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diff --git a/27995.txt b/27995.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..39e51e8 --- /dev/null +++ b/27995.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8374 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of London, by Walter Besant + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The History of London + +Author: Walter Besant + +Release Date: February 4, 2009 [EBook #27995] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF LONDON *** + + + + +Produced by Susan Skinner and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +[Transcriber's Note: The following conventions are used in this text: +~bold text~, _italic text_, [=i]--i with a macron over it.] + + + * * * * * + + +[Illustration: THE NEW HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT: DESIGNED BY BARRY, OPENED +1852.] + + + + +THE + +HISTORY OF LONDON + + +BY + +WALTER BESANT + +AUTHOR OF 'LONDON' 'CHILDREN OF GIBEON' ETC. + + +_SECOND EDITION_ + + +LONDON +LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. + +1894 + +_All rights reserved_ + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +LESSON PAGE + + 1. The Foundation of London (I) 7 + + 2. The Foundation of London (II) 10 + + 3. Roman London (I) 13 + + 4. " " (II) 16 + + 5. After the Romans (I) 19 + + 6. " " " (II) 23 + + 7. " " " (III) 26 + + 8. The First Saxon Settlement 29 + + 9. The Second Saxon Settlement 32 + +10. The Anglo-Saxon Citizen 34 + +11. The Wall of London 38 + +12. Norman London 42 + +13. FitzStephen's Account of the City (I) 45 + +14. FitzStephen's Account of the City (II) 50 + +15. London Bridge (I) 54 + +16. " " (II) 57 + +17. The Tower of London (I) 60 + +18. " " " (II) 63 + +19. The Pilgrims 67 + +20. St. Bartholomew's Hospital 70 + +21. The Terror of Leprosy 74 + +22. The Terror of Famine 78 + +23. St. Paul's Cathedral (I) 82 + +24. " " " (II) 86 + +25. Paul's Churchyard 91 + +26. The Religious Houses 95 + +27. Monks, Friars, and Nuns 100 + +28. The London Churches 103 + +29. The Streets 106 + +30. Whittington (I) 110 + +31. " (II) 115 + +32. " (III) 118 + +33. Gifts and Bequests 121 + +34. The Palaces and Great Houses 124 + +35. Amusements 127 + +36. Westminster Abbey 131 + +37. The Court at Westminster 134 + +38. Justice and Punishments 137 + +39. The Political Power of London 140 + +40. Elizabethan London (I) 144 + +41. " " (II) 147 + +42. " " (III) 151 + +43. Trade (I) 155 + +44. " (II) 158 + +45. " (III) 164 + +46. Plays and Pageants (I) 168 + +47. " " " (II) 170 + +48. " " " (III) 173 + +49. " " " (IV) 177 + +50. The Terror of the Plague (I) 180 + +51. The Terror of the Plague (II) 183 + +52. The Terror of Fire (I) 187 + +53. " " " (II) 192 + +54. Rogues and Vagabonds 197 + +55. Under George the Second (I) 201 + +56. Under George the Second (II) 206 + +57. Under George the Second (III) 210 + +58. Under George the Second (IV) 214 + +59. Under George the Second (V) 218 + +60. The Government of the City (I) 222 + +61. The Government of the City (II) 226 + +62. The Government of the City (III) 228 + +63. London 230 + +Notes 235 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + PAGE + + 1. The New Houses of Parliament: designed by Barry, opened 1852 _Frontispiece_ + + 2. Early British Pottery 9 + + 3. Roman London 15 + + 4. Remains of a Viking Ship, from a Cairn at Gokstad 22 + + 5. Martyrdom of St. Edmund by the Danes 31 + + 6. Saxon Horsemen 33 + + 7. Saxon Church at Bradford-on-Avon, Wilts 36 + + 8. City Gates 39 + + 9. Remains of the Wall 40 + +10. Part of the Roman Wall at Leicester 41 + +11. Tower in the Earlier Style. Church at Earl's Barton 44 + +12. A Norman Ship 46 + +13. Building a Church in the later Style 47 + +14. Lay Costumes in the Twelfth Century 50 + +15. Costume of Shepherds in the Twelfth Century 51 + +16. Ecclesiastical Costume in the Twelfth Century 52 + +17. Royal Arms of England from Richard I. to Edward III. 54 + +18. Old London Bridge 57 + +19. The Tower of London 61, 64 + +20. A Bed in the Reign of Henry III. 67 + +21. Interior of the Hall at Penshurst, Kent 71 + +22. The Upper Chamber or Solar at Sutton Courtenay Manor-house 73 + +23. The Lepers Begging 77 + +24. London before the Spire of St. Paul's was burned; showing + the Bridge, Tower, Shipping, &c. 83 + +25. Old St. Paul's, from the East 85 + +26. Old St. Paul's on Fire 87 + +27. West Front of St. Paul's Cathedral + Church. (Built by Sir Christopher Wren) 89 + +28. Paul's Cross 92 + +29. Bermondsey Abbey 96 + +30. Ruins of Gateway of Bermondsey Abbey 97 + +31. Christ's Hospital 99 + +32. Chepe in the Fifteenth Century 108 + +33. Large Ship and Boat of the Fifteenth Century 111 + +34. A Sea-Fight 113 + +35. Durham, Salisbury, and Worcester Houses 125 + +36. Bear-baiting 128 + +37. Shooting at the Butts with the Long-bow 129 + +38. Tomb of Edward III. in Westminster Abbey 132 + +39. The Embarkation of Henry VIII. from Dover, 1520 141 + +40. Coaches in the Reign of Elizabeth 148 + +41. The City from Southwark 150 + +42. South-east Part of London in the Fifteenth Century, + showing the Tower and Wall 153 + +43. King Edward VI. 159 + +44. Sir Thomas Gresham 161 + +45. First Royal Exchange 162 + +46. Shipping in the Thames, _circa_ 1660 166 + +47. Sir Francis Drake, in his Forty-third Year 167 + +48. The Globe Theatre 179 + +49. Civil Costume about 1620 181 + +50. Costume of a Lawyer 181 + + Ordinary Civil Costume; _temp._ Charles I.: + +51. A Countryman 185 + +52. A Countrywoman 185 + +53. A Citizen 187 + +54. A Citizen's Wife 187 + +55. A Gentleman 189 + +56. A Gentlewoman 189 + +57. Lud-gate on Fire 190 + +58. Paul Pindar's House 191 + +59. London, as Rebuilt after the Fire 193 + +60. Coach of the latter half of the Seventeenth Century 195 + +61. Waggon of the second half of the Seventeenth Century 195 + +62. Ordinary Dress of Gentlemen in 1675 197 + +63. Dress of Ladies of Quality 199 + +64. Ordinary Attire of Women of the Lower Classes 199 + +65. Group showing Costumes and Sedan Chair, about 1720 202 + +66. Temple Bar, London 203 + +67. Fleet Street and Temple Bar 205 + +68. A Coach of the Middle of the Seventeenth Century 207 + +69. View of School connected with Bunyan's Meeting House 209 + +70. Grenadier in the time of the Peninsular War 211 + +71. Uniform of Sailors, about 1790 213 + +72. Costumes of Gentlefolk, about 1784 215 + +73. Vessels unloading at the Customs House, at the beginning + of the Eighteenth Century 217 + +74. The Old Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey, 1803 221 + + + + +LONDON + + + + +1. THE FOUNDATION OF LONDON. + +PART I. + + +'In the year 1108 B.C., Brutus, a descendant of AEneas, 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 Caesar. Troynovant, +or London, then became a Roman city. It was newly fortified by Helena, +mother of Constantine the Great.' + +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 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 AEneas, 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 +was from very ancient times a fort, or stationary camp (L. _castra_), +against the wild Welsh. + +[Illustration: EARLY BRITISH POTTERY.] + +Let us consider this question as regards London. Look at the map called +'Roman London' (p. 15). 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 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. + +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 _ea_ or _ey_, 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. + + + + +2. THE FOUNDATION OF LONDON. + +PART II. + + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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 Caesar +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. + +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. + +Such was the beginning of London. Let us repeat. + +It was a small fortress defended on three sides by 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. + + + + +3. ROMAN LONDON. + +PART I. + + +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. 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. + +[Illustration: _Walker & Boutallse._ + +ROMAN LONDON.] + +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 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. + +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 A.D. 350 and A.D. 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. + + + + +4. ROMAN LONDON. + +PART II. + + +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 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. + +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 A.D. 43. The Romans went away in A.D. 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 +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. + +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. + +Constantine, who became emperor in 306, was then in Britain, but his +name is not connected with London except by coins bearing his name. + +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. + +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. + + + + +5. AFTER THE ROMANS. + +PART I. + + +The Romans left London. That was early in the fifth century; probably in +the year 410. + +Two hundred years later we find the East Saxons in London. + +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?[1] + +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? + +[1] On this subject, see the author's book _London_ (Chatto & Windus). + +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 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. + +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. + +One more point may be made out from history. 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. + +[Illustration: REMAINS OF A VIKING SHIP, FROM A CAIRN AT GOKSTAD. + +(_Now in the University at Christiania._)] + +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. + + + + +6. AFTER THE ROMANS. + +PART II. + + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +London was thus deprived of food as well as of trade. + +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. + +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 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? + + + + +7. AFTER THE ROMANS. + +PART III. + + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +For the East Saxon had overrun Essex, the Jute covered Kent and Surrey, +the South Saxon held Sussex, 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. + +Augusta was forgotten. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +They went away and told what they had found. + +But Augusta had perished. When the City appears again it is under its +more ancient name--it is again London. + + + + +8. THE FIRST SAXON SETTLEMENT. + + +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. + +But he had begun to live in towns; and he lived in London. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +They did, in a way. But when King Siebehrt died, they relapsed and drove +their Bishop into exile. + +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. + +In the eighth century London passed again out of the 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. + +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. + +[Illustration: MARTYRDOM OF ST. EDMUND BY THE DANES. + +(_From a drawing belonging to the Society of Antiquaries._)] + +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. + + + + +9. THE SECOND SAXON SETTLEMENT. + + +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. + +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. + +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, _Historic Towns_, '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.' + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +[Illustration: SAXON HORSEMEN. + +(_Harl. MS. 603._)] + +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 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. + + + + +10. THE ANGLO-SAXON CITIZEN. + + +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 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. + +Let us see how the Anglo-Saxon Londoner lived. + +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. + +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. + +The Anglo-Saxon house developed out of the common 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. + +[Illustration: SAXON CHURCH AT BRADFORD-ON-AVON, WILTS.] + +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 sat about the fire and +listened to stories, or to songs with the accompaniment of the harp. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + + + + +11. THE WALL OF LONDON. + + +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. + +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, and probably at Queen Hithe. The +length of the Wall, without counting the river side, was 2 miles and 608 +feet. + +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 11/2 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. + +[Illustration: CITY GATES.] + +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 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. + +[Illustration: REMAINS OF THE WALL.] + +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. + +[Illustration: PART OF THE ROMAN WALL AT LEICESTER.] + +But a wall without a ditch, where a ditch was possible, 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. 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. + + + + +12. NORMAN LONDON. + + +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:-- + +'William King greets William Bishop and Gosfrith Portreeve and all the +burghers within London, French and English, friendly. + +'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. + +'God keep you.' + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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_l._ 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. + +[Illustration: TOWER IN THE EARLIER STYLE. CHURCH AT EARL'S BARTON. + +(_The battlements are much later._)] + +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 +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. + +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. + +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. + + + + +13. FITZSTEPHEN'S ACCOUNT OF THE CITY. + +PART I. + + +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 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. + +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. + +[Illustration: A NORMAN SHIP. + +(_From the Bayeux Tapestry._)] + +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 were rebuilt. Most of them were very small parishes, with, +doubtless, very small churches. We shall return presently to the +question of the churches. + +[Illustration: BUILDING A CHURCH IN THE LATER STYLE. + +(_From a drawing belonging to the Society of Antiquaries._)] + +On the east was the White Tower which he calls the '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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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 _selds_, 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 _selds_ 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. + +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 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. + +[Illustration: LAY COSTUMES IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY.] + + + + + +14. FITZSTEPHEN'S ACCOUNT OF THE CITY. + +PART II. + + +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 Opera +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. + +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. + +[Illustration: COSTUME OF SHEPHERDS IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY.] + +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 respect, to Rome. +Everything grew out of the Anglo-Saxon laws and customs. + +[Illustration: ECCLESIASTICAL COSTUME IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY.] + +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 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. + +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.' + +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.' + +'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.' + + + + +15. LONDON BRIDGE. + +PART I. + + +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. + +[Illustration: ROYAL ARMS OF ENGLAND FROM RICHARD I. TO EDWARD III. + +(_From the wall arcade, south aisle of nave, Westminster Abbey._)] + +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. + +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, 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. + +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). + +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--_Pontife_ is Pontifex--that is--Bridge Builder. +The Bridge Building 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. + +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. + +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. + + + + +16. LONDON BRIDGE. + +PART II. + + +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. + +[Illustration: OLD LONDON BRIDGE.] + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Repairs were always wanting: to keep some of the force of the water off +the piers these were furnished 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. + +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. + +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 +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. + + + + +17. THE TOWER OF LONDON. + +PART I. + + +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. + +William Rufus built a wall round the Tower so as to separate it entirely +from the City and to prevent the danger of a hasty rising of the +people: with the same object he gave it a water gate. + +A hundred years later, while Richard Coeur 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. + +[Illustration: TOWER OF LONDON.] + +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: then by a narrow way passing under a tower: then over a +bridge. In all mediaeval 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 mediaeval castle. + +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. + +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, 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. + +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 mediaeval +kings. + + + + +18. THE TOWER OF LONDON. + +PART II. + + +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 the Tower, the short and tragic life of this young Queen of a +nine days' reign. + +[Illustration] + +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 +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. + +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.' + +'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, 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. + +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.' + +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. + +She lies buried before the altar of St. Peter's Church, near the bodies +of the Queens Anne Boleyn and Katharine Howard. + +So she died, this poor innocent child of whom all we know is that she +was so scholarly that she could read 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.' + +[Illustration: A BED IN THE REIGN OF HENRY III.] + + + + +19. THE PILGRIMS. + + +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 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. + +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. + +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 +mediaeval 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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + + +20. ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S HOSPITAL. + + +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 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 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. + +[Illustration: INTERIOR OF THE HALL AT PENSHURST, KENT. + +(_Showing the screen with minstrels' gallery over it, and the brazier +for fire in the middle; built about 1340._)] + +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. + +Look, however, at the hospital as founded by Rahere. + +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 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 the hut where life has been +passed is something for which to be grateful. + +[Illustration: THE UPPER CHAMBER OR SOLAR AT SUTTON COURTENAY +MANOR-HOUSE. + +(_Date, about 1350._)] + +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. + + + + +21. THE TERROR OF LEPROSY. + + +One mile outside the City walls, on the west, stood for four hundred +years the Hospital of St. Giles in the Fields. + +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, +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. + +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.[2] + +[2] Lacroix, _Science_, p. 146. + +Leprosy is supposed to have had its origin in Egypt: 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +[Illustration: THE LEPERS BEGGING.] + +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 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. + +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. + + + + +22. THE TERROR OF FAMINE. + + +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. + +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_s._ a 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_s._ 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_l._ 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_s._ a quarter. + +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. + +The famine prices of wheat may be explained by the 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_s._ a quarter, a farthing loaf +was to weigh 24 oz. whole meal and 16 oz. white. When it was at 1_s._ +6_d._ 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_d._, 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_s._ a quarter. + +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. + +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. + +Another public granary was established in 1610 at Bridewell Palace. This +was built to contain 6,000 quarters of wheat. + +Nothing more is heard about these public granaries. Probably the public +mind grew more assured on the 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. + +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. + + + + +23. ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL. + +PART I. + + +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. + +[Illustration: LONDON BEFORE THE SPIRE OF ST. PAUL'S WAS BURNED: SHOWING +ALSO THE BRIDGE, THE TOWER, SHIPPING, ETC.] + +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 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--_tromperie_--_deceit_. 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 a +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. + +Under the Cathedral, in the crypt, was a parish church--that of St. +Faith's--it is now united with the parish church of St. Augustine's in +Watling Street. + +[Illustration: OLD ST. PAUL'S, FROM THE EAST. + +(_Showing its condition just before the Great Fire; from an engraving by +Hollar._)] + +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 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. + + + + +24. ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL. + +PART II. + + +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 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. + +[Illustration: OLD ST. PAUL'S ON FIRE. + +(_From Longman's 'A History of the Three Cathedrals of St. Paul's.'_)] + +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. + +Then Christopher Wren began the present building. The first stone was +laid on June 21, 1675, nine years 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. + +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. + +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 _Orient_, taken 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. + +[Illustration: WEST FRONT OF ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL CHURCH. + +(_Built by Sir Christopher Wren._)] + +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 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. + + + + +25. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD. + + +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. + +[Illustration: PAUL'S CROSS.] + +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 a 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 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 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. + +Next to Charnel Chapel stood the famous Paul's Cross. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + + + + +26. THE RELIGIOUS HOUSES. + + +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: 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. + +[Illustration: BERMONDSEY ABBEY.] + +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. + +[Illustration: RUINS OF GATEWAY OF BERMONDSEY ABBEY.] + +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 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 +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. + +[Illustration: Christ's Hospital] + +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 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 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. + + + + +27. MONKS, FRIARS, AND NUNS. + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +There were next the three great Mendicant Orders, 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. + +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. + +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 perhaps +because they insisted more on doctrine, and were associated with the +Inquisition. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + + + + +28. THE LONDON CHURCHES. + + +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. + +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 here and made gifts to the church and +were buried here. + +Let us show, by a few examples, how worthy these City churches are of +preservation and respect. + +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. + +Or, again, there are the people who are buried or were baptised in these +churches. + +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. + + Three poets in three distant ages born, + Greece, Italy, and England did adorn: + The first in loftiness of thought surpassed, + The next in majesty--in both the last. + The force of Nature could no further go; + To make a third she joined the other two. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + 'Clarke of the Bow Bell with thy yellow lockes: + In thy late ringing, thy head shall have knockes.' + +To which the clerk replied: + + 'Children of Chepe, hold you all stille: + For you shall have Bow Bell ring at your will.' + +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. + +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. + + + + +29. THE STREETS. + + +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 +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. + +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. + +[Illustration: CHEPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.] + +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. +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. + +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 mediaeval trader than +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. + +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. + +[Illustration: LARGE SHIP AND BOAT OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. + +(_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._)] + + + + +30 WHITTINGTON. + +PART I. + + +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 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. + +That is the familiar legend. Now you shall learn the truth. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +[Illustration: A SEA-FIGHT. + +(_From the 'Life of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick'; drawn by John +Rous about 1485._)] + +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 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. + +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. + + + + +31. WHITTINGTON. + +PART II. + + +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. + +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 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. + +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 all the pirate's ships--including fifteen Spanish vessels +which had joined Mercer. + +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. + +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. + +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 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! + +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. + + + + +32. WHITTINGTON. + +PART III. + + +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. + +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. + +In the year 1406 he was again elected Mayor. The manner of his election +is described in the contemporary 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +In his last year of office Whittington entertained the King, Henry V. +and his Queen. + +There was as yet no Mansion House: every Mayor made use of his own +private house. + +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_l._ 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_l._ + +This is, very shortly, an account of Whittington's public life. + +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. + +Whittington married his master's daughter, Alice Fitzwarren. He had no +children, and he died in 1423 when he was sixty-five years of age. + +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. + + + + +33. GIFTS AND BEQUESTS. + + +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 L600 a year, or an estate worth L20,000: another left money +to pay the tax called the Fifteenth, for three parishes: another brought +water in a conduit from Highbury to Cripplegate. + +But the greatest and wisest benefactor of his time 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.' + +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 +_working_ 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 _pray_ 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_d._ each per week, about +7_s._ 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. + +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. + +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_l._ 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. + +Many of these things were done after his death by his executors. + +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. + +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. + +He did not found any school. That is a remarkable omission. One of his +successors, Sir William Sevenoke, 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. + + + + +34. THE PALACES AND GREAT HOUSES. + + +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. + +It has been the fashion to speak of mediaeval London as if it were a city +of hovels grouped together along dark 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. + +[Illustration: DURHAM, SALISBURY, AND WORCESTER HOUSES.] + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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.' + +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. + +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. + + + + +35. AMUSEMENTS. + + +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. 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: and they had morris-dancing with +the lads dressed up as Robin Hood, Friar Tuck, Little John, Tom the +Piper, and other famous characters. + +[Illustration: BEAR-BAITING. + +(_From the Luttrell Psalter._)] + +Then they shot with the bow and the cross-bow for prizes: they had +wrestlings and they had foot races. + +The two great festivals of the year were the Eve of St. John the Baptist +and the Day of the Company. + +[Illustration: SHOOTING AT THE BUTTS WITH THE LONG-BOW.] + +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 Mediaeval London had +to show. To light the procession on its way the City found two hundred +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, +mediaeval, it was the most beautiful and the most mediaeval. + +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. + +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. + +Do not think of mediaeval 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 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. + + + + +36. WESTMINSTER ABBEY. + + +Hitherto our attention has been confined to the City within the walls. +It is time to step outside the walls. + +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, standing just above high water level. This +was the original Precinct of Westminster. + +[Illustration: TOMB OF EDWARD III. IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY.] + +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. + +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 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. + +Read what was written by Jeremy Taylor, a great divine, on Westminster +Abbey:-- + +'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.' + + + + +37. THE COURT AT WESTMINSTER. + + +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, 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. + +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. + +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? 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. + +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. + + + + +38. JUSTICE AND PUNISHMENTS. + + +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 +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. + +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, 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. + +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. + +Punishments were mild. Sometimes the criminal performed the _amende +honorable_, 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. + +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 Mayor. 'Thou shalt dwell with us; trade with us; +converse with us; no more. Go.' And so that source of trouble was +removed. + +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. + +[Illustration: THE EMBARKATION OF HENRY VIII. FROM DOVER, 1520. + +(_From the original painting at Hampton Court._)] + + + + +39. THE POLITICAL POWER OF LONDON. + + +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 mediaeval 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 +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.' + +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. + +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, 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 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. + +Another factor, less generally understood, assisted and developed the +power of London. + +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. + + + + +40. ELIZABETHAN LONDON. + +PART I. + + +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 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 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 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. + +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. + + + + +41. ELIZABETHAN LONDON. + +PART II. + + +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 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. Moreover, there were other reasons why the citizens under +Queen Elizabeth could not regret the past. + +[Illustration: COACHES IN THE REIGN OF ELIZABETH. + +(_From 'Archcaeologia.'_)] + +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. + +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. + +[Illustration: THE CITY FROM SOUTHWARK.] + +The merchants' houses took the place of these palaces. They were built +either in the form of a quadrangle, 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 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. + + + + +42. ELIZABETHAN LONDON. + +PART III. + + +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. + +The Lord Mayor was directed by Elizabeth always to keep a certain number +of the citizens drilled and 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. + +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. + +[Illustration: SOUTH-EAST PART OF LONDON IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY, +SHOWING THE TOWER AND WALL.] + +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, 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. + +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. + +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. + + + + +43. TRADE. + +PART I. + + +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 _Hansa_, a +convention). In the League were confederated: first, twelve towns in the +Baltic, Luebeck 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 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. + +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. + +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 Luebeck 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 with destruction, is pulled down, you should go to +see that screen, and remember all that it means and commemorates. + + + + +44. TRADE. + +PART II. + + +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. + +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 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. + +[Illustration: KING EDWARD VI. + +(_From a picture belonging to H. Hucks Gibbs, Esq._)] + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +[Illustration: SIR THOMAS GRESHAM.] + +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 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_l._ 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. + +[Illustration: FIRST ROYAL EXCHANGE.] + +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 cent. on a loan of, say, 60,000_l._ meant a saving of +2,400_l._ a year. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + + +45. TRADE. + +PART III. + + +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. 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. + +[Illustration: SHIPPING IN THE THAMES, CIRCA 1660. + +(_From Pricke's 'South Prospect of London.'_)] + +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. + +[Illustration: SIR FRANCIS DRAKE, IN HIS FORTY-THIRD YEAR. + +(_From the engraving by Elstracke._)] + +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 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. + + + + +46. PLAYS AND PAGEANTS. + +PART I. + + +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. + +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 +Creator, the Fall, and the expulsion. Such a sight was better than a +hundred sermons for teaching the people. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + + + + +47. PLAYS AND PAGEANTS. + +PART II. + + +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. 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. + +The following account of the Pageant to celebrate the return of the +victor Henry V. after Agincourt is preserved in Stow's 'London.' + +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. + +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. + +At the other end of the Bridge was another tower, and within it an image +of St. George, with a great 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.' + +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.' + +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. + +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.' + +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. + +This witnessed, the King went on to St. Paul's to pay his devotions. + +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! + + + + +48. PLAYS AND PAGEANTS. + +PART III. + + +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 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. + +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. + +The scene opens: the rocks and forests disappear: 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: + + Buzz, quoth the blue fly: + Hum, quoth the bee: + Buzz and hum they cry + And so do we. + In his ear, in his nose, + Thus do you see? [They tickle them.] + He ate the dormouse + Else it was he. + +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: + + Melt earth to sea, sea flow to air, + And air fly into fire, + Whilst we in tunes to Arthur's chair + Bear Oberon's desire: + Than which there's nothing can be higher + Save James to whom it flies: + But he the wonder is of tongues and ears and eyes-- + +The Satyrs leap and dance again for joy at so splendid a sight. + +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-- + + Stays the time from turning old, + And keeps the age up in a head of gold. + He makes it ever day and ever spring + When he doth shine, and quickens everything. + +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-- + + To rest! To rest! The herald of the day, + Bright Phosphorus commands you hence. Obey. + +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: + + O yet how early and before her time, + The envious morning up doth climb, + Though she not love her bed! + What haste the jealous sun doth make + His fiery horses up to take + And once more show his head! + Lest, taken with the brightness of this night, + The world should wish it last and never miss his light. + + + + +49. PLAYS AND PAGEANTS. + +PART IV. + + +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. + +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, wandered about the country free of rule and +discipline, leading careless and lawless lives. + +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. + +[Illustration: THE GLOBE THEATRE.] + +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. + +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 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. + + + + +50. THE TERROR OF THE PLAGUE. + +PART I. + + +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. + +[Illustration: CIVIL COSTUME ABOUT 1620. + +(_From a contemporary broadside._)] + +[Illustration: COSTUME OF A LAWYER. + +(_From a broadside, dated 1623._)] + +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 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 mediaeval +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 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. + +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 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. + +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. + + + + +51. THE TERROR OF THE PLAGUE. + +PART II. + + +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 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 safety. Some went on board +ship and, as the Plague increased, dropped down the river. + +[Illustration: A COUNTRYMAN. A COUNTRYWOMAN. + +ORDINARY CIVIL COSTUME; _temp._ CHARLES I. + +(_From Speed's map of 'The Kingdom of England,' 1646._)] + +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 many weeks +together not the least breath of wind could be perceived. + +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. + +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_l._ a week: the merchants contributed thousands every week. And so +the people were kept from starving. + +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 +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. + + + + +52. THE TERROR OF FIRE. + +PART I. + + +[Illustration: A CITIZEN. A CITIZEN'S WIFE. + +ORDINARY CIVIL COSTUME; _temp._ CHARLES I. + +(_From Speed's map of 'The Kingdom of England,' 1646._)] + +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, 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. + +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. + +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. + +Among those who thought that a church would be a 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. + +[Illustration: A GENTLEMAN. A GENTLEWOMAN. + +ORDINARY CIVIL COSTUME; _temp._ CHARLES I. + +(_From Speed's map of 'The Kingdom of England,' 1646._)] + +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, 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. + +[Illustration: LUD-GATE ON FIRE.] + +When the fire stopped the people sat down to consider the losses they +had sustained and the best way out of them. + +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 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 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. + +[Illustration: PAUL PINDAR'S HOUSE.] + +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? + +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. + + + + +53. THE TERROR OF FIRE. + +PART II. + + +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 shops +in London at the present day with nothing at all insured! + +[Illustration: LONDON, AS REBUILT AFTER THE FIRE.] + +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. + +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 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. + +[Illustration: COACH OF THE LATTER HALF OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. + +(_From Loggan's 'Oxonia Illustrata.'_)] + +[Illustration: WAGGON OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. + +(_From Loggan's 'Oxonia Illustrata.'_)] + +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 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. + +The poet Dryden thus writes of the people during and after the fire: + + Those who have homes, when home they do repair, + To a last lodging call their wandering friends: + Their short uneasy sleeps are broke with care + To look how near their own destruction tends. + + Those who have none sit round where once it was + And with full eyes each wonted room require: + Haunting the yet warm ashes of the place, + As murdered men walk where they did expire. + + The most in fields like herded beasts lie down, + To dews obnoxious on the grassy floor: + And while the babes in sleep their sorrow drown, + Sad parents watch the remnant of their store. + +[Illustration: ORDINARY DRESS OF GENTLEMEN IN 1675. + +(_From Loggan's 'Oxonia Illustrata.'_)] + + + + +54. ROGUES AND VAGABONDS. + + +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 +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 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. Since the government +could not prevent crime and compel order, they would deter. + +[Illustration: DRESS OF LADIES OF QUALITY. + +(_From Sandford's 'Coronation Procession of James II.'_)] + +[Illustration: ORDINARY ATTIRE OF WOMEN OF THE LOWER CLASSES. + +(_From Sandford's 'Coronation Procession of James II.'_)] + +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 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. + + + + +55. UNDER GEORGE THE SECOND. + +PART I. + +THE WEALTH OF LONDON. + + +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. + +[Illustration: GROUP SHOWING COSTUMES AND SEDAN CHAIR, ABOUT 1720. + +(_From an engraving by Kip._)] + +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 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, 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. + +[Illustration: TEMPLE BAR, LONDON. + +(_Built by Sir Christopher Wren in 1670; taken down in 1878 and since +rebuilt at Waltham Cross._)] + +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 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. + +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. + +[Illustration: FLEET STREET AND TEMPLE BAR.] + +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 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. + +[Illustration: A COACH OF THE MIDDLE OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. + +(_From an engraving by John Dunstall._)] + + + + +56. UNDER GEORGE THE SECOND. + +PART II. + + +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 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 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. + +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 +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. + +[Illustration: VIEW OF SCHOOL CONNECTED WITH BUNYAN'S MEETING HOUSE.] + +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 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. + +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. + + + + +57. UNDER GEORGE THE SECOND. + +PART III. + + +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 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. + +[Illustration: GRENADIER IN THE TIME OF THE PENINSULAR WAR.] + +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 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. + +What else had they to consider? What were the sights of London? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +[Illustration: UNIFORM OF SAILORS ABOUT 1790.] + +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. There were no bank +notes under the value of 20_l._: 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. + + + + +58. UNDER GEORGE THE SECOND. + +PART IV. + + +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. + +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. + +[Illustration: COSTUMES OF GENTLEFOLK, ABOUT 1784.] + +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: 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 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_s._ 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. + +[Illustration: VESSELS UNLOADING AT THE CUSTOMS HOUSE, AT THE BEGINNING +OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.] + +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 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. + + + + +59. UNDER GEORGE THE SECOND. + +PART V. + + +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 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_l._: 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 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. + +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, living, sleeping, eating, cooking. And into such a +place as this the unhappy debtor was thrust, there to remain till death +released him. + +[Illustration: THE OLD HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT AND WESTMINSTER ABBEY, +1803.] + +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. + + + + +60. THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CITY. + +PART I. + + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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? + +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? + +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? + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + + + + +61. THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CITY. + +PART II. + + +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. + +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. + +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 is a vacancy an Alderman is also elected, but that is for life. + +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. + +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. + +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_s._ in the pound, a man in +a house whose rent is 100_l._ has to pay 5_l._ 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 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. + + + + +62. THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CITY. + +PART III. + + +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 remember that you are enjoying the freedom won for +you by the obstinacy and the tenacity of your ancestors. + +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. + +Some of these Companies are now very rich. One of them possesses an +income, including Trust money, of 83,000_l._ 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_l._ a year: the Glass Sellers only 21_l._ a year: +the Tinplate Workers 7_l._ 7_s._ a year. If, therefore, you hear of the +great riches of the City Companies remember (1) that 25 of them have +less than 500_l._ 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 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. + + + + +63. LONDON. + +GREATER LONDON. + + +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 +City, or aggregate of cities, all placed under the rule of a Council. + +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. + +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. + +In order to carry out these works the Council expend about 600,000_l._ a +year. It has a debt of 30,000,000_l._, against which are various assets, +so that the real debt is no more than 18,000,000_l._ The rating outside +the City was last year 121/2_d._ in the pound. The first Chairman was Lord +Rosebery. He has been succeeded by Sir 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. + +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. + +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. + +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: 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. + +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 +_vote always_ and let the first duty in your mind always be to protect +your rights and your liberties. + +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. + + + + +NOTES + + +1. THE FOUNDATION OF LONDON. PART I. + +~AEneas~: a Trojan prince who escaped from Troy when it was destroyed by +the Greeks. + +~Venus~, the Roman Goddess of Love and Beauty, was the mother of AEneas. + +~Troy~: 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. + +~Troynovant~ means New Troy. + +~Constantine the Great~ was Emperor of Rome, that is, of all the then +known world from 305 to 337 A.D. 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. + +~Geoffrey of Monmouth~ 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. + +~historical document~: a piece of writing that can be used to prove some +event in the history of past times. + +~architecture~: the art of building; the style in which houses are +built. + +~Cornhill~: 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. + +~bastion~: a strong turret or tower at the corner of a fortified +building. + +~Walbrook~: 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. + +~Fleet River~: a small stream which fell into the Thames near where +Blackfriars Railway Station now stands. + +~Moorfields~ 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. + +~Ken Wood~, in Hampstead, ~Hainault Forest~, a small piece of wood in +Essex, about eight miles north-east of London, and ~Epping Forest~, 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. + +~Chelsea, Bermondsey~: in all such words _ea_ or _ey_ is an old word for +island. In this way are formed Winchelsea, Battersea, &c.; ~Thorney~ +(where Westminster is now) is the Island of Thorns; and ~Jersey~, +Caesar's Island. + +~Southwark~: 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. + + +2. THE FOUNDATION OF LONDON. PART II. + +~Malarious~: causing the air to be bad, and so giving rise to fevers; +unhealthy. (Latin _malus_, bad; _aer_, air.) + +~Weybridge~, in Surrey, near where the river Wey, after flowing past +Godalming and Guildford, falls into the Thames. + +~entrenching~: 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. + +~stockade~: a barrier made of _stakes_ stuck in the ground. + +~Gaul~: the old name for the country now called France--the land of the +Galli, or Celts. _Gaelic_ is the language still spoken by the Celts in +Scotland. + +~Thanet~: 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. + +~Captain Cook~: 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. + +~Polynesians~: 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. + +~Brythonic~: that portion of the Celts whose descendants are now the +Welsh, Bretons: (in Bretagne, on the west coast of France), and +Cornishmen. + +~Basques~: 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. + +~Finns~: 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. + +~barrow~: a mound raised over a grave. + +~Verulam~: an old British, and then a Roman town, on the site of which +is now St. Albans, in Hertfordshire. + + +3. ROMAN LONDON. PART I. + +~Stationary camp~: 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. + +~Porchester~: a small town on the north side of Portsmouth Harbour. +Chester is the Latin _castra_, a camp, and occurs in Leicester, +Colchester, Chester, Silchester, &c. + +~rubble~: small rough stones often used inside piles of masonry. + +~Silchester~: a place near Reading at which remains of old Roman +buildings have been dug out. + +~Mincing Lane~: a narrow street in the east part of the City. + +~tribunal~: the place where judges sit to administer justice. + +~Exchange~: the place where merchants meet and carry on their business. + +~stevedores~: those engaged in the work of loading and unloading ships. + + +4. ROMAN LONDON. PART II. + +~Tesselated~: formed of small pieces of stone or tile of various colours +arranged to form a pattern, like mosaic work. + +~Diana~: the Roman Goddess of Hunting; also of the Moon. + +~Apollo~: the Roman God of Poetry, Music, and Prophecy. + +~Guildhall~: the hall of the Guild or Corporation of the City of London, +near Cheapside. + +~usurper~: one who by force seizes and holds a position which does not +belong to him. + +~Picts~: wild savages from the country which we call Scotland; ~Scots~, +also savage men, who, though they afterwards gave their name to +Scotland, at that time came from Ireland. + +~Hong Kong~: an island off the coast of China; ~Singapore~, a large +British seaport on an island of the same name off the south end of the +Malay Peninsula; ~West Indies~, a number of islands to the east of +Central America in the Atlantic: of those belonging to Great Britain +Jamaica is the largest. + + +5. AFTER THE ROMANS. PART I. + +~East Saxons~ were those who dwelt in Essex, the county named after +them. + +~Crayford~: on the river Cray in north Kent. Here the Saxons under +Hengist totally defeated the Britons under Vortimer in 457 A.D. + +~Canterbury~ is the burgh, borough, or fortified place of the men of +Kent. + +~Pulborough~, in Sussex, gives us another form of the suffix. + +~chronicler~: a historian, particularly one living in early times. + +~Saxons~: German tribes from the district by the mouth of the Elbe; +~Jutes~, from a part of Denmark which still preserves their name, +Jutland; ~Angles~, from what is now Schleswig and Holstein. + +~Count of the Saxon Shore~: 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. + +~mercenaries~: soldiers who do not fight for the safety and glory of +their own country, but for hire. + + +6. AFTER THE ROMANS. PART II. + +~Blackfriars~, at the eastern end of the Thames Embankment, derives its +name from a monastery or house of Black Friars which stood there. + +~Watling Street~, ~Ermyn Street~, ~Vicinal Way~: made by the Romans, who +were famous makers of high roads, many of which are still in use. (See +map on p. 15.) + +~Newgate~ was a gate on the west of the walls which enclosed the City; +~Bishopsgate~, on the north-east. + +~victualling~: providing food for. + +~emergencies~: times of difficulty and danger. + +~Isle of Thanet~: 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. + +~appointments~: furniture, fittings. + +~mimics~: actors who played in farces, like our panto_mimes_. + +~scribes~: among the Romans, clerks in public offices. + + +7. AFTER THE ROMANS. PART III. + +~Alaric~, 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 A.D. It was this state of thing which compelled the +Romans to withdraw their troops from Britain. + +~The West where the Britons still held their own~: 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. + +~Wessex~: the land of the West Saxons corresponds roughly to England +south of the Thames. + +~oblivion~: being forgotten. + +~The river Lea~ 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. + +~quagmires~: marshy, boggy ground that _quakes_ under the feet (quake, +mire). + + +8. THE FIRST SAXON SETTLEMENT. + +~Ecclesiastic~: connected with the Church. For many centuries Rome was +the centre of Christian influence, and is so still to all Roman +Catholics. + +~ritual~: the customs and ceremonies employed in performing service in a +church. + +~Gregory I.~ or ~the Great~ was Pope from 590-604 A.D. He it was who +sent Augustine to attempt the conversion of the English in the year 597. + +~kinglet~: a petty king. England was then divided among many kings, so +that the realm of each was necessarily very small. + +~crucifix~: a figure of Christ fixed to the cross. + +~Bede~: a monk and Church historian who lived and died at Jarrow in +county Durham in 735 A.D. + +~Lindesfarne~, or Holy Island, off the coast of Northumberland. + +~Northumbrians~: the men of Northumbria--that is, Yorkshire, Durham, and +Northumberland. + +~Mercians~: the men of Mercia, or land of the Middle English. + +~supremacy~: 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. + +~Witan~, or in its fuller form ~wit-an-a-ge-mote~, the 'meeting of wise +men,' was the national council which afterwards grew up into our modern +parliament. + + +9. THE SECOND SAXON SETTLEMENT. + +~Pagan~: heathen, not yet converted to Christianity. + +~King Alfred~, called the Great, was king of England from 871-901 A.D. + +~Alderman~ 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. + +~Benfleet~: a place in Essex, on the north bank of the Thames, not far +from Southend. + +~Brunanburgh~ was the scene of a defeat of the Danes by Athelstan in 937 +A.D.; the place cannot now be identified. + +~Sweyn~, King of Denmark, invaded England with his son Canute in 1013 +A.D. + +~Redriff~ is now called Rotherhithe, south of the Thames. + +~King Ethelred II.~, called the Unredig, or lacking in counsel, reigned +979-1013 A.D. + +~Olave~ or ~Olaf~ and ~Magnus~ are Scandinavian names: there were early +kings of Norway so called. + +~The Portreeve~: the reeve or governor of London was a chief magistrate +or mayor of the City. + +~The 'Staller'~ or ~Marshal~ led the men of London to battle. + +~The Knighten Guild~ 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. + +~mote~: meeting. + +~hustings~: 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. + + +10. THE ANGLO-SAXON CITIZEN. + +~Athelstan~ (925-940), the grandson of Alfred the Great, and ~Etheldred +II.~ (979-1013) were kings of England. + +~earl~ or ~eorl~ was what we should now call a gentleman of good family; +~thanes~: nobles who for the most part acquired their titles from the +king as rewards for services. + +~municipal~: having to do with the municipality or city. + +~French~: Norman-French was the language spoken by the Normans. + +~the meat and fish were salted~: 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. + +~embroidery~: the art of working designs on cloth in needlework. + +~spinster~: an unmarried woman; so called because unmarried daughters +worked at spinning and weaving for the household, making 'homespun' +cloth for them. + +~marauding~: roving about for plunder. + +~solar~: in early houses the chamber over the hall, used as the bedroom +for the master and mistress of the house. (See picture on p. 73.) + +~tapestry~: thick hangings or curtains with figures worked on them. + +~mead~: a fermented drink made of honey: metheglin is another form of +the word. + +~wattle~: flexible twigs, withies, or osier rods: ~daub~, mud. + +~turbulent~: disorderly, riotous. + +~Thames Street~: a very narrow street running along the bank of the +Thames between Blackfriars and the Tower. + +~ward~: a division of the City. The ~ward mote~ or ward meeting still +exists, and elects the alderman or representative of the ward on the +City Council. + + +11. THE WALL OF LONDON. + +The ~White Tower~ 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. + +~Dowgate~: 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. + +~Queen Hithe~: 'The Queen's Landing Place.' Merchants were compelled to +land their goods here so that the dues paid should go to the Queen. + +~confluence~: a flowing together, the place where two rivers meet. The +Fleet fell into the Thames at Blackfriars. (Latin _cum_, with, together; +_fluo_, to flow. Compare, _fluid_, _fluent_.) + +~Montfichet's Tower~ 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. + +~Houndsditch~ 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. + +~Allhallows~: 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. + +~St. Giles, Cripplegate~, contains in its churchyard part of London +Wall. Milton was buried here in 1674. + + +12. NORMAN LONDON. + +~Bishop and Portreeve~: the two chief officers of the City, one ruling +for the Church, the other a civil ruler. + +~charter~: a writing confirming or granting privileges. + +~burghers~ or burgesses: citizens of a borough. + +~Guildhall~ 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. + +~feudal claims~: demands made on their tenants by owners under the +feudal system. Such demands were usually for military service or +something equivalent. + +~Matilda~, 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. + +~Danegeld~, or Dane money: a tax raised to buy off the Danes. + +~Sheriff~, 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. + +~Justiciar~: judge. It was one of the privileges of the City to have a +judge of its own to try cases within its own limits. + +~stipulated~: bargained for. + +~constitution~: form of government. + +~priory~: a house for monks or nuns under the rule of a prior or +prioress. + +~St. Katherine Cree~: this church is in Leadenhall Street, near Aldgate. +Cree in this name is for Christ. + +~Portsoken~ is one of the City wards near Aldgate and the Minories. + + +13. FITZSTEPHEN'S ACCOUNT OF THE CITY. + +PART I. + +~St. Bartholomew the Great~ in Smithfield is part of St. Bartholomew's +Hospital. + +~St. Ethelburga~ is in Bishopsgate Street, not far from Liverpool Street +Railway Station. + +~crypt~ is a chapel or vault underground. + +~St. Swithin's Church~ 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. + +~Thomas Becket~, Archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered in his own +cathedral by four knights, who thought they were executing the wishes of +Henry II. (1170 A.D.). + +~conventual~: attached to convents. + +~Palatine~ usually means 'held by a nobleman who has had royal powers +given him.' + +~Westminster~ is named after a minster first erected there of wood about +604 A.D.: 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. + +~Charing Cross~ 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 +_chere reine_, dear queen.) + +~Cheapside~: 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. + +~East Chepe~, or the East Market, has given its name to Eastcheap, a +street running from the City towards the Tower. + +~mercer~: a merchant selling woollens and silks. + +~folkmotes~: the meetings of the folk or tribe: they met in arms in the +Saxon times, and were presided over by the alderman. + + +14. FITZSTEPHEN'S ACCOUNT OF THE CITY. + +PART II. + +~Tyburn~: a brook which gave its name to the place Tyburn, where the +Marble Arch now stands. + +~Westbourne~: this brook has given its name to Westbourne Park, in +Paddington. + +~Holywell~ may be remembered by Holywell Street, in the Strand. + +~Clerkenwell~ is named after the Parish Clerks' Well, round which they +used to perform their 'mysteries.' + +~quarterstaff~: a long staff used as a weapon of defence, and held in +the middle and also one quarter way from the end. + +~tabor~: a kind of small drum beaten with one drumstick. + +~consuls~: the chief magistrates of Rome: two of them with equal power +came into office every year. + +~senatorial~: appointed and controlled by the senate or governing +council of Rome. + +~venison~ (pronounced _ven'-zon_): the flesh of deer. + +~cleric~: a clergyman. + +~abbot~: the head of an abbey or monastery. + +~magnate~: a great man, a man of great wealth and rank. (Latin _magnus_, +great.) + +~metropolitan~: the bishop of a metropolis or chief cathedral city, as +Canterbury is the metropolis of England in this sense. + +~ordinances~: laws, commands. + + +15. LONDON BRIDGE. PART I. + +~Architect~: one who designs buildings and superintends the building of +them. + +~Jewry~: 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. + +~essential~: something very important and that cannot be done without. + +~intercommunication~: intercourse; dealings between people which are +made much easier by having good roads and bridges to travel on. + +~La Rochelle~: a seaport in France on the Atlantic, some distance north +of Bordeaux. + +~Saintes~: a French town about thirty-eight miles from La Rochelle. + +~St. Thomas Becket~, the murdered Archbishop of Canterbury, who was +canonised, that is, named a saint after his death. + +~titular~: giving his name to the bridge. + +~crypt~: an underground or lower room used as a chapel or burying-place. + + +16. LONDON BRIDGE. PART II. + +~King Edward I~: 1272-1307 A.D. + +~haberdashers~: dealers in 'small wares' such as cotton, tape, needles, +and pins. + +~Hans Holbein~: a celebrated German painter who came to live in England +and was introduced to Henry VIII. + +~marine painters~: artists who excel in painting boats, ships, and sea +scenes. (Latin _mare_, the sea.) + +~'shooting' the bridge~: passing through the arches in a boat. + +~Queen Henrietta~ was the queen of Charles I. of England. After the +Civil War she withdrew to France, where she died in 1669. + +~Rubens~: a very celebrated Flemish painter, born in 1577, died at +Antwerp in 1640. + +~Sir Thomas Wyatt~ 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. + +~Sir William Wallace~: 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. + +~Jack Cade~ 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. + +~Sir Thomas More~: the good and learned chancellor of Henry VIII., and +author of a famous book called 'Utopia.' He was executed as a traitor in +1535. + +~St. Thomas-on-the-Bridge~: that is, Thomas Becket, to whom the bridge +was dedicated. + +~pageant~: a splendid show or procession. + +~ex-apprentice~: one who has been once an apprentice. + + +17. THE TOWER OF LONDON. PART I. + +~Dominate~: to lord over, to overawe, to be master of. (Latin _dominus_, +a master, lord.) + +~Crusade~: an expedition under the banner of the _Cross_ to recover the +Holy Land from the Turks. Richard I. went on the third Crusade in 1191. + +~antiquaries~: people who study ancient things. + +~mediaeval~: made during the middle ages; the period, roughly speaking, +between the time of the Romans and the reign of Henry VII. (400-1485). + +~lieutenant~: an officer in command of the Tower. + +~keep~: the strongest part of a fortress or castle. + +~insignia~: the badges of any office. + +~menagerie~: a collection of wild animals. + +~Queen Anne Boleyn~, to marry whom, Henry VIII. divorced Catherine of +Aragon. She was the mother of Queen Elizabeth. + +~Lady Jane Grey~ 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. + +~Guy Fawkes~: a conspirator who tried to blow up the King and Parliament +in 1605. + +~The unfortunate princes~ 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. + + +18. THE TOWER OF LONDON. PART II. + +~Allegiance~: the duty due from a subject to his liege the sovereign. + +~Lord Hastings~ was executed by order of the Duke of Gloucester, +afterwards Richard III., in 1483 for supporting the side of Edward V. +and his relations. + +~ordnance~: artillery, cannon, big guns. + +~antipast~: aftertaste. + +~clerk~: a clergyman, a scholar, because in early times all learning was +confined to the clergy. + + +19. THE PILGRIMS. + +~ague~: a fever coming on at intervals, with fits of shivering. + +~isolation~: living away from outside communication, a lonely position +like that of men on an _island_ cut off from the rest of the world. + +~Flemings~: the people of Flanders, a district now comprising parts of +Belgium, South Holland, and North France. + +~Walsingham~: a place in the north of Norfolk, where was a famous +shrine. + +~Glastonbury~: a small town near Wells, in Somersetshire. + +~Compostella~: a place in Spain where is the shrine of St. James, the +patron saint of Spain. + +~Chaucer~: the great early English poet, born in London 1328, died 1400. + +~expiation~: making amends for, atonement. + +~Holy Sepulchre~: the burial place of our Lord at Jerusalem, to rescue +which from the Turks was the object of the Crusades. + + +20. ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S HOSPITAL. + +~Endowment~: money given for the permanent support of an institution, +such as a church, hospital, or school. + +~Hospitaller~: 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. + +~shambles~: a slaughter-house. + +~Whittington~, 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. + +~Dissolution of the religious houses~, carried out by Henry VIII. in +1536-1540 for the sake of the plunder they afforded. + +~Chloroform~: a colourless liquid which when inhaled produces complete +insensibility to pain. + +~Norman windows~: that is, built in a style introduced by the Normans. +The rounded tops of doors and windows maybe seen in the illustration on +p. 44. + +~lanthorn~: a raised construction on the roof, with horn or glass sides +to give light. + +~clinical~: in attendance at the bedside of patients. + +~residential college~: where they reside or dwell. + +~convalescent hospital~: where those who have had some illness may get +quite well and strong again. + + +21. THE TERROR OF LEPROSY. + +~Leprosy~: a terrible disease of the skin and blood, once prevalent in +Europe, now mostly confined to the East. + +~lazar~: a leper; one suffering from a foul disease like Lazarus in St. +Luke xvi. + +~congregate~: flock together, crowd with. + +~stringent~: strict. + +~statutes~: rules or laws. + +~Book of the Jewish Law~: that is, the book Leviticus. + +~ulcerates~: is afflicted with ulcers or sores. + +~Mass~: the celebration of the Lord's Supper in the Roman Catholic +Church. + +~Burton Lazars~: 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. + +~hereditary~: transmitted from parents to children. + + +22. THE TERROR OF FAMINE. + +~24 shillings a quarter~: this is not far from the present price of +wheat, which gives us cheap bread. But in 1257 24_s._ would be +equivalent to at least 20_l._ in our money. + +~retainers~: those in the service of a nobleman and wearing his livery +and badge. + +~Hanseatic merchants~: merchants trading with the Hanse cities in +Germany (among which was Hamburg) who had formed a league for +self-protection about the twelfth century. + +~granary~: a place for storing up grain or corn. + + +23. ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL. PART I. + +~460 feet~: the loftiest spire in England, that of Salisbury Cathedral, +is about 404 feet. + +~its length was at least 600 feet~: the present cathedral, the third on +the site, is 500 feet long. + +~shrine~: a receptacle for relics and other sacred things. (The word +means a 'chest.') + +~aisle~ (pronounced _[=i]le_) is the side or wing of a church. + +~scribe~: a writer. In those early times so few people could read or +write that men often had to have recourse to professional writers. + +~deed~: a written document relating to some legal transaction. + +~conveyance~: a writing legally transferring from one person to another +property, especially houses and land. + +~Humphrey Duke of Gloucester~ was the youngest brother of Henry V., on +whose death he was made regent in England in 1422. He died in 1447. + +~St. Cuthbert~ was a monk, missionary, and bishop of Lindesfarne, an +island off the coast of Northumberland, where he died in 687 A.D., and +was buried in Durham Cathedral. + +~sacristy~: a room adjoining a church where sacred vessels, vestments, +&c. are kept. + + +24. ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL. PART II. + +~Inigo Jones~ (born 1572, died 1652) was a celebrated architect. + +~Portico~: a row of columns in front of a building. + +~Exchange~: a building where merchants meet to transact business. + +~nave~: the main body of a church, the aisles being on each side of the +nave. + +~King Charles II. returned~ at the Restoration in 1660. + +~Sir Christopher Wren~ (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.' + +~The Peace of Ryswick~, 1697, made by England, Spain, and Holland with +Louis XIV. of France. + +~Dr. Johnson~ (born 1709, died 1784): one of the great names in English +literature, and author of a celebrated dictionary. + +~oriental scholar~, or ~orientalist~, is a man who studies Eastern or +Indian languages, such as Persian, Arabic, Hindi, Sanskrit, &c. + +~sarcophagus~: a stone chest for holding a corpse. + +~porphyry~: a hard kind of stone coloured purple and white. + +~Battle of the Nile~, 1798; ~Cape St. Vincent~, 1797; ~Camperdown~, +1797. + +~Lord Almoner~: the official who dispenses the royal charities and +bounties. + +~Slavonic~: a group of kindred languages, including Russian, Polish, and +Bulgarian. + + +25. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD. + +~Embattled~: built with battlements. + +~minor canons~: clergy of the cathedral who intone the services and look +after the music. + +~charnel~: containing the bones of the dead. + +~Finsbury Fields~: the _fenny_ or marshy ground lying north of the +Moorgate of the old City walls. + +~Papal Bulls~: decrees and orders issued by the Pope, so called from the +seal attached to them. + +~Latimer~ (born 1470, died 1555), Bishop of Worcester, burnt at the +stake for his Protestant opinions together with Ridley, Bishop of +London. + +~chapter house~: the building where the chapter or clergy belonging to +the cathedral meet. + +~Sacrist~: the official in a cathedral who copied and took care of the +music and books. + +~Paul's Chain~: so called because traffic was stopped by a chain during +the hours of service. + + +26. THE RELIGIOUS HOUSES. + +~Forester~: one who has charge of a forest to cut wood, plant new trees, +&c. + +~vicar~: one who acts in place of another; hence a priest who on behalf +of his monastery conducted services in a parish church. + +~orders~: the different brotherhoods into which monks were divided. + +~indiscriminate charity~: giving without thinking, whether the charity +is well or ill bestowed. + +~Minorites~: monks or nuns belonging to the Franciscan Order, who in +their humility called themselves the 'lesser' (_minores_) brethren, or +sisters. + +~Blackfriars~ were the Dominicans; ~Whitefriars~ were the Carmelites; +~Greyfriars~ were Franciscans, from the colour of their respective +dresses. + +~Charter House~: the house of the Carthusian monks. + +~Temple~: once the house of the ~Templars~, an order of knights whose +duty it was to protect the Holy Sepulchre. + +~part of the church ... still to be seen~: at Clerkenwell the gate of +the priory of St. John's is still standing. + + +27. MONKS, FRIARS, AND NUNS. + +~Indiscriminately~: without making any distinctions between them. + +~hermit~, from the Greek, and ~solitary~, from the Latin, mean the same +thing--one who retires from the world and lives in a lonely place. + +~Monte Casino~, in Campania, near Naples, where St. Benedict established +his monastery in 529 A.D. + +~St. Benedict~ is often shortened to Benet, as in the name of several +London churches. + +~austerities~: severe rules of life and conduct. + +~Friars~, or brethren (French _freres_, Latin _fratres_): those orders +that went forth to the people. + +~Assisi~: a town in Central Italy where St. Francis was born. + +~St. Dominic~: born in Castile, in Spain, 1170, died 1221; founded his +order to convert 'heretics,' and procured the establishment of the +~Inquisition~, or court for punishing heretics. + +~Sanctuary~: 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. + +~St. Bernard~: a celebrated brother of the Cistercian Order (born 1091, +died 1153). + + +28. THE LONDON CHURCHES. + +~St. Augustine~ 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. + +~St. Dunstan~, who became Archbishop of Canterbury and died in 988, was +not only a zealous priest but a great statesman and ruler. + +~St. Alphege~: an Archbishop of Canterbury murdered by the Danes in 1012 +A.D. + +~Sise Lane~: a lane in the City, near Cannon Street. + +~The Basings~: an old City family whose name also survives in the +'Bassishaw' ward of the City, and in Basinghall Street. + +~Bread Street~, turning out of Cheapside, shows where the bakers chiefly +dwelt in Old London. + +~John Milton~ (born 1608, died 1674) wrote 'Paradise Lost,' 'Paradise +Regained,' and some beautiful shorter pieces. + +~Three Poets~: i. the Greek Homer, reputed author of those noble epics +the 'Iliad' and 'Odyssey' (about 1000 B.C.); ii. the Roman Virgil, who +wrote the 'AEneid' (born 70 B.C.); iii. the English Milton. The famous +epitaph was written by John Dryden. + +~William Tyndal~ 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. + +~William Cowper~ (born 1731, died 1800), the author of 'The Task' and +other beautiful poems. + + +29. THE STREETS. + +~Plantagenet~: 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. + +~Chesel~ was the Anglo-Saxon for pebble, and Kiesel is the German for +the same. The ~Chesil Beach~, near Weymouth, is a remarkable bank of +shingle joining Portland Bill to the mainland. + +~Somerset House~, in the Strand: the palace of the Protector Somerset +has been pulled down, and public offices erected on its site. + +~Northumberland House~, now demolished, has given its name to +Northumberland Avenue, near Charing Cross. + +~Southwark ... many Inns~: in particular the Tabard, where Chaucer's +pilgrims assembled. + +~mediaeval~: living in the middle ages, that is, some time before about +1500 A.D. + +~ironmongers in their Lane~: that is, Ironmonger Lane, turning out of +Cheapside. + + +30. WHITTINGTON. PART I. + +~Mercer~: a merchant who sells silken or woollen goods. + +~executors~: those who are appointed to carry out the last will and +testament of a dead man. + +~Levantine~, in the Levant, or eastern part of the Mediterranean. + +~Guinea~, on the west coast of Africa. + +~Pizarro~: a Spanish adventurer who conquered Peru from its native +rulers or Incas, and was murdered in his palace at Lima in 1541. + +~a piece of eight~ (dollars), that is, about 30_s._ + +~assessment~: the value put upon house or property in order to fix the +amount of taxes to be paid. + + +31. WHITTINGTON. PART II. + +~Vintner~: a wine-seller. + +~Wycliffe~, 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. + +~John of Gaunt~ 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 (_see_ p. 45). + +~The Marshal~ 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. + +~rebellion of the peasants, 1381~, against over-taxation and being bound +to the soil as serfs by their landlords. ~John Ball~, the popular +preacher, used to ask: + + 'When Adam delved and Eve span, + Who was then a gentleman?' + +~The Archbishop of Canterbury~, Simon of Sudbury, had as chancellor +proposed the taxes complained of; therefore the peasants murdered him. + +~rescinding~: repealing of a law. + + +32. WHITTINGTON. PART III. + +~Burning of heretics and Lollards~: in 1401, in the reign of Henry IV., +an Act of Parliament was passed for burning heretics. + +~Lollards~ were those who differed from the Church before the +Reformation. The name comes from a German word _lollen_, to sing--from +the custom of these reformers. + +~Mansion House~: the official home of the Lord Mayor. The present +building was begun in 1739; previously a house in Cheapside was used for +the purpose. + +~bond~: 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. + +~St. Michael's Paternoster Royal~ 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. + + +33. GIFTS AND BEQUESTS. + +~Mark~: a coin, now obsolete, worth 13_s._ 4_d._ + +~interdicted~: forbidden, prevented. + +~technical school~: where useful and practical arts and trades are +taught. + +~aqueduct~: an artificial channel for water. + +~Sevenoaks~, in Kent. + +~Higham Ferrers~ is a small town in Northamptonshire. + + +34. THE PALACES AND GREAT HOUSES. + +~The King Maker~: 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. + +~quadrangle~: an open court, square, with buildings all round it. + +~College of Heralds~: a Government office under the Earl Marshal which +looks after pedigrees and armorial bearings. + +~Hampton Court~: a Royal palace begun by Cardinal Wolsey. + +~St. James's Palace~: the official residence of the Queen in London, +Buckingham Palace being her private residence. + +~buttery~: a storeroom where liquors and other provisions were kept. + +~Baynard's Castle~ has given its name to one of the City wards. + +~The Duke of Buckingham~ secured the crown for Richard III., and then +being insufficiently rewarded rebelled against him, and was executed in +1483. + +~George, Duke of Clarence~, 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. + + +35. AMUSEMENTS. + +~Tournament~: a sham fight at which knights, mostly on horseback, used +to show their skill. + +~Twelfth Day~: twelve days after Christmas, formerly an occasion of +great festivities, which have now nearly died out. + +~Morris-dance~: a _Moorish_ dance to an accompaniment of bells and +tambourines. + +~cresset~: a kind of lantern formed of an open brazier filled with +combustible materials. + +~demilance~: a kind of horse-soldier armed with a short lance. + +~mummeries~: entertainments performed by men in masks. + +~Curfew~: 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. + + +36. WESTMINSTER ABBEY. + +~Thorney~, Isle of Thorns; _ey_ and _ea_ meaning island, as in Anglesey, +Chelsea, Winchelsea. + +~precinct~: the limit of the ground belonging to a church or other +institution. + +~commissioner~: appointed to see that the work was carried out. + +~Sir G. Gilbert Scott~, born 1811, died 1878, was the greatest modern +English architect. + +~took sanctuary~: fled for shelter to the abbey, whence she could not be +taken without violating the privileges of the Church. + +~William Caxton~ set up in 1476 the first printing press in England. + +~coronation chair~: under this is the famous stone brought from Scone by +Edward I., over which all the Scottish kings had been crowned since +about 800 A.D. + + +37. THE COURT AT WESTMINSTER. + +~Star Chamber Court~, 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. + +~bear and ragged staff~: the arms of the Earl of Warwick consisted of a +bear erect and hugging a rough stake. (See pictures on pp. 111, 113.) + +~arras~: tapestry for hanging; so called from Arras, in the north of +France, where it was made. + +~refectory~: the hall where the monks or nuns took their meals. + + +38. JUSTICE AND PUNISHMENTS. + +~executive officers~: those whose duty it is to enforce the law. + +~contrition~: repentance. + +~securities~: stocks and shares; papers which can be of no use to the +ordinary thief. + +~Bridewell~: the site of a prison, now demolished. It adjoined +Whitefriars, and may be seen in the map to the west of Blackfriars. + +~amende honorable~ (French): when one who has done wrong gives +satisfaction without loss of honour. + +~pillory~: 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. + +~cogged~: loaded so as always to fall in a certain way. + +~title deeds~: writings drawn up in proper legal form to prove the +possession of property. + + +39. THE POLITICAL POWER OF LONDON. + +~Froissart~: an early French chronicler or historian who visited England +in the reigns of Edward III. and Richard II., and died in 1401. + +~besotted with~: stupidly and excessively fond of. + +~commonalty~: the common people. + +~Berkeley Castle~, in Gloucestershire, where Edward II. was murdered in +1327. + +~a son was born~: 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. + +~benevolences~: loans of money, supposed to be voluntary, really +compulsory, made by merchants and other rich men to the king. + +~charts~: papers; ~blank cheques~: orders on the bank for money with all +except the amount required filled up and properly signed. + +~factor~: if 2 x 3 makes six, 2 and 3 are each factors of 6; hence it is +something which helps to bring about some result. + + +40. ELIZABETHAN LONDON. PART I. + +~Stow~ (born 1525, died 1605): a famous writer in Queen Elizabeth's +reign on the antiquities of London and other places. + +~Whitechapel~ takes its name from a white chapel-of-ease built to +relieve Stepney, in which parish this district was till 1763. + +~tenters~: 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. + +~St. Katharine's~ has given its name to the great docks east of the +Tower. + +~bull-, bear-baiting~: the sport of setting dogs to worry bulls or +bears. + +~Alsatia~: 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.' + +~Austin Friars~: 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. + +~Canwicke (now Cannon) Street~ was so called because the wax-chandlers +and candle-makers lived in that part. + + +41. ELIZABETHAN LONDON. PART II. + +~William Shakespeare~ (born 1564, died 1616): the prince of poets, who +lived in the reigns of Elizabeth and James I. + +~ruins of the monasteries~ which had been suppressed by Henry VIII. in +1536-1540. + +~Cold Harbour~: a merchant's mansion once standing on the bank of the +Thames in Thames Street. + +~Genevan bands~: a kind of collar worn by Protestant clergymen, so +called because Geneva, the home of Calvin, was the centre of +Protestantism. + +~palaces along the Strand~: 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. + +~Staples Inn~: a picturesque group of old houses in Holborn was formerly +a wool-market (_staple_ means a fixed market). ~Wych Street~ is near +Holywell Street in the Strand. + +~Cloth Fair~ is now a poor neighbourhood near Smithfield. + + +42. ELIZABETHAN LONDON. PART III. + +~Impressment~: 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. + +~animosity~: anger, ill feeling against. + +~The Steelyard~, on the site of which Cannon Street railway station now +stands, was the house of the Hanse merchants (_see_ note on Chapter +XXII.). + +~John Colet~, 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. + + +43. TRADE. PART I. + +~Forestall their market~: that is, to buy things before they arrived at +the market, so as to sell them at a higher price. + +~Luebeck~: a large port in north Germany in the Baltic. + +~staples~, originally all kinds of raw produce, came to be applied only +to wool. Staples Inn was once a wool-market. + +~instead of selling our wool~: 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. + +~Hamburg~ was a member of the Hanseatic League. + +~The screen~ was presented to the Church of All Hallows the Great, +Thames Street, in 1710, by the Hanseatic merchants. + + +44. TRADE. PART II. + +~Incubus~: something that weighs down and hinders. + +~religious wars in the Netherlands~: between the Protestant Dutch and +the Catholic Spaniards, who were oppressing the country through great +part of the sixteenth century. + +~Bourse~: the same as ~Exchange~, where merchants meet to transact their +business. + +~English wool~ in Bruges, because it was much exported thither from +England before the growth of home manufactures. + +~Flemings~: the natives of Flanders; who were the chief manufacturers of +Europe long before England took the lead. + +~14 per cent.~: the height of this rate may be seen by comparing it with +the 21/2 per cent., which is all England now pays as interest upon her +debt. + +~Bethlehem Hospital~, corrupted into Bedlam, is still a hospital, but +only for the insane. + + +45. TRADE. PART III. + +~Bruges ... civil wars~: that is, the religious wars referred to in +Chapter XLIV. + +~Venetians~: 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. + +~Moluccas~: a group of tropical islands between Celebes and New Guinea, +rich in pearls, spices, and precious woods. + +~Calicut~: the port in Madras, where Vasco de Gama first landed in May +1498. The cotton cloth called _calico_ was first brought thence. + +~Moorish pirates~: 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. + +~Dordrecht~: a commercial town in the south of Holland, near Rotterdam. + +~The South Sea Company~ is celebrated above the other trading companies +for the great speculation in its shares called the ~South Sea bubble~ in +1720. + + +46. PLAYS AND PAGEANTS. PART I. + +~Mummers~: men who played in entertainments masked and in various +disguises. + +~masque~: a kind of play in which the actors wore masks. Milton's +'Comus' is a well-known masque of high character. + +~mystery~: a name for a religious play representing some scene from the +Bible or scenes from the life of a saint. + +~admonition~: warning. + +~frescoes~: paintings on a wall covered with plaster--done while the +plaster is still wet or _fresh_. + +~sequence~: that is, the connection of one event with another. + +~properties~: the articles used in the play, scenery, dress, &c. + +~realistic~: looking as though they really were the persons represented. + +~tableau~: scene. + +~lessee~: one who rents a theatre or holds it on a lease from the owner. + + +47. PLAYS AND PAGEANTS. PART II. + +~Pageants~: grand shows, processions. + +~censers~: vessels for burning incense. + +~conduit~: a pipe or channel for leading or _conducting_ water. + +~Cross of Chepe~: a memorial erected in the centre of the chepe, or +market, in memory of Queen Eleanor. + +~jerkins~: a kind of jacket often made of leather. + +~panoply~: full armour. + +~banneret~: a little banner. + +~blackjacks~: leather vessels for holding liquor. + +~malmsey~: a strong sweet wine. + +~marshal~: draw up and arrange. + +~Lord Mayor's Show~: on November 9--when the people have an opportunity +of welcoming the new Lord Mayor on his entering into office. + + +48. PLAYS AND PAGEANTS. PART III. + +~libretto~: the words of a masque or play set to music. + +~scenic~: on the stage. + +~Ben Jonson~ (born 1574, died 1637): a great English play writer and +poet, and a friend of Shakespeare. + +~Francis Bacon~, Lord Verulam (born 1561, died 1626), was Lord +Chancellor and a great writer on philosophical subjects. + +~Oberon~: the king of the fairies and husband of Titania, as in +Shakespeare's 'Midsummer Night's Dream.' + +~save James~: that is, King James I.; a piece of courtly flattery due to +Jonson's connection with the court. + +~Prince Henry~, who is meant by Oberon in the masque, died in 1612, to +the great regret of the people. + +~Phosphorus~: Lucifer, the morning star that brings the day. + + +49. PLAYS AND PAGEANTS. PART IV. + +~Gammer (i.e. Old Mother) Gurton's Needle~ 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 _grand'-mere_, grandmother, contracted into 'ganmer,' and then +'gammer.') + +~contortionist~: one who twists himself into extraordinary attitudes to +amuse the public. + +~octagonal~: with eight sides. + +~prologue~: the verses spoken before a play to introduce it to the +audience. + +~Golden Lane~: a street near the Barbican, turning out of Aldersgate +Street. + +~Bankside~, in Southwark, on the southern side of the Thames. + + +50. THE TERROR OF THE PLAGUE. PART I. + +~Pretensions~: ambitious claims. + +~Wars of the Roses~: 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. + +~Long Acre~: a street near Drury Lane, now chiefly occupied by +carriage-makers. + +~delirium~: a wandering in the mind caused by fever. + + +51. THE TERROR OF THE PLAGUE. PART II. + +~Registers~: a record of names of persons who have died. Such records +are now accurately kept by the registrars of births, deaths, and +marriages. + +~The King~: Charles II., who, whatever his faults may have been, was at +least good-natured and averse to suffering. + +~Samuel Pepys~ (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. + + +52. THE TERROR OF FIRE. PART I. + +~Coleman Street~ 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. + +~St. Erkinwald~: 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. + +~Paternoster Row~: 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. + +~chancel~: the east end of a church in which is the altar, separated +from the rest of the church by a screen or railings. (Latin _cancelli_, +a grating.) + +~transept~: 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. + + +53. THE TERROR OF FIRE. PART II. + +~Astronomer~: one who studies the stars or heavenly bodies. + +~John Evelyn~ (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 (_see_ Chapter LI.) + +~St. Dunstan-in-the-East~, in Tower Street, was the first church +restored by Wren after the fire. + +~John Dryden~ (born 1631, died 1700): one of the greatest English poets. +He was a supporter of the house of Stuart, and was made poet laureate. + +~obnoxious~: exposed to. + + +54. ROGUES AND VAGABONDS. + +~Vagabonds~: wanderers who have no settled home. + +~Wapping~: 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. + +~Lambeth~, 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. + +~Bermondsey~ (_ey_--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. + +~Rotherhithe~ (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. + +~stringent~: strict. + +~impotent~: powerless, unable to work. + +~stocks~: a wooden frame in which the legs of criminals were confined. + +~The Barbican~: a street near the site of the old Aldersgate. Barbican +means defensive works for a gate. ~Turnmill Street~ is near Farringdon +railway station. + + +55. UNDER GEORGE II. PART I. THE WEALTH OF LONDON. + +~Essayists~: people who write essays; that is, short compositions on any +subject. + +~picturesqueness~: beauty and grace; qualities which might be supposed +to make anything a good subject for a _picture_. + +~ruffles~: pieces of some white material plaited and attached as a frill +to the collar and sleeves of garments. + +~ostentation~: making a great show. + +~Puritanism~: 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. + + +56. UNDER GEORGE II. PART II. + +~Predecessors~: those that went before them. + +~cruciform~: in the form of a cross. The ground plan of many churches is +shaped like a cross. + +~St. Stephen's, Walbrook~, stands behind the Mansion House, where the +Walbrook used to flow. + +~lectureship~: 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 ~endowed~. + +~harbouring~: sheltering. + +~organisers~: those who get up and arrange anything. + +~Haymarket~ (obviously once a hay market) is near Trafalgar Square, and +~Coventry Street~ near Leicester Square. + +~innovations~: novelties, new things. + + +57. UNDER GEORGE II. PART III. + +~Broad Street~: between the Royal Exchange and Liverpool Street. + +~Whitecross Street~ is near the Barbican, Aldersgate Street; +~Whitechapel~, in which is ~Middlesex Street~ (commonly known as +Petticoat Lane), is reached through Aldgate. + +~Hogarth~ (born 1697, died 1764): a celebrated English painter, chiefly +famous for moral, satirical and humorous pictures drawn from everyday +life. + +~asphalt~: a kind of mineral pitchy substance which melts in heat and +can be laid down so as to form a hard, smooth roadway. + +~Vauxhall~: 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. + +~Bermondsey Spa~: 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.) + +~punch~: a drink containing five ingredients--water, spirits, sugar, +lemon-juice, spice. + + +58. UNDER GEORGE II. PART IV. + +~Decorous~: behaving in a decent and respectable way. + +~appreciation~: estimate, judgment about. + +~congregation~: gathering together. + +~Benjamin Franklin~ (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. + +~transmission~: handing down from father to son. + +~externally~: outwardly. + +~St. Katharine's~, ~Ratcliff~, ~Shadwell~, ~Stepney~, are all in the +East End of London. + +~jurisdiction~: legal authority. + + +59. UNDER GEORGE II. PART V. + +~Lighters~: large boats or barges used in unloading ships. + +~bleaching-grounds~: where cloth was laid out to be bleached or whitened +by the wind and sun. + +~hopbines~: the stalks of hop plants. + +~transportation~: conveying convicted criminals abroad. Till 1869 +convicts were sent to Australia; now they are kept in convict prisons at +home. + +~classification~: dividing and arranging into classes. + +~embezzle~: to steal something entrusted to one's care. + +~press-gang~: a party of sailors under an officer who forcibly took men +to serve in the Royal Navy. + +~anarchy~: absence of rule, disorder. + +~Gordon Riots~: 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. + +~Police~: organised in 1829 by Sir Robert Peel, after whom the members +of the force were called 'bobbies' and 'peelers.' + + +60. THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CITY. PART I. + +~Denominations~: religious bodies or sects, the members of which are all +called by the same name. (Latin _nomen_, a name.) + +~every conceivable topic~: every subject you can think of. + +~community~: a people, the public. + +~achieved~: won by effort. + + +61. THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CITY. PART II. + +~Symbol of~: the representative of; the presence of a policeman is the +outward form taken by the law in the eyes of the people. + +~mote~: meeting; hence ~folks' mote~, meeting of the folk or people; +~ward mote~, meeting of those living in the same ward or city division. + +~The Companies~: such as those of the Goldsmiths, Merchant Taylors, +Drapers, &c. + +~Quarter Sessions~: the sessions or sittings of the Law Courts in a +county or city held every quarter. + +~archives~: public records. + +~sergeant~ means 'servant,' 'officer'--here of the law. Ordinarily it is +a rank in the army. + + +62. THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CITY. PART III. + +~Advocate~: argue in favour of. + +~tenacity~: perseverance, holding on. (Latin _teneo_, to hold.) + +~livery~: because the members of the different trade companies used to +wear a distinguishing uniform or livery. + +~fletchers~: arrow-makers. (French _fleche_, an arrow.) + +~trust-money~: money entrusted for a certain purpose for which alone it +can be used. + +~technical~: where useful trades and sciences are taught. + + +63. LONDON. GREATER LONDON. + +~Conservative~: preserving, so far as convenient, the present state of +things. + +~functions~: powers and duties. + +~reformatory schools~: where boys and girls who have committed some +crime are sent to be reformed to better ways. + +~assets~: property actually held, so that it can be set off against a +debt. + +~democratic~: giving power and influence to the people. + +~oligarchic~: giving power and influence to the few. + +~'law worthiness'~: right to assist in the making of laws. + + * * * * * + +_Spottiswoode & Co. Printers, New-street Square, London_ + + * * * * * + +[Transcriber's Note: The following errors have been corrected in this text: + +Page 6: Fitzstephen's to FitzStephen's + +Page 68: fiteenth to fifteenth + +Page 108: SEVENTEENTH to FIFTEENTH + +Page 135: Westminter to Westminster + +Page 223: alway to always + +Page 246: Archishop to Archbishop + +Page 256: supressed to suppressed + +The following words are inconsistently hyphenated in the original text: +folk-mote, folkmote; Lud-gate, Ludgate; pack-horse, packhorse; +river-side, riverside.] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of London, by Walter Besant + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF LONDON *** + +***** This file should be named 27995.txt or 27995.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/9/9/27995/ + +Produced by Susan Skinner and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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