The Fleet:

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Its River, Prison, and Marriages.

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ONLY a little tributary to the Thames, the River Fleet, generally, and ignominiously, called the Fleet Ditch, yet it is historically interesting, not only on account of the different places through which its murmuring stream meandered, almost all of which have some story of their own to tell, but the reminiscences of its Prison stand by themselves—pages of history, not to be blotted out, but to be recorded as valuable in illustration of the habits, and customs, of our forefathers.

The City of London, in its early days, was well supplied with water, not only by the wells dug near houses, or by the public springs, some of which still exist, as Aldgate Pump, &c., and the River Thames; but, when its borders increased, the Walbrook was utilized, as well as the Fleet, and, later on, the Tye-bourne, or twin brook, which fell into the Thames at Westminster. In the course of time these rivulets became polluted, land was valuable; they were covered over, and are now sewers. The course of the Fleet being clearly traceable in the depression of Farringdon Street, and the windings of the Tye-bourne in the somewhat tortuous Marylebone Lane (so called from the Chapel of St. Mary, which was on the banks of "le bourne," or the brook[1]). Its further course is kept in our memory by Brook Street, Hanover Square.

The name of this little river has exercised many minds, and has been the cause of spoiling much good paper. My own opinion, backed by many antiquaries, is that a Fleet means a brook, or tributary to a larger river, which is so wide, and deep, at its junction with the greater stream as to be navigable for the small craft then in use, for some little distance. Thus, we have the names on the Thames of Purfleet, Northfleet, and Southfleet, and the same obtains in other places. Its derivation seems to be Saxon—at least, for our language. Thus, in Bosworth's "Dictionary of the Anglo-Saxon Language," we find, "Flede-Fledu: part. Flooded; overflowed: tumidus[2] : Tiber fledu wearÐ[3]—the Tiber was flooded (Ors. 4. 7)."

Again, the same author gives: "Fleot (Plat fleet, m. a small river; Ger. flethe. f. a channel). A place where vessels float, a bay, gulf, an arm of the sea, the mouth of a river, a river; hence the names of places, as Northfleet, Southfleet, Kent; and in London, Fleet ditch; sinus.[4] Soes Fleot, a bay of the sea.[5] Bd. 1. 34."

Another great Anglo-Saxon scholar—Professor Skeat, in "An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language": "Fleet, a creek, bay. In the names North-fleet, Fleet Street, &c. Fleet Street was so named from the Fleet Ditch; and fleet was given to any shallow creek, or stream, or channel of water. See Halliwell. M.E. fleet (Promptorium Parvulorum, &c., p. 166). A.S. fleÓt, a bay of the sea, as in Soes Fleot, bay of the sea. Ælfred's tr. of Beda, i. 34.[5] Afterwards applied to any channel or stream, especially if shallow. The original sense was 'a place where vessels float,' and the derivation is from the old verb fleet, to float, &c."

The French, too, have a cognate term, especially in Norman towns, as Barfleur, Honfleur, Harfleur, &c., which were originally written Barbeflot, Huneflot, and Hareflot: and these were sometimes written Hareflou, Huneflou, and Barfleu, which latter comes very near to the Latin flevus, called by Ptolemy fleus, and by Mela fletio. Again, in Brittany many names end in pleu, or plou, which seems to be very much like the Greek p?e?: full, swollen, which corresponds to our Anglo-Saxon Flede; Dutch Vliet.

But it has another, and a very pretty name, "The River of Wells," from the number of small tributaries that helped to swell its stream, and from the wells which bordered its course; such as Sadler's Wells, Bagnigge Wells, White Conduit, Coldbath, Lamb's Conduit, Clerkenwell—all of which (although all were not known by those names in Stow's times) were in existence.

Stow, in his "Survey of London" (ed. 1603, his last edition, and which consequently has his best corrections), says—

"That the riuer of Wels in the west parte of the Citty, Riuer of Wels.was of olde so called of the Wels, it may be proued thus, William the Conqueror in his Charter to the Colledge of S. Marten le Grand in London, hath these wordes: I doe giue and graunt to the same Church all the land and the Moore, without the Posterne, which is called Cripplegate, on eyther part of the Postern, that is to say, from the North corner of the Wall, as the riuer of the Wels, there neare running, departeth the same More from the Wall, vnto the running water which entereth the Cittie; this water hath beene long since called the riuer of the Wels, which name of riuer continued, and it was so called in the raigne of Edward the first; as shall bee shewed, Decay of the Riuer of the Wels.with also the decay of the saide riuer. In a fayre Booke of Parliament recordes, now lately restored to the Tower,[6] it appeareth that a Parliament being holden at Carlile in the yeare 1307, the 35 of Edward the I. Henry Lacy Earle of Lincolne, complayned that whereas, in times past the course of water, Parliament Record.running at London vnder Olde bourne bridge, and Fleete Riuer of Wels bare ships.bridge into the Thames, had beene of such bredth and depth, that 10 or 12 ships, Nauies at once with marchÃdises, were wÕt to come to the foresaid bridge of Fleete, and some of them to Oldborne bridge: now the same course by filth of the Tanners & such others, was sore decaied; also by raising of wharfes, but specially by a diversiÕ of the waters made by them of the new Temple, for their milles Patent Record. Mils by Baynards Castel, made in the first of King John. standing without Baynardes Castle, in the first yeare of King John, and diuers other impediments, so as the said ships could not enter as they were wont, & as they ought, wherefore he desired that the Maior of London, with the shiriffs, and other discrete Aldermen, might be appointed to view the course of the saide water, and that by the othes of good men, all the aforesaide hinderances might be remoued, and it to bee made as it was wont of old: wherupon Roger le Brabazon, the Constable of the Tower, with the Maior and Shiriffes, were assigned to take with them honest and discrete men, and to make diligent search and enquirie, how the said riuer was in old time, and that they leaue nothing that may hurt or stop it, but keepe it in the same estate that it was wont to be. So far the record. Wherupon it folowed that the said riuer was at that time cleansed, these mils remoued, and other things done for the preseruation of the course thereof, not withstanding neuer brought to the olde depth and breadth, whereupon the name of riuer ceased, and was since called a Turnemill Brooke.Brooke, namely Turnmill or Tremill Brooke, for that diuers Mils were erected vpon it, as appeareth by a fayre Register booke, conteyning the foundation of the Priorie at Clarkenwell, and donation of the landes thereunto belonging, as also by diuers other records.

"This brooke hath beene diuers times since clensed, namely, and last of all to any effect, in the yeare 1502 the 17th of Henrie the 7. the whole course of Fleete dike, then so called, was scowred (I say) downe to the Thames, so that boats with fish and fewel were rowed to Fleete bridge, and to Oldburne bridge, as they of olde time had beene accustomed, which was a great commoditie to all the inhabitants in that part of the Citie.

"In the yeare 1589, was granted a fifteene, by a common Councell Fleete dyke promised to be clensed; the money collected, and the Citizens deceiued. of the citie, for the cleansing of this Brooke or dike: the money amounting to a thousand marks collected, and it was undertaken, that, by drawing diuerse springes about Hampsted heath, into one head and Course, both the citie should be serued of fresh water in all places of want, and also that by such a follower, as men call it, the channell of this brooke should be scowred into the riuer of Thames; but much mony being therein spent, ye effect fayled, so that the Brooke by meanes of continuall incrochments vpon the banks getting ouer the water, and casting of soylage into the streame, is now become woorse cloyed and that euer it was before."

From this account of Stow's we find that the stream of the Fleet, although at one time navigable, had ceased to be so in his time, but we see, by the frontispiece, which is taken from a painting (in the Guildhall Art Gallery) by Samuel Scot, 1770 (?) that the mouth of the Fleet river, or ditch, call it which you like, was still, not only navigable, but a place of great resort for light craft.

The name "River of Wells" is easily to be understood, if we draw again upon Stow, who, in treating of "Auncient and present Riuers, Brookes, Boorns, Pooles, Wels, and Conduits of fresh water seruing the Citie," &c., says—

"Aunciently, vntill the Conquerors time, and 200 yeres after, the Citie of London was watered besides the famous Riuer of Thames on the South part; with the riuer of the WELS, as it was then called, on the west; with water called Walbrooke running through the midst of the citie into the riuer of Thames, seruing the heart thereof. And with a fourth water or Boorne, which ran within the Citie through Langboorne ward, watering that part in the East. In the west suburbs was also another great water, called Oldborne, which had his fall into the riuer of Wels: then was there 3 principall Fountaines or wels in the other Suburbs, to wit, Holy Well, Clements Well, and Clarkes Well. Neare vnto this last named fountaine were diuers other wels, to wit, Skinners Wel, Fags Wel, Loders Wel, and Rad Well; All which sayde Wels, hauing the fall of their ouerflowing in the foresayde Riuer, much encreased the streame, and in that place gaue it the name of Wel. In west Smithfield, there was a Poole in Recordes called Horsepoole, and one other Poole neare vnto the parish Church of Saint Giles without Cripplegate. Besides all which they had in euerie streete and Lane of the citie diuerse fayre Welles and fresh Springs; and, after this manner was this citie then serued with sweete and fresh waters, which being since decaid, other means haue beene sought to supplie the want."

Here, then, we have a list of Wells, which are, together with those I have already mentioned, quite sufficient to account for the prettier name of the "River of Wells." Of these wells Stow writes in his deliciously-quaint phraseology:—

Fitzstephen. Holy well.

"There are (saith Fitzstephen) neare London, on the North side special wels in the Suburbs, sweete, wholesome, and cleare, amongst which Holy well, Clarkes wel, and Clements wel are most famous, and frequented by Scholers, and youthes of the Cittie in sommer evenings, when they walke forthe to take the aire.

"The first, to wit, Holy well, is much decayed, and marred with filthinesse laide there, for the heightening of the ground for garden plots.

Clements well.

"The fountaine called S. Clements well, North from the Parish Church of S. Clements, and neare vnto an Inne of Chancerie, called Clements Inne, is faire curbed square with hard stone, kept cleane for common vse, and is alwayes full.

Clarks well.
Playes by the Parish Clarