presented by the King, was
nearly lost a little after, when there was trouble about
Wycliffe. The great scholar was ordered to appear at
St. Paul's Cathedral before the Archbishop of Canterbury<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_116" id="Page_116"></SPAN></span>
and the Bishop of London, to answer charges of heresy.
He was not an unprotected and friendless man, and he
appeared at the Cathedral under the protection of the
powerful John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, son of
King Edward III. The Bishop of London rebuked the
Duke for protecting heretics, so the Duke, enraged,
threatened to pull the Bishop out of his own church by
the hair of his head. The people outside shouted that
they would all die before the Bishop should suffer indignity.
John of Gaunt rode off to Westminster and
proposed that the office of Mayor should be abolished
and that the Marshal of England should hold his court
in the City—in other words, that even the liberties and
Charters of the City should be swept clean away. Then
the Londoners rushed to the Savoy, the Duke's palace,
and would have sacked and destroyed it but for the
Bishop. This story indicates the kind of danger to
which, in those ages, the City was liable. There were no
police; a popular tumult easily and suddenly became
a rebellion: no one knew what might happen when the
folk met together and wild passions of unreasoning fury
were aroused.</p>
<p>Another danger of the time for the peaceful merchant.
For some years the navigation of the North Sea and the
Channel was greatly impeded by a Scottish privateer
or pirate named Mercer. In vain had the City made
representations to the King. Nothing was done, and
the pirate grew daily stronger and bolder. Then Sir
John Philpot, the Mayor, did a very patriotic thing. He
built certain ships of his own, equipped them with arms,
went on board as captain or admiral, and manned them
with a thousand stout fellows. He found the pirate off
Scarborough, fell upon him, slew him with all his men
and returned to London Port with all his own ships and<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_117" id="Page_117"></SPAN></span>
all the pirate's ships—including fifteen Spanish vessels
which had joined Mercer.</p>
<p>The King pretended to be angry with this private
mode of carrying on war, but the thing was done, and
it was a very good thing, and profitable to London and
to the King himself, therefore when Sir John Philpot
gave the King the arms and armour of a thousand men
and all his own ships and prize ships, the Royal clemency
was not difficult to obtain. I wish that I could state
that Whittington had sailed with Sir John on this
gallant expedition.</p>
<p>A third trouble arose in the year 1381 on the rebellion
of the peasants under John Ball, Wat Tyler, Jack the
Miller, Jack the Carter, and Jack Trewman. The rebels
held possession of the City for awhile. They destroyed
the Savoy, the Temple and the houses of the foreign
merchants (this shows that they had been joined by
some of the London people). They murdered the Archbishop
of Canterbury and the Prior of St. John's Hospital.
Then the citizens roused themselves and with an army
of 6,000 men stood in ranks to defend the King.</p>
<p>Then there happened the troubles of John of Northampton,
Mayor in 1382. You have learned how trades
of all kinds were banded together each in its own Company.
Every Company had the right of regulating prices. Thus
the Fishmongers sold their fish at a price ordered by the
Warden or Master of the Company. It is easy to understand
that this might lead to murmurs against the high
price of fish or of anything else. This, in fact, really
happened. It was a time of great questioning and doubt;
the rising of Wat Tyler shows that this spirit was abroad.
The craftsmen of London, those who made things,
grumbled loudly at the price of provisions. They asked
why the City should not take over the trade in food of<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_118" id="Page_118"></SPAN></span>
all kinds and sell it to the people at lower prices. John
of Northampton being Mayor, took the popular view.
He did not exactly make over the provisioning of the
City to the Corporation, but he first obtained an Act of
Parliament throwing open the calling of fishmonger
to all comers; and then another which practically
abolished the trade of grocers, pepperers, fruiterers,
butchers, and bakers. Imagine the rage with which such
an Act would now be received by London tradesmen!</p>
<p>The next Mayor, however, obtained the rescinding of
these Acts. In consequence, fish went up in price and
there was a popular tumult, upon which one man was
hanged and John of Northampton was sent to the Castle
of Tintagel on the Cornish Coast, where he remained for
the rest of his life.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_32_WHITTINGTON" id="chap_32_WHITTINGTON"></SPAN>32. WHITTINGTON.<br/> <br/> <span style="font-weight: normal;">PART III.</span></h2>
<p>In the year 1384, being then about twenty-six years of
age, Whittington was elected a member of the Common
Council. In the year 1389 he was assessed at the same
sum as the richest citizen. So that these ten years of
his life were evidently very prosperous. In the year
1393 he was made Alderman for Broad Street Ward.
In the same year he was made Sheriff. In the year
1396, the Mayor, Adam Bamme, dying in office, Whittington
succeeded him. The following year he was
elected Mayor.</p>
<p>In the year 1401, water was brought from Tyburn
(now the N.E. corner of Hyde Park) to Cornhill in pipes,
a great and important boon to the City.</p>
<p>In the year 1406 he was again elected Mayor. The
manner of his election is described in the contemporary<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_119" id="Page_119"></SPAN></span>
records. After service in the chapel of the Guildhall,
the outgoing Mayor, with all the Aldermen and as many
as possible of the wealthier and more substantial
Commoners of the City, met in the Guildhall and chose
two of their number, viz., Richard Whittington and
Drew Barentyn. Then the Mayor receiving this nomination
retired into a closed chamber with the Aldermen
and made choice of Whittington.</p>
<p>In the year 1419 he was elected Mayor for the third
and last time, but, counting his succession to Bamme,
he was actually four times Mayor. In 1416 he was
returned Member of Parliament for the City.</p>
<p>It was not a new thing for a citizen to be made
Mayor more than once. Three during the reign of
Edward III. were Mayor four times; two, three times;
seven, twice.</p>
<p>In Whittington's later years began the burning of
heretics and Lollards. It is certain that Lollardism had
some hold in the City, but one knows not how great was
the hold. A priest, William Sawtre, was the first who
suffered. Two men of the lower class followed. There
is nothing to show that Whittington ever swerved from
orthodox opinions.</p>
<p>In 1416, the City was first lighted at night: all
citizens were ordered to hang lanterns over their doors.
How far the order was obeyed, especially in the poorer
parts of the City, is not known.</p>
<p>In 1407 a plague carried off 30,000 persons in
London alone. If this number is correctly stated it
must have taken half the population.</p>
<p>Many improvements were effected in the City during
these years: it is reasonable to suppose that Whittington
had a hand in bringing these about. Fresh water brought
in pipes: lights hung out after dark: the erection<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_120" id="Page_120"></SPAN></span>
of a house—Bakewell Hall—for the storage and sale of
broadcloth: the erection of a store for the reception
of grain, in case of famine—this was the beginning of
Leadenhall—the building of a new Guildhall: and an
attempt to reform the prisons—an attempt which failed.</p>
<p>In his last year of office Whittington entertained the
King, Henry V. and his Queen.</p>
<p>There was as yet no Mansion House: every Mayor
made use of his own private house.</p>
<p>The magnificence of the entertainment amazed the
King. Even the fires were fed with cedar and perfumed
wood. When the Queen spoke of this costly gift the
Mayor proposed to feed the fire with something more
precious still. He then produced the King's bonds to
the value of 60,000<i>l.</i> which he threw into the fire and
burned. This great sum would be a very considerable
gift even now. In that time it represented at least
six times its present value. The Mayor therefore gave
the King the sum of 360,000<i>l.</i></p>
<p>This is, very shortly, an account of Whittington's
public life.</p>
<p>He lived, I believe, on the north side of St. Michael's
Paternoster Royal. I think so because his College was
established there after his death, and as he had no
children it is reasonable to suppose that his house would
be assigned to the College. There is nothing to show
what kind of house it was, but we may rest assured that
the man who could entertain the King and Queen in
such a manner was at least well housed. There is a
little court on this spot which is, I believe, on the site
of Whittington's house. They used to show a house in
Hart Street as Whittington's, but there was no ground
for the tradition except that it was a very old house.</p>
<p>Whittington married his master's daughter, Alice<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_121" id="Page_121"></SPAN></span>
Fitzwarren. He had no children, and he died in 1423
when he was sixty-five years of age.</p>
<p>Such was the real Whittington. A gentleman by
birth, a rich and successful man, happy in his private
life, a great stickler for justice, as a magistrate severe
upon those who cheat and adulterate, a loyal and patriotic
man, and always filled with the desire to promote
the interests of the City which had received him and
made him rich.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_33_GIFTS_AND_BEQUESTS" id="chap_33_GIFTS_AND_BEQUESTS"></SPAN>33. GIFTS AND BEQUESTS.</h2>
<p>The stream of charity which has so largely enriched and
endowed the City of London began very early. You
have seen how Rahere built and endowed Bartholomew's,
and how Queen Maud founded the Lazar House of St.
Giles. The fourteenth century furnishes many more
instances. Thus William Elsinge founded in 1332 a
hospital for a hundred poor blind men: in 1371 John
Barnes gave a chest containing 1,000 marks to be lent
by the City to young men beginning trade. You have
heard how one Mayor went out to fight a pirate and slew
him and made prizes of his vessels. Another when corn
was very dear imported at his own expense a great
quantity from Germany. Another gave money to relieve
poor prisoners: another left money for the help of poor
householders: another provided that on his commemoration
day in the year 2,400 poor householders, of the
City should have a dinner and every man two pence.
This means in present money about �600 a year, or an
estate worth �20,000: another left money to pay the tax
called the Fifteenth, for three parishes: another brought
water in a conduit from Highbury to Cripplegate.</p>
<p>But the greatest and wisest benefactor of his time<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_122" id="Page_122"></SPAN></span>
was Whittington. In his own words: 'The fervent
desire and busy intention of a prudent, wise, and devout
man, should be to cast before and make secure the state
and the end of this short life with deeds of mercy and
pity, and especially to provide for those miserable persons
whom the penury of poverty insulteth, and to whom the
power of seeking the necessaries of life by act or bodily
labour is interdicted.'</p>
<p>With these grave words, which should be a lesson to
all men, rich or poor, Whittington begins the foundation
of his College. If a man were in these days to found
a College he would make it either a school for boys or a
technical school—in any case a place which should be
always <i>working</i> for the world. In those days, when it
was universally believed that the saying of masses was
able to lift souls out of punishment, a man founded a
College which should <i>pray</i> for the world. Whittington's
College was to consist of a Master and four Fellows—who
were to be Masters of Arts—with clerks, choristers,
and servants. They were every day to say mass for the
souls of Richard and Alice Whittington in the church of
St. Michael's Paternoster Royal—which church Whittington
himself had rebuilt. Behind the church he
founded and built an almshouse for thirteen poor men,
who were to have 16<i>d.</i> each per week, about 7<i>s.</i> of our
money, with clothing and rooms on the condition of
praying daily for their founder and his wife. Part of
the ground for the building was granted by the Mayor
and Corporation.</p>
<p>The College continued until the Dissolution of the Religious
Houses—that is, for one hundred and fifty years:
the almshouse continues to this day: but it has been removed
to Highgate: on its site the Mercers' Company
has established a school.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_123" id="Page_123"></SPAN></span></p>
<p>Whittington, further, built a library for the Franciscan
House; part of the building still remains at
Christ's Hospital. It was 129 feet long and 31 feet
broad. He also gave the friars 400<i>l.</i> to buy books. He
restored and repaired the Hospital of St. Bartholomew's,
to which he gave a library. He paved and glazed the
new building of Guildhall: he gave large sums for the
bridge—and the chapel on the bridge—at Rochester—as
a merchant he was greatly interested in keeping this
important bridge in order: he repaired Gloucester
Cathedral—the cathedral church of his native diocese:
he made 'bosses,' i.e. taps of water, to the great aqueduct:
he rebuilt and enlarged Newgate Prison; and
he founded a library at Guildhall.</p>
<p>Many of these things were done after his death by
his executors.</p>
<p>Such were the gifts by which a City merchant of the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries sought to advance
the prosperity of the citizens. Fresh water in plenty
by 'bosses' here and there: the light of learning by
means of libraries: almshouses for the poor: mercy
and charity for the prisoners: hospitals for the sick:
help for the young: prayers for the dead. These things
he understood.</p>
<p>We cannot expect any man to be greatly in advance
of his age. Otherwise we should find a Whittington
insisting upon cleanliness of streets: fresh air in the
house: burial outside the City: the abolition of the
long fasts which made people eat stinking fish and so
gave them leprosy: the education of the craftsmen in
something besides their trade: the establishment of a
patrol by police: and the freedom of trade.</p>
<p>He did not found any school. That is a remarkable
omission. One of his successors, Sir William Sevenoke,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_124" id="Page_124"></SPAN></span>
founded a school for lads of his native town Sevenoaks:
another, Sir Robert Chichele, founded a school, an almshouse,
and a college in his native town of Higham
Ferrers. A friend of his own, Sir John Niel, proposed to
establish four new grammar schools in the City. And
yet Whittington left no money for a school. We may be
quite sure that there was a reason for the omission.
Perhaps he was afraid of the growing spirit of doubt and
inquiry. Boys who learn grammar and rhetoric may
grow into men who question and argue; and so, easily
and naturally, get bound to the stake and are consumed
with the pile of faggots. Everything was provided except
a school for boys. Libraries for men; but not a school
for boys. The City of London School was founded by
Whittington's executor, John Carpenter. There must
have been reasons in Whittington's mind for omitting
any endowment of schools. What those reasons were I
cannot even guess.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_34_THE_PALACES_AND_GREAT_HOUSES" id="chap_34_THE_PALACES_AND_GREAT_HOUSES"></SPAN>34. THE PALACES AND GREAT HOUSES.</h2>
<p>When you think of a great city of the thirteenth or
fourteenth century you must remember two things.
First, that the streets were mostly very narrow—if you
walk down Thames Street and note the streets running
north and south you will be able to understand how
narrow the City streets were. Second, that the great
houses of the nobles and the rich merchants stood in
these narrow streets, shut in on all sides though they
often contained spacious courts and gardens. No attempt
was made to group the houses or to arrange them with
any view to picturesque effect.</p>
<p>It has been the fashion to speak of medi�val London
as if it were a city of hovels grouped together along dark<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_125" id="Page_125"></SPAN></span>
and foul lanes. This was by no means the case. On
the contrary, it was a city of splendid palaces and houses
nearly all of which were destroyed by the Great Fire.
You have seen how the City was covered with magnificent
buildings of monasteries and churches. Do not believe
that the nobles and rich merchants who endowed and
built these places would be content to live in hovels.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_037.jpg" width-obs="500" height-obs="281" alt="DURHAM, SALISBURY, AND WORCESTER HOUSES." title="" /> <span class="caption">DURHAM, SALISBURY, AND WORCESTER HOUSES.</span></div>
<p>The nobles indeed wanted barracks. A great Lord
never moved anywhere without his following. The Earl
of Warwick, called the King Maker, when he rode into
London was followed by five hundred men, wearing his
colours: all of these had to find accommodation in his
town house. This was always built in the form of a
court or quadrangle. The modern Somerset House, which
is built on the foundations of the old house, shows us what
a great man's house was like: and the College of Heralds
in Queen Victoria Street, is another illustration, for this
was Lord Derby's town house. Hampton Court and St.
James's, are illustrations of a great house with more than<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_126" id="Page_126"></SPAN></span>
one court. Any one who knows the colleges of Oxford
and Cambridge will understand the arrangement of the
great noble's town house in the reign of Richard II.
On one side was the hall in which the banquets took
place and all affairs of importance were discussed. The
kitchen, butteries and cellars stood opposite the doors of
the hall; at the back of the hall with a private entrance
were the rooms of the owner and his family: the rest of
the rooms on the quadrangle were given up to the use
of his followers.</p>
<p>Baynard's Castle—the name yet survives—stood on
the river bank not far from Blackfriars. It was a huge
house with towers and turrets and a water gate with
stairs. It contained two courts. It was at last, after
standing for six hundred years, destroyed in the Great
Fire, and was one of the most lamentable of the losses
caused by that disaster. The house had been twice
before burned down, and that which finally perished was
built in 1428. Here Edward IV. assumed the Crown:
here he placed his wife and children for safety before going
forth to the Battle of Barnet. Here Buckingham
offered the Crown to Richard. Here Henry VIII. lived.
Here Charles II. was entertained.</p>
<p>Eastward, also on the river bank and near the old
Swan Stairs, stood another great house called Cold Harbour.
It belonged to Holland, Dukes of Exeter, to
Richard III. and to Margaret, Countess of Richmond.</p>
<p>North of Thames Street near College Hill was the
Erber, another great house which belonged successively
to the Scropes and the Nevilles. Here lived the King-maker
Earl of Warwick. His following was so numerous
that every day six oxen were consumed for breakfast
alone. His son-in-law, who had the house afterwards, was
the Duke of Clarence—'false, fleeting, perjured Clarence.'<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_127" id="Page_127"></SPAN></span></p>
<p>If you would know how a great merchant of the
fifteenth century loved to be housed, go visit Crosby
Hall. It is the only specimen left of the ancient wealth
and splendour of a City merchant. But as one man lived
so did many. We cannot believe that Crosby was singular
in his building a palace for himself.</p>
<p>London with its narrow streets, its crowded courts, and
the corners where the huts and hovels of wood and daub
and thatch stood among their foul surroundings, a constant
danger to the great houses of fire and plague, was
a city of great houses and palaces, with which no other
city in Europe could compare. Venice and Genoa had
their Crosby Halls—their merchants' palaces; but
London had in addition, the town houses of all the
nobles of the land. In the City alone, without counting
the Strand and Westminster, there were houses of the
Earls of Arundel, Northumberland, Worcester, Berkeley,
Oxford, Essex, Thanet, Suffolk, Richmond, Pembroke,
Abergavenny, Warwick, Leicester, Westmoreland. Then
there were the houses of the Bishops and the Abbots.
All these before we come to the houses of the rich merchants.
Let your vision of London under the Plantagenets
be that of a city all spires and towers, great churches
and stately convents, with noble houses as great and
splendid as Crosby Hall scattered all about the City
within the walls and lining the river bank from Ludgate
to Westminster.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_35_AMUSEMENTS" id="chap_35_AMUSEMENTS"></SPAN>35. AMUSEMENTS.</h2>
<p>We have heard so much of the religious Houses, Companies,
Hospitals, quarrels and struggles that we may
have forgotten a very important element in the life of
the City—the amusements and pastimes of the citizens.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_128" id="Page_128"></SPAN></span>
Never was there a time when the City had more amusements
than in these centuries. You have seen that it
was always a rich town: its craftsmen were well paid:
food was abundant: the people were well fed always,
except in times of famine, which were rare. There were
taverns with music and singing: there were pageants,
wonderful processions representing all kinds of marvels,
devised by the citizens to please the King or to please
themselves: there were plays representing scenes from
the Bible and from the Lives of the Saints: there were
tournaments to look at. Then there were the Festivals
of the year, Christmas Day, Twelfth Day, Easter, the
Day of St. John the Baptist, Shrove Tuesday, the Day
of the Company, May Day, at all of which feasting
and merriment were the rule. The young men, in
winter, played at football, hockey, quarterstaff, and
single stick. They had cock fighting, boar fights, and
the baiting of bulls and bears. On May Day they erected
a May-pole in every parish: they chose a May Queen:<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_129" id="Page_129"></SPAN></span>
and they had morris-dancing with the lads dressed up as
Robin Hood, Friar Tuck, Little John, Tom the Piper,
and other famous characters.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_038.jpg" width-obs="500" height-obs="269" alt="BEAR-BAITING" title="" /> <span class="caption">BEAR-BAITING. <br/> (<i>From the Luttrell Psalter.</i>)</span></div>
<p>Then they shot with the bow and the cross-bow for
prizes: they had wrestlings and they had foot races.</p>
<p>The two great festivals of the year were the Eve of
St. John the Baptist and the Day of the Company.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_039.jpg" width-obs="500" height-obs="192" alt="SHOOTING AT THE BUTTS WITH THE LONG-BOW." title="" /> <span class="caption">SHOOTING AT THE BUTTS WITH THE LONG-BOW.</span></div>
<p>On the former there took place the March of the
Watch. Bonfires were lit in the streets, not for warmth
but in order to purge and cleanse the air of the narrow
streets: at the open doors stood tables with meat and
drink, neighbour inviting neighbour to hospitality.
Then the doors were wreathed with green branches,
leaves, and flowers: lamps of glass were hanging over
them with oil burning all the night: some hung out
branches of iron curiously wrought with hundreds of
hanging lights. And everywhere the cheerful sounds of
music and singing and the dancing of the prentice lads
and girls in the open street. Through the midst of this
joyousness filed the Watch. Four thousand men took
part in this procession which was certainly the finest
thing that Medi�val London had to show. To light the
procession on its way the City found two hundred<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_130" id="Page_130"></SPAN></span>
cressets or lanterns, the Companies found five hundred
and the constables of London, two hundred and fifty in
number, each carried one. The number of men who
carried and attended to the cressets was two thousand.
Then followed the Watch itself, consisting of two
thousand captains, lieutenants, sergeants, drummers
and fifers, standard bearers, trumpeters, demilances on
great horses, bowmen, pikemen, with morris-dancers and
minstrels—their armour all polished bright and some
even gilded. No painter has ever painted this March:
yet of all things, medi�val, it was the most beautiful
and the most medi�val.</p>
<p>On the day of the Company, i.e. the Company's Saint's
Day, all the members assembled in the Hall, every man
in a new livery, in the morning. First they formed in
procession and marched to church, headed by priests
and singing boys, in surplices: after these walked the
servants, clerks, assistants, the chaplain, the Mayor's
sergeants, often the Lord Mayor himself. Lastly came
the Court with the Master and Wardens followed by the
Livery, i.e. the members.</p>
<p>After church they returned in like manner to the Hall,
where a great banquet awaited them, music played in the
gallery: the banners of the Company were hung over
their heads: they burned scented wood: they sat in
order, Master and Wardens and illustrious guests at the
high table: and the freemen below, every man with his
wife or some maiden if he were unmarried. After
dinner the loving cup went round: the minstrels led in
the players: and they had dramatic shows, songs, dances
and 'mummeries' for the rest of the day.</p>
<p>Do not think of medi�val London as a dull place—it
was full of life and of brightness: the streets were
narrow perhaps, but they were full of colour from the<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_131" id="Page_131"></SPAN></span>
bright dresses of all—the liveries of the Companies—the
liveries of the great nobles—the splendid costume of the
knights and richer class. The craftsman worked from
daylight till curfew in the winter: from five or six in
the summer: he had a long day: but he had three
holidays: he had his evenings: and his Sundays. A
dull time was going to fall upon the Londoners, but not
yet for two hundred years.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_36_WESTMINSTER_ABBEY" id="chap_36_WESTMINSTER_ABBEY"></SPAN>36. WESTMINSTER ABBEY.</h2>
<p>Hitherto our attention has been confined to the City
within the walls. It is time to step outside the walls.</p>
<p>All this time, i.e. ever since peaceful occupation
became possible, a town had been growing up on the
west side of London. You have seen that formerly there
spread a broad marsh over this part. Some rising ground
kept what is now the Strand above the river, but Westminster,
except for certain reed-grown islets, was nothing
but a marsh covered over twice in the day by the tide.
The river thus spreading out over marshes on either bank
was quite shallow, and could in certain places be forded.
The spot where any ford existed afterwards became a ferry.
Lambeth Bridge spans the river at one such place, the
memory of which is now maintained in the name of the
Horseferry Road. The largest of these islets was once
called Thorney, i.e. the Isle of Thorns. If you will take a
map of Westminster, shift the bank of the river so as to
make it flow along Abingdon Street, draw a stream running
down College Street into the Thames; another
running into the Thames across King Street, and draw a
ditch or moat connecting the two streams along Delahaye
Street and Princes Street you will have Thorney, about
a quarter of a mile long, and not quite so much broad,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_132" id="Page_132"></SPAN></span>
standing just above high water level. This was the
original Precinct of Westminster.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_040.jpg" width-obs="438" height-obs="600" alt="TOMB OF EDWARD III. IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY." title="" /> <span class="caption">TOMB OF EDWARD III. IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY.</span></div>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_133" id="Page_133"></SPAN></span></p>
<p>The Abbey of St. Peter's, Westminster, is said to
have been founded on the first conversion of the East
Saxons, and at the same time as the Foundation of St.
Paul's. We know nothing about the foundation of the
church. During the Danish troubles the Abbey was
deserted. It was refounded by Dunstan. It was, however,
rebuilt in much greater splendour by Edward the
Confessor. Of his work something still remains, and
can be pointed out to the visitor. But the present Abbey
contains work by Henry III., Edward I., Richard II.—Whittington
being commissioner for the work—Henry
VII. and Wren, Hawksmoor and Gilbert Scott the architects.</p>
<p>There is no monument on British soil more venerable
than Westminster Abbey. You must not think that you
know the place when you have visited it once or twice.
You must go there again and again. Every visit should
teach you something of your country and its history.
The building itself betraying to those who can read
architecture the various periods at which its builders
lived: the beauty of the building, the solemnity of the
services—these are things which one must visit the
Abbey often in order to understand. Then there are the
associations of the Abbey; the things that have been
done in the Abbey: the crowning of the Kings, in a long
line from Edward the Confessor downwards. Here
Edward the Fourth's Queen, Elizabeth Woodville, took
sanctuary when her husband suffered reverse: here the unfortunate
Edward V. was born. Here the same unhappy
Queen brought her two boys when her husband died.
Here Caxton set up his first printing press: here is the
coronation chair. Here is the shrine of the sainted Edward
the Confessor. It is robbed of its precious stones and its
gold: but the shrine is the same as that before which<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_134" id="Page_134"></SPAN></span>
for five hundred years people knelt as to the protector
saint of England. This is the burial-place of no
fewer than twenty-six of our Kings and their Queens.
This is the sacred spot where we have buried most of
our great men. To name a few whose monuments you
should look for, here are Sir William Temple, Lord
Chatham, Fox and Wilberforce, among statesmen; of
soldiers there are Prince Rupert and Monk; of Indian
fame, here are Lord Lawrence and Lord Clyde; of
sailors, Blake, Cloudesley Shovel, and Lord Dundonald.
Of poets, Chaucer, Spenser, Beaumont, Ben Jonson,
Dryden, Prior, Addison, Gay, Campbell. Of historians
and prose writers, Samuel Johnson, Macaulay, Dickens,
Livingston, Isaac Newton. Many others there are to
look for, notably the great poet Tennyson, buried here in
October 1892.</p>
<p>Read what was written by Jeremy Taylor, a great
divine, on Westminster Abbey:—</p>
<p>'A man may read a sermon, the best and most
passionate that ever man preached, if he shall but enter
into the sepulchre of Kings.... There the warlike
and the peaceful, the fortunate and the miserable, the
beloved and the despised princes mingle their dust and
pay down their symbol of mortality; and tell all the
world that when we die our ashes shall be equal to kings,
and our accounts easier, and our pains or our crowns
shall be less.'</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_37_THE_COURT_AT_WESTMINSTER" id="chap_37_THE_COURT_AT_WESTMINSTER"></SPAN>37. THE COURT AT WESTMINSTER.</h2>
<p>Although the Kings of England have occasionally
lodged in the Tower and even at Baynard's Castle, and
other places in the City, the permanent home of the Court
was always from Edward the Confessor to Henry VIII. at
the Royal Palace of Westminster. Of this building,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_135" id="Page_135"></SPAN></span>
large, rambling, picturesque, only two parts are left,
Westminster Hall and the crypt of St. Stephen's Chapel.
When King Henry VIII. exchanged Westminster for
Whitehall the rooms of the old Palace were given over
to various purposes. One of them was the Star Chamber,
in which the Star Chamber Court was held: one was
the Exchequer Chamber: St. Stephen's Chapel was the
House of Commons; and the House of Lords sat in the
Old Court of Bequests. All that was left of the Palace
except the Great Hall, was destroyed in the fire of 1834.
Very fortunately the Hall was saved. This magnificent
structure, one of the largest rooms in the world not supported
by pillars, was built by William Rufus, and
altered by Richard II. Here have been held Parliaments
and Grand Councils. Here have been many State trials.
Sir William Wallace was condemned in this Hall. Sir
Thomas More; the Protector Somerset; Lady Jane
Grey; Anne Boleyn; King Charles I.; the rebels of 1745,
Lords Kilmarnock, Balmerino and Lovat: Earl Ferrers,
for murdering his steward; all these were condemned.
One or two have been acquitted, Lord Byron—cousin
of the poet—for killing Mr. Chaworth: and Warren
Hastings, the great Indian statesman. In Westminster
Hall used to be held the Coronation Banquets at which
the hereditary champion rode into the Hall in full
armour and threw down a glove.</p>
<p>After the removal of the Court the Hall became the
Law Courts. It is almost incredible that three Courts
sat in this Hall, cases being heard before three Judges at
the same time. In addition to the Courts, shops or
stalls were ranged along the walls where dealers in toys,
milliners, sempstresses, stationers and booksellers sold
their wares. A picture exists showing this extraordinary
use of the Hall.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_136" id="Page_136"></SPAN></span></p>
<p>It is more difficult to restore ancient Westminster
than any part of the City. We must remember that the
great Hall formed part of a square or quadrangle on which
were the private rooms of the Sovereign, the State rooms
of audience and banquet, the official rooms of the King's
ministers and servants; this court led into others—one
knows not how many—but certainly as many as belong
to the older part of Hampton Court, which may be taken
as resembling Westminster Palace in its leading features.
The courts were filled with men-at-arms, serving men,
pages, and minstrels. They went backwards and forwards
on their business or they lay about in the sun and
gambled. Sometimes there crossed the court some great
noble followed by two or three of his servants on his way
to a Council: or a bishop with his chaplain, to have
speech with the King: or a group of townsmen after a
brawl, who had been brought here with ropes about their
necks, uncertain whether all would be pardoned or half
a dozen hanged, the uncertainty lending a very repentant
and anxious look to their faces. Or it would be the
Queen's most Excellent Highness herself with her ladies
riding forth to see the hunt. This was the daily life
of the Court: we read the dry history of what happened
but we forget the scenery in which it happened—the
crowds of nobles, bishops, abbots, knights, men-at-arms,
serving men, among whom all these things took place.
We are apt to forget, as well, the extraordinary brightness,
the colour, the glitter and gleam that belonged to
those times when every man went dressed in some gay
livery wearing the colours and the crest of his lord.
Who rides there, the hart couchant—the deer at rest—upon
his helm? A Knight belonging to the Court:
one of the Knights of King Richard the Second. Who
march with the bear and ragged staff upon their arms?<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_137" id="Page_137"></SPAN></span>
They are the Livery of the Earl of Warwick. The clash
and gleam of arms and armour everywhere: colour on
the men as well as the women: colour on the trappings
of the horses: colour on the hanging arras of the wall:
colour on the cloth of scarlet which they hang out of the
windows when the royal pageant rides along.</p>
<p>Close to the Palace, the Abbey. That too belongs to
the time. Within the Abbey precincts the people are
almost as crowded as in the Palace. But it is a different
crowd. There is not so much colour: no arms or armour:
an orderly crowd: there are the Benedictine monks themselves,
with their crowd of servants, cooks, and refectory
men: brewers: bakers: clothiers: architects, builders and
masons: scribes and lawyers: foresters and farmers from
the estates: stewards: cellarers: singing boys: organists—for
the Abbey Church of St. Peter is as great and as
rich and maintains as large an army of servants as
the Cathedral Church of St. Paul.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_38_JUSTICE_AND_PUNISHMENTS" id="chap_38_JUSTICE_AND_PUNISHMENTS"></SPAN>38. JUSTICE AND PUNISHMENTS.</h2>
<p>In the time of the Plantagenets the punishments inflicted
on wrongdoers were much more lenient than those which
followed in later years. There is none of that brutal
flogging which grew up in the last century, the worst
time in the whole history of the country, for the people.
This flogging not only in the army and navy but also
for such offences as vagrancy, lasted even into the
present century. In the year 1804 six women were
publicly flogged at Gloucester for this offence. Under
Whittington this barbarous cruelty would not have been
done. There were, it is true, certain punishments which
seem excessively cruel. If a man struck a sheriff or an
alderman he was sentenced to have his right hand<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_138" id="Page_138"></SPAN></span>
chopped off. That is, indeed, worse than hanging.
But, consider, the whole strength of London lay in its
power to act and its resolution always to act, as one
man. This could only be effected by habitual obedience
to law and the most profound respect to the executive
officers. Therefore the worst penalty possible—that
which deprived a man of his power to work and his
power to fight—which reduced him to ruin—which
made his innocent children beggars—which branded
him till death as a malefactor of the most dangerous
kind—was inflicted for such an offence. Here, again,
mercy stepped in; for, when the criminal was brought
out for execution, if he expressed contrition the offended
officer, represented by the Alderman of the Ward—begged
that he might be pardoned.</p>
<p>For burglary criminals were ruthlessly hanged. This
crime is bad enough now; it is a crime which ought at
all times to be punished with the utmost rigour. But
in these days what is it that a burglar can carry away
from an ordinary house? A clock or two: a silver ring:
a lady's watch and chain: a few trinkets: if any money,
then only a purse with two or three pounds. The wealth
of the family is invested in various securities: if the
burglar takes the papers they are of no use to him: there
is a current account at the bank; but that cannot be
touched. Books, engravings, candlesticks, plated spoons—these
are of little real value. Formerly, however,
every man kept all his money—all his wealth—in his own
house; if he was a rich merchant he had a stone safe or
strong box constructed in the wall of his cellar or basement—I
have seen such a safe in an old house pulled
down about seven years ago. If he was only a small
trader or craftsman he kept his money in a box: this he
hid: there were various hiding places: behind the bed,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_139" id="Page_139"></SPAN></span>
under the hearthstone—but they were all known. A
burglar, therefore, might, and very often did, take away
the whole of a man's property and reduce him to ruin.
For this reason it was very wisely ordered that a
burglar should be hanged.</p>
<p>They began in the reign of Henry IV. to burn heretics.
Later on they burned witches and poisoners. As yet
they had not begun to slice off ears and to slit noses:
there was no rack: nobody was tortured: nobody was
branded on the hand: there was no whipping of women
in Bridewell as a public show—that came later: there
was no flogging at the cart tail.</p>
<p>Punishments were mild. Sometimes the criminal
performed the <i>amende honorable</i>, marching along Chepe
bareheaded and wearing nothing but a white shirt,
carrying a great wax taper, escorted by the Mayor's
sergeants. There was a ducking-stool on the other side
of the river, at Bank Side, in which scolds were ducked.
There was the thewe, which was a chair in which women
were made to sit, lifted high above the crowd, exposed
to their derision. There was the pillory, which served
for almost all the cases which now come before a police
magistrate—adulteration, false weights and measures,
selling bad meat: pretending to be an officer of the
Mayor: making and selling bad work: forging title
deeds; stealing—all were punished in the same way.
The offender was carried or led through the City—sometimes
mounted with his head to the horse's tail—always
with something about his neck to show the
nature of his offence, and placed in pillory for a certain
time.</p>
<p>There was one punishment always in reserve—the
worst of all. This was deprivation of the privileges of a
freeman and banishment from the City. 'Go,' said the<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_140" id="Page_140"></SPAN></span>
Mayor. 'Thou shalt dwell with us; trade with us; converse
with us; no more. Go.' And so that source of
trouble was removed.</p>
<p>We have seen how the trades formed companies—every
trade having its own company. It must not,
however, be understood that the working man gained
much power by their unions. They were organised:
they had to obey: obedience was very good for them as
it is for all of us, always; but it must be obedience to a
corporate body, not to a master. This they did not
understand and they tried to form 'covins' or trades
unions of their own. The City put down these attempts
with a stern hand. The trade companies ruled hours
of work, wages, and standard of work. Lastly, though
there was no City police to guard the streets, there were
certain laws for the maintenance of order. Nobody
under the rank of knight was to carry arms in the
streets: no one was to walk about the street after nine
at night: houses were not to be built over streets. In
a word, there were not many laws; but the people were
law abiding. And this, perhaps, as much as anything
else, explains the greatness of London.</p>
<div class="figcenter"><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_141" id="Page_141"></SPAN></span> <ANTIMG src="images/image_041.jpg" width-obs="600" height-obs="302" alt="THE EMBARKATION OF HENRY VIII. FROM DOVER, 1520." title="" /> <span class="caption">THE EMBARKATION OF HENRY VIII. FROM DOVER, 1520. <br/> (<i>From the original painting at Hampton Court.</i>)</span></div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_39_THE_POLITICAL_POWER_OF_LONDON" id="chap_39_THE_POLITICAL_POWER_OF_LONDON"></SPAN>39. THE POLITICAL POWER OF LONDON.</h2>
<p>Until the rapid growth of the manufacturing interests
created immense cities in the North, the wealth and prosperity
and population of London gave it a consideration
and power in the political situation which was unequalled
by that of any other medi�val city. Even Paris, for
instance, has never held an equal importance in the
history of France. This power has been especially, and
significantly, employed in the election and proclamation
of Kings. It is not only that London has been the place<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_142" id="Page_142"></SPAN></span>
of proclamation: it is that the Londoners themselves
have repeatedly said, 'This shall be our King': and, as
repeatedly, by that very act, have given him to understand
that if he would not reign well he should, like some of his
predecessors, be deposed. London chose Kings Edmund
and Harold Harefoot, before the Conquest. After the
Conquest, they elected Stephen at a folkmote, a gathering
of all the citizens. They put him on the Throne and
they kept him there. The power of the Londoners is
very well put by Froissart, who wrote in the time of
Richard II. and Henry IV., and was an eyewitness of
many things which he relates. 'The English,' he says,
'are the worst people in the world: the most obstinate
and the most presumptuous: and, of all England, the
Londoners are the leaders; for, to say the truth, they
are very powerful in men and in wealth. In the City
there are 24,000 men completely armed from head to
foot and full 30,000 archers. This is a great force and
they are bold and courageous, and the more blood is
spilled, the greater is their courage.'</p>
<p>Take the deposition of Edward II., also described by
Froissart. He says that when the Londoners found the
King 'besotted' with his favourites, they sent word to
Queen Isabella that if she could land in England with
300 armed men she would find the citizens of London
and the majority of the nobles and commonalty ready to
join her and place her on the Throne. This the Queen
effected: the citizens joined the little army thus collected—without
their assistance, Froissart says, the thing
could not have been done—and made Edward prisoner
at Berkeley Castle.</p>
<p>Or there was the capture of Richard II. This also
was effected by an army composed entirely of Londoners
12,000 strong, led by Henry of Lancaster. Afterwards,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_143" id="Page_143"></SPAN></span>
when Henry of Lancaster was Henry IV., and a
conspiracy was formed against him, the Lord Mayor
said, 'Sire, King we have made you: King we will keep
you.' The City played almost as great a part against
Henry VI.—half-heartedly at first, because they thought
that as he had no children there would be at some time
or other an end. Moreover, they could not readily forget
his grandfather, their own King; and his father, the hero
of Agincourt. When, however, a son was born, the
Londoners became openly and unreservedly Yorkists.
And the Yorkists triumphed. The election of Richard III.
was made in London. When Lady Jane Grey was proclaimed
Queen, it was not by the Mayor and Aldermen,
but by the Duke of Northumberland, and the City looked
on in apathy, expecting trouble. The greatest strength
of Elizabeth lay in the affection and support of London,
which never wavered. Had Charles I. conciliated the
City he might have died in his bed, still King of England.
It was the City which forced James II. to fly and called
over William Prince of Orange. It was, again, London
which supported Pitt in his firm and uncompromising
resistance to Napoleon. And in the end Napoleon was
beaten. It cannot be too often repeated that two causes
made the strength of London: the unity of the City, so
that its vast population moved as one man: and its
wealth. The King thought of the subsidies—under the
names of loans, grants, benevolences—which he could
extort from the merchants. We who enjoy the fruits of
the long struggle maintained especially by London for
the right of managing our own affairs, especially in the
matter of taxation, cannot understand the tyrannies
which the people of old had to endure from Kings and
nobles. Richard II., for instance, forced the citizens to
sign and seal blank 'charts'—try to imagine the Prime<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_144" id="Page_144"></SPAN></span>
Minister making the Lord Mayor, the Aldermen, the
Common Council men, and all the more important merchants
sign blank cheques to be filled in as he pleased!
That, however, was the last exaction of Richard II.
Henry of Lancaster went out with 12,000 Londoners,
and made him prisoner.</p>
<p>Another factor, less generally understood, assisted and
developed the power of London.</p>
<p>It was also the position of the City as the centre of
the country; not geographically, which would give Warwick
that position, but from the construction of the roads
and from its position on the Thames. But, to repeat,
the use and wont of the City to act together by order of
the Mayor, principally made it so great a power. Whatever
troubles might arise, here was a solid body—'24,000
men at arms and 30,000 archers,' all acting on one side.
The rest of the country was scattered, uncertain, inclined
this way and that. The City, to use a modern
phrase, 'voted solid.' There were no differences of
opinion in the City. And that, even more than its
wealth, made London a far more important factor,
politically, than the barons with all their following.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_40_ELIZABETHAN_LONDON" id="chap_40_ELIZABETHAN_LONDON"></SPAN>40. ELIZABETHAN LONDON.<br/> <br/> <span style="font-weight: normal;">PART I.</span></h2>
<p>A map of Elizabethan London, drawn by one Agas,
which is almost a picture as well as a map, shows us
very clearly the aspect of the City. Let us lay down the
map before us. First of all, we observe the wall of the
City; it is carefully drawn of uniform height, with battlements,
and at regular intervals, bastions. Outside
the wall there is the ditch, but it is now, as Stow
describes it, laid out in gardens—cows are grazing in<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_145" id="Page_145"></SPAN></span>
some parts of it—and there are mean houses built on
the other side of it. There is a single street of houses
with large gardens outside Aldgate, which is now Whitechapel.
The north side of Houndsditch is already built.
A street of houses runs north of Bishopsgate. No
houses stand between this street and two or three
streets outside Cripplegate. Moorfields are really fields.
There are windmills, gardens with summer-houses, pasture-fields
with cows, a large 'dogge house,' and fields
where women appear to be laying out clothes to dry.
Really, they are tenter fields, i.e. fields provided with
'tenters,' or pegs, by means of which cloth could be
stretched. North of Moorfields is indicated rising
ground with woods. There can be no doubt at all as to
the course of the wall, which is here marked with the
greatest clearness. On the east of the Tower there is
already a crowded quarter in the Precinct of St. Katherine's:
and a few buildings mark the former site of the
great monastery of Eastminster. In the Minories a group
of new houses marks the site of the nunnery which stood
here. London Bridge is covered with houses: on Bank
Side, Southwark, there are two round buildings, 'The
Bearebayting' and 'The Bullebayting.' There is also,
opposite to Blackfriars, Paris Garden, a very favourite
place of resort for the citizens. But as yet there are no
theatres. Along the river outside the walls we find,
beyond Bridewell Palace, an open space where was
formerly Whitefriars. Here presently grew up a curious
colony called Alsatia, which claimed to retain the right of
Sanctuary once belonging to the monastery. Arrests
for debt could not be made within its limits. That is to
say, it was so claimed by the residents, who resisted
any attempt to violate this privilege by force of arms.
It was a notorious place in the seventeenth century, filled<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_146" id="Page_146"></SPAN></span>
with rogues and broken-down gamblers, spendthrifts
and profligates. As yet (when this map was drawn)
there are very few houses between Whitefriars and the
Temple. Beyond the Temple there are marked Arundel
Place, Paget Place, Somerset Place, the Savoy, York
Place. Duresme—i.e. Durham—Place, and 'the Court'—i.e.
Whitehall—of which the map gives a plan, which
gives us a clear idea of the plan and appearance of this
palace, of which only the Banqueting Hall remains.
The Savoy, at the time (1561) was a hospital. Henry
VII. made a hospital of it, dedicated to St. John the
Baptist, receiving 100 poor people. At the Dissolution
of the Monasteries it was suppressed. Queen Mary
restored it, and it continued as a hospital till the year
1702, when it was finally suppressed. Like Whitefriars,
and for the same reason, it claimed the right of
Sanctuary: therefore it became the harbour of people
described as 'rogues and masterless men.' In the City
itself there are many large gardens and open spaces.
The courts of the Grey Friars, now a school, are still
standing: there are gardens on the site of the Austin
Friars' monastery and gardens between Broad Street and
Bishopsgate Street. We must not think of London as
a city crowded with narrow lanes and courts, the houses
almost touching their opposite neighbours. Such courts
were only found beside the river: many streets, it is true,
were narrow, but there were broad thoroughfares like
Cheapside, Gracechurch Street, Canwicke (now Cannon
Street) Tower Street, and Fenchurch Street. The river
is covered with boats: one of them is a barge filled with
soldiers, which is being tugged by a four-oared boat:
packhorses are being taken to the river to drink: below
bridge the lighters begin: two or three vessels are
moored at Billingsgate: the ships begin opposite the<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_147" id="Page_147"></SPAN></span>
Tower: two or three great three-masted vessels are
shown: and two or three smaller ships of the kind
called ketch, sloop, or hoy. Along the river front of the
Tower are mounted cannon. The ditch of the Tower
is filled with water. On Tower Hill there stands a permanent
gallows: beside it is some small structure, which
is probably a pillory with the stocks.</p>
<p>Such is a brief account of London from this map.
The original is the property of the Corporation and is
kept in the Guildhall Library. A facsimile reprint has
been made.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_41_ELIZABETHAN_LONDON" id="chap_41_ELIZABETHAN_LONDON"></SPAN>41. ELIZABETHAN LONDON.<br/> <br/> <span style="font-weight: normal;">PART II.</span></h2>
<p>We have passed over two hundred years. We left London
under the Three Edwards. We find it under Elizabeth.
It was a City of Palaces—monasteries, with splendid
churches and stately buildings: town houses of bishops,
abbots, and noble lords, every one able to accommodate a
goodly following of liveried retainers and servants: the
mansions of rich City merchants, sometimes as splendid
as those of the lords: the halls of the City Companies:
the hundred and twenty City churches. Look at London
as Shakespeare saw it. Everywhere there are the ruins
of the monasteries: some of the buildings have been
destroyed with gunpowder: some have been pulled down:
where it has been too costly to destroy the monastic
chapels they are used as storehouses or workshops: the
marble monuments of the buried Kings and Queens have
been broken up and carried off: the ruins of refectory,
dormitory, library, chapter house stand still, being taken
down little by little as stones are wanted for building<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_148" id="Page_148"></SPAN></span>
purposes: some of the ruins, indeed, lasted till this very
century, notably a gateway of the Holy Trinity Priory,
at the back of St. Catharine Cree, Leadenhall Street, and
some of the buildings of St. Helen's Nunnery, beside
the church of Great St. Helen's. One would think that
the presence of all these ruins would have saddened the
City. Not so. The people were so thoroughly Protestant
that they regarded the ruins with the utmost satisfaction.
They were a sign of deliverance from what
their new preachers taught them was false doctrine.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_149" id="Page_149"></SPAN></span>
Moreover, there were other reasons why the citizens under
Queen Elizabeth could not regret the past.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_042.jpg" width-obs="460" height-obs="500" alt="COACHES IN THE REIGN OF ELIZABETH." title="" /> <span class="caption">COACHES IN THE REIGN OF ELIZABETH. <br/> (<i>From 'Archc�ologia.'</i>)</span></div>
<p>The parish churches were changed. The walls, once
covered with paintings of saints and angels, were now
scraped or whitewashed: instead of altars with blazing
lights, there was a plain table: there were no more
watching candles: there were no more splendid robes for
the priest and the altar boys: the priest was transformed
into a preacher: the service consisted of plain prayers,
the reading of the Bible, and a sermon. In very few
churches was there an organ. There was no external
beauty in religion. Therefore external beauty in the
church itself ceased for three hundred years to be
desired. What was required was neatness, with ample
space for all to be seated, so arranged that all might
hear the sermon. And whereas under the Plantagenets
every other man was a priest, a friar, or some officer or
servant of a monastery, one only met here and there a
clergyman with black gown and Genevan bands.</p>
<p>This change alone transformed London. But there
were other changes. Most of the great nobles had left
the City. Long before they went away their following
had been cut down to modest numbers: their great
barracks had become useless: they were let out in tenements,
and were falling into decay: some of them had
been removed to make way for warehouses and offices:
one or two remained till the Great Fire of 1666. Among
them were Baynard's Castle, close to Blackfriars, and
Cold Harbour. A few nobles continued to have houses
in the City. In the time of Charles II., the Duke of
Buckingham had a house on College Hill, and the palaces
along the Strand still remained.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_043.jpg" width-obs="500" height-obs="306" alt="THE CITY FROM SOUTHWARK." title="" /> <span class="caption">THE CITY FROM SOUTHWARK.</span></div>
<p>The merchants' houses took the place of these
palaces. They were built either in the form of a quadrangle,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_150" id="Page_150"></SPAN></span>
standing round a garden, with a cloister or
covered way running round, of which Gresham House,
pulled down in the last century, was a very fine example.
But, since few merchants could afford to build over so
large a piece of ground and land was too valuable to be
wasted on broad lawns and open courts, the houses
were built in four or five stories, with rich carvings all
over the front. The house called Sir Paul Pinder's
House in Bishopsgate Street, pulled down only a year or
two ago, was a very fine example of such a house. The
great hall was henceforth only built in great country
houses: in the City the following of the richest merchants,
in his private house, consisted of a few servants
only; small rooms henceforward became the rule: when
entertainments and festivities on a large scale are held,
the Companies' Halls may be used. The inferior kind
of Elizabethan house may still be seen in Holborn—outside
of Staple Inn: in Wych Street: in Cloth Fair:
and one or two other places. They were narrow: three<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_151" id="Page_151"></SPAN></span>
or four stories high: each story projected beyond the
one below: they were gabled: the windows were latticed,
with small diamond panes of glass: they were built of
plaster and timber. Building with brick only began in
the reign of James the First. Before every house hung
a sign, on which was painted the figure by which the
house was known: some of these signs may still be seen:
there is one in Holywell Street: one in Ivy Lane: and
there are many old Inns which still keep their ancient
signs.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_42_ELIZABETHAN_LONDON" id="chap_42_ELIZABETHAN_LONDON"></SPAN>42. ELIZABETHAN LONDON.<br/> <br/> <span style="font-weight: normal;">PART III.</span></h2>
<p>The population of London at this time was perhaps, for
it is not certain, 150,000. There were no suburbs, unless
we call the Strand and Smithfield suburbs; the London
citizen stepped outside the gates into the open country.
This fact must be remembered when we think of the
narrow lanes. The great danger of the City still remained,
that of fire, for though the better houses were
built of stone, the inferior sort, as was stated above, continued
to be built of timber and plaster. There were
no vehicles in the streets except carts, and the number
of these was restricted to 420. When you think of
London streets at this time remember that in most of
them, in all except the busy streets and the chief
thoroughfares, there was hardly ever any noise of rumbling
wheels. The packhorses followed each other in
long procession, laden with everything; there were
doubtless wheelbarrows and hand carts; but the rumbling
of the wheels was not yet a part of the daily noise.</p>
<p>The Lord Mayor was directed by Elizabeth always
to keep a certain number of the citizens drilled and<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_152" id="Page_152"></SPAN></span>
instructed in the use of arms. When the Spanish
invasion was threatened, the Queen ordered a body of
troops to be raised instantly. In a single day 1,000
men, fully equipped, were marched off to camp. Afterwards
10,000 men were sent off, and thirty-eight ships
were supplied. Both men and sailors were raised by
impressment. A constant danger to the peace of the
City was the turbulence of the prentices, these lads were
always ready to rush into the streets, shouting, ready
to attack or destroy whatever was unpopular at the
moment. Thus, early in the reign of Henry VIII., at a
time when there was great animosity against foreign
merchants, of whom there were a great many beside the
Hanse merchants of the Steelyard, there was a riot in
which a great many houses of foreigners were destroyed,
many persons were killed, Newgate was assailed and
taken, eleven rioters hanged and 400 more taken before
the King with halters round their necks to receive his
pardon. This was called 'Evil May Day.' The disorderly
conduct of the prentices continued during
Elizabeth's reign, she ordered the Provost-Marshal in
order to put an end to this trouble, to hang all disorderly
persons so convicted by any Justice of the Peace.</p>
<p>There was much complaint of extravagance in dress:
rules were passed by the Common Council on the subject.
Prentices especially were forbidden to dress in any but
the warmest and plainest materials. The dress of the
Blue Coat boy is exactly the dress of the prentice of the
period, including the flat cap which the modern wearer
of the dress carries in his pocket.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_153" id="Page_153"></SPAN></span></p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_044.jpg" width-obs="600" height-obs="366" alt="SOUTH-EAST PART OF LONDON IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY, SHOWING THE TOWER AND WALL." title="" /> <span class="caption">SOUTH-EAST PART OF LONDON IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY, SHOWING THE TOWER AND WALL.</span></div>
<p>The punishments of this time are much more severe
than had been found necessary in the Plantagenet period.
They not only carried criminals in shameful procession
through the City, but they flogged girls for idleness,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_154" id="Page_154"></SPAN></span>
apprentices for immorality, and rogues for selling goods
falsely described. A 'pillar of reformation' was set up
at the Standard in Cheap; here on Sunday morning the
mayor superintended the flogging of young servants.
When Lady Jane Grey was proclaimed Queen a young
fellow, for speaking slightingly of her title, had his ears
nailed to the pillory and afterwards cut off, heretics were
burned, traitors were hanged first for a few minutes and
then taken down and cut open—one of the most horrible
punishments ever inflicted.</p>
<p>The Reformation, which suppressed the religious
Houses, at the same time suppressed the hospitals which
were all religious Houses and the schools which belonged
to the religious Houses. St. Bartholomew's, St. Thomas's,
St. Mary's, St. Mary of Bethlehem, besides the smaller
houses, were all suppressed. The sick people were sent
back to their own houses; the brethren and sisters were
dispersed. One House contained one hundred blind men,
all these were cast adrift; another contained a number of
aged priests—these were turned into the streets. Eight
schools perished at the Dissolution. For a time London
had neither schools nor hospitals.</p>
<p>This could not continue. Bartholomew's, St. Thomas's,
Bethlehem, and, under Queen Mary, the Savoy were
refounded under new statutes as hospitals. For schools,
St. Paul's which was never closed, was endowed by Dean
Colet; St. Anthony's continued, the Blue Coat School
was founded on the site of the Franciscan House. The
Mercers took over the school of St. Thomas. The
Merchant Taylors founded their school. In Southwark,
schools were founded at St. Olave's and St. Saviour's.
A few years later Charterhouse was converted into an
almshouse and a school.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_155" id="Page_155"></SPAN></span></p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_43_TRADE" id="chap_43_TRADE"></SPAN>43. TRADE.<br/> <br/> <span style="font-weight: normal;">PART I.</span></h2>
<p>London was anciently the resort of 'foreign' merchants.
It was rich because 'foreign' merchants brought and
exchanged their goods at this port. There were no
ships built in England until the reign of King Alfred.
When the kingdom became tranquil he is said to have
hired out his ships to foreign merchants. A list of tolls
paid by foreign ships in the reign of King Ethelred II.
shows that the imports were considerable. The foreign
merchants, however, were not to 'forestall their markets
from the burghers of London,' so that the retail trade
was kept in native hands. When retail trade was
separated from wholesale trade all that the London
merchants had was the collection, the warehousing, and
the sale of the exports. It is reasonable to suppose that
foreign merchants coming to the City year after year
would find it useful to have a permanent settlement—a
wharf with officers and servants of their own. Such a
settlement was, no doubt, permitted from very early
times. But in the year 1169 was founded a trade association
which, for wealth, success, and importance, might
compare with our East India Company. This was the
Hanseatic League (so called from the word <i>Hansa</i>, a
convention). In the League were confederated: first,
twelve towns in the Baltic, L�beck at the head; next,
sixty-four—and even eighty—German towns. They
were first associated for protection against pirates: they
speedily became the greatest trading company of the
period. In the reign of Henry III. the League obtained
a Royal Charter granting them liberty of constant residence
at a place in London. They were permitted to
have a permanent establishment at a place called the<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_156" id="Page_156"></SPAN></span>
Steelyard—i.e. the place where the Steelyard or Scales
had formerly been kept—under certain conditions, including
the payment of custom dues. They were called
the Merchants of the Steelyard: they at once drew to
themselves the whole trade of England with the northern
ports: and they remained there for nearly 400 years.</p>
<p>There was another association of foreigners called
the Merchants of the Staple. That is to say, they
dealed in what was called the 'staples' of England—in
the raw produce, as lead, tin, wool, &c. Gradually,
however, the word Staple came to be applied solely to
wool as the most important export. The Lord Chancellor,
to this day, is seated on a Woolsack. The Merchants
of the Staple became merged in the Merchants of
the Steelyard.</p>
<p>These foreign merchants were at all times extremely
unpopular with the Londoners, who envied their
wealth, which they thought was made at the expense of
the City, not understanding, for a long time, that the
same way of wealth was open to themselves. When they
began to put forth merchant ships on their own account,
they at first sought the southern ports, sailing to Dunquerque,
Sluys, Rouen, Havre, Bordeaux, Lisbon, and
even to the Mediterranean ports. Whittington's trade
was entirely with the South. It was not at L�beck or
on the shores of the Baltic that he found his cloth of
gold, his rich velvets, his silks, his gold embroidery, his
scented wood, his wines, his precious stones. And the
reason why he sent his ships to the South was that the
trade of the North was in the hands of the Steelyard.</p>
<p>Edward III. seems first of our kings to have understood
the value of manufactures and of foreign trade.
He first passed laws for the repair of the highways:
under his reign the Merchant Adventurers were encouraged<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_157" id="Page_157"></SPAN></span>
and assisted: he first stimulated the making
of English cloth instead of selling our wool: under him
the shipping of the London merchants began to increase
and to develop. Still the foreign merchants continued
to occupy the Steelyard: still our merchants were shut
out of the northern ports: still other foreigners received
permission to settle: even craftsmen came over from
Germany and the Low Countries and followed their
trade in London. Richard III., in order to please the
citizens, ordered their expulsion, but it does not appear
that the order was obeyed. Henry VII., on the other
hand, persuaded many Flemish woollen manufacturers
to come over to this country.</p>
<p>Early in the sixteenth century the exports of English
cloth by the foreign merchants amounted to 44,000 pieces,
while the English ships took away no more than 1,000
pieces. When our own merchants were prepared with
ships and had what may be called the machinery of trade;
as a market, wharves, permission to buy and sell; it is
obvious that the old state of things could no longer continue.
It was not, however, until the reign of Edward VI.
that the foreign merchants were finally deprived of all
their privileges and charters.</p>
<p>These rivals, with their powerful organisations and
their hold over all the northern ports, once out of the
way the English merchants began to push out their
enterprises in all directions. You shall see immediately
how they prospered.</p>
<p>Meantime there remains a monument erected in
memory of the Hanseatic League. In the reign of
Queen Anne the merchants of Hamburg presented to
the church where the merchants of the Steelyard had
worshipped for 400 years, a splendid screen of carved
wood. Unless the church, which is already threatened<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_158" id="Page_158"></SPAN></span>
with destruction, is pulled down, you should go to
see that screen, and remember all that it means and
commemorates.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_44_TRADE" id="chap_44_TRADE"></SPAN>44. TRADE.<br/> <br/> <span style="font-weight: normal;">PART II.</span></h2>
<p>English trade, that is to say, trade in English hands,
practically began with Edward III. and, slowly increasing
under his successors, gained an enormous development
under Elizabeth. Several causes operated to produce
this increase. In the first place the abolition of the
Steelyard, though ordered by Edward VI., was not completely
carried out till many years afterwards. During
this period the merchants were learning the immense
possibilities open to them when this incubus should be
removed. Next, the great rival of London, Antwerp,
suffered, like the rest of the Netherlands, from the
religious wars. Thirdly, the wise and farseeing action
of Gresham transferred the commercial centre of the
northern world from that town to London.</p>
<p>Antwerp in the fifteenth century was the richest and
most prosperous city in western Europe. There were
200,000 inhabitants, a great many more than could be
counted in London: 5,000 merchants met every day in
the Bourse for the transaction of business: 2,500 vessels
might be counted in the river: 500 loaded waggons
entered every day from the country. It was the port of
the great and rich manufacturing towns of Bruges and
Ghent. In the latter town there were 40,000 weavers,
and an army of 80,000 men fully armed and equipped,
could be raised at any moment. The former town,
Bruges, was the Market—the actual commercial centre—of
the world. Hither came the merchants of Venice<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_159" id="Page_159"></SPAN></span>
and Genoa, bringing the silks, velvets, cloth of gold,
spices and precious stones from the East to exchange
for the English wool and the produce of Germany and
the Baltic.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_045.jpg" width-obs="427" height-obs="500" alt="KING EDWARD VI." title="" /> <span class="caption">KING EDWARD VI. <br/> (<i>From a picture belonging to H. Hucks Gibbs, Esq.</i>)</span></div>
<p>The Religious Wars of the sixteenth century: the
ferocities, cruelties, and savagery of those wars: depopulated
and ruined this rich and flourishing country:
the Inquisition drove thousands of Flemings, an industrious<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_160" id="Page_160"></SPAN></span>
and orderly folk, to England, where they
established silk manufactures: and the carrying trade
which had been wholly in the hands of the Antwerp
shipowners was diverted and went across the narrow
seas to London, where it has ever since remained.</p>
<p>Before the ruin of Antwerp, Bruges, and Ghent, it
was of these towns that the Kings of England obtained
their loans. They were taken up by the merchants of
the Low Countries at an interest of 14 per cent. This
enormous interest, then thought quite moderate and
reasonable, explains how the merchants of that time grew
so wealthy. Part of the loans, also, often had to be taken
in jewels. In order to negotiate these loans and to pay
the interest an agent of the English Sovereign was kept
at Antwerp, called the Royal Agent. Very fortunately
for London, the Royal Agent under Edward VI., Mary,
and the early years of Elizabeth, was Sir Thomas
Gresham.</p>
<p>You must learn something about this great man.
He was the son of Sir Richard Gresham, formerly Lord
Mayor: nephew of Sir John Gresham, also Lord Mayor
(who preserved Bethlehem Hospital on the Dissolution
of the Religious Houses): he came of a Norfolk family
originally of the village of Gresham: like Whittington he
was of gentle birth. He was educated at Cambridge: he
was apprenticed to his uncle after taking his degree: and
he was received into the Mercers' Company at the age of
twenty-four. It must be observed that from the outset
the young man had every advantage—good birth, good
education, good society, and wealth.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_161" id="Page_161"></SPAN></span></p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_046.jpg" width-obs="442" height-obs="500" alt="SIR THOMAS GRESHAM." title="" /> <span class="caption">SIR THOMAS GRESHAM.</span></div>
<p>At the age of thirty-two he was appointed Royal
Agent at Antwerp. At this time the City was at the
height of its splendour and prosperity. Gresham walked
upon the long quays, gazed at the lines of ships, saw
the river alive with boats and barges, loading and unloading,
watched the throng of merchants in the Bourse,
saw the palaces, the rows and streets of palaces in which
they lived, thought of London which he had formerly
regarded with so much pride though he now perceived
that it was even poor and quiet compared with this<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_162" id="Page_162"></SPAN></span>
crowded centre of an enormous trade—why, the city
which he had thought the envy of the whole world could
show no more than 317 merchants in all, against
Antwerp's 5,000: and these, though there were some
esteemed wealthy, could not between them all raise a
loan of even 10,000<i>l.</i> The King had to go abroad for
the money and to pay 14 per cent. for it. Then he
began to ask himself whether something could not be
done to divert some of this trade to his native town.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_047.jpg" width-obs="500" height-obs="460" alt="FIRST ROYAL EXCHANGE." title="" /> <span class="caption">FIRST ROYAL EXCHANGE.</span></div>
<p>First of all, he applied himself to the reduction of
the interest. This he managed to lower from fourteen
per cent. to twelve and even to ten. A gain of four per<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_163" id="Page_163"></SPAN></span>
cent. on a loan of, say, 60,000<i>l.</i> meant a saving of 2,400<i>l.</i>
a year.</p>
<p>When he came back to England he brought with him
a discovery which seems simple. It is, however, the
most difficult thing in the world for people to understand:
we are always discovering it, over and over
again.</p>
<p>His discovery was this—it applies to every kind of
business or enterprise—It is that union will effect what
single effort is powerless to attempt. The City had for
centuries understood this in matters of government:
they were now to learn the same thing in matters of
trade. The merchants of Antwerp had a central place
where they could meet for purposes of union and combination.
Those of London had none. As yet union
had only been practised for the regulation of trade prices
and work. True, the merchant adventurers existed,
but the spirit of enterprise had as yet spread a very
little way.</p>
<p>Gresham determined to present to his fellow citizens
such a Bourse as the merchants of Antwerp had enjoyed
for centuries. He built his Bourse; he gave it to the
City: he gave it as a place of meeting for the merchants:
he gave it for the advance of enterprise. The Queen
opened it with great State, and called it the Royal
Exchange. It stood exactly where the present Royal
Exchange stands, but its entrance was on the south side,
not the west. And no gift has ever been made to any
city more noble, more farseeing, more wise, or productive
of greater benefits.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_164" id="Page_164"></SPAN></span></p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_45_TRADE" id="chap_45_TRADE"></SPAN>45. TRADE.<br/> <br/> <span style="font-weight: normal;">PART III.</span></h2>
<p>The merchants got their Exchange. What did they do
in it? They did most wonderful things with it. Greater
things were never done in any Exchange. For the first
time they were enabled to act together: and it was the
most favourable opportunity that ever happened to any
trading community. The charters of the foreigners
were abolished: the markets of Bruges were depressed
in consequence of the civil wars already beginning: that
city itself, with Antwerp and Ghent, was on the point
of ruin. The way was open, and the spirit of enterprise
was awakened. In ordinary times it would have been the
love of gain alone that awakened this spirit. But these
were not ordinary times. The people of Western
Europe took a hundred years to discover that Columbus
had doubled the world: that there was a new continent
across the ocean. They began to send their ships across:
nobody as yet knew the possibilities of that continent
with its islands: the Spaniards had the first run, but the
French and the English were beginning to claim their
share. Then a way to India and the East had been
found out: we were no longer going to be dependent on
the Venetians for the products of Persia, India, the
Moluccas, China. All those turbulent and restless spirits
who could not settle down to peaceful crafts or the dull
life of the desk, longed to be on board ship sailing
Westward Ho. Fortune was waiting for them there:
fortune with fighting, privation, endurance—perhaps
death by fever or by battle: yet a glorious life. Or they
might sail southwards and so round the Cape of Good
Hope—called at first the Cape of Storms—and across
the Indian Ocean to the port of Calicut, there to trade.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_165" id="Page_165"></SPAN></span>
There were dangers enough even on that voyage to
tempt the most adventurous: Moorish pirates off the coast
of Morocco: European pirates—English pirates—coming
out of the rivers and ports of Western Africa: storms off
the Cape: hurricanes in the Indian Ocean: the rocks
and reefs of seas as yet unsurveyed: treachery of natives.
Yet there were never wanting men in plenty to volunteer
for these long and perilous voyages. At home, then,
the spirit of enterprise, joined with the spirit of adventure,
achieved mighty things. The merchant adventurers
succeeding to some of the trade of the Hanseatic League,
established 'courts,' i.e. branches at Antwerp, Hamburg,
and Dordrecht: they had also courts at York, Hull, and
Newcastle. Many other companies were founded. There
was the Eastland Company or merchants of Ebbing.
Their trade was with the Baltic. There was the
'Merchant Adventurers for the discovery of Lands, not
before known to, or frequented by, the English.' This
afterwards became the Russian Company. They sent
out Sir Hugh Willoughby with three ships to find a
North-East passage to China. He and all his men
were frozen to death on the shores of Russian Lapland.
The Company afterwards took to whaling. There was
also the Turkey Company, which lasted to well into the
present century. There was the Royal African Company,
which has been revived. There were the Merchants of
Spain: the Merchants of France: the Merchants of
Virginia: the East India Company: the Hudson's Bay
Company: the South Sea Company: the Guinea
Company: the Canary Company. Some of these companies
were founded later, but they are all sprung from
the spirit of enterprise, first called into existence by
Gresham when he built his Exchange and brought the
merchants together.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_166" id="Page_166"></SPAN></span></p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_048.jpg" width-obs="500" height-obs="347" alt="SHIPPING IN THE THAMES, CIRCA 1660" title="" /> <span class="caption">SHIPPING IN THE THAMES, CIRCA 1660. <br/> (<i>From Pricke's 'South Prospect of London.'</i>)</span></div>
<p>By leaps and bounds the prosperity of the City increased,
and has still continued to increase, for the three
hundred years that have passed since Queen Elizabeth
opened the Royal Exchange. Whether this prosperity will
still further advance; whether forces, as yet unnoticed, will
bring about the decay of London, no one can venture to
prophecy. Antwerp may again become her rival: may
perhaps surpass her; the port of Antwerp is rising
yearly in importance: and that of Hamburg further
north, has, like Liverpool, its miles of quays and wharves
and its hundreds of vessels. But the trade of London is
still far greater than that of any other port in the
world, and for its three hundred years of prosperity we
must thank, above all men, that wise merchant Sir
Thomas Gresham.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_167" id="Page_167"></SPAN></span></p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_049.jpg" width-obs="465" height-obs="600" alt="SIR FRANCIS DRAKE, IN HIS FORTY-THIRD YEAR." title="" /> <span class="caption">SIR FRANCIS DRAKE, IN HIS FORTY-THIRD YEAR. <br/> (<i>From the engraving by Elstracke.</i>)</span></div>
<p>He did more than give an Exchange to the City. He
gave a college: he gave his own house in Broad Street
for a college: he endowed it with professorships: he intended<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_168" id="Page_168"></SPAN></span>
it to become for London what Christ Church was
to Oxford, or Trinity to Cambridge. It has been converted
into a place for the delivery of lectures, but
there are signs that the City will once more have such a
college as Gresham intended.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_46_PLAYS_AND_PAGEANTS" id="chap_46_PLAYS_AND_PAGEANTS"></SPAN>46. PLAYS AND PAGEANTS.<br/> <br/> <span style="font-weight: normal;">PART I.</span></h2>
<p>There were no theatres in England, nor any Plays,
before the reign of Queen Elizabeth. This is a statement
which is true, but needs explanation. It is not
the case that there was no acting. On the contrary,
there has always been acting of some kind or other.
There was acting at the fairs, where the Cheap Jack and
the Quack had their tumbling boys and clowns to attract
the crowd. There were always minstrels and tumblers,
men and women who played, sang, danced, and tumbled
in the hall for the amusement of the great people in the
long winter evenings. Not including the wandering
mummers, the Theatre was preceded by the Religious
Drama, the Pageant, and the Masque.</p>
<p>The Religious Drama was usually performed in
churches, but sometimes in market-places and in front
of churches. They represented scenes from the Bible
and acts of saints. In a time when the people could
not read, such shows presented Sacred History in a most
vivid form. No one could possibly forget any detail in
the Passion of Our Lord who had once seen it performed
in a Mystery, with the dresses complete, with appropriate
words and action, and with music. In the year 1409
there was a play representing the Creation of the World
performed at Clerkenwell. It lasted eight days, and was
witnessed by a vast concourse of all ranks. Here were
shown Paradise, our first parents, the admonition of the<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_169" id="Page_169"></SPAN></span>
Creator, the Fall, and the expulsion. Such a sight was
better than a hundred sermons for teaching the people.</p>
<p>The plays were not generally so long and so ambitious.
They acted detached scenes: the two men of
Emmaus meeting the Risen Lord: the Raising of
Lazarus: the Birth of Christ: the Flood: the Fall of
Lucifer: the Shepherds of Bethlehem: and other scenes.
The Mystery or Sacred Play was the Sunday school of
the middle ages. By those plays they learned the whole
of Scripture History. The churches taught detached
portions by the frescoes on the wall, the painted windows
and the carvings: but the history in its sequence
was taught by the Sacred Dramas.</p>
<p>We have very full accounts of one Miracle Play, that
which was annually performed by the Guilds of the City
of Chester. It was performed at Whitsuntide and lasted
three days. The play began with the 'Fall of Lucifer'
performed by the tanners: went on to the 'Creation,' by
the drapers: then to the 'Flood,' and so on. Nine plays
were performed on the first day; nine on the second; and
seven on the third. Each Guild provided a scaffold on
wheels. The scaffold was provided with a canopy which
would represent the sky, or the roof of a house, or a tent,
or a cave, as the play demanded: the performers were
properly dressed for their parts: there was music, and
in some cases there were songs. Under the scaffold was
the room where the actors dressed and where the 'properties'
were kept. Every play was performed in every
principal street. When one was finished the scaffold
was rolled to another station and the play was repeated.
This method prevented crowding. The most sacred
Persons were exhibited at these plays, and nothing was
spared to make them realistic to the last degree. Sometimes
devils were put upon the stage: flames issued<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_170" id="Page_170"></SPAN></span>
from their mouths: they performed tricks of buffoonery:
they dragged off sinners to their doom. Sometimes
comic scenes were introduced, as in the play of the
'Flood,' where it was common to represent Noah's wife
as a shrew who beats her husband and refuses to go
into the Ark.</p>
<p>These plays were swept away by the Reformation.
They had been productive for a long time of mischief
rather than of instruction. The profanity of the comic
scenes increased: and reverence was destroyed when in
the same tableau which presented the most sacred of
events appeared the most unbridled buffoons. Religious
plays have never been allowed since the Reformation.
Should they again be put upon the stage it must be
under the safeguard of those who can be trusted to
admit of no other consideration than the presentation
in the most reverent manner of sacred subjects. There
must be no thought of gain for those who manage, or
those who act, such plays. Many scenes and events of
the Bible would lend themselves wonderfully to dramatic
rendering. But the choice of these must not be left to
the lessee of a theatre: nor must the acting of such
plays be permitted to those who live by making the
people laugh.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_47_PLAYS_AND_PAGEANTS" id="chap_47_PLAYS_AND_PAGEANTS"></SPAN>47. PLAYS AND PAGEANTS.<br/> <br/> <span style="font-weight: normal;">PART II.</span></h2>
<p>After the religious dramas, the Pageants gratified the
desire for spectacle and show. Pageants were held on
every grand occasion: to welcome the sovereign: to
honour the new Lord Mayor: to celebrate a victory.
Then they erected triumphal arches adorned with pasteboard
castles, ships, houses, caves—all kinds of things.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_171" id="Page_171"></SPAN></span>
They either carried with them, as part of the procession,
or they stationed at some point, the City Giants. London
was not alone in having giants. York, Norwich,
Chester, possessed city giants. In Belgium the city
giant is still carried in procession in Antwerp, Douai,
and other towns. The figure of the giant symbolised
the strength and power of the city. After Agincourt
Henry V. was welcomed at the south gate of London
Bridge by two giants: his son, Henry VI., was also
received by a giant seventeen years later. Two giants
stood on London Bridge to welcome Philip and Mary:
the same two, at Temple Bar, afterwards welcomed
Elizabeth. The pair of giants now in Guildhall were
carved in 1707. The names Gog and Magog are wrong.
The original names were Gogmagog and Corineus.</p>
<p>The following account of the Pageant to celebrate the
return of the victor Henry V. after Agincourt is preserved
in Stow's 'London.'</p>
<p>The Mayor and Aldermen, dressed in scarlet, with
collars and chains, with 400 citizens in 'murrey,' all
well mounted, rode out to meet the King at Blackheath.
Then, after formal greetings, they all rode to London.
In Southwark the King was met by all the London
clergy in their most sumptuous robes, with crosses and
censers. At the entrance of London Bridge, on the top
of the tower, stood a pair of giants, male and female, the
former bearing in his right hand an axe, and in his left
hand the keys of the City. Around them stood a band
of trumpeters.</p>
<p>On the drawbridge were two lofty columns, on one of
which stood an antelope and on the other a lion—both
the King's crests.</p>
<p>At the other end of the Bridge was another tower,
and within it an image of St. George, with a great<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_172" id="Page_172"></SPAN></span>
number of boys representing angels. These sang an
anthem, 'Give thanks, O England, to God for victory.'
This is supposed to be preserved in the song 'Our King
went forth to Normandy.'</p>
<p>On Cornhill there was erected a tent of crimson
cloth ornamented with the King's arms. Within it was
a company of 'prophets' in golden coats. As the King
approached they set loose a great number of small birds,
which fluttered about while the 'prophets' sung 'Cantate
Domino canticum novum'—'Sing unto the Lord a new
song.'</p>
<p>In Cheapside the conduit was hung with green.
Here sat the twelve Apostles and the twelve Kings,
Martyrs and Confessors of England. They also sung
a chant and made the conduit run with wine. This
represented the reception of Abraham by Melchisedek.</p>
<p>The Cross of Chepe was built over by a high tower
of wood covered all over with splendid coats of arms.
There was a stage in front, on which a crowd of girls
came with timbrels dancing and singing. Thus the
maidens welcomed David when he returned from the
slaughter of Goliath. And all about the building were
crowds of boys, representing the Heavenly Host, who
showered down coins resembling gold, and boughs of
laurel, and sang 'Te Deum Laudamus.'</p>
<p>Lastly, there was another tower at the west end of
Chepe. In each corner of this stood a girl, who out of
a cup strewed golden leaves before the feet of the King.
And there was a high canopy painted with blue and stars,
and beneath a figure all gold, to represent the sun surrounded
by angels singing and playing all kinds of
musical instruments.</p>
<p>This witnessed, the King went on to St. Paul's to pay
his devotions.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_173" id="Page_173"></SPAN></span></p>
<p>When you read this bald account of one of the
greatest Pageants ever celebrated in the City, you must
fill it up by imagining the long procession, every one in
his place. Trumpeters, bowmen in leather jerkins,
men-at-arms in shining helmet and cuirass, horsemen in
full armour, knights, nobles, heralds all in full panoply,
banners and bannerets, the Bishop and all the clergy,
the King and his retinue, the Lord Mayor and his four
hundred followers. Imagine the blare of the trumpets,
the singing of the chants, the roaring of the people, the
crimson hangings all along the line of march at every
window. There were no police to keep the line: you
might see the burgesses running out of the taverns on
their way with blackjacks of Malmsey to regale the
gallant soldiers who had fought and won the victory.
You would see the King bareheaded. Why was he bareheaded?
Because he was so modest—this brave King.
Because he would not let the people see his helmet dinted
and misshapen with the signs and scars of hard battle
in which he had played his part as well as any humble
leather-jerkined bowman in his array. Your ancestors,
these soldiers and these citizens: your forefathers.
They knew, far better than you will ever know, how to
marshal a gallant show. We have lost the art of making
a Pageant. It remains with us—once a year—in
the Lord Mayor's Show. But think of Henry's Riding
into London compared with the Lord Mayor's Show!</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_48_PLAYS_AND_PAGEANTS" id="chap_48_PLAYS_AND_PAGEANTS"></SPAN>48. PLAYS AND PAGEANTS.<br/> <br/> <span style="font-weight: normal;">PART III.</span></h2>
<p>Between the Pageant and the Play stands the Masque,
a form of entertainment which achieved its greatest
splendour both in stage mounting and in the words and<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_174" id="Page_174"></SPAN></span>
songs in the reigns of Elizabeth and James I. Nowhere
was the Masque more carefully studied and more magnificently
presented than in London. The scenic display
which in the early theatre was so meagre was carried in
the Masque to a height never surpassed until the splendid
shows of the present day. Nor did the greatest poets
disdain to write words for the Masque. The most
beautiful of those which remain are to be found in Ben
Jonson's works. Every great man's house had a hall
which was used for the Masque. Bacon, who gives
directions for building a house, orders that there must be
a room built on purpose for these performances. Under
it is to be another room for the actors to dress and for
the 'properties'—i.e. the things requisite for the presentation
of the Masque, such as scenery, the woods,
fountains, rocks, palaces, &c.—that might be required.
Let us show what a Masque was like by describing one
of Ben Jonson's. It is called the Masque of Oberon, and
was performed before Prince Henry, the eldest son of
James I., who died in youth.</p>
<p>The scene presents a rock with trees beyond it and
'all the wildness that can be presented.' All is dark.
Presently the moon rising shows a Satyr, one of the
beings with whom the ancients peopled the forests and
wild places. They were drawn with the feet and legs of
goats, short horns on the head, and the body covered
with thick hair. This Satyr lifts his head and calls his
companions. There is no answer. He blows his cornet.
Echo answers him. He blows again, and is again
mocked by the Echo. A third time he blows, and other
Satyrs come leaping and dancing upon the stage.
Silenus, their leader, bids them prepare to see the young
Prince Oberon.</p>
<p>The scene opens: the rocks and forests disappear:<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_175" id="Page_175"></SPAN></span>
there is shown a glorious palace whose walls and gates
are transparent. Before the gates lie asleep two
'Sylvans'—i.e. men of the woods. The Satyrs gather
round these sleeping sentinels and wake them up with
singing:</p>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">Buzz, quoth the blue fly:<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Hum, quoth the bee:<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Buzz and hum they cry<br/></span>
<span class="i2">And so do we.<br/></span>
<span class="i0">In his ear, in his nose,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Thus do you see? [They tickle them.]<br/></span>
<span class="i0">He ate the dormouse<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Else it was he.<br/></span></div>
</div>
<p>The Sylvans wake: they explain that it is yet too
early for the gates to open. Meantime let them sing
and dance to while away the time. One of them sings
therefore. After the song they fall into an 'antick
dance full of gesture and swift motion' and thus
continue till the crowing of a cock gives the signal for
the whole palace to open. It is like a transformation
scene at a pantomime. There is the palace with all its
occupants—the 'whole nation of Fays' or Fairies. Some
are playing instruments of music; some are singing:
some are bearing lights: at the back of the stage sit the
'Knights masquers.' With them Oberon in his chariot.
And then, drawn by two white bears, guarded by three
Sylvans on each side, the chariot moves down the stage.
Observe that to produce all these effects the stage must
have been very deep. The song they sing is in praise of
the King:</p>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">Melt earth to sea, sea flow to air,<br/></span>
<span class="i4">And air fly into fire,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Whilst we in tunes to Arthur's chair<br/></span>
<span class="i4">Bear Oberon's desire:<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Than which there's nothing can be higher<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Save James to whom it flies:<br/></span>
<span class="i0">But he the wonder is of tongues and ears and eyes—<br/></span>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_176" id="Page_176"></SPAN></span></div>
</div>
<p>The Satyrs leap and dance again for joy at so
splendid a sight.</p>
<p>Then Silenus speaks in praise of Prince Oberon, who
is, of course, Prince Henry, the elder son of James,
who died young. The flattery is no worse than was
usual in Masques. Silenus says that the Prince—</p>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i4">Stays the time from turning old,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">And keeps the age up in a head of gold.<br/></span>
<span class="i0">He makes it ever day and ever spring<br/></span>
<span class="i0">When he doth shine, and quickens everything.<br/></span></div>
</div>
<p>Then two Fays sing a song and all the Fays together
dance, after which all together sing. Then Oberon and
his knights dance. Another song follows. Then they
all together dance 'measures, corantos, and galliards,'
till Phosphorus the day star appears and calls them
away—</p>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">To rest! To rest! The herald of the day,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Bright Phosphorus commands you hence. Obey.<br/></span></div>
</div>
<p>They quickly dance their last dance, one by one getting
into the Palace. Then the Star vanishes, the day
breaks, and while the last song is sung the 'machine
closes'—i.e. the Palace becomes a wall of the room and
the show is over. This is the pretty song which ends
the Masque:</p>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">O yet how early and before her time,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">The envious morning up doth climb,<br/></span>
<span class="i4">Though she not love her bed!<br/></span>
<span class="i2">What haste the jealous sun doth make<br/></span>
<span class="i2">His fiery horses up to take<br/></span>
<span class="i4">And once more show his head!<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Lest, taken with the brightness of this night,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">The world should wish it last and never miss his light.<br/></span>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_177" id="Page_177"></SPAN></span></div>
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_49_PLAYS_AND_PAGEANTS" id="chap_49_PLAYS_AND_PAGEANTS"></SPAN>49. PLAYS AND PAGEANTS.<br/> <br/> <span style="font-weight: normal;">PART IV.</span></h2>
<p>Through the Religious Drama, the Pageant, the Masque,
we work our way to the Play itself. The first beginnings
of the modern Drama must here be passed over:
there were the rough and unformed comedies such as
'Gammer Gurton's Needle,' performed in a college hall:
or the tragedy played on boards spread over a waggon
in the courtyard of an inn. Let us suppose that we
are past the beginnings and are in Shakespeare's time—i.e.
the end of Queen Elizabeth and the whole reign of
James I.</p>
<p>The first theatre was built in 1570. Thirty years
after there were seven. The Queen had companies of
children to play before her. They were the boys of the
choirs of St. Paul's, Westminster, Whitehall, and
Windsor. The actors called themselves the servants of
some great lord. Lord Leicester, Lord Warwick, Lord
Pembroke, Lord Howard, the Earl of Essex, and others
all had their company of actors—not all at the same
time. The principal Houses were those at Southwark,
and especially at Bank Side, where there were three,
including the famous Globe: the Blackfriars Playhouse:
the Fortune in Golden Lane, and the Curtain at Shoreditch.
If you will look at the map you will observe
that not one of these theatres is within the City—that at
Blackfriars was in the former precinct of the Dominicans
and outside the City. No theatre was allowed in the
City. Thus early sprang up the prejudice against actors.
Probably this was of old standing, and first belonged
to the time when the minstrel and the tumbler, the
musician and the dancing girl, the buffoon and the contortionist,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_178" id="Page_178"></SPAN></span>
wandered about the country free of rule and
discipline, leading careless and lawless lives.</p>
<p>The theatre was octagonal in shape but circular
within. What we call the pit was called the 'yarde.'
The stage projected into the 'yarde,' about three or four
feet high. The people who filled the 'yarde' were called
groundlings. Round the house were three galleries, the
lowest of which contained 'rooms' or private boxes:
what we call the upper circle and the gallery were above.
There were no seats in the pit, nor apparently in the
upper circles. On either side of the stage sat or lay
gentlemen, chiefly of the younger kind, who smoked pipes
of tobacco and talked loudly, disturbing the performance.
At the back of the stage was a kind of upper stage,
supported on columns, which gave the players a tower,
gallery, wall, a town, or an upper story of a house, or
anything of the kind that they wanted. There was a
great sale of apples, nuts, and ale before the play began
and between the acts: boys hawked the newest books
about the 'rooms': the people while they waited smoked
pipes, played cards. Above the stage on one side was the
'music.' Three times the trumpets sounded. At the
first, those who were outside hurried in to get a place:
at the second, the card-players left off their games: at
the third, those who bawled apples and ale and shouted
the name of the new book became silent: the audience
settled down: the Play began. Not much costume was
wanted: that of the Elizabethan—noble—courtier—young
knight—clown—fitted any and every age. There
was little scenery required: blue hangings above meant
day: black hangings night: the actors came out upon
the advanced stage and played their parts. No doubt
the illusion was as complete as we can contrive with
all our scenery, mounting, and correctness of costume.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_179" id="Page_179"></SPAN></span></p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_050.jpg" width-obs="450" height-obs="379" alt="THE GLOBE THEATRE." title="" /> <span class="caption">THE GLOBE THEATRE.</span></div>
<p>The parts of women were taken by boys. No women
appeared on the stage until the reign of Charles II.
The Play began with the Prologue, spoken by an actor
dressed in a long black velvet coat bowing very humbly
to the audience. After the Play was over the clowns
began to tumble and to sing. In short, a farce succeeded
a tragedy. The time of performance was one o'clock,
and the performance lasted until five.</p>
<p>In the year 1610 the Lord Mayor and Aldermen
being alarmed at the increasing popularity of the Play,
ordered that there should be only two theatres, the
Fortune in Golden Lane and the Globe at Bankside.
This order, however, like so many other laws, was only
passed to satisfy a passing scare and does not seem to
have been carried into effect. It was in such a theatre
as this and with such scenery that the immortal plays
of Shakespeare and Ben Jonson were acted. When<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_180" id="Page_180"></SPAN></span>
next you read a play of Shakespeare, remember the
stage projecting into the pit; the people in the pit all
standing, the gallants on the stage talking and smoking,
the ladies in the boxes, the boys enjoying apples and
nuts and ale and new books, and the actors playing
partly on the stage advanced and partly on the stage
behind.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_50_THE_TERROR_OF_THE_PLAGUE" id="chap_50_THE_TERROR_OF_THE_PLAGUE"></SPAN>50. THE TERROR OF THE PLAGUE.<br/> <br/> <span style="font-weight: normal;">PART I.</span></h2>
<p>You have seen the City as it appeared to one who walked
about its streets and watched the people. It was free,
busy and prosperous, except at rare intervals, when its
own internal dissensions, or the civil wars of the country,
or the pretensions of the Sovereign, disturbed the peace
of the City. Behind this prosperity, however, lay hid
all through the middle ages, and down to two hundred
years ago, four great and ever-present terrors. The
first was the Terror of Leprosy: the second the Terror
of Famine: the third was the Terror of Plague: the last
was the Terror of Fire.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <div class="figleft"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_051.jpg" width-obs="166" height-obs="300" alt="CIVIL COSTUME ABOUT 1620." title="" /> <span class="caption">CIVIL COSTUME ABOUT 1620. <br/> <i>(From a contemporary broadside.</i>)</span></div>
<div class="figright"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_052.jpg" width-obs="190" height-obs="300" alt="COSTUME OF A LAWYER." title="" /> <span class="caption">COSTUME OF A LAWYER. <br/> (<i>From a broadside, dated 1623.</i>)</span></div>
</div>
<p>As for the first two, we have seen how lazar houses
were established outside every town, and how public
granaries were built. Let us consider the third. The
Plague broke out so often that there was hardly any
time between the tenth and the seventeenth century
when some living person could not remember a visitation
of this awful scourge. It appeared in London first—i.e.
the first mention of it occurs in history—in the year 962:
again in 1094: again in 1111: then there seems to have
been a respite for 250 years. In the year 1348 the Plague
carried off many thousands: in 1361 it appeared again:
in 1367 and in 1369. In 1407 30,000 were carried off in<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_181" id="Page_181"></SPAN></span>
London alone by the Plague. In 1478 a plague raged
throughout the country, which was said to have destroyed
more people than the Wars of the Roses. But we must
accept all medi�val estimates of numbers as indicating no
more than great mortality. With the sixteenth century
began a period of a hundred and sixty years, marked with
attacks of the Plague constantly recurring, and every
time more fatal and more widespread. Nothing teaches
the conditions of human life more plainly than the
history of the Plague in London. We are placed in the
world in the midst of dangers, and we have to find out
for ourselves how to meet those dangers and to protect
ourselves. Thus a vast number of persons were crowded
together within the walls of the City. The streets were
all narrow: the houses were generally of three or more
stories, built out in front so as to obstruct the light<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_182" id="Page_182"></SPAN></span>
and air; there were many courts, in which the houses
were mere hovels: there was no drainage: refuse of all
kinds lay about the streets: everything that was required
for the daily life was made in the City, which added a
thousand noisome smells and noxious refuse. Then the
Plague came and carried off its thousands and disappeared.
Then the survivors went on their usual course.
Nothing was changed. Yet the Plague was a voice
which spoke loudly. It said 'Clean yourselves: cease
to defile the soil of the City with your decaying matter:
build your houses in wider streets: do not shut out the
sunshine—which is a splendid purifier—or light and air.
Keep yourselves clean—body and raiment, and house and
street.' The voice spoke, but no one heard. Then
came the Plague again. Still no one heard the voice.
It came again and again. It came in 1500, in 1525, in
1543, in 1563, in 1569, in 1574, in 1592, in 1603 (when
30,575 died), in 1625 (when 35,470 died), in 1635 (when
10,400 died), and lastly, in 1665. And in all that time
no one understood that voice, and the City was never
cleansed. All that was done was to light bonfires in the
street in order to increase the circulation of the air.
After the last, and worst attack, in 1666 the City was
burned, and in the purification of the flames it emerged
clean, and the Plague has never since appeared. The
same voice speaks to mankind still in every visitation of
every new pestilence. It used to cry aloud in time of
Plague: it cries aloud now in time of typhoid, diphtheria,
and cholera. Diseases spring from ignorance and from
vice. Physicians cannot cure them: but they can learn
their cause and they can prevent.</p>
<p>The Plague of 1665 began in the autumn of the year
before. It had been raging in Amsterdam and Hamburg
in 1663. Precautions were taken to keep it out by<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_183" id="Page_183"></SPAN></span>
stopping the importation of goods from these towns.
But these proved ineffectual. Certain bales from
Holland were landed and taken to a house in Long Acre,
Drury Lane. Here they were opened by two Frenchmen,
both of whom caught the disease and died. A third
Frenchman who was seized in the same house was removed
to Bearbinder Lane, St. Swithin's Lane, where he,
too, died. And then the disease began to spread. A
severe frost checked it for a time. But in March, when
milder weather returned, it broke out again.</p>
<p>The disease, when it seized upon a person, brought
upon him a most distressing horror of mind. This was
followed by fever and delirium. But the certain signs of
the plague were spots, pustules, and swellings, which
spread over the whole body. Death in most cases
rapidly followed. Some there were who recovered, but
the majority gave themselves over for lost on the first
appearance. Many of the physicians ran away from
the infected City: many of the parish clergy deserted
their churches. The Lord Mayor and Aldermen, however,
remained, by their presence giving heart to those
of the clergy and physicians who stayed, and by their
prudent measures preventing a vast amount of additional
suffering which would otherwise have fallen upon the
unhappy people.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_51_THE_TERROR_OF_THE_PLAGUE" id="chap_51_THE_TERROR_OF_THE_PLAGUE"></SPAN>51. THE TERROR OF THE PLAGUE.<br/> <br/> <span style="font-weight: normal;">PART II.</span></h2>
<p>In the month of May it was found that twenty City
parishes were infected. Certain preventions, rather
than remedies, of which there were none, were now employed
by the Mayor. Infected houses were shut up:
no one was allowed to go in or to come out: food was conveyed<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_184" id="Page_184"></SPAN></span>
by buckets let down from an upper window: the
dead bodies were lowered in the same way, from the
windows: on the doors were painted red crosses with
the words, 'Lord, have mercy upon us!' Watchmen
were placed at the doors to prevent the unhappy
prisoners from coming out. All the dogs and cats in
the City, being supposed to carry about infection in their
fur or hair, were slaughtered—40,000 dogs, it is stated,
and 200,000 cats, which seems an impossible number,
were killed. They also tried, but without success, to kill
the rats and mice. Everything was tried except the one
thing wanted—air and cleanliness. At the outset a
great many of the better sort left the City and stayed in
the country till the danger was over: others would have
followed but the country people would not suffer their
presence and drove them back with clubs and pikes. So
they had to come back and die in the City. Then all
the shops closed: all industries were stopped: men
could no longer sit beside each other: the masters dismissed
their apprentices and their workmen and their
servants. In the river the ships lay with their cargoes
half discharged: on the quays stood the bales, unopened.
In the churches there were no services except where the
scanty congregation sat singly and apart. The Courts
of Justice were empty: there were no crimes to try: in
the streets the passengers avoided each other. In the
markets which had to be kept open, the buyer lifted
down his purchase with a hook and dropped the money
into a bowl of vinegar. Many families voluntarily shut
their houses and would neither go in or out. Some of
these escaped the infection; the history of one such
family during their six months' imprisonment has been
preserved. They thanked God solemnly every morning
for continued health: they prayed three times a day for<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_185" id="Page_185"></SPAN></span>
safety. Some went on board ship and, as the Plague
increased, dropped down the river.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_053.jpg" width-obs="420" height-obs="300" alt="ORDINARY CIVIL COSTUME; temp. CHARLES I." title="" /> <span class="caption">A COUNTRYMAN. A COUNTRYWOMAN. <br/> ORDINARY CIVIL COSTUME; <i>temp.</i> CHARLES I. <br/> (<i>From Speed's map of 'The Kingdom of England,' 1646.</i>)</span></div>
<p>The deaths, which in the four weeks of July numbered
725, 1,089, 1,843, and 2,010, respectively, rose in
August and September to three, four, five, and even eight
thousand a week: but it was believed that the registers
were badly kept and that the numbers were greater than
appeared. Every evening carts were sent round, the
drivers who smoked tobacco as a disinfectant, crying
out, 'Bring out your Dead. Bring out your Dead,' and
ringing a bell. The churchyards were filled and pits
were dug outside the City into which the bodies were
thrown without coffins. When the pestilence ceased the
churchyards were covered with a thick deposit of fresh
mould to prevent ill consequences. It was observed that
during the prevalence of the disease there was an extraordinary
continuance of calm and serene sunshine. For<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_186" id="Page_186"></SPAN></span>
many weeks together not the least breath of wind could
be perceived.</p>
<p>When the summer was over and the autumn came
on, the disease became milder in its form: it lasted
longer: and whereas, at the first, not one in five recovered,
now not two in five died. Presently the cold
weather returned and the Plague was stayed. They
burned or washed all the linen, flannel, clothes, bedding,
tapestry and curtains belonging to the infected houses:
and they whitewashed the rooms in which the disease had
appeared. But they did not take steps for the cleansing
of the City. The voice had spoken in vain. The
number of deaths during the year was registered as
97,306 of which 68,596 were attributed to the Plague.
But there seems little doubt that the registers were inefficiently
kept. It was believed that the number who
perished by Plague alone was at least 100,000.</p>
<p>It is easy to write down these figures. It is difficult
to understand what they mean. Among them, a quarter
at least, would be the breadwinners, the fathers of
families. In many cases all perished together, parents
and children: in others, the children were left destitute.
Then there was no work. There were 100,000 working
men out of employment. All these people had to be kept.
The Lord Mayor, assisted by his Aldermen and two noble
Lords, Albemarle and Craven, organised a service of
relief. The King gave a thousand pounds a week: the
City gave 600<i>l.</i> a week: the merchants contributed
thousands every week. And so the people were kept
from starving.</p>
<p>When it was all over Pepys, who kept his Diary
through the time of the Plague but was not one of those
who stayed in the infected City, notes the enormous
number of beggars. Who should they be but the poor<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_187" id="Page_187"></SPAN></span>
creatures, the women and the children, the old and the
infirm who had lost their breadwinners, the men who
loved them and worked for them? The history is full
of dreadful things: but this amazing crowd of beggars is
the most dreadful.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_52_THE_TERROR_OF_FIRE" id="chap_52_THE_TERROR_OF_FIRE"></SPAN>52. THE TERROR OF FIRE.<br/> <br/> <span style="font-weight: normal;">PART I.</span></h2>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_054.jpg" width-obs="434" height-obs="300" alt="ORDINARY CIVIL COSTUME; temp. CHARLES I." title="" /> <span class="caption">A CITIZEN. A CITIZEN'S WIFE. <br/> ORDINARY CIVIL COSTUME; <i>temp.</i> CHARLES I. <br/> (<i>From Speed's map of 'The Kingdom of England,' 1646.</i>)</span></div>
<p>The City of London has suffered from fire more than
any other great town. In the year 961 a large number
of houses were destroyed: in 1077, 1086, and 1093, a
great part of the City was burned down. In 1136, a fire
which broke out at London Stone, in the house of one
Aylward, spread east and west as far as Aldgate on one
side and St. Erkinwald's shrine in St. Paul's Cathedral
on the other. London Bridge, then built of wood,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_188" id="Page_188"></SPAN></span>
perished in the fire, which for five hundred years was
known as the Great Fire. In these successive fires
every building of Saxon erection, to say nothing of the
Roman period, must have perished.</p>
<p>But the ravages of all the fires together did less
harm than the terrible fire which laid the greater part
of London in ashes in the year 1666. If you will refer
to the map of London you may mark off within
the walls the North-East angle: that part contained by
the wall and a straight line running from Coleman
Street to Tower Hill. With the exception of that corner
the whole of London within the walls, and beyond as far
as the Temple, was entirely destroyed.</p>
<p>The fire broke out at a baker's in Pudding Lane,
Thames Street. It was early on Sunday morning on
the second day of September, 1666. It was then, and
is now, a place where the houses stood very thick and
close together: all round were warehouses filled with
oil, wine, tar, and every kind of inflammable stuff. The
baker's shop contained a large quantity of faggots and
brushwood, so that the flames caught and spread very
rapidly. The people, for the most part, had time to
remove their most valuable things, but their furniture,
their clothes, the stock of their shops, the tools of their
trade, they had to leave behind them. Some hurriedly
placed their things in the churches for safety, as if the
fire would respect the sanctity of these buildings. A
stranger Sunday was never spent than this, when those
who had escaped were asking where to go, and those
upon whom the flames were advancing were tearing out
of their houses whatever they could carry away, and the
rest of the town were looking on and asking whether the
flames would be stayed before they reached their houses.</p>
<p>Among those who thought that a church would be a<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_189" id="Page_189"></SPAN></span>
safe place were the booksellers of Paternoster Row. They
carried all their books into St. Paul's Cathedral and
retired—their stock in trade was safe. But the flames
closed round upon the Cathedral: they seized on Paternoster
Row, so that the booksellers like the rest were
fain to fly: and presently towering to the sky flamed up
the lofty roof of nave and chancel and tower. Then
with an awful crash the flaming timbers fell down into
the church below. Even the Cathedral was burned with
the rest, and with it all the books.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_055.jpg" width-obs="427" height-obs="300" alt="ORDINARY CIVIL COSTUME; temp. CHARLES I." title="" /> <span class="caption">A GENTLEMAN. A GENTLEWOMAN. <br/> ORDINARY CIVIL COSTUME; <i>temp.</i> CHARLES I. <br/> (<i>From Speed's map of 'The Kingdom of England,' 1646.</i>)</span></div>
<p>All Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and part of Wednesday,
the fire raged, till it seemed as if there would be no
end until the City was utterly destroyed. Happily a
remnant was saved, as you have seen. The fire was
stopped at last by blowing up houses everywhere to
arrest its progress. Close by the Temple Church (which
barely escaped) they stopped it in this way. At Aldersgate,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_190" id="Page_190"></SPAN></span>
Cripplegate, and Bishopsgate, they used the same
means, and at Pye Corner, Smithfield. Nearly opposite
Bartholomew's Hospital, you may still see the image of
a boy set up to commemorate the stopping of the fire
at that point. Had it gone further we should have lost
St. Bartholomew the Great and the houses of Cloth
Fair.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_056.jpg" width-obs="500" height-obs="332" alt="LUD-GATE ON FIRE." title="" /> <span class="caption">LUD-GATE ON FIRE.</span></div>
<p>When the fire stopped the people sat down to consider
the losses they had sustained and the best way out
of them.</p>
<p>St. Paul's Cathedral, that ancient and venerable
edifice, with its thick walls and roof so lofty, that it
seemed as if no fire but the fire from heaven could reach
it, was a pile of ruins, the walls of the nave and transept
standing, the choir fallen into the crypt below. The
Parish churches to the number of 88 were burned: the<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_191" id="Page_191"></SPAN></span>
Royal Exchange—Gresham's Exchange—was down and
all the statues turned into lime, with the exception of
Gresham's alone: nearly all the great houses left in the
City, the great nobles' houses, such as Baynard's Castle,
Coldharbour, Bridewell Palace, Derby House, were in<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_192" id="Page_192"></SPAN></span>
ashes: all the Companies' Halls were gone: warehouses,
shops, private residences, palaces and hovels—everything
was levelled with the ground and burned to ashes. Five-sixths
of the City were destroyed: an area of 436 acres
was covered with the ruins: 13,200 houses were burned:
it is said that 200,000 persons were rendered homeless—an
estimate which would give an average of 15 residents
to each house. Probably this is an exaggeration. The
houseless people, however, formed a kind of camp in
Moorfields just outside the wall, where they lived in
tents, and cottages hastily run up. The place now
called Finsbury Square stands on the site of this curious
camp.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_057.jpg" width-obs="314" height-obs="500" alt="PAUL PINDAR'S HOUSE." title="" /> <span class="caption">PAUL PINDAR'S HOUSE.</span></div>
<p>We ask ourselves in wonder how life was resumed
after so great a calamity. The title deeds to houses and
estates were burned—who would claim and prove the
right to property? The account books were all lost—who
could claim or prove a debt? The warehouses and
shops with their contents were gone—who could carry
on business? The craftsmen had lost their employment—how
were they to live?</p>
<p>Of debts and rents and mortgages and all such
things, little could be said. It was not a time to speak
of the past. They must think of the future: they must
all begin the world anew.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_53_THE_TERROR_OF_FIRE" id="chap_53_THE_TERROR_OF_FIRE"></SPAN>53. THE TERROR OF FIRE.<br/> <br/> <span style="font-weight: normal;">PART II.</span></h2>
<p>They must begin the world anew. For most of the
merchants nothing was left to them but their credit—their
good name: try to imagine the havoc caused by
burning all the docks, warehouses, wharves, quays, and<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_193" id="Page_193"></SPAN></span>
shops in London at the present day with nothing at all
insured!</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_058.jpg" width-obs="600" height-obs="353" alt="LONDON, AS REBUILT AFTER THE FIRE." title="" /> <span class="caption">LONDON, AS REBUILT AFTER THE FIRE.</span></div>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_194" id="Page_194"></SPAN></span>But the citizens of London were not the kind of
people to sit down weeping. The first thing was to
rebuild their houses. This done there would be time to
consider the future. The Lord Mayor and the Aldermen
took counsel together how to rebuild the City. They called
in Sir Christopher Wren, lately become an architect after
being astronomer at Cambridge, and Evelyn: they
invited plans for laying out the City in a more uniform
manner with wider streets and houses more protected
from fire. Both Wren and Evelyn sent in plans. But
while these were under consideration the citizens were
rebuilding their houses.</p>
<p>They did not wait for the ashes to get cool. As
soon as the flames were extinct and the smoke had
cleared: as soon as it was possible to make way among
the ruined walls, every man sought out the site of
his own house and began to build it up again. So that
London, rebuilt, was almost—not quite, for some improvements
were effected—laid out with the same streets
and lanes as before the fire. It was two years, however,
before the ruins were all cleared away and four years
before the City was completely rebuilt. Ten thousand
houses were erected during that period, and these were
all of brick: the old timbered house with clay between
the posts was gone: so was the thatched roof: the
houses were all of brick: the roofs were tiled: the chief
danger was gone. At this time, too, they introduced
the plan of a pavement on either side of smooth flat
stones with posts to keep carts and waggons from interfering
with the comforts of the foot passengers. It took
much longer than four years to erect the Companies'
Halls. About thirty of the churches were never rebuilt<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_195" id="Page_195"></SPAN></span>
at all, the parishes being merged in others. The first
to be repaired, not rebuilt, was that of St. Dunstan's
two years after the fire: in four years more, another
church was finished. In every year after this one or
two: and the last of the City churches was not rebuilt
till thirty one years after the fire.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_059.jpg" width-obs="425" height-obs="177" alt="COACH OF THE LATTER HALF OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY." title="" /> <span class="caption">COACH OF THE LATTER HALF OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. <br/> (<i>From Loggan's 'Oxonia Illustrata.'</i>)</span></div>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_060.jpg" width-obs="500" height-obs="171" alt="WAGGON OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY." title="" /> <span class="caption">WAGGON OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. <br/> (<i>From Loggan's 'Oxonia Illustrata.'</i>)</span></div>
<p>It was at this time of universal poverty that the
advantages of union was illustrated to those who had
eyes to see. First of all, the Corporation had to find
food—therefore work. Thousands were employed in
clearing away the rubbish and carting it off so as to
make the streets, at least, free for traffic. The craftsmen
who had no work to do, were employed when this was<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_196" id="Page_196"></SPAN></span>
done on the building operations. The quays were cleared,
and the warehouses put up again, for the business of
the Port continued. Ships came, discharged their
cargoes, and waited for their freight outward bound.
Then the houses arose and the shops began to open
again. And the Companies stood by their members:
they gave them credit: advanced loans: started them
afresh in the world. Had it not been for the Companies,
the fate of London after the fire would have been as
the fate of Antwerp after the Religious Wars. But there
must have been many who were ruined completely by
this fearful calamity. Hundreds of merchants, and retailers,
having lost their all must have been unable to
face the stress and anxiety of making this fresh start.
The men advanced in life; the men of anxious and timid
mind; the incompetent and feeble: were crushed. They
became bankrupt: they went under: in the great crowd
no one heeded them: their sons and daughters took
a lower place: perhaps they are still among the ranks
into which it is easy to sink; out of which it is difficult
to rise. The craftsmen were injured least: their
Companies replaced their tools for them: work was
presently resumed again: their houses were rebuilt and,
as for their furniture, there was not much of it before
the fire and there was not much of it after the fire.</p>
<p>The poet Dryden thus writes of the people during
and after the fire:</p>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">Those who have homes, when home they do repair,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">To a last lodging call their wandering friends:<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Their short uneasy sleeps are broke with care<br/></span>
<span class="i2">To look how near their own destruction tends.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">Those who have none sit round where once it was<br/></span>
<span class="i2">And with full eyes each wonted room require:<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Haunting the yet warm ashes of the place,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">As murdered men walk where they did expire.<br/></span><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_197" id="Page_197"></SPAN></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">The most in fields like herded beasts lie down,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">To dews obnoxious on the grassy floor:<br/></span>
<span class="i0">And while the babes in sleep their sorrow drown,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Sad parents watch the remnant of their store.<br/></span></div>
</div>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_061.jpg" width-obs="333" height-obs="500" alt="ORDINARY DRESS OF GENTLEMEN IN 1675" title="" /> <span class="caption">ORDINARY DRESS OF GENTLEMEN IN 1675. <br/> (<i>From Loggan's 'Oxonia Illustrata.'</i>)</span></div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_54_ROGUES_AND_VAGABONDS" id="chap_54_ROGUES_AND_VAGABONDS"></SPAN>54. ROGUES AND VAGABONDS.</h2>
<p>The aspect of the City varies from age to age: the streets
and the houses, the costumes, the language, the
manners, all change.
In one respect however,
there is no
change: we have always
with us the same
rogues and the same
roguery. We do not
treat them quite after
the manner followed
by our forefathers:
and, as their methods
were incapable of putting
a stop to the
tricks of those who live
by trickery, so are
ours; therefore we
must not pride ourselves
on any superiority
in this direction.
A large and very interesting
collection of
books might be formed
on the subject of
rogues and vagabonds. The collection would begin with
Elizabeth and could be carried on to the present day, new<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_198" id="Page_198"></SPAN></span>
additions being made from year to year. But very few
additions are ever made to the customs and the methods
of the profession. For instance, there is the confidence
trick, in which the rustic is beguiled by the honest
stranger into trusting him. This trick was practised
three hundred years ago. Or there is the ring-dropping
trick, it is as old as the hills. Or there is the sham sailor—now
very rarely met with. When we have another war
he will come to the front again. We have still the cheating
gambler, but he has always been with us. In King Charles
the Second's time he was called a Ruffler, a Huff, or a
Shabbaroon. The woman who now begs along the streets
singing a hymn and leading borrowed children, did the
same thing two hundred years ago and was called a clapperdozen.
The man who pretends to be deaf and dumb
went about then, and was known as the dummerer. The
burglar was then the housebreaker. Burglary was
formerly a far worse crime than it is now, because the
people for the most part kept all their money in their
houses, and a robbery might ruin them. The pickpocket
plied his trade, only he was then a cutpurse. The footpad
lay in wait on the lonely country road or among the
bushes of the open fields at the back of Lincoln's Inn.
The punishments, which seem so mild under the Plantagenets,
increased in severity as the population outgrew the
powers of the government. Instead of plain standing
in pillory, ears were nailed to the post and even sliced off:
whippings became more commonly administered, and
were much more severe: heretics were burned by Elizabeth
as well as by Mary, though not so often. After
the civil wars we enter upon a period when punishment
became savage in its cruelty, of which you will presently
learn more. Meantime remark that when the City was
less densely populated, and when none lived outside<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_199" id="Page_199"></SPAN></span>
the wards and walls, the people were well under the
control of the aldermen and their officers: they were also
well known to each other: they exercised that self-government—the
best of any—which consists in refusing
to harbour a rogue among them. If in every London
street the tenants would refuse to suffer any evildoer to
lodge in their midst, the police of London might be almost
abolished. But the City grew: the wards became densely
populated: then houses and extensive suburbs sprang
up at Whitechapel, Wapping, outside Cripplegate, at
Smithfield north of Fleet Street, Lambeth, Bermondsey
and Rotherhithe: the aldermen no longer knew their
people: the men of a ward did not know each other:
rogues were harboured about Smithfield and outside
Aldgate: the simple machinery for enforcing order ceased
to be of any use: and as yet the new police was not
invented. Therefore the punishments became savage.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_200" id="Page_200"></SPAN></span>
Since the government could not prevent crime and
compel order, they would deter.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_062.jpg" width-obs="250" height-obs="344" alt="DRESS OF LADIES OF QUALITY" title="" /> <span class="caption">DRESS OF LADIES OF QUALITY. <br/> (<i>From Sandford's 'Coronation Procession of James II.'</i>)</span></div>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_063.jpg" width-obs="300" height-obs="311" alt="ORDINARY ATTIRE OF WOMEN OF THE LOWER CLASSES." title="" /> <span class="caption">ORDINARY ATTIRE OF WOMEN OF THE LOWER CLASSES. <br/> (<i>From Sandford's 'Coronation Procession of James II.'</i>)</span></div>
<p>Apart from active crime, vagrancy was a great
scourge. Wars and civil wars left crowds of idle soldiers
who had no taste for steady work: they became vagrants:
there was also—and there is still—a certain proportion of
men and women who will not work: they become vagrants
by a kind of instinct: they are born vagabonds. Laws and
proclamations were continually passed for the repression
of vagrants. They were passed on to their native place:
they were provided with passes on their way. But these
laws were always being evaded, and vagrants increased
in number. Under Henry VIII. a very stringent statute
was passed by which old and impotent persons were provided
with license to beg, and anybody begging without
a license was whipped. But like all such acts it was
imperfectly carried out. For one who received a whipping
a dozen escaped. Stocks, pillory, bread and water,
all were applied, but without visible effect, because so many
escaped. London especially swarmed with beggars and
pretended cripples. They lived about Turnmill Street,
Houndsditch and the Barbican, outside the walls. From
time to time a raid was carried on against them, and
they dispersed, but only to collect again. In the year
1575, for instance, it is reported that there were few or
no rogues in the London prisons. But in the year 1581,
the Queen observing a large number of sturdy rogues
during a drive made complaint, with the result that the
next day 74 were arrested: the day after 60, and so on,
the catch on one day being a hundred, all of whom were
'soundly paid,' i.e. flogged and sent to their own homes.
The statute ordering the whipping of vagabonds was enforced
even in this present century, women being flogged
as well as men. No statutes, however, can put down the<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_201" id="Page_201"></SPAN></span>
curse of vagrancy and idleness. It can only be suppressed
by the will and resolution of the people themselves.
If for a single fortnight we should all refuse to
give a single penny to beggars: if in every street we
should all resolve upon having none but honest folk
among us: then and only then, would the rogue find this
island of Great Britain impossible to be longer inhabited
by him and his tribe.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_55_UNDER_GEORGE_THE_SECOND" id="chap_55_UNDER_GEORGE_THE_SECOND"></SPAN>55. UNDER GEORGE THE SECOND.<br/> <br/> <span style="font-weight: normal;">PART I.</span><br/> <br/> <span class="smcap" style="font-weight: normal;">The Wealth of London</span>.</h2>
<p>If a new world was opened to the adventurous in the
reign of Queen Elizabeth, this new world two hundred
years later was only half explored and was constantly
yielding up new treasures. The lion's share of these
treasures came to Great Britain and was landed at the
Port of London. The wealth and luxury of the
merchants in the eighteenth century surpassed anything
ever recorded or ever imagined. So great was their
prosperity that historians and essayists predicted the
speedy downfall of the City: the very greatness of their
success frightened those who looked on and remembered
the past.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_064.jpg" width-obs="500" height-obs="318" alt="GROUP SHOWING COSTUMES AND SEDAN CHAIR, ABOUT 1720." title="" /> <span class="caption">GROUP SHOWING COSTUMES AND SEDAN CHAIR, ABOUT 1720. <br/> (<i>From an engraving by Kip.</i>)</span></div>
<p>Though the appearance of the City had changed, and
its colour and picturesqueness were gone, at no time was
London more powerful or more magnificent. There
were no nobles living within the walls: only two or
three of the riverside palaces remained along the Strand:
there were no troops of retainers riding along the streets
in the bright liveries of their masters: the picturesque
gables, the latticed windows, the overhanging fronts—all<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_202" id="Page_202"></SPAN></span>
these were gone: instead of the old churches rich
with ancient carvings, frescoes in crimson and blue,
marble monuments and painted glass, were the square
halls—preaching halls—of Wren with their round
windows, rich only in carved woodwork: the houses
were square with sash windows: the shop fronts were
glazed: the streets were filled with grave and sober
merchants in great wigs and white ruffles. They lived
in stately and commodious houses, many of which still
survive—see the Square at the back of Austin Friars
Church for a very fine example—they had their country
houses: they drove in chariots: and they did a splendid
business. Their ships went all over the world: they
traded with India, not yet part of the Empire: with
China, and the Far East: with the West Indies, with
the Levant. They had Companies for carrying on trade
in every part of the globe. The South Sea Company,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_203" id="Page_203"></SPAN></span>
the Hudson's Bay Company, the Turkey Company, the
African Company, the Russian Company, the East India
Company—are some. The ships lay moored below the
Bridge in rows that reached a mile down the river.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_065.jpg" width-obs="500" height-obs="502" alt="TEMPLE BAR, LONDON." title="" /> <span class="caption">TEMPLE BAR, LONDON. <br/> (<i>Built by Sir Christopher Wren in 1670; taken down in 1878 and since rebuilt at Waltham Cross.</i>)</span></div>
<p>All this prosperity grew in spite of the wars which
we carried on during the whole of the last century.
These wars, though they covered the Channel and the
Bay of Biscay with privateers, had little effect to stay the
increase of London trade. And as the merchants lived<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_204" id="Page_204"></SPAN></span>
within the City, in sight of each other, their wealth was
observed and known by all. At the present day, when
London from nightfall till morning is a dead city, no one
knows the wealth of the merchants and it is only by considering
the extent of the suburbs that one can understand
the enormous wealth possessed by those men who
come up by train every day and without ostentation walk
among their clerks to their offices in the City. A hundred
and fifty years ago, one saw the rich men: sat in church
with them: sat at dinner with them on Company feast
days: knew them. The visible presence of so much
wealth helped to make London great and proud. It
would be interesting, if it were possible, to discover how
many families now noble or gentle—county families—derive
their origin or their wealth from the City merchants
of the last century.</p>
<p>In one thing there is a great change. Till the middle
of the seventeenth century it was customary for the rank
of trade to be recruited—in London, at least—from the
younger sons. This fashion was now changed. The continual
wars gave the younger sons another career: they
entered the army and the navy. Hence arose the contempt
for trade which existed in the country for about a
hundred and fifty years. It is now fast dying out, but
it is not yet dead. Younger sons are now going into the
City again.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_205" id="Page_205"></SPAN></span></p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_066.jpg" width-obs="600" height-obs="432" alt="FLEET STREET AND TEMPLE BAR." title="" /> <span class="caption">FLEET STREET AND TEMPLE BAR.</span></div>
<p>The old exclusiveness was kept up jealously. No one
must trade in the City who was not free of the City.
But the freedom of the City was easily obtained. The
craftsman and the clerk remained in their own places:
they were taught to know their places: they were taught,
which was a very fine thing, to think much of their own
places and to take pride in the station to which they were
called: to respect those in higher station and to receive<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_206" id="Page_206"></SPAN></span>
respect from those lower than themselves. Though
merchants had not, and have not, any rank assigned to
them by the Court officials, there was as much difference
of rank and place in the City as without. And in no
time was there greater personal dignity than in this age
when rank and station were so much regarded. But
between the nobility and the City there was little intercourse
and no sympathy. The manners, the morals, the
dignity of the City ill assorted with those of the aristocracy
at a time when drinking and gambling were ruining
the old families and destroying the noblest names. There
has always belonged to the London merchant a great
respect for personal character and conduct. We are
accustomed to regard this as a survival of Puritanism.
This is not so: it existed before the arrival of Puritanism:
it arose in the time when the men in the wards knew
each other and when the master of many servants set
the example, because his life was visible to all, of order,
honour, and self-respect.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_067.jpg" width-obs="500" height-obs="339" alt="A COACH OF THE MIDDLE OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY." title="" /> <span class="caption">A COACH OF THE MIDDLE OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. <br/> (<i>From an engraving by John Dunstall.</i>)</span></div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_56_UNDER_GEORGE_THE_SECOND" id="chap_56_UNDER_GEORGE_THE_SECOND"></SPAN>56. UNDER GEORGE THE SECOND.<br/> <br/> <span style="font-weight: normal;">PART II.</span></h2>
<p>After the Great Fire, the number of City churches was
reduced from 126 to 87. Those that were rebuilt were
for the most part much larger and more capacious than
their predecessors. In many cases, Wren, the great
architect, who rebuilt St. Paul's Cathedral and all the
churches, in order to get a larger church took in a part
of the churchyard, which accounts for the fact that many
of the City churchyards are now so small. Again, as
the old churches had been built mainly for the purpose
of saying and singing mass, the new churches were built<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_207" id="Page_207"></SPAN></span>
mainly for the purpose of hearing sermons. They were
therefore provided with pews for the accommodation of
the hearers, and resembled, in their original design, a
convenient square room, where the preacher might be
seen and heard by all, rather than a cruciform church.
Some of Wren's churches, however, though they may be
described as square rooms, are exceedingly beautiful, for
instance, St. Stephen's, Walbrook, while nearly all are
enriched with woodwork of a beautiful description. It
was the custom in the last century to attend frequent
church services, and to hear many sermons. The parish
church entered into the daily life much more under
George the Second's reign than it does now, in spite of
our improved services and our multiplication of services.
In forty-four City churches there was service, sometimes<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_208" id="Page_208"></SPAN></span>
twice, sometimes once, every day. In all of them there
were evening services on Wednesday and Fridays: in
many there were endowed lectureships, which gave an
additional sermon once a week, or at stated times. Fast
days were commonly observed, though it was not customary
to close shops or suspend business on Good
Friday or Ash Wednesday: not more than half of the
City churches possessed an organ: on Sunday afternoons
the children were duly catechised: if boys misbehaved,
the beadle or sexton caned them in the churchyard: the
laws were still in force which fined the parishioners for
absence from church and for harbouring in their houses
people who did not go to church. Except for Sunday
services, sermons, and visitations of the sick, the clergy
had nothing to do. What is now considered the work
of the parish clergy—the work that occupies all their
time—is entirely modern. Formerly this kind of work
was not done at all; the people were left to themselves:
the clergy were not the organisers of mothers' meetings,
country jaunts, athletics, boys' clubs, and amusements.
The Nonconformists still formed an important part of
the City. They had many chapels, but their social
influence in London, which was very great at the beginning
of the century, declined steadily, until thirty or forty
years ago it stood at a very low ebb indeed.</p>
<p>In the streets the roads were paved with round
pebbles—they were 'cobbled': the footway was protected
by posts placed at intervals: the paving stones, which
only existed in the principal streets before the year 1766,
were small, and badly laid: after a shower they splashed
up mud and water when one stepped upon them. The
signs which we have seen on the Elizabethan houses
still hung out from every shop and every house: they
had grown bigger: they were set in immense frames of<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_209" id="Page_209"></SPAN></span>
ironwork, which creaked noisily, and sometimes tore out
the front of a house by their enormous weight. The shop
windows were now glazed with small panes, mostly
oblong, and often in bow windows: you may find several
such shops still remaining: one at the top of the Haymarket:
one in Coventry Street: one in the Strand:
there were no fronts of plate glass brilliantly illuminated
to exhibit the contents exposed for sale: the old-fashioned
shopkeeper prided himself on keeping within, and out of
sight, his best and choicest goods. A few candles lit up
the shop in the winter afternoons.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_068.jpg" width-obs="500" height-obs="376" alt="VIEW OF SCHOOL CONNECTED WITH BUNYAN'S MEETING HOUSE." title="" /> <span class="caption">VIEW OF SCHOOL CONNECTED WITH BUNYAN'S MEETING HOUSE.</span></div>
<p>To walk in the streets meant the encounter of roughness
and rudeness which would now be thought intolerable.
There were no police to keep order: if a man
wanted order he might fight for it. Fights, indeed, were<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_210" id="Page_210"></SPAN></span>
common in the streets: the waggoners, the hackney
coachmen, the men with the wheelbarrows, the porters
who carried things, were always fighting in the streets:
gentlemen were hustled by bullies, and often had to
fight them: most men carried a thick cudgel for self-protection.</p>
<p>The streets were far noisier in the last century than
ever they had been before. Chiefly, this was due to the
enormous increase of wheeled vehicles. Formerly everything
came into the City or went out of it on the backs
of pack-horses and pack-asses. Now the roads were so
much improved that waggons could be used for everything,
and the long lines of pack-horses had disappeared
from the main roads. In the country lanes the pack-horse
was still employed. Everybody was able to ride,
and the City apprentice, when he had a holiday, always
spent it on horseback. But for everyday the hackney
coach was used. Smaller carts were also coming into
use. And for dragging about barrels of beer and heavy
cases a dray of iron, without wheels, was used. All
these innovations meant more noise and still more noise.
Had Whittington, in the time of George II., sat down
on Highgate Hill (still a grassy slope), he would have
heard, loud above the sound of Bow Bells, the rumbling
of the waggons on Cheapside.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_57_UNDER_GEORGE_THE_SECOND" id="chap_57_UNDER_GEORGE_THE_SECOND"></SPAN>57. UNDER GEORGE THE SECOND.<br/> <br/> <span style="font-weight: normal;">PART III.</span></h2>
<p>In walking through the City to-day, one may remark
that there is very little crying of things to sell. In
certain streets, as Broad Street, Whitecross Street,
Whitechapel, or Middlesex Street, there is a kind of
open street, fair, or market; but the street cries such as<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_211" id="Page_211"></SPAN></span>
Hogarth depicted exist no longer. People used to sell a
thousand things in the streets which are now sold in
shops. All the little things—thread,
string, pins, needles,
small coal, ink, and straps—that
are wanted in a house were
sold by hawkers and bawled all
day long in the streets: fruit
of all kinds was sold from house
to house: fish: milk: cakes
and bread: herbs and drugs:
brimstone matches: an endless
procession passed along, all
bawling their wares. Then
there were the people who
ground knives, mended chairs,
soldered pots and pans: these
bawled with the hawkers. We
can no longer speak of the roar
of London: there is no roar:
the vehicles, nearly all provided
with springs, roll smoothly over
an even surface of asphalt:
there are no more drays without
wheels: there are no more
street fights: there is comparatively
little bawling of things to
sell.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_069.jpg" width-obs="176" height-obs="500" alt="GRENADIER IN THE TIME OF THE PENINSULAR WAR." title="" /> <span class="caption">GRENADIER IN THE TIME OF THE PENINSULAR WAR.</span></div>
<p>In those days people liked
the noise. It was a part of the
City life: it showed how big
and busy the City was since it could make such a
tremendous noise by the mere carrying on of the daily
round. Could any other city—even Paris—boast of such<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_212" id="Page_212"></SPAN></span>
a noise? People who came up from the country to visit
London were invited to consider the noise of the City as
a part of its magnificence and pride.</p>
<p>What else had they to consider? What were the
sights of London?</p>
<p>First of all, St. Paul's and Westminster Abbey.
Then the Tower and the Monument, the Royal Exchange
and the Mansion House, Guildhall and the Bank
of England, London Bridge, Newgate, St. James's and
the Horse Guards. These were to be visited by day.
In the evening there were the theatres, Drury Lane and
Covent Garden: and there were the Gardens.</p>
<p>The citizens were always fond of their Gardens.
They were opened as soon as the weather would allow,
and they continued open till the autumn chills made them
impossible. The gardens were those of Vauxhall—still
in existence as a small park: Ranelagh, at Chelsea:
Marylebone, opposite the old Parish Church in High
Street: Bagnigge Wells, which lay East of Gray's Inn
Road: Belsize, near Hampstead: the White Conduit
House in the fields near Islington: the Florida Gardens
at Brompton: the Temple of Flora, the Apollo Gardens,
and the Bermondsey Spa Gardens, all on the south side.
These Gardens, now built over, were all alike. Every
one of them had an ornamental water, walks and shrubs,
a room for dancing and singing, and a stand for the
band out of doors. People walked about, looked at each
other, had supper, drank punch—and went home. If
the Gardens were at any distance from the City they
marched together for safety.</p>
<p>The river was still the favourite highway—thousands
of boats plied up and down: it was much safer, shorter,
and more pleasant to take oars from Westminster to the
City than to walk or to hire a coach.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_213" id="Page_213"></SPAN></span></p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_070.jpg" width-obs="450" height-obs="357" alt="UNIFORM OF SAILORS ABOUT 1790." title="" /> <span class="caption">UNIFORM OF SAILORS ABOUT 1790.</span></div>
<p>The high roads of the country were rapidly improving.
Stage coaches ran from London to all the principal
towns. They started, for the most part, at eight in the
evening. They charged fourpence a mile, and they
pretended to accomplish the journey at the rate of seven
miles an hour. You may easily compare the cost of
travelling when you remember that you may now go
anywhere for a penny a mile—one fourth the former
charge at five or six times the rate. The 'short stages,'
of which there were a great many, ran to and from the
suburbs: they were like the omnibuses, but not so frequent,
and they cost a great deal more. Threepence a
mile was the usual charge. There was a penny post in
London, first set up by a private person. A letter sent
from London cost twopence the first stage: threepence
for two stages: above 150 miles, sixpence: Ireland
and Scotland, sixpence: any foreign country a shilling.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_214" id="Page_214"></SPAN></span>
There were no bank notes under the value of 20<i>l.</i>: there
were no postal orders or any conveniences of that kind.
Money was remitted to London either by carrier or
through some merchant. Banks there were by this
time: but most people preferred keeping their own
money in their own houses. Also banks being few
everybody carried gold: this partly explains the prevalence
of highway robbery: very likely the passengers
on any long stage coach carried between them some
hundreds of guineas: a whole railway train in these days
would not yield so much: for people no longer carry
with them more money than is wanted for the small
expenditure of the day: tram, omnibus, cab, luncheon
or dinner.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_58_UNDER_GEORGE_THE_SECOND" id="chap_58_UNDER_GEORGE_THE_SECOND"></SPAN>58. UNDER GEORGE THE SECOND.<br/> <br/> <span style="font-weight: normal;">PART IV.</span></h2>
<p>So far we understand that London about the year 1750
was a city filled with dignified merchants all getting rich,
and with a decorous, self-respecting population of retail
traders, clerks, craftsmen, and servants of all kinds, a
noisy but a well-behaved people. A church-going,
sermon-loving, and orderly people.</p>
<p>This is in the main a fair and just appreciation of
the City. But there is the other side which must not be
overlooked—that side, namely, which presents the vice
and sin and misery which always accompany the congregation
of many people and the accumulation of wealth.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_071.jpg" width-obs="331" height-obs="500" alt="COSTUMES OF GENTLEFOLK, ABOUT 1784." title="" /> <span class="caption">COSTUMES OF GENTLEFOLK, ABOUT 1784.</span></div>
<p>The vice which has always been the father of most
miseries is that of drink. In the middle of the last
century, everybody drank too much. The dignity of
the grave merchant was too often marred by indulgence
in port and punch: the City clergy drank too much:<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_215" id="Page_215"></SPAN></span>
even the ladies drank too much: it was hardly a
reproach, in any class, to be overcome with liquor. As for
the lower classes their habitual drink was beer—Franklin
tells us that when he was a printer in London every
man drank seven or eight pints of beer every day: nor
was this small ale or porter: it was generally good
strong beer: the beer would not perhaps hurt them so
much—though the money spent on drink was enormous—but
unfortunately they had now taken to gin as well—or<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_216" id="Page_216"></SPAN></span>
instead. The drinking of gin at one time threatened,
literally, to destroy the whole of the working classes of
London. There were 10,000 houses—one in four—where
gin was sold either secretly or openly. It was
advertised that a man could get drunk for a penny and
dead drunk for twopence. A check was placed upon
this habit by imposing a tax of 5<i>s.</i> on every gallon of
gin. This was in the year 1735 and in 1750 about 1,700
gin shops were closed. Since then the continual efforts
made to stop the pernicious habit of dram drinking have
greatly reduced the evil. But it was not only the
drinking of gin: there was also the rum punch which
formed so large a part in the life of the Georgian citizen.
Every man had his club to which he resorted in the
evening after the day's work. Here he sat and for the
most part drank what he called a sober glass: that is to
say, he did not go home drunk, but he drank every night
more than was good for him. The results were the
transmission of gout and other disorders to his children.
It should be, indeed, a most serious thing to reflect that
in every evil habit we are bringing misery and suffering
upon our children as well as ourselves. The habits of
drinking showed themselves externally in a bloated body;
puffed and red cheeks; a large and swollen nose;
trembling hands; fat lips and bleared eyes: in the case
of gin drinkers it showed itself in a face literally blue.
It is said that King George the Third was persuaded to a
temperate life—in a time of universal intemperance, this
King remained always temperate—by the example of his
uncle the Duke of Cumberland, who at the age of forty-five
in consequence of his excesses in drink exhibited a
body swollen and bloated and tortured with disease.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_217" id="Page_217"></SPAN></span></p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_072.jpg" width-obs="600" height-obs="374" alt="VESSELS UNLOADING AT THE CUSTOMS HOUSE, AT THE BEGINNING OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY." title="" /> <span class="caption">VESSELS UNLOADING AT THE CUSTOMS HOUSE, AT THE BEGINNING OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.</span></div>
<p>If you look at a map of London of this time you will
see that the city extended a long way up and down the<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_218" id="Page_218"></SPAN></span>
river on either bank. Outside the walls there were the
crowded districts of Whitechapel, Cripplegate, Bishopsgate,
St. Katherine's, Wapping, Ratcliff, Shadwell,
Stepney, and others. These places were not only outside
the wards and the jurisdiction of the City, but they
were outside any government whatever. They were
growing up in some parts without schools, churches, or
any rule, order, or discipline whatever. The people in
many of these quarters were of the working classes, but too
often of the criminal class. They were rude and rough
and ignorant to an extraordinary degree. How could
they be anything else, living as they did? They were so
unruly, they were so numerous, they were so ready to break
out, that they became a danger to the very existence of
Order and Government. They were kept in some kind
of order by the greatest severity of punishment.
They were hanged for what we now call light offences:
they were kept half starved in foul and filthy prisons:
and they were mercilessly flogged. In the army it was
not unknown for a man to receive 500 lashes: in the
navy they were always flogging the men. Horrible as
it is to read of these punishments we must remember
that the men who received them were brutal and dead to
any other kind of persuasion. Drink and ignorance and
habitual vice had killed the sense of shame and stilled
the voice of conscience. The only thing they would feel
was the pain of the whip.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_59_UNDER_GEORGE_THE_SECOND" id="chap_59_UNDER_GEORGE_THE_SECOND"></SPAN>59. UNDER GEORGE THE SECOND.<br/> <br/> <span style="font-weight: normal;">PART V.</span></h2>
<p>It was estimated, some years later than the period we
are considering, that there were then in London 3,000
receivers of stolen goods; that is to say, people who<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_219" id="Page_219"></SPAN></span>
bought without question whatever was brought to them
for sale: that the value of the goods stolen every year
from the ships lying in the river—there were then no great
Docks and the lading and unlading were carried on by
lighters and barges—amounted to half a million sterling
every year: that the value of the property annually stolen
in and about London amounted to 700,000<i>l.</i>: and that
goods worth half a million at least were annually stolen
from His Majesty's stores, dockyards, ships of war, &c.
The moral principle, a writer states plainly, 'is totally
destroyed among a vast body of the lower ranks of the
people.' To meet this deplorable condition of things there
were forty-eight different offences punishable by death:
among them was shoplifting above five shillings: stealing
linen from a bleaching ground: cutting hop bines and
sending threatening letters. There were nineteen kinds of
offences for which transportation, imprisonment, whipping,
or pillory were provided: there were twenty-one
kinds of offences punishable by whipping, pillory, fine
and imprisonment. Among the last were 'combinations
and conspiracies for raising the price of wages.' The
classification seems to have been done at haphazard: for
instance, to embezzle naval stores would seem as bad as
to steal a master's goods: but the latter offence was capital
and the former not. Again, it is surely a most abominable
crime to set fire to a house, yet this is classed among the
lighter offences. It was therefore a time when there was
a large and constantly increasing criminal class: and, as
a natural cause or a natural consequence, whichever we
please, there was a very large class of people as ignorant,
as rude, and as dangerous as could well be imagined.
I do not think there was ever a time, not even in the
most remote ages, when London contained savages more
brutal and more ignorant than could be found in certain<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_220" id="Page_220"></SPAN></span>
districts outside the City of the Second George. But
these poor wretches had one great virtue—they were
brave: they manned our ships for us and gave Britannia
the command of the sea: they were knocked down, driven
and dragged aboard the ships by the press-gang. Once
there they fell into rank and order, carried a valiant
pike, manned the guns with zeal, joined the boarding
party with alacrity and carried their cutlasses into the
forlorn hope with faces that showed no fear. They were
so strong, so stubborn, and so brave, that one sighs to
think of the lash that kept them in discipline and order.
There is one more side of London that must not be forgotten.
It was a great and prosperous city: we can
never dwell too strongly on the prosperity of the city:
but there were shipwrecks many and disastrous. And
the fate of the man who could not pay his debts was well
known to all and could be witnessed every day, as an
example and a warning. For he went to prison and in
prison he stopped. 'Pay what you owe,' they said to
the debtor, 'or else stay where you are.' The debtor
could not pay: in prison the debtor had no means of
making any money: therefore he stayed where he was
until he died. For the accommodation of these unhappy
persons there were the King's Bench and the Marshalsea,
both in Southwark: there were the two Compters, both
in the City: and there was the Fleet Prison.</p>
<p>The life in these prisons can be found described in
many novels. It was a squalid and miserable life among
ruined gamblers, spendthrifts, profligates, broken down
merchants, bankrupt tradesmen, and helpless women of
all classes. Unless one had allowances from friends,
starvation might be the end. In one at least the common
hall had shelves ranged round the walls for the reception
of beds: everything was carried on in the same room,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_221" id="Page_221"></SPAN></span>
living, sleeping, eating, cooking. And into such a place
as this the unhappy debtor was thrust, there to remain
till death released him.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_073.jpg" width-obs="600" height-obs="413" alt="THE OLD HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT AND WESTMINSTER ABBEY, 1803." title="" /> <span class="caption">THE OLD HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT AND WESTMINSTER ABBEY, 1803.</span></div>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_222" id="Page_222"></SPAN></span>This was the London of a hundred and fifty years
ago. No longer picturesque as in the old days, but solidly
constructed, handsome, and substantial. The merchants
still lived in the city but the nobles had all gone. The
Companies possessed the greater part of the City and
still ruled though they no longer dictated the wages,
hours, and prices. Within the walls there reigned comparative
order: outside there was no government at all.
The river below the Bridge was crowded with ships
moored two and four together side by side with an open
way in the middle. Thousands of barges and lighters
were engaged upon the cargoes: every day the church
bells rang for a large and orderly congregation: every
day arose in every street such an uproar as we cannot
even imagine: yet there were quiet spots in the City
with shady gardens where one could sit at peace: wealth
grew fast: but with it there grew up the mob with
the fear of anarchy and license, a taste of which was
afforded by the Gordon Riots. Yet it would be eighty
years before the city should understand the necessity for
a police.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_60_THE_GOVERNMENT_OF_THE_CITY" id="chap_60_THE_GOVERNMENT_OF_THE_CITY"></SPAN>60. THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CITY.<br/> <br/> <span style="font-weight: normal;">PART I.</span></h2>
<p>Let us walk into the streets. You will not observe,
because you are used to these things, and have been
brought up among them, and are accustomed to them,
that all the men go about unarmed: that they do not
carry even a stick for their protection: that they do not
fight or quarrel with each other: that the strong do not<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_223" id="Page_223"></SPAN></span>
knock down the weak but patiently wait for them and
make room for them: that ladies walk about with no
protection or escort: that things are exposed for sale
with no other guard than a boy or a girl: that most
valuable articles are hung up behind a thin pane of glass.
You will further observe men in blue—you call them
policemen—who stroll about in a leisurely manner looking
on and taking no part in the bustle. What do these
policemen do? In the roads the vehicles do not run
into one another, but follow in rank and order, those
going one way taking their own side. Everybody is
orderly. Everything is arranged and disposed as if
there was no such thing as violence, crime, or disorder.
You think it has always been so? Nay: order in human
affairs does not grow of its own accord. Disorder, if you
please, grows like the weeds of the hedge side—but not
order.</p>
<p>Again, you always find the shops well provided and
filled with goods. There are the food shops—those which
offer meat, bread, fruit, vegetables, coffee, tea, sugar,
butter, cheese. These shops are always full of these
things. There is never a day in the whole year when
the supply runs short. You think all these things come
of their own accord? Not so: they come because their
growth, importation, carriage, and distribution are so
ordered by experience that has accumulated for centuries
that there shall be no failure in the supply.</p>
<p>Again, you find every kind of business and occupation
carried on without hindrance. Nobody prevents a
man from working at his trade; or from selling what
he has made. One workman does not molest another
though he is a rival. You think, perhaps, that this
peacefulness has come by chance? Nay: strife comes to
men left without rule—but not peace.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_224" id="Page_224"></SPAN></span></p>
<p>You may observe further, that the streets are paved
with broad stones convenient for walking and easy to be
kept clean: that the roadways are asphalted or paved
with wood, and are also clean: things that must be
thrown away are not thrown into the streets: they are
collected in carts and carried away. You think that the
streets of cities are kept clean by the rain? Not so: if
we had only the rain as a scavenger we should be in a
sorry plight.</p>
<p>You find that water is laid on in every house. How
does that water come? That gas lights up houses and
streets. How does the gas come? That drains carry off
the rain and the liquid refuse. How did the drains
come?</p>
<p>You may see as you go along a man who walks from
house to house delivering letters. Does he do this of
his own accord? You know very well that he does not;
that he is paid to do it: that he does his duty. What
is the whole of his duty? Who gives him his orders?</p>
<p>Or you may see another man going from house to
house leaving a paper at each. He is a rate collector.
What is a rate collector? Who gives him authority to
take money from people? What does he do with the
money?</p>
<p>Or you may see placards on the walls asking people
to vote for this man, or for that man, for the School
Board, the County Council, the House of Commons, or
the Vestry. Why does this man want to get elected to
one of those Councils? What will he do when he is
elected? What are all these Councils for?</p>
<p>Again, the thing has never been otherwise in your
recollection and you therefore do not observe it, but if
you listen you will find that men talk with the greatest
freedom as they walk with their friends: no one interferes<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_225" id="Page_225"></SPAN></span>
with their conversation, no one interferes with
their dress, no one asks them what they want or where
they are going. Did this personal freedom always
exist? Certainly not, for personal freedom does not
grow of its own accord.</p>
<p>You will also observe, as you walk along, churches—in
every street, a church—of all denominations: you
will find posted on the walls notices of public meetings
for discussion or for lectures and addresses on every conceivable
topic: you will see boys crying newspapers in
which all subjects are treated with the utmost freedom.
You suppose, perhaps, that freedom of thought, of speech,
of discussion, of writing comes to a community like the
rain and the wind? Not so. Slavery comes to a community
if you please, but not freedom. That has to be
achieved.</p>
<p>You have seen the city growing larger and wealthier:
the people getting into finer houses, wider streets, and
more settled ways. Now, there is a thing which goes
with the advance of a people: it is good government.
Unless with advance of wealth there comes improved
government, the people fall into decay. But, which is
a remarkable thing, good government can only continue
or advance as the people themselves advance in wisdom
as well as in wealth. Such government as we have now
would have been useless in the time of King Ethelred or
King Edward I. Such government as we have now
would be impossible had not the citizens of London
continued to learn the lessons in order, in good laws, in
respect to law, which for generation after generation were
submitted to the people.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_226" id="Page_226"></SPAN></span></p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_61_THE_GOVERNMENT_OF_THE_CITY" id="chap_61_THE_GOVERNMENT_OF_THE_CITY"></SPAN>61. THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CITY.<br/> <br/> <span style="font-weight: normal;">PART II.</span></h2>
<p>Since all these things do not grow of their own accord,
by whom were they first introduced, planted, and developed?
By whom are they now maintained? By the
collection of powers and authorities which we call the
Government of the City and County of London.</p>
<p>Thus order reigns in the streets: in the rare cases
where disorder breaks out the policeman is present to
stop it. His presence stops it. Not because he is a
strong man, but because he is irresistible: he is the
servant of the Law: he represents Authority. Formerly
the Alderman of the Ward walked about his own streets
followed by two bailiffs. If any one dared to resist the
Alderman he was liable to have his hand struck off by
an axe. In this way people were taught to respect the
Law. By such sharp lessons it was forced upon them
that the Law must be obeyed. Thus there gradually
grew up among them a desire for Order. The policeman
appointed by the Chief Police Officer stands for a symbol
and reminder of the Law.</p>
<p>You have seen how the people of London had their
Folks' Mote, their Ward Mote, and their Hustings. From
the first of these has sprung the Common Council, which
rules over the City of London within the old boundaries.
The Folks' Mote was a Parliament of the People—a rude
and tumultuous assembly, no doubt, but a free assembly.
When the City grew great such a Parliament became
impossible. It therefore became an elective Parliament.
The election was—and is still—conducted at the Ward
Motes, each Ward returning so many members in proportion
to its population, for the Common Council.
The Councillors are elected for one year only. If there<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_227" id="Page_227"></SPAN></span>
is a vacancy an Alderman is also elected, but that is
for life.</p>
<p>Formerly every man in London followed a trade: he
therefore belonged to a Company. And as the commonalty,
all the men of London together assembled, i.e. all
the members of all the companies, elected the Mayor,
so to this day the electors of the Lord Mayor are the
members of the Companies. None others have any
voice in the election. The Companies no longer include
all the citizens, and the craftsmen have nearly all left
the City. But the power remains.</p>
<p>The Lord Mayor is the chief magistrate. With him
is the Court of Aldermen, also magistrates. He has with
him the great officers of the City: the Recorder, or Chief
Justice; the Town Clerk; the Chamberlain, who is the
Treasurer; the Remembrancer; and the Common
Sergeant.</p>
<p>The education of the young, the maintenance of the
old, the paving and cleansing of the streets, the lighting,
the removal of waste, the engines for extinguishing fires,
the regulation of the road traffic, the preservation of
order, all these things are conducted by the various
Councils and Courts of the City, and the cost is provided
by that kind of taxation known as the rates. That is to
say, every house is 'rated' or estimated as worth so much
rent. The tenant who pays the rent has to pay, in
addition, a charge of so much in the pound for this and
that object. Thus for education, if the rate be 1<i>s.</i> in the
pound, a man in a house whose rent is 100<i>l.</i> has to pay 5<i>l.</i>
on that charge. He has to pay also for the Police, the Fire
Brigade, the Poor, lighting and paving. His own water
supply is managed by a private company, and another
private company gives him his gas or his electricity.
In the same way the food is provided by private persons<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_228" id="Page_228"></SPAN></span>
and brought to the city by private companies. Thus
you are governed by men whom you are supposed yourselves
to elect: order is kept for you: education, protection,
and conveniences are found for you: in a word, life
is made tolerable for you by your own Government—elected
by yourselves—and at your own cost.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_62_THE_GOVERNMENT_OF_THE_CITY" id="chap_62_THE_GOVERNMENT_OF_THE_CITY"></SPAN>62. THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CITY.<br/> <br/> <span style="font-weight: normal;">PART III.</span></h2>
<p>That is the best Government which gives the greatest
possible liberty to its people: only that people can be
happy which is capable of using their freedom aright. You
have seen how your personal freedom from violence,
robbery, and molestation in your work is secured for you:
how you are enabled to live in comfort and cleanliness—by
a vast machinery of Government whose growth has
been gradual and which must always be ready to meet
changes so as to suit the needs of the people. One
point you must carefully remember, that your greatest
liberty is liberty of speech and of thought and of the
Press. It is not so very long since martyrs—Catholic as
well as Protestant—were executed for their religious
belief: Catholics and Jews until quite recently were
excluded from Parliament. A hundred years ago the
debates of Parliament could not be reported: one had
to weigh his words very carefully in speaking of the
Sovereign or the Ministers: certain forms of opinion
were not allowed to be published. All that is altered.
You can believe what you like and advocate what you
like, so long as it is not against Divine Law or the Law
of the Land. Thus, if one were to preach the duty of
Murder he would be very properly stopped. Therefore,
when you buy a daily paper: whenever you enter a church
or chapel: whenever you hear an address or a lecture<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_229" id="Page_229"></SPAN></span>
remember that you are enjoying the freedom won for you
by the obstinacy and the tenacity of your ancestors.</p>
<p>We have spoken of the City Companies. They still
exist and though their former powers are gone and they
no longer control the trades after which they are named,
their power is still very great on account of the revenues
which they possess and their administration of charities,
institutions, &c., under their care. There were 109 in all,
but many have been dissolved. There are still, however,
76. About half of these possess Halls which are now the
Great Houses of the City. The number of livery men,
i.e. members of the Companies, is 8,765. The Companies
vary greatly in numbers: there are 448 Haberdashers,
for instance: 380 Fishmongers: and 356 Spectacle
Makers: while there are only 16 Fletchers, i.e. makers of
arrows. Many of the trades are now extinct, such as the
Fletchers above named, the Bowyers, the Girdlers, the
Bowstring Makers and the Armourers.</p>
<p>Some of these Companies are now very rich. One of
them possesses an income, including Trust money, of
83,000<i>l.</i> a year. It must be acknowledged that the
Companies carry on a great deal of good work with their
money. Many of them, however, have little or nothing:
the Basket Makers have only 102<i>l.</i> a year: the Glass
Sellers only 21<i>l.</i> a year: the Tinplate Workers 7<i>l.</i> 7<i>s.</i> a
year. If, therefore, you hear of the great riches of the
City Companies remember (1) that 25 of them have less
than 500<i>l.</i> a year each: and (2) that the rich Companies
support Technical Colleges and Schools, grant scholarships,
encourage trade, hold exhibitions, maintain almshouses,
and make large grants to objects worthy of
support. It is not likely that the privilege of electing
the Lord Mayor will long continue to be in the hands of
the Companies. It is not, indeed, worthy of a great<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_230" id="Page_230"></SPAN></span>
City that its Chief Magistrate should be elected by so
small a minority as 8,765 out of the hundreds of
thousands who have their offices and transact their
business in the City: but while this privilege will cease,
the Companies may remain and continue to exercise a
central influence, at the least in London, over the Crafts
and Arts which they represent. Let us never destroy
what has been useful: let us, on the other hand, preserve
it, altered to meet changed circumstances. For an
institution is not like a tree which grows and decays. If
it is a good institution, built upon the needs and adapted
to the circumstances of human nature, it will never
decay but, like the Saxon form of popular election, live
and develop and change as the people themselves change
from age to age.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="chap_63_LONDON" id="chap_63_LONDON"></SPAN>63. LONDON.<br/> <br/> <span style="font-weight: normal;">GREATER LONDON.</span></h2>
<p>It has been a great misfortune for London that, when
its Wall ceased to be the true boundary of the town, and
when the people began to spread in all directions outside
the walls, no statesman arose with vision clear enough
to perceive that the old system must be enlarged or
abolished: that the City must cease to mean the City
of the Edwards, and must include these new suburbs,
from Richmond on the West to Poplar on the East, and
from Hampstead on the North to Balham on the South.
It is true that something was done: there are the Wards
of Bridge Without, which is Southwark: and of Farringdon
Without. There should have been provision
for the creation of new Wards whenever the growth of a
suburb warranted its addition. That, however, has not
been done. The Old London remains as it was, and as
we now see it, surrounded by another, and an immense<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_231" id="Page_231"></SPAN></span>
City, or aggregate of cities, all placed under the rule of a
Council.</p>
<p>This was done by the Act of 1888, which created a
County whose boundaries were the same as those of the
former Metropolitan Board of Works; in other words, it
embraces all the suburbs of London properly so called.
This County extends from Putney and Hammersmith on
the West to Plumstead on the East: on the North are
Hampstead and Highgate; on the South are Tooting,
Streatham, Lewisham and Eltham. There are 138
Councillors, of whom 19 are Aldermen and one a Chairman.
The conservative tendency of our people is shown
in their retention of the old division of aldermen. It is,
once more, Kings, Lords, and Commons. But the functions
of the Aldermen do not differ from those of the
Councillor. The Councillors are elected by the ratepayers
for three years, the Aldermen for six; but there
is a rule as to retiring by rotation.</p>
<p>The powers of the County Council are enormous.
It regulates the building of houses and streets: the
drainage: places of amusement: it can close streets
and pull down houses: it administers and makes regulations
concerning parks, bridges, tunnels, subways, dairies,
cattle diseases, explosives, lunatic asylums, reformatory
schools, weights and measures. It grants licenses for
music and dancing: it carries on, in fact, the whole
administration of the greatest City in the world, and, in
some respects, the best managed City.</p>
<p>In order to carry out these works the Council expend
about 600,000<i>l.</i> a year. It has a debt of 30,000,000<i>l.</i>,
against which are various assets, so that the real debt is
no more than 18,000,000<i>l.</i> The rating outside the City
was last year 12�<i>d.</i> in the pound. The first Chairman
was Lord Rosebery. He has been succeeded by Sir<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_232" id="Page_232"></SPAN></span>
John Lubbock and Mr. John Hutton. The list of County
Councillors contains men of every rank and every opinion.
Dukes, Earls and Barons, sit upon the Council beside
plain working men—an excellent promise for the future.</p>
<p>Such is the government of London. Within the
City what was intended to be democratic has become
oligarchic. The election by the whole people has become
the election by 8,000 only. Without the City a great
democratic Parliament attracts men whose historic names
and titles belong to the aristocracy. In the London
County Council the Peers may, if they are elected, sit
beside the Commons.</p>
<p>Lastly, what is the chief lesson for you to learn out
of this history? It is short, and may be summed up
in a few sentences.</p>
<p>1. Consider how your liberties have grown silently
and steadily out of the original free institutions of your
Saxon ancestors. They have grown as the trunk, the
tree, the leaves, the flower, the fruit, grow from the single
seed. The Folk Mote, the 'Law worthiness' of every man,
the absence of any Over Lord but the King, have kept
London always free and ready for every expansion of her
liberties. Respect, therefore, the ancient things which
have made the City—and the country—what it is.
Trust that the further natural growth of the old tree—still
vigorous—will be safer for us than to cut it down
and plant a sapling, which may prove a poison tree.
And with the old institutions respect the old places.
Never, if you can help it, suffer an old monument to be
pulled down and destroyed. Keep before your eyes the
things which remind you of the past. When you look
on London Stone, remember that Henry of London Stone
was one of the first Mayors. When you go up College
Hill, remember Whittington who gave it that name.
When you pass the Royal Exchange think of Gresham:<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_233" id="Page_233"></SPAN></span>
when you go up Walbrook remember the stream beneath
your feet, the Roman Fortress on your right, and the
British town on your left. London is crammed full of
associations for those who read and know and think.
You will be better citizens of the present for knowing
about the citizens of the past.</p>
<p>2. The next lesson is your duty to your country.
What does it mean, the right of the Folk Mote? The
Mote has now become a House of Commons, a County
Council, a School Board. You have the same rights
that your ancestor had. He was jealous over them: he
fought to the death to preserve them and to strengthen
them. Be as jealous, for they are far more important to
you than ever they were to him. You have a hundred
times as much to defend: you have dangers which he did
not know or fear. Show your jealousy by exercising your
right as the most sacred duty you have to fulfil. Your
vote is an inheritance and a trust. You have inherited
it direct from the Angles and the Jutes: as you exercise
that vote so it will be ill or well with you and your
children. Be very jealous of the man you put in power:
learn to distinguish the man who wants place from the
man who wants justice: vote only for the right man: and
do your best to find out the right man. It is difficult at
all times. You may make it less difficult by sending to
the various Parliaments of the country a man you know,
who has lived among you, whose life, whose private
character, whose previous record you know instead of the
stranger who comes to court your vote. Above all things
<i>vote always</i> and let the first duty in your mind always be
to protect your rights and your liberties.</p>
<p>These are the two lessons that this book should teach
you—the respect that is due to the past and the duty
that is owed to the present.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_235" id="Page_235"></SPAN></span><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_234" id="Page_234"></SPAN></span></p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="NOTES" id="NOTES"></SPAN>NOTES</h2>
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_1_THE_FOUNDATION_OF_LONDON">1. THE FOUNDATION OF LONDON. PART I.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>�neas</b>: a Trojan prince who escaped from Troy when it was destroyed by
the Greeks.</p>
<p><b>Venus</b>, the Roman Goddess of Love and Beauty, was the mother of �neas.</p>
<p><b>Troy</b>: a famous city in the north-west corner of Asia Minor. It was destroyed
by Greek invaders about 1,000 years before Christ, and the stories connected
with it form one of the chief subjects of Greek and Latin poets.</p>
<p><b>Troynovant</b> means New Troy.</p>
<p><b>Constantine the Great</b> was Emperor of Rome, that is, of all the then known
world from 305 to 337 <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> He was the first Roman Emperor to adopt and
favour Christianity. Constantinople is named after him, and was made by
him the capital of the Empire.</p>
<p><b>Geoffrey of Monmouth</b> was a British historian of the twelfth century. He
was made Bishop of St. Asaph in 1152. His 'histories' are largely made
up of stories, such as that about Brutus, which nobody believes now.</p>
<p><b>historical document</b>: a piece of writing that can be used to prove some
event in the history of past times.</p>
<p><b>architecture</b>: the art of building; the style in which houses are built.</p>
<p><b>Cornhill</b>: a street in the City of London running west to east from the
Royal Exchange into Leadenhall Street. It was probably named after a
family of that name, and not from any corn market on the site.</p>
<p><b>bastion</b>: a strong turret or tower at the corner of a fortified building.</p>
<p><b>Walbrook</b>: a small stream that crossed the City from north to south. It
flowed near where the Mansion House now stands (Walbrook is a street at
the side of the Mansion House), and fell into the Thames at Dowgate, near
where Cannon Street Railway Station now stands.</p>
<p><b>Fleet River</b>: a small stream which fell into the Thames near where Blackfriars
Railway Station now stands.</p>
<p><b>Moorfields</b> was a piece of moor land lying to the north of the City, outside the
walls. The City gate which led to this district was the Moorgate, a name
which still survives in Moorgate Street.</p>
<p><b>Ken Wood</b>, in Hampstead, <b>Hainault Forest</b>, a small piece of wood in Essex,
about eight miles north-east of London, and <b>Epping Forest</b>, a larger portion,
also in Essex, to the west of Hainault Forest, are all remaining portions of
a great forest that once stretched away from London far into the country.</p>
<p><b>Chelsea, Bermondsey</b>: in all such words <i>ea</i> or <i>ey</i> is an old word for island.
In this way are formed Winchelsea, Battersea, &c.; <b>Thorney</b> (where Westminster
is now) is the Island of Thorns; and <b>Jersey</b>, C�sar's Island.</p>
<p><b>Southwark</b>: a district of London opposite the City, on the south side of the
Thames. It was the South work, or fort, and is spoken of as a village as
late as 1327, the accession of Edward III.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_236" id="Page_236"></SPAN></span></p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_2_THE_FOUNDATION_OF_LONDON">2. THE FOUNDATION OF LONDON. PART II.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Malarious</b>: causing the air to be bad, and so giving rise to fevers; unhealthy.
(Latin <i>malus</i>, bad; <i>aer</i>, air.)</p>
<p><b>Weybridge</b>, in Surrey, near where the river Wey, after flowing past Godalming
and Guildford, falls into the Thames.</p>
<p><b>entrenching</b>: making a trench or ditch. The earth dug out was formed into
a mound. The mound and ditch, together with the stockade, protected the
place.</p>
<p><b>stockade</b>: a barrier made of <i>stakes</i> stuck in the ground.</p>
<p><b>Gaul</b>: the old name for the country now called France—the land of the Galli,
or Celts. <i>Gaelic</i> is the language still spoken by the Celts in Scotland.</p>
<p><b>Thanet</b>: a district in the north-east of Kent, containing Ramsgate, Margate,
and Broadstairs. The river Stour parts it from the rest of Kent, so that
it is still an 'island,' though the channel was formerly much wider and
deeper.</p>
<p><b>Captain Cook</b>: a famous sailor born 1728, murdered in the Sandwich Islands
1779. He was among the first to visit Australia and New Zealand, and
made many discoveries in the Pacific.</p>
<p><b>Polynesians</b>: the natives of Polynesia, or the smaller islands in the South
Pacific. They are brown-skinned, and akin in race to the Maories of New
Zealand and the Malays.</p>
<p><b>Brythonic</b>: that portion of the Celts whose descendants are now the Welsh,
Bretons: (in Bretagne, on the west coast of France), and Cornishmen.</p>
<p><b>Basques</b>: the natives of a part of northern Spain, near the Pyrenees. Their
language is unconnected with any other, except perhaps that of the Finns.
The Province and Bay of Biscay is named after them.</p>
<p><b>Finns</b>: the natives of Finland in Russia. Like the Basques, they are the
remains of a nation which once spread over all Europe, and has now nearly
disappeared.</p>
<p><b>barrow</b>: a mound raised over a grave.</p>
<p><b>Verulam</b>: an old British, and then a Roman town, on the site of which is now
St. Albans, in Hertfordshire.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_3_ROMAN_LONDON">3. ROMAN LONDON. PART I.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Stationary camp</b>: a fixed or permanent camp; a fort. A Roman army on
the march constructed a camp if it only spent one night in a place. Such
camps were not stationary.</p>
<p><b>Porchester</b>: a small town on the north side of Portsmouth Harbour. Chester
is the Latin <i>castra</i>, a camp, and occurs in Leicester, Colchester, Chester,
Silchester, &c.</p>
<p><b>rubble</b>: small rough stones often used inside piles of masonry.</p>
<p><b>Silchester</b>: a place near Reading at which remains of old Roman buildings
have been dug out.</p>
<p><b>Mincing Lane</b>: a narrow street in the east part of the City.</p>
<p><b>tribunal</b>: the place where judges sit to administer justice.</p>
<p><b>Exchange</b>: the place where merchants meet and carry on their business.</p>
<p><b>stevedores</b>: those engaged in the work of loading and unloading ships.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_4_ROMAN_LONDON">4. ROMAN LONDON. PART II.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Tesselated</b>: formed of small pieces of stone or tile of various colours arranged
to form a pattern, like mosaic work.</p>
<p><b>Diana</b>: the Roman Goddess of Hunting; also of the Moon.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_237" id="Page_237"></SPAN></span></p>
<p><b>Apollo</b>: the Roman God of Poetry, Music, and Prophecy.</p>
<p><b>Guildhall</b>: the hall of the Guild or Corporation of the City of London, near
Cheapside.</p>
<p><b>usurper</b>: one who by force seizes and holds a position which does not belong
to him.</p>
<p><b>Picts</b>: wild savages from the country which we call Scotland; <b>Scots</b>, also
savage men, who, though they afterwards gave their name to Scotland, at
that time came from Ireland.</p>
<p><b>Hong Kong</b>: an island off the coast of China; <b>Singapore</b>, a large British
seaport on an island of the same name off the south end of the Malay
Peninsula; <b>West Indies</b>, a number of islands to the east of Central America
in the Atlantic: of those belonging to Great Britain Jamaica is the largest.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_5_AFTER_THE_ROMANS">5. AFTER THE ROMANS. PART I.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>East Saxons</b> were those who dwelt in Essex, the county named after them.</p>
<p><b>Crayford</b>: on the river Cray in north Kent. Here the Saxons under Hengist
totally defeated the Britons under Vortimer in 457 <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span></p>
<p><b>Canterbury</b> is the burgh, borough, or fortified place of the men of Kent.</p>
<p><b>Pulborough</b>, in Sussex, gives us another form of the suffix.</p>
<p><b>chronicler</b>: a historian, particularly one living in early times.</p>
<p><b>Saxons</b>: German tribes from the district by the mouth of the Elbe; <b>Jutes</b>,
from a part of Denmark which still preserves their name, Jutland; <b>Angles</b>,
from what is now Schleswig and Holstein.</p>
<p><b>Count of the Saxon Shore</b>: the Roman admiral set to defend the southern
parts of the English coast, which were called 'Saxon Shore,' because most
liable to attack from the Saxons.</p>
<p><b>mercenaries</b>: soldiers who do not fight for the safety and glory of their own
country, but for hire.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_6_AFTER_THE_ROMANS">6. AFTER THE ROMANS. PART II.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Blackfriars</b>, at the eastern end of the Thames Embankment, derives its
name from a monastery or house of Black Friars which stood there.</p>
<p><b>Watling Street</b>, <b>Ermyn Street</b>, <b>Vicinal Way</b>: made by the Romans, who
were famous makers of high roads, many of which are still in use. (See
map on p. <SPAN href="#Page_15">15</SPAN>.)</p>
<p><b>Newgate</b> was a gate on the west of the walls which enclosed the City;
<b>Bishopsgate</b>, on the north-east.</p>
<p><b>victualling</b>: providing food for.</p>
<p><b>emergencies</b>: times of difficulty and danger.</p>
<p><b>Isle of Thanet</b>: it must be remembered that the Stour, at the back of Thanet,
was once much wider and deeper than it is now. In fact, it was the general
route for vessels coming up the Thames.</p>
<p><b>appointments</b>: furniture, fittings.</p>
<p><b>mimics</b>: actors who played in farces, like our panto<i>mimes</i>.</p>
<p><b>scribes</b>: among the Romans, clerks in public offices.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_7_AFTER_THE_ROMANS">7. AFTER THE ROMANS. PART III.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Alaric</b>, king of a German tribe called the Visigoths (West Goths) invaded
Greece and Italy, and after several defeats finally took and sacked Rome in
410 <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> It was this state of thing which compelled the Romans to withdraw
their troops from Britain.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_238" id="Page_238"></SPAN></span></p>
<p><b>The West where the Britons still held their own</b>: Wales and Cornwall
were never occupied by the invading Saxons: Welsh and Cornishmen are
Celts, with a language of their own in Wales, while the Cornish language
has only disappeared during the last hundred years.</p>
<p><b>Wessex</b>: the land of the West Saxons corresponds roughly to England south
of the Thames.</p>
<p><b>oblivion</b>: being forgotten.</p>
<p><b>The river Lea</b> rises in Bedfordshire, near Luton, passes Hertford and Ware,
forms the boundary between Middlesex and Essex, and falls into the Thames
at Blackwall, after a course of forty miles.</p>
<p><b>quagmires</b>: marshy, boggy ground that <i>quakes</i> under the feet (quake, mire).</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_8_THE_FIRST_SAXON_SETTLEMENT">8. THE FIRST SAXON SETTLEMENT.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Ecclesiastic</b>: connected with the Church. For many centuries Rome was
the centre of Christian influence, and is so still to all Roman Catholics.</p>
<p><b>ritual</b>: the customs and ceremonies employed in performing service in a
church.</p>
<p><b>Gregory I.</b> or <b>the Great</b> was Pope from 590-604 <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> He it was who sent
Augustine to attempt the conversion of the English in the year 597.</p>
<p><b>kinglet</b>: a petty king. England was then divided among many kings, so that
the realm of each was necessarily very small.</p>
<p><b>crucifix</b>: a figure of Christ fixed to the cross.</p>
<p><b>Bede</b>: a monk and Church historian who lived and died at Jarrow in county
Durham in 735 <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span></p>
<p><b>Lindesfarne</b>, or Holy Island, off the coast of Northumberland.</p>
<p><b>Northumbrians</b>: the men of Northumbria—that is, Yorkshire, Durham, and
Northumberland.</p>
<p><b>Mercians</b>: the men of Mercia, or land of the Middle English.</p>
<p><b>supremacy</b>: Northumbria, Mercia, Wessex, were separate kingdoms which
were successively, in the order in which they are given, strong enough to
overawe or exercise supremacy over the others. The king of Wessex
eventually became king of England.</p>
<p><b>Witan</b>, or in its fuller form <b>wit-an-a-ge-mote</b>, the 'meeting of wise men,'
was the national council which afterwards grew up into our modern
parliament.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_9_THE_SECOND_SAXON_SETTLEMENT">9. THE SECOND SAXON SETTLEMENT.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Pagan</b>: heathen, not yet converted to Christianity.</p>
<p><b>King Alfred</b>, called the Great, was king of England from 871-901 <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span></p>
<p><b>Alderman</b> in early England meant the ruler of a large district, such as a shire
or kingdom. When Mercia became subject to Wessex it was ruled by an
alderman.</p>
<p><b>Benfleet</b>: a place in Essex, on the north bank of the Thames, not far from
Southend.</p>
<p><b>Brunanburgh</b> was the scene of a defeat of the Danes by Athelstan in 937 <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span>;
the place cannot now be identified.</p>
<p><b>Sweyn</b>, King of Denmark, invaded England with his son Canute in 1013 <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span></p>
<p><b>Redriff</b> is now called Rotherhithe, south of the Thames.</p>
<p><b>King Ethelred II.</b>, called the Unredig, or lacking in counsel, reigned 979-1013
<span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span></p>
<p><b>Olave</b> or <b>Olaf</b> and <b>Magnus</b> are Scandinavian names: there were early kings
of Norway so called.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_239" id="Page_239"></SPAN></span></p>
<p><b>The Portreeve</b>: the reeve or governor of London was a chief magistrate or
mayor of the City.</p>
<p><b>The 'Staller'</b> or <b>Marshal</b> led the men of London to battle.</p>
<p><b>The Knighten Guild</b> was the ruling council of London: they were not chosen
by election, but were the chief owners of property, and, like their land, the
office was handed down from father to son.</p>
<p><b>mote</b>: meeting.</p>
<p><b>hustings</b>: a general meeting of the citizens held every week; later on the word
came to mean the platform whence candidates for parliament addressed
their constituents.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_10_THE_ANGLO-SAXON_CITIZEN">10. THE ANGLO-SAXON CITIZEN.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Athelstan</b> (925-940), the grandson of Alfred the Great, and <b>Etheldred II.</b>
(979-1013) were kings of England.</p>
<p><b>earl</b> or <b>eorl</b> was what we should now call a gentleman of good family; <b>thanes</b>:
nobles who for the most part acquired their titles from the king as rewards
for services.</p>
<p><b>municipal</b>: having to do with the municipality or city.</p>
<p><b>French</b>: Norman-French was the language spoken by the Normans.</p>
<p><b>the meat and fish were salted</b>: in the absence of root-crops it was found
difficult to keep animals through the winter. Hence much salt meat and
fish were stored up.</p>
<p><b>embroidery</b>: the art of working designs on cloth in needlework.</p>
<p><b>spinster</b>: an unmarried woman; so called because unmarried daughters
worked at spinning and weaving for the household, making 'homespun'
cloth for them.</p>
<p><b>marauding</b>: roving about for plunder.</p>
<p><b>solar</b>: in early houses the chamber over the hall, used as the bedroom for the
master and mistress of the house. (See picture on p. <SPAN href="#Page_74">73</SPAN>.)</p>
<p><b>tapestry</b>: thick hangings or curtains with figures worked on them.</p>
<p><b>mead</b>: a fermented drink made of honey: metheglin is another form of the
word.</p>
<p><b>wattle</b>: flexible twigs, withies, or osier rods: <b>daub</b>, mud.</p>
<p><b>turbulent</b>: disorderly, riotous.</p>
<p><b>Thames Street</b>: a very narrow street running along the bank of the Thames
between Blackfriars and the Tower.</p>
<p><b>ward</b>: a division of the City. The <b>ward mote</b> or ward meeting still exists, and
elects the alderman or representative of the ward on the City Council.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_11_THE_WALL_OF_LONDON">11. THE WALL OF LONDON.</SPAN></h3>
<p>The <b>White Tower</b> is the 'keep' or central part of the Tower of London, begun
by William the Conqueror and finished by the Red King. It is 92 feet
high and the walls are 17 feet thick.</p>
<p><b>Dowgate</b>: the site of one of the gates of Old London Wall is near where
Cannon Street Railway Station now stands: here the Walbrook fell into
the Thames.</p>
<p><b>Queen Hithe</b>: 'The Queen's Landing Place.' Merchants were compelled to
land their goods here so that the dues paid should go to the Queen.</p>
<p><b>confluence</b>: a flowing together, the place where two rivers meet. The Fleet
fell into the Thames at Blackfriars. (Latin <i>cum</i>, with, together; <i>fluo</i>, to flow.
Compare, <i>fluid</i>, <i>fluent</i>.)</p>
<p><b>Montfichet's Tower</b> was near Baynard's Castle, at the south-west corner of
the old walls in Blackfriars. Both were named after the Norman tenants
who occupied them.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_240" id="Page_240"></SPAN></span></p>
<p><b>Houndsditch</b> is now a cross street joining Bishopgate Street and Aldgate,
with a Church of St. Botolph at each end of it. It adjoined the moat or
ditch round the City wall.</p>
<p><b>Allhallows</b>: the same as All Saints—all the saints to whom churches were
often dedicated, and whose memory is celebrated on November 1, which is
All Saints' Day.</p>
<p><b>St. Giles, Cripplegate</b>, contains in its churchyard part of London Wall.
Milton was buried here in 1674.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_12_NORMAN_LONDON">12. NORMAN LONDON.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Bishop and Portreeve</b>: the two chief officers of the City, one ruling for the
Church, the other a civil ruler.</p>
<p><b>charter</b>: a writing confirming or granting privileges.</p>
<p><b>burghers</b> or burgesses: citizens of a borough.</p>
<p><b>Guildhall</b> contains the necessary offices and accommodation for the guild or
corporation, town clerk, &c., the City library, museum and law courts, and
a great hall that will hold 7,000 persons.</p>
<p><b>feudal claims</b>: demands made on their tenants by owners under the feudal
system. Such demands were usually for military service or something
equivalent.</p>
<p><b>Matilda</b>, daughter of Henry I., and mother of Henry II., and widow of the
Emperor Henry V. of Germany, was the opponent of Stephen (1100-1135)
in the civil war of his reign. She gave London as 'a demesne' to the Earl
of Essex, with the Tower as his castle.</p>
<p><b>Danegeld</b>, or Dane money: a tax raised to buy off the Danes.</p>
<p><b>Sheriff</b>, or shire-reeve, governor of a shire, was the king's representative in
each shire: he collected the revenue, called out and led the soldiers, and
administered justice.</p>
<p><b>Justiciar</b>: judge. It was one of the privileges of the City to have a judge
of its own to try cases within its own limits.</p>
<p><b>stipulated</b>: bargained for.</p>
<p><b>constitution</b>: form of government.</p>
<p><b>priory</b>: a house for monks or nuns under the rule of a prior or prioress.</p>
<p><b>St. Katherine Cree</b>: this church is in Leadenhall Street, near Aldgate.
Cree in this name is for Christ.</p>
<p><b>Portsoken</b> is one of the City wards near Aldgate and the Minories.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_13_FITZSTEPHENS_ACCOUNT_OF_THE_CITY">13. FITZSTEPHEN'S ACCOUNT OF THE CITY. PART I.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>St. Bartholomew the Great</b> in Smithfield is part of St. Bartholomew's
Hospital.</p>
<p><b>St. Ethelburga</b> is in Bishopsgate Street, not far from Liverpool Street Railway
Station.</p>
<p><b>crypt</b> is a chapel or vault underground.</p>
<p><b>St. Swithin's Church</b> is near Cannon Street Railway Station. 'London Stone,'
supposed to be a Roman milestone, is let into the wall of this church. St.
Swithin, to whom the church is dedicated, was a Saxon Bishop of
Winchester, under whose care the youth of Alfred was spent at Winchester.</p>
<p><b>Thomas Becket</b>, Archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered in his own
cathedral by four knights, who thought they were executing the wishes of
Henry II. (1170 <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span>).</p>
<p><b>conventual</b>: attached to convents.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_241" id="Page_241"></SPAN></span></p>
<p><b>Palatine</b> usually means 'held by a nobleman who has had royal powers given
him.'</p>
<p><b>Westminster</b> is named after a minster first erected there of wood about
604 <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span>: it was thus distinguished from St. Paul's, which was the 'East
Minster.' The site was a marshy spot, then called Thorney, or Thorn Island.</p>
<p><b>Charing Cross</b> is named from the memorial cross built there by Edward I. in
1294 in honour of his queen, Eleanor, who was brought for burial from
Lincoln to Westminster, and each place (nine) where her body rested was
marked by a similar cross. ('Charing' is a corruption of the French
<i>ch�re reine</i>, dear queen.)</p>
<p><b>Cheapside</b>: the important street running between St. Paul's and the Mansion
House is so called because its site was the side—the south side—of the
Chepe, or old London market.</p>
<p><b>East Chepe</b>, or the East Market, has given its name to Eastcheap, a street
running from the City towards the Tower.</p>
<p><b>mercer</b>: a merchant selling woollens and silks.</p>
<p><b>folkmotes</b>: the meetings of the folk or tribe: they met in arms in the Saxon
times, and were presided over by the alderman.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_14_FITZSTEPHENS_ACCOUNT_OF_THE_CITY">14. FITZSTEPHEN'S ACCOUNT OF THE CITY. PART II.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Tyburn</b>: a brook which gave its name to the place Tyburn, where the Marble
Arch now stands.</p>
<p><b>Westbourne</b>: this brook has given its name to Westbourne Park, in Paddington.</p>
<p><b>Holywell</b> may be remembered by Holywell Street, in the Strand.</p>
<p><b>Clerkenwell</b> is named after the Parish Clerks' Well, round which they used
to perform their 'mysteries.'</p>
<p><b>quarterstaff</b>: a long staff used as a weapon of defence, and held in the middle
and also one quarter way from the end.</p>
<p><b>tabor</b>: a kind of small drum beaten with one drumstick.</p>
<p><b>consuls</b>: the chief magistrates of Rome: two of them with equal power came
into office every year.</p>
<p><b>senatorial</b>: appointed and controlled by the senate or governing council of
Rome.</p>
<p><b>venison</b> (pronounced <i>ven�-zon</i>): the flesh of deer.</p>
<p><b>cleric</b>: a clergyman.</p>
<p><b>abbot</b>: the head of an abbey or monastery.</p>
<p><b>magnate</b>: a great man, a man of great wealth and rank. (Latin <i>magnus</i>,
great.)</p>
<p><b>metropolitan</b>: the bishop of a metropolis or chief cathedral city, as Canterbury
is the metropolis of England in this sense.</p>
<p><b>ordinances</b>: laws, commands.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_15_LONDON_BRIDGE">15. LONDON BRIDGE. PART I.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Architect</b>: one who designs buildings and superintends the building of them.</p>
<p><b>Jewry</b>: the district in a town inhabited by the Jews; for in early times the
Jews were not allowed to live where they liked, but only in quarters assigned
to them. The street now called Old Jewry turns out of the Poultry, on the
north side.</p>
<p><b>essential</b>: something very important and that cannot be done without.</p>
<p><b>intercommunication</b>: intercourse; dealings between people which are made
much easier by having good roads and bridges to travel on.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_242" id="Page_242"></SPAN></span></p>
<p><b>La Rochelle</b>: a seaport in France on the Atlantic, some distance north of
Bordeaux.</p>
<p><b>Saintes</b>: a French town about thirty-eight miles from La Rochelle.</p>
<p><b>St. Thomas Becket</b>, the murdered Archbishop of Canterbury, who was
canonised, that is, named a saint after his death.</p>
<p><b>titular</b>: giving his name to the bridge.</p>
<p><b>crypt</b>: an underground or lower room used as a chapel or burying-place.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_16_LONDON_BRIDGE">16. LONDON BRIDGE. PART II.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>King Edward I</b>: 1272-1307 <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span></p>
<p><b>haberdashers</b>: dealers in 'small wares' such as cotton, tape, needles, and
pins.</p>
<p><b>Hans Holbein</b>: a celebrated German painter who came to live in England
and was introduced to Henry VIII.</p>
<p><b>marine painters</b>: artists who excel in painting boats, ships, and sea scenes.
(Latin <i>mare</i>, the sea.)</p>
<p><b>'shooting' the bridge</b>: passing through the arches in a boat.</p>
<p><b>Queen Henrietta</b> was the queen of Charles I. of England. After the Civil
War she withdrew to France, where she died in 1669.</p>
<p><b>Rubens</b>: a very celebrated Flemish painter, born in 1577, died at Antwerp in
1640.</p>
<p><b>Sir Thomas Wyatt</b> headed a rebellion in Kent, which was provoked by Mary's
marriage with Philip of Spain and the restoration of Roman Catholicism.
He was about to cross London Bridge, but finding this impossible crossed
the Thames at Kingston. The rising was a failure, and Wyatt was executed,
1554.</p>
<p><b>Sir William Wallace</b>: a brave Scotch gentleman who led the Scotch against
Edward I., who was trying to deprive Scotland of its independence. Wallace
was finally taken and executed as a traitor at Tyburn, 1305.</p>
<p><b>Jack Cade</b> headed a rebellion in Kent in 1450 through dissatisfaction with the
government of Henry VI.: 30,000 rebels gathered on Blackheath, but the
movement ended in failure and Cade was slain.</p>
<p><b>Sir Thomas More</b>: the good and learned chancellor of Henry VIII., and
author of a famous book called 'Utopia.' He was executed as a traitor in
1535.</p>
<p><b>St. Thomas-on-the-Bridge</b>: that is, Thomas Becket, to whom the bridge was
dedicated.</p>
<p><b>pageant</b>: a splendid show or procession.</p>
<p><b>ex-apprentice</b>: one who has been once an apprentice.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_17_THE_TOWER_OF_LONDON">17. THE TOWER OF LONDON. PART I.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Dominate</b>: to lord over, to overawe, to be master of. (Latin <i>dominus</i>, a master,
lord.)</p>
<p><b>Crusade</b>: an expedition under the banner of the <i>Cross</i> to recover the Holy
Land from the Turks. Richard I. went on the third Crusade in 1191.</p>
<p><b>antiquaries</b>: people who study ancient things.</p>
<p><b>medi�val</b>: made during the middle ages; the period, roughly speaking,
between the time of the Romans and the reign of Henry VII. (400-1485).</p>
<p><b>lieutenant</b>: an officer in command of the Tower.</p>
<p><b>keep</b>: the strongest part of a fortress or castle.</p>
<p><b>insignia</b>: the badges of any office.</p>
<p><b>menagerie</b>: a collection of wild animals.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_243" id="Page_243"></SPAN></span></p>
<p><b>Queen Anne Boleyn</b>, to marry whom, Henry VIII. divorced Catherine of
Aragon. She was the mother of Queen Elizabeth.</p>
<p><b>Lady Jane Grey</b> was proclaimed Queen by the Duke of Northumberland on the
death of Edward VI., but the attempt to prevent Mary's accession was a
failure, and Lady Jane Grey was executed in 1554.</p>
<p><b>Guy Fawkes</b>: a conspirator who tried to blow up the King and Parliament
in 1605.</p>
<p><b>The unfortunate princes</b> were Edward V., son of Edward IV., and the rightful
king, and Richard Duke of York, his younger brother, murdered in the
Tower by the usurper Richard III., 1483.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_18_THE_TOWER_OF_LONDON">18. THE TOWER OF LONDON. PART II.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Allegiance</b>: the duty due from a subject to his liege the sovereign.</p>
<p><b>Lord Hastings</b> was executed by order of the Duke of Gloucester, afterwards
Richard III., in 1483 for supporting the side of Edward V. and his relations.</p>
<p><b>ordnance</b>: artillery, cannon, big guns.</p>
<p><b>antipast</b>: aftertaste.</p>
<p><b>clerk</b>: a clergyman, a scholar, because in early times all learning was confined
to the clergy.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_19_THE_PILGRIMS">19. THE PILGRIMS.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>ague</b>: a fever coming on at intervals, with fits of shivering.</p>
<p><b>isolation</b>: living away from outside communication, a lonely position like that
of men on an <i>island</i> cut off from the rest of the world.</p>
<p><b>Flemings</b>: the people of Flanders, a district now comprising parts of Belgium,
South Holland, and North France.</p>
<p><b>Walsingham</b>: a place in the north of Norfolk, where was a famous shrine.</p>
<p><b>Glastonbury</b>: a small town near Wells, in Somersetshire.</p>
<p><b>Compostella</b>: a place in Spain where is the shrine of St. James, the patron
saint of Spain.</p>
<p><b>Chaucer</b>: the great early English poet, born in London 1328, died 1400.</p>
<p><b>expiation</b>: making amends for, atonement.</p>
<p><b>Holy Sepulchre</b>: the burial place of our Lord at Jerusalem, to rescue which
from the Turks was the object of the Crusades.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_20_ST_BARTHOLOMEWS_HOSPITAL">20. ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S HOSPITAL.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Endowment</b>: money given for the permanent support of an institution, such
as a church, hospital, or school.</p>
<p><b>Hospitaller</b>: one in charge of a hospital. The term is generally applied to the
Knights of St. John, who built a hospital for sick Crusaders at Jerusalem.</p>
<p><b>shambles</b>: a slaughter-house.</p>
<p><b>Whittington</b>, originally an apprentice in London, became a wealthy mercer,
thrice Lord Mayor, and knighted. He died in 1423, without children, and
left his wealth for public objects, such as the one in the text.</p>
<p><b>Dissolution of the religious houses</b>, carried out by Henry VIII. in 1536-1540
for the sake of the plunder they afforded.</p>
<p><b>Chloroform</b>: a colourless liquid which when inhaled produces complete insensibility
to pain.</p>
<p><b>Norman windows</b>: that is, built in a style introduced by the Normans. The
rounded tops of doors and windows maybe seen in the illustration on p. <SPAN href="#Page_44">44</SPAN>.</p>
<p><b>lanthorn</b>: a raised construction on the roof, with horn or glass sides to give
light.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_244" id="Page_244"></SPAN></span></p>
<p><b>clinical</b>: in attendance at the bedside of patients.</p>
<p><b>residential college</b>: where they reside or dwell.</p>
<p><b>convalescent hospital</b>: where those who have had some illness may get quite
well and strong again.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_21_THE_TERROR_OF_LEPROSY">21. THE TERROR OF LEPROSY.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Leprosy</b>: a terrible disease of the skin and blood, once prevalent in Europe,
now mostly confined to the East.</p>
<p><b>lazar</b>: a leper; one suffering from a foul disease like Lazarus in St. Luke xvi.</p>
<p><b>congregate</b>: flock together, crowd with.</p>
<p><b>stringent</b>: strict.</p>
<p><b>statutes</b>: rules or laws.</p>
<p><b>Book of the Jewish Law</b>: that is, the book Leviticus.</p>
<p><b>ulcerates</b>: is afflicted with ulcers or sores.</p>
<p><b>Mass</b>: the celebration of the Lord's Supper in the Roman Catholic Church.</p>
<p><b>Burton Lazars</b>: a village one mile from Melton Mowbray, in Leicestershire.
Here, on account of its excellent sulphur springs, the chief leper-hospital
was established in the reign of Stephen.</p>
<p><b>hereditary</b>: transmitted from parents to children.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN name="chap_22_THE_TERROR_OF_FAMINE_NOTE" id="chap_22_THE_TERROR_OF_FAMINE_NOTE"></SPAN><SPAN href="#chap_22_THE_TERROR_OF_FAMINE">22. THE TERROR OF FAMINE.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>24 shillings a quarter</b>: this is not far from the present price of wheat, which
gives us cheap bread. But in 1257 24<i>s.</i> would be equivalent to at least 20<i>l.</i>
in our money.</p>
<p><b>retainers</b>: those in the service of a nobleman and wearing his livery and
badge.</p>
<p><b>Hanseatic merchants</b>: merchants trading with the Hanse cities in Germany
(among which was Hamburg) who had formed a league for self-protection
about the twelfth century.</p>
<p><b>granary</b>: a place for storing up grain or corn.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_23_ST_PAULS_CATHEDRAL">23. ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL. PART I.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>460 feet</b>: the loftiest spire in England, that of Salisbury Cathedral, is about
404 feet.</p>
<p><b>its length was at least 600 feet</b>: the present cathedral, the third on the site,
is 500 feet long.</p>
<p><b>shrine</b>: a receptacle for relics and other sacred things. (The word means a
'chest.')</p>
<p><b>aisle</b> (pronounced <i>īle</i>) is the side or wing of a church.</p>
<p><b>scribe</b>: a writer. In those early times so few people could read or write that
men often had to have recourse to professional writers.</p>
<p><b>deed</b>: a written document relating to some legal transaction.</p>
<p><b>conveyance</b>: a writing legally transferring from one person to another
property, especially houses and land.</p>
<p><b>Humphrey Duke of Gloucester</b> was the youngest brother of Henry V., on
whose death he was made regent in England in 1422. He died in 1447.</p>
<p><b>St. Cuthbert</b> was a monk, missionary, and bishop of Lindesfarne, an island off
the coast of Northumberland, where he died in 687 <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span>, and was buried in
Durham Cathedral.</p>
<p><b>sacristy</b>: a room adjoining a church where sacred vessels, vestments, &c. are
kept.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_245" id="Page_245"></SPAN></span></p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_24_ST_PAULS_CATHEDRAL">24. ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL. PART II.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Inigo Jones</b> (born 1572, died 1652) was a celebrated architect.</p>
<p><b>Portico</b>: a row of columns in front of a building.</p>
<p><b>Exchange</b>: a building where merchants meet to transact business.</p>
<p><b>nave</b>: the main body of a church, the aisles being on each side of the nave.</p>
<p><b>King Charles II. returned</b> at the Restoration in 1660.</p>
<p><b>Sir Christopher Wren</b> (born 1632, died 1723): the greatest English architect.
After the great fire he rebuilt St. Paul's Cathedral, fifty London churches,
and many public buildings. Over his tomb in St. Paul's is the inscription
in Latin: 'If you seek for his monument, look round about you.'</p>
<p><b>The Peace of Ryswick</b>, 1697, made by England, Spain, and Holland with
Louis XIV. of France.</p>
<p><b>Dr. Johnson</b> (born 1709, died 1784): one of the great names in English
literature, and author of a celebrated dictionary.</p>
<p><b>oriental scholar</b>, or <b>orientalist</b>, is a man who studies Eastern or Indian
languages, such as Persian, Arabic, Hindi, Sanskrit, &c.</p>
<p><b>sarcophagus</b>: a stone chest for holding a corpse.</p>
<p><b>porphyry</b>: a hard kind of stone coloured purple and white.</p>
<p><b>Battle of the Nile</b>, 1798; <b>Cape St. Vincent</b>, 1797; <b>Camperdown</b>, 1797.</p>
<p><b>Lord Almoner</b>: the official who dispenses the royal charities and bounties.</p>
<p><b>Slavonic</b>: a group of kindred languages, including Russian, Polish, and
Bulgarian.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_25_PAULS_CHURCHYARD">25. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Embattled</b>: built with battlements.</p>
<p><b>minor canons</b>: clergy of the cathedral who intone the services and look after
the music.</p>
<p><b>charnel</b>: containing the bones of the dead.</p>
<p><b>Finsbury Fields</b>: the <i>fenny</i> or marshy ground lying north of the Moorgate
of the old City walls.</p>
<p><b>Papal Bulls</b>: decrees and orders issued by the Pope, so called from the seal
attached to them.</p>
<p><b>Latimer</b> (born 1470, died 1555), Bishop of Worcester, burnt at the stake for
his Protestant opinions together with Ridley, Bishop of London.</p>
<p><b>chapter house</b>: the building where the chapter or clergy belonging to the
cathedral meet.</p>
<p><b>Sacrist</b>: the official in a cathedral who copied and took care of the music
and books.</p>
<p><b>Paul's Chain</b>: so called because traffic was stopped by a chain during the
hours of service.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_26_THE_RELIGIOUS_HOUSES">26. THE RELIGIOUS HOUSES.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Forester</b>: one who has charge of a forest to cut wood, plant new trees, &c.</p>
<p><b>vicar</b>: one who acts in place of another; hence a priest who on behalf of
his monastery conducted services in a parish church.</p>
<p><b>orders</b>: the different brotherhoods into which monks were divided.</p>
<p><b>indiscriminate charity</b>: giving without thinking, whether the charity is well
or ill bestowed.</p>
<p><b>Minorites</b>: monks or nuns belonging to the Franciscan Order, who in their
humility called themselves the 'lesser' (<i>minores</i>) brethren, or sisters.</p>
<p><b>Blackfriars</b> were the Dominicans; <b>Whitefriars</b> were the Carmelites;
<b>Greyfriars</b> were Franciscans, from the colour of their respective dresses.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_246" id="Page_246"></SPAN></span></p>
<p><b>Charter House</b>: the house of the Carthusian monks.</p>
<p><b>Temple</b>: once the house of the <b>Templars</b>, an order of knights whose duty
it was to protect the Holy Sepulchre.</p>
<p><b>part of the church ... still to be seen</b>: at Clerkenwell the gate of the
priory of St. John's is still standing.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_27_MONKS_FRIARS_AND_NUNS">27. MONKS, FRIARS, AND NUNS.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Indiscriminately</b>: without making any distinctions between them.</p>
<p><b>hermit</b>, from the Greek, and <b>solitary</b>, from the Latin, mean the same thing—one
who retires from the world and lives in a lonely place.</p>
<p><b>Monte Casino</b>, in Campania, near Naples, where St. Benedict established
his monastery in 529 <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span></p>
<p><b>St. Benedict</b> is often shortened to Benet, as in the name of several London
churches.</p>
<p><b>austerities</b>: severe rules of life and conduct.</p>
<p><b>Friars</b>, or brethren (French <i>fr�res</i>, Latin <i>fratres</i>): those orders that went
forth to the people.</p>
<p><b>Assisi</b>: a town in Central Italy where St. Francis was born.</p>
<p><b>St. Dominic</b>: born in Castile, in Spain, 1170, died 1221; founded his order to
convert 'heretics,' and procured the establishment of the <b>Inquisition</b>, or
court for punishing heretics.</p>
<p><b>Sanctuary</b>: a refuge where criminals were safe from the law. Sir W. Scott in
the 'Fortunes of Nigel' well describes the lawless character of this
district in the reign of James I.</p>
<p><b>St. Bernard</b>: a celebrated brother of the Cistercian Order (born 1091, died
1153).</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_28_THE_LONDON_CHURCHES">28. THE LONDON CHURCHES.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>St. Augustine</b> was sent by Pope Gregory the Great in 597 to convert the
heathen English: he was the 'Apostle of the English,' and first Archbishop
of Canterbury.</p>
<p><b>St. Dunstan</b>, who became Archbishop of Canterbury and died in 988, was not
only a zealous priest but a great statesman and ruler.</p>
<p><b>St. Alphege</b>: an Archbishop of Canterbury murdered by the Danes in
1012 <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span></p>
<p><b>Sise Lane</b>: a lane in the City, near Cannon Street.</p>
<p><b>The Basings</b>: an old City family whose name also survives in the 'Bassishaw'
ward of the City, and in Basinghall Street.</p>
<p><b>Bread Street</b>, turning out of Cheapside, shows where the bakers chiefly dwelt
in Old London.</p>
<p><b>John Milton</b> (born 1608, died 1674) wrote 'Paradise Lost,' 'Paradise
Regained,' and some beautiful shorter pieces.</p>
<p><b>Three Poets</b>: i. the Greek Homer, reputed author of those noble epics the
'Iliad' and 'Odyssey' (about 1000 <span class="smcap lowercase">B.C.</span>); ii. the Roman Virgil, who wrote the
'�neid' (born 70 <span class="smcap lowercase">B.C.</span>); iii. the English Milton. The famous epitaph was
written by John Dryden.</p>
<p><b>William Tyndal</b> assisted the Reformation by translating the New Testament
into English (1526), and part of the Old Testament. He was burnt as a
heretic at Vilvoorde, near Brussels, in 1536.</p>
<p><b>William Cowper</b> (born 1731, died 1800), the author of 'The Task' and other
beautiful poems.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_247" id="Page_247"></SPAN></span></p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_29_THE_STREETS">29. THE STREETS.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Plantagenet</b>: Henry II., 1154-1189, was the first of the line of kings bearing
this name, so called from the badge worn by Henry's father, a sprig of
broom.</p>
<p><b>Chesel</b> was the Anglo-Saxon for pebble, and Kiesel is the German for the
same. The <b>Chesil Beach</b>, near Weymouth, is a remarkable bank of shingle
joining Portland Bill to the mainland.</p>
<p><b>Somerset House</b>, in the Strand: the palace of the Protector Somerset has
been pulled down, and public offices erected on its site.</p>
<p><b>Northumberland House</b>, now demolished, has given its name to Northumberland
Avenue, near Charing Cross.</p>
<p><b>Southwark ... many Inns</b>: in particular the Tabard, where Chaucer's
pilgrims assembled.</p>
<p><b>medi�val</b>: living in the middle ages, that is, some time before about 1500 <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span></p>
<p><b>ironmongers in their Lane</b>: that is, Ironmonger Lane, turning out of
Cheapside.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_30_WHITTINGTON">30. WHITTINGTON. PART I.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Mercer</b>: a merchant who sells silken or woollen goods.</p>
<p><b>executors</b>: those who are appointed to carry out the last will and testament
of a dead man.</p>
<p><b>Levantine</b>, in the Levant, or eastern part of the Mediterranean.</p>
<p><b>Guinea</b>, on the west coast of Africa.</p>
<p><b>Pizarro</b>: a Spanish adventurer who conquered Peru from its native rulers or
Incas, and was murdered in his palace at Lima in 1541.</p>
<p><b>a piece of eight</b> (dollars), that is, about 30<i>s.</i></p>
<p><b>assessment</b>: the value put upon house or property in order to fix the amount
of taxes to be paid.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_31_WHITTINGTON">31. WHITTINGTON. PART II.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Vintner</b>: a wine-seller.</p>
<p><b>Wycliffe</b>, born about 1324, was a learned theologian and rector of Lutterworth,
in Leicestershire. For preaching Protestant doctrines he was summoned
to appear at St. Paul's to answer a charge of heresy in 1377.</p>
<p><b>John of Gaunt</b> thus made the second attempt to deprive London of its
liberties and charter; Matilda, the opponent of Stephen, had tried long
before, but it ended in her overthrow (<i>see</i> p. <SPAN href="#Page_45">45</SPAN>).</p>
<p><b>The Marshal</b> was the commander of the Royal forces. To put London
under him was to destroy its liberty. This office is hereditary in the family
of the Duke of Norfolk, and like other royal offices became unimportant
when it became hereditary.</p>
<p><b>rebellion of the peasants, 1381</b>, against over-taxation and being bound to
the soil as serfs by their landlords. <b>John Ball</b>, the popular preacher, used
to ask:</p>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">'When Adam delved and Eve span,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Who was then a gentleman?'<br/></span></div>
</div>
<p><b>The Archbishop of Canterbury</b>, Simon of Sudbury, had as chancellor proposed
the taxes complained of; therefore the peasants murdered him.</p>
<p><b>rescinding</b>: repealing of a law.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_248" id="Page_248"></SPAN></span></p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_32_WHITTINGTON">32. WHITTINGTON. PART III.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Burning of heretics and Lollards</b>: in 1401, in the reign of Henry IV., an
Act of Parliament was passed for burning heretics.</p>
<p><b>Lollards</b> were those who differed from the Church before the Reformation.
The name comes from a German word <i>lollen</i>, to sing—from the custom of
these reformers.</p>
<p><b>Mansion House</b>: the official home of the Lord Mayor. The present building
was begun in 1739; previously a house in Cheapside was used for the purpose.</p>
<p><b>bond</b>: a written obligation binding someone to pay a sum of money. When
money was needed the King used to borrow from wealthy citizens and give a
bond or promise to repay.</p>
<p><b>St. Michael's Paternoster Royal</b> is in College Hill, near Cannon Street. The
church was so called from the Tower Royal given by Edward III. in 1331
to his queen, Philippa, for her wardrobe.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_33_GIFTS_AND_BEQUESTS">33. GIFTS AND BEQUESTS.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Mark</b>: a coin, now obsolete, worth 13<i>s.</i> 4<i>d.</i></p>
<p><b>interdicted</b>: forbidden, prevented.</p>
<p><b>technical school</b>: where useful and practical arts and trades are taught.</p>
<p><b>aqueduct</b>: an artificial channel for water.</p>
<p><b>Sevenoaks</b>, in Kent.</p>
<p><b>Higham Ferrers</b> is a small town in Northamptonshire.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_34_THE_PALACES_AND_GREAT_HOUSES">34. THE PALACES AND GREAT HOUSES.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>The King Maker</b>: Warwick was so called because he helped Edward IV. to
become king in 1461, and restored Henry VI. for a time in 1470. He was
slain at the battle of Barnet, 1471.</p>
<p><b>quadrangle</b>: an open court, square, with buildings all round it.</p>
<p><b>College of Heralds</b>: a Government office under the Earl Marshal which looks
after pedigrees and armorial bearings.</p>
<p><b>Hampton Court</b>: a Royal palace begun by Cardinal Wolsey.</p>
<p><b>St. James's Palace</b>: the official residence of the Queen in London, Buckingham
Palace being her private residence.</p>
<p><b>buttery</b>: a storeroom where liquors and other provisions were kept.</p>
<p><b>Baynard's Castle</b> has given its name to one of the City wards.</p>
<p><b>The Duke of Buckingham</b> secured the crown for Richard III., and then being
insufficiently rewarded rebelled against him, and was executed in 1483.</p>
<p><b>George, Duke of Clarence</b>, brother of Edward IV., first sided with his
father-in-law, the Earl of Warwick, then joined his brother in 1471. With
justice, therefore, Shakespeare called him 'false, fleeting, perjured Clarence.'
He was accused of treason and found dead in the Tower in 1478.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_35_AMUSEMENTS">35. AMUSEMENTS.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Tournament</b>: a sham fight at which knights, mostly on horseback, used to
show their skill.</p>
<p><b>Twelfth Day</b>: twelve days after Christmas, formerly an occasion of great
festivities, which have now nearly died out.</p>
<p><b>Morris-dance</b>: a <i>Moorish</i> dance to an accompaniment of bells and tambourines.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_249" id="Page_249"></SPAN></span></p>
<p><b>cresset</b>: a kind of lantern formed of an open brazier filled with combustible
materials.</p>
<p><b>demilance</b>: a kind of horse-soldier armed with a short lance.</p>
<p><b>mummeries</b>: entertainments performed by men in masks.</p>
<p><b>Curfew</b>: the bell rung at eight o'clock at night as a sign to put out all lights.
Ancient towns having much wood were liable to serious fires.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_36_WESTMINSTER_ABBEY">36. WESTMINSTER ABBEY.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Thorney</b>, Isle of Thorns; <i>ey</i> and <i>ea</i> meaning island, as in Anglesey, Chelsea,
Winchelsea.</p>
<p><b>precinct</b>: the limit of the ground belonging to a church or other institution.</p>
<p><b>commissioner</b>: appointed to see that the work was carried out.</p>
<p><b>Sir G. Gilbert Scott</b>, born 1811, died 1878, was the greatest modern English
architect.</p>
<p><b>took sanctuary</b>: fled for shelter to the abbey, whence she could not be
taken without violating the privileges of the Church.</p>
<p><b>William Caxton</b> set up in 1476 the first printing press in England.</p>
<p><b>coronation chair</b>: under this is the famous stone brought from Scone by
Edward I., over which all the Scottish kings had been crowned since about
800 <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span></p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_37_THE_COURT_AT_WESTMINSTER">37. THE COURT AT WESTMINSTER.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Star Chamber Court</b>, in which cases were tried before some members of the
Privy Council and two judges without a jury. This was established in
1487 to restore order because great lords and landowners used to frighten
juries from giving true verdicts.</p>
<p><b>bear and ragged staff</b>: the arms of the Earl of Warwick consisted of a bear
erect and hugging a rough stake. (See pictures on pp. <SPAN href="#Page_110">111</SPAN>, <SPAN href="#Page_113">113</SPAN>.)</p>
<p><b>arras</b>: tapestry for hanging; so called from Arras, in the north of France,
where it was made.</p>
<p><b>refectory</b>: the hall where the monks or nuns took their meals.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_38_JUSTICE_AND_PUNISHMENTS">38. JUSTICE AND PUNISHMENTS.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>executive officers</b>: those whose duty it is to enforce the law.</p>
<p><b>contrition</b>: repentance.</p>
<p><b>securities</b>: stocks and shares; papers which can be of no use to the ordinary
thief.</p>
<p><b>Bridewell</b>: the site of a prison, now demolished. It adjoined Whitefriars,
and may be seen in the map to the west of Blackfriars.</p>
<p><b>amende honorable</b> (French): when one who has done wrong gives satisfaction
without loss of honour.</p>
<p><b>pillory</b>: a framework supported by an upright pillar. In it were holes through
which the head and hands of offenders were thrust. In this uncomfortable
position they had to stand exposed to the insults of the mob.</p>
<p><b>cogged</b>: loaded so as always to fall in a certain way.</p>
<p><b>title deeds</b>: writings drawn up in proper legal form to prove the possession
of property.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_39_THE_POLITICAL_POWER_OF_LONDON">39. THE POLITICAL POWER OF LONDON.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Froissart</b>: an early French chronicler or historian who visited England in
the reigns of Edward III. and Richard II., and died in 1401.</p>
<p><b>besotted with</b>: stupidly and excessively fond of.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_250" id="Page_250"></SPAN></span></p>
<p><b>commonalty</b>: the common people.</p>
<p><b>Berkeley Castle</b>, in Gloucestershire, where Edward II. was murdered in 1327.</p>
<p><b>a son was born</b>: Edward, Prince of Wales, born in 1453. After the Yorkist
victory of Northampton in 1460 Edward's claim to the throne was set aside
in favour of Richard, Duke of York, father of Edward IV. The Prince was
slain at the battle of Tewkesbury, 1471.</p>
<p><b>benevolences</b>: loans of money, supposed to be voluntary, really compulsory,
made by merchants and other rich men to the king.</p>
<p><b>charts</b>: papers; <b>blank cheques</b>: orders on the bank for money with all except
the amount required filled up and properly signed.</p>
<p><b>factor</b>: if 2 � 3 makes six, 2 and 3 are each factors of 6; hence it is something
which helps to bring about some result.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_40_ELIZABETHAN_LONDON">40. ELIZABETHAN LONDON. PART I.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Stow</b> (born 1525, died 1605): a famous writer in Queen Elizabeth's reign on
the antiquities of London and other places.</p>
<p><b>Whitechapel</b> takes its name from a white chapel-of-ease built to relieve
Stepney, in which parish this district was till 1763.</p>
<p><b>tenters</b>: pegs for stretching cloth. Sometimes hooks were used, from which
we get the phrase 'to be on tenter hooks'—to be on a stretch with anxiety.</p>
<p><b>St. Katharine's</b> has given its name to the great docks east of the Tower.</p>
<p><b>bull-, bear-baiting</b>: the sport of setting dogs to worry bulls or bears.</p>
<p><b>Alsatia</b>: for a vivid picture of this haunt of rogues in the reign of James I.
the reader is referred to Sir W. Scott's 'Fortunes of Nigel.'</p>
<p><b>Austin Friars</b>: the space known as Drapers' Gardens (because the hall of
the Drapers' Company is adjoining) in Throgmorton Street is on the site of
this monastery.</p>
<p><b>Canwicke (now Cannon) Street</b> was so called because the wax-chandlers and
candle-makers lived in that part.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_41_ELIZABETHAN_LONDON">41. ELIZABETHAN LONDON. PART II.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>William Shakespeare</b> (born 1564, died 1616): the prince of poets, who lived
in the reigns of Elizabeth and James I.</p>
<p><b>ruins of the monasteries</b> which had been suppressed by Henry <span class="smcap">VIII.</span> in
1536-1540.</p>
<p><b>Cold Harbour</b>: a merchant's mansion once standing on the bank of the Thames
in Thames Street.</p>
<p><b>Genevan bands</b>: a kind of collar worn by Protestant clergymen, so called
because Geneva, the home of Calvin, was the centre of Protestantism.</p>
<p><b>palaces along the Strand</b>: if you walk along the Strand you will notice that
many of the short streets leading down to the river bear the names of noblemen,
such as Arundel Street, Norfolk Street, Salisbury Street, &c. from
the old palaces which once stood there.</p>
<p><b>Staples Inn</b>: a picturesque group of old houses in Holborn was formerly a
wool-market (<i>staple</i> means a fixed market). <b>Wych Street</b> is near Holywell
Street in the Strand.</p>
<p><b>Cloth Fair</b> is now a poor neighbourhood near Smithfield.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_42_ELIZABETHAN_LONDON">42. ELIZABETHAN LONDON. PART III.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Impressment</b>: in the absence of some orderly arrangement, such as conscription
(where all serve) or a voluntary system (like our own), the
press-gang
used to kidnap people and force them to serve.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_251" id="Page_251"></SPAN></span></p>
<p><b>animosity</b>: anger, ill feeling against.</p>
<p><b>The Steelyard</b>, on the site of which Cannon Street railway station now stands,
was the house of the Hanse merchants (<i>see</i> <SPAN href="#chap_22_THE_TERROR_OF_FAMINE_NOTE">note on Chapter XXII</SPAN>.).</p>
<p><b>John Colet</b>, Dean of St. Paul's (born 1466, died 1519), was one of the leaders
of the revival of learning in England. St. Paul's School, which he founded
in 1512, has been moved to Hammersmith.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_43_TRADE">43. TRADE. PART I.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Forestall their market</b>: that is, to buy things before they arrived at the
market, so as to sell them at a higher price.</p>
<p><b>L�beck</b>: a large port in north Germany in the Baltic.</p>
<p><b>staples</b>, originally all kinds of raw produce, came to be applied only to wool.
Staples Inn was once a wool-market.</p>
<p><b>instead of selling our wool</b>: Edward III. brought Flemish weavers into
England to encourage manufactures. Till then England produced and exported
wool to Antwerp and other manufacturing centres, but did not make
it into cloth.</p>
<p><b>Hamburg</b> was a member of the Hanseatic League.</p>
<p><b>The screen</b> was presented to the Church of All Hallows the Great, Thames
Street, in 1710, by the Hanseatic merchants.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_44_TRADE">44. TRADE. PART II.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Incubus</b>: something that weighs down and hinders.</p>
<p><b>religious wars in the Netherlands</b>: between the Protestant Dutch and the
Catholic Spaniards, who were oppressing the country through great part of
the sixteenth century.</p>
<p><b>Bourse</b>: the same as <b>Exchange</b>, where merchants meet to transact their
business.</p>
<p><b>English wool</b> in Bruges, because it was much exported thither from England
before the growth of home manufactures.</p>
<p><b>Flemings</b>: the natives of Flanders; who were the chief manufacturers of
Europe long before England took the lead.</p>
<p><b>14 per cent.</b>: the height of this rate may be seen by comparing it with the
2� per cent., which is all England now pays as interest upon her debt.</p>
<p><b>Bethlehem Hospital</b>, corrupted into Bedlam, is still a hospital, but only for
the insane.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_45_TRADE">45. TRADE. PART III.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Bruges ... civil wars</b>: that is, the religious wars referred to in <SPAN href="#chap_44_TRADE">Chapter XLIV</SPAN>.</p>
<p><b>Venetians</b>: before the discovery of the sea route to India and the East
Venice was the first maritime and commercial power in the world. The
route round the Cape of Good Hope was discovered by Vasco de Gama in
1497.</p>
<p><b>Moluccas</b>: a group of tropical islands between Celebes and New Guinea,
rich in pearls, spices, and precious woods.</p>
<p><b>Calicut</b>: the port in Madras, where Vasco de Gama first landed in May 1498.
The cotton cloth called <i>calico</i> was first brought thence.</p>
<p><b>Moorish pirates</b>: North Africa has always been a haunt of pirates. In 1816
Lord Exmouth had to bombard Algiers, and even as late as 1860 the
European Powers had to suppress piracy in Morocco.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_252" id="Page_252"></SPAN></span></p>
<p><b>Dordrecht</b>: a commercial town in the south of Holland, near Rotterdam.</p>
<p><b>The South Sea Company</b> is celebrated above the other trading companies for
the great speculation in its shares called the <b>South Sea bubble</b> in 1720.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_46_PLAYS_AND_PAGEANTS">46. PLAYS AND PAGEANTS. PART I.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Mummers</b>: men who played in entertainments masked and in various
disguises.</p>
<p><b>masque</b>: a kind of play in which the actors wore masks. Milton's 'Comus' is
a well-known masque of high character.</p>
<p><b>mystery</b>: a name for a religious play representing some scene from the Bible
or scenes from the life of a saint.</p>
<p><b>admonition</b>: warning.</p>
<p><b>frescoes</b>: paintings on a wall covered with plaster—done while the plaster
is still wet or <i>fresh</i>.</p>
<p><b>sequence</b>: that is, the connection of one event with another.</p>
<p><b>properties</b>: the articles used in the play, scenery, dress, &c.</p>
<p><b>realistic</b>: looking as though they really were the persons represented.</p>
<p><b>tableau</b>: scene.</p>
<p><b>lessee</b>: one who rents a theatre or holds it on a lease from the owner.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_47_PLAYS_AND_PAGEANTS">47. PLAYS AND PAGEANTS. PART II.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Pageants</b>: grand shows, processions.</p>
<p><b>censers</b>: vessels for burning incense.</p>
<p><b>conduit</b>: a pipe or channel for leading or <i>conducting</i> water.</p>
<p><b>Cross of Chepe</b>: a memorial erected in the centre of the chepe, or market,
in memory of Queen Eleanor.</p>
<p><b>jerkins</b>: a kind of jacket often made of leather.</p>
<p><b>panoply</b>: full armour.</p>
<p><b>banneret</b>: a little banner.</p>
<p><b>blackjacks</b>: leather vessels for holding liquor.</p>
<p><b>malmsey</b>: a strong sweet wine.</p>
<p><b>marshal</b>: draw up and arrange.</p>
<p><b>Lord Mayor's Show</b>: on November 9—when the people have an opportunity
of welcoming the new Lord Mayor on his entering into office.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_48_PLAYS_AND_PAGEANTS">48. PLAYS AND PAGEANTS. PART III.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>libretto</b>: the words of a masque or play set to music.</p>
<p><b>scenic</b>: on the stage.</p>
<p><b>Ben Jonson</b> (born 1574, died 1637): a great English play writer and poet,
and a friend of Shakespeare.</p>
<p><b>Francis Bacon</b>, Lord Verulam (born 1561, died 1626), was Lord Chancellor
and a great writer on philosophical subjects.</p>
<p><b>Oberon</b>: the king of the fairies and husband of Titania, as in Shakespeare's
'Midsummer Night's Dream.'</p>
<p><b>save James</b>: that is, King James I.; a piece of courtly flattery due to Jonson's
connection with the court.</p>
<p><b>Prince Henry</b>, who is meant by Oberon in the masque, died in 1612, to the
great regret of the people.</p>
<p><b>Phosphorus</b>: Lucifer, the morning star that brings the day.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_253" id="Page_253"></SPAN></span></p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_49_PLAYS_AND_PAGEANTS">49. PLAYS AND PAGEANTS. PART IV.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Gammer (i.e. Old Mother) Gurton's Needle</b> is a very rough old play about
an old woman who lost her needle while mending a pair of breeches, and,
after accusing everyone of stealing it, finds it after all in the garment itself.
It was written some time before 1560. ('Gammer,' the French <i>grand'-m�re</i>,
grandmother, contracted into 'ganmer,' and then 'gammer.')</p>
<p><b>contortionist</b>: one who twists himself into extraordinary attitudes to amuse
the public.</p>
<p><b>octagonal</b>: with eight sides.</p>
<p><b>prologue</b>: the verses spoken before a play to introduce it to the audience.</p>
<p><b>Golden Lane</b>: a street near the Barbican, turning out of Aldersgate Street.</p>
<p><b>Bankside</b>, in Southwark, on the southern side of the Thames.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_50_THE_TERROR_OF_THE_PLAGUE">50. THE TERROR OF THE PLAGUE. PART I.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Pretensions</b>: ambitious claims.</p>
<p><b>Wars of the Roses</b>: a civil war lasting 1455-1485. In thinking of the loss
of life occasioned by this war, it must be remembered that such loss fell
most heavily on the noble families; the mass of the population was not so
much disturbed by it.</p>
<p><b>Long Acre</b>: a street near Drury Lane, now chiefly occupied by carriage-makers.</p>
<p><b>delirium</b>: a wandering in the mind caused by fever.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_51_THE_TERROR_OF_THE_PLAGUE">51. THE TERROR OF THE PLAGUE. PART II.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Registers</b>: a record of names of persons who have died. Such records are
now accurately kept by the registrars of births, deaths, and marriages.</p>
<p><b>The King</b>: Charles II., who, whatever his faults may have been, was at least
good-natured and averse to suffering.</p>
<p><b>Samuel Pepys</b> (born 1632, died 1703) was Secretary to the Admiralty in the
reigns of Charles II. and James II. His famous diary gives a graphic
picture of life during these reigns.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_52_THE_TERROR_OF_FIRE">52. THE TERROR OF FIRE. PART I.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Coleman Street</b> runs northward from Lothbury (behind the Bank of England)
to Moorgate. The name goes back even to Saxon times, and probably comes
from one Ceolmund, who had a farm near.</p>
<p><b>St. Erkinwald</b>: an early Saxon Bishop of London, who encouraged the citizens
to restore their ruined city, and himself built the Bishop's Gate (named
after him). His shrine in St. Paul's was long an object of reverence.</p>
<p><b>Paternoster Row</b>: always a great centre of the book trade: it was a row immediately
adjoining the precincts of the Cathedral before encroachments
were made. Naturally much of the booksellers' wares was religious—paternosters,
aves, credos, &c.</p>
<p><b>chancel</b>: the east end of a church in which is the altar, separated from the
rest of the church by a screen or railings. (Latin <i>cancelli</i>, a grating.)</p>
<p><b>transept</b>: the part of a cathedral projecting on either side. Cathedrals are
generally built in the shape of a cross; the transept is the arms of the cross
in the ground plan.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_254" id="Page_254"></SPAN></span></p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_53_THE_TERROR_OF_FIRE">53. THE TERROR OF FIRE. PART II.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Astronomer</b>: one who studies the stars or heavenly bodies.</p>
<p><b>John Evelyn</b> (born 1620, died 1706), a gentleman of the reign of Charles II.,
was made one of the commissioners for the restoration of London after the
Great Fire. He wrote a diary, which is not so amusing as that of Pepys
(<i>see</i> <SPAN href="#chap_51_THE_TERROR_OF_THE_PLAGUE">Chapter LI</SPAN>.)</p>
<p><b>St. Dunstan-in-the-East</b>, in Tower Street, was the first church restored by
Wren after the fire.</p>
<p><b>John Dryden</b> (born 1631, died 1700): one of the greatest English poets. He
was a supporter of the house of Stuart, and was made poet laureate.</p>
<p><b>obnoxious</b>: exposed to.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_54_ROGUES_AND_VAGABONDS">54. ROGUES AND VAGABONDS.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Vagabonds</b>: wanderers who have no settled home.</p>
<p><b>Wapping</b>: called Wapping Wash (or Marsh) in the time of Queen Elizabeth,
when it was first drained and banked in, lies on the north bank of the
Thames, in Middlesex, near the Thames Tunnel.</p>
<p><b>Lambeth</b>, facing Westminster, on the south bank of the river, is low-lying,
and was called in Saxon times Lambhythe, meaning loamy or muddy landing
place.</p>
<p><b>Bermondsey</b> (<i>ey</i>—island), on the south bank of the Thames, one mile S.E. of
St. Paul's, is a centre of the leather and wool trade.</p>
<p><b>Rotherhithe</b> (or Redriff), on the south bank of the Thames, lies east of
Bermondsey and faces Wapping. The south end of the Thames Tunnel is
in Rotherhithe.</p>
<p><b>stringent</b>: strict.</p>
<p><b>impotent</b>: powerless, unable to work.</p>
<p><b>stocks</b>: a wooden frame in which the legs of criminals were confined.</p>
<p><b>The Barbican</b>: a street near the site of the old Aldersgate. Barbican means
defensive works for a gate. <b>Turnmill Street</b> is near Farringdon railway
station.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_55_UNDER_GEORGE_THE_SECOND">55. UNDER GEORGE II. PART I. THE WEALTH OF LONDON.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Essayists</b>: people who write essays; that is, short compositions on any
subject.</p>
<p><b>picturesqueness</b>: beauty and grace; qualities which might be supposed to
make anything a good subject for a <i>picture</i>.</p>
<p><b>ruffles</b>: pieces of some white material plaited and attached as a frill to the
collar and sleeves of garments.</p>
<p><b>ostentation</b>: making a great show.</p>
<p><b>Puritanism</b>: the more sober style of life and thought introduced by the
Puritans, who were a religious party in the times of Elizabeth and the
Stuarts, and were desirous of a purer and simpler doctrine and mode of
living.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_56_UNDER_GEORGE_THE_SECOND">56. UNDER GEORGE II. PART II.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Predecessors</b>: those that went before them.</p>
<p><b>cruciform</b>: in the form of a cross. The ground plan of many churches is
shaped like a cross.</p>
<p><b>St. Stephen's, Walbrook</b>, stands behind the Mansion House, where the
Walbrook used to flow.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_255" id="Page_255"></SPAN></span></p>
<p><b>lectureship</b>: the office of a lecturer, one who gives lectures, discourses, or (as
in this case) sermons. Money was left to pay for these sermons, that is, the
lectureships were <b>endowed</b>.</p>
<p><b>harbouring</b>: sheltering.</p>
<p><b>organisers</b>: those who get up and arrange anything.</p>
<p><b>Haymarket</b> (obviously once a hay market) is near Trafalgar Square, and
<b>Coventry Street</b> near Leicester Square.</p>
<p><b>innovations</b>: novelties, new things.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_57_UNDER_GEORGE_THE_SECOND">57. UNDER GEORGE II. PART III.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Broad Street</b>: between the Royal Exchange and Liverpool Street.</p>
<p><b>Whitecross Street</b> is near the Barbican, Aldersgate Street; <b>Whitechapel</b>,
in which is <b>Middlesex Street</b> (commonly known as Petticoat Lane), is
reached through Aldgate.</p>
<p><b>Hogarth</b> (born 1697, died 1764): a celebrated English painter, chiefly
famous for moral, satirical and humorous pictures drawn from everyday
life.</p>
<p><b>asphalt</b>: a kind of mineral pitchy substance which melts in heat and can be
laid down so as to form a hard, smooth roadway.</p>
<p><b>Vauxhall</b>: in Surrey, in the parish of Lambeth, on the south of the Thames.
There was once an old manor house here called Faukes or Fox Hall.</p>
<p><b>Bermondsey Spa</b>: so called from a mineral spring discovered there in 1770.
(Spa, a place where there is a mineral spring, gets its name from a celebrated
watering-place in Belgium of that name.)</p>
<p><b>punch</b>: a drink containing five ingredients—water, spirits, sugar, lemon-juice,
spice.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_58_UNDER_GEORGE_THE_SECOND">58. UNDER GEORGE II. PART IV.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Decorous</b>: behaving in a decent and respectable way.</p>
<p><b>appreciation</b>: estimate, judgment about.</p>
<p><b>congregation</b>: gathering together.</p>
<p><b>Benjamin Franklin</b> (born 1706, died 1790): a native of Boston, U.S.A., who
lived for some time in England. As a scientist he is famous for electrical
experiments; as a politician, for the share he took in upholding the independence
of the American States.</p>
<p><b>transmission</b>: handing down from father to son.</p>
<p><b>externally</b>: outwardly.</p>
<p><b>St. Katharine's</b>, <b>Ratcliff</b>, <b>Shadwell</b>, <b>Stepney</b>, are all in the East End of
London.</p>
<p><b>jurisdiction</b>: legal authority.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_59_UNDER_GEORGE_THE_SECOND">59. UNDER GEORGE II. PART V.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Lighters</b>: large boats or barges used in unloading ships.</p>
<p><b>bleaching-grounds</b>: where cloth was laid out to be bleached or whitened by
the wind and sun.</p>
<p><b>hopbines</b>: the stalks of hop plants.</p>
<p><b>transportation</b>: conveying convicted criminals abroad. Till 1869 convicts
were sent to Australia; now they are kept in convict prisons at home.</p>
<p><b>classification</b>: dividing and arranging into classes.</p>
<p><b>embezzle</b>: to steal something entrusted to one's care.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_256" id="Page_256"></SPAN></span></p>
<p><b>press-gang</b>: a party of sailors under an officer who forcibly took men to serve
in the Royal Navy.</p>
<p><b>anarchy</b>: absence of rule, disorder.</p>
<p><b>Gordon Riots</b>: in 1780, led by the fanatic Lord George Gordon. The mob
raised the cry of 'No Popery' on account of a law then proposing to remove
hardships from Roman Catholics. Riot and plunder were the real object of
the mob. The disorder had to be suppressed by military force.</p>
<p><b>Police</b>: organised in 1829 by Sir Robert Peel, after whom the members of
the force were called 'bobbies' and 'peelers.'</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_60_THE_GOVERNMENT_OF_THE_CITY">60. THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CITY. PART I.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Denominations</b>: religious bodies or sects, the members of which are all called
by the same name. (Latin <i>nomen</i>, a name.)</p>
<p><b>every conceivable topic</b>: every subject you can think of.</p>
<p><b>community</b>: a people, the public.</p>
<p><b>achieved</b>: won by effort.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_61_THE_GOVERNMENT_OF_THE_CITY">61. THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CITY. PART II.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Symbol of</b>: the representative of; the presence of a policeman is the outward
form taken by the law in the eyes of the people.</p>
<p><b>mote</b>: meeting; hence <b>folks' mote</b>, meeting of the folk or people; <b>ward
mote</b>, meeting of those living in the same ward or city division.</p>
<p><b>The Companies</b>: such as those of the Goldsmiths, Merchant Taylors,
Drapers, &c.</p>
<p><b>Quarter Sessions</b>: the sessions or sittings of the Law Courts in a county or
city held every quarter.</p>
<p><b>archives</b>: public records.</p>
<p><b>sergeant</b> means 'servant,' 'officer'—here of the law. Ordinarily it is a rank
in the army.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_62_THE_GOVERNMENT_OF_THE_CITY">62. THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CITY. PART III.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Advocate</b>: argue in favour of.</p>
<p><b>tenacity</b>: perseverance, holding on. (Latin <i>teneo</i>, to hold.)</p>
<p><b>livery</b>: because the members of the different trade companies used to wear a
distinguishing uniform or livery.</p>
<p><b>fletchers</b>: arrow-makers. (French <i>fl�che</i>, an arrow.)</p>
<p><b>trust-money</b>: money entrusted for a certain purpose for which alone it can
be used.</p>
<p><b>technical</b>: where useful trades and sciences are taught.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<h3><SPAN href="#chap_63_LONDON">63. LONDON. GREATER LONDON.</SPAN></h3>
<p><b>Conservative</b>: preserving, so far as convenient, the present state of things.</p>
<p><b>functions</b>: powers and duties.</p>
<p><b>reformatory schools</b>: where boys and girls who have committed some crime
are sent to be reformed to better ways.</p>
<p><b>assets</b>: property actually held, so that it can be set off against a debt.</p>
<p><b>democratic</b>: giving power and influence to the people.</p>
<p><b>oligarchic</b>: giving power and influence to the few.</p>
<p><b>'law worthiness'</b>: right to assist in the making of laws.</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<p class='center'><i>Spottiswoode & Co. Printers, New-street Square, London</i></p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<p>[Transcriber's Note: The following errors have been corrected in this text:</p>
<p>Page 6: Fitzstephen's to FitzStephen's</p>
<p>Page 68: fiteenth to fifteenth</p>
<p>Page 108: SEVENTEENTH to FIFTEENTH</p>
<p>Page 135: Westminter to Westminster</p>
<p>Page 223: alway to always</p>
<p>Page 246: Archishop to Archbishop</p>
<p>Page 256: supressed to suppressed</p>
<p>The following words are inconsistently hyphenated in the original text:
folk-mote, folkmote; Lud-gate, Ludgate; pack-horse, packhorse;
river-side, riverside.]</p>
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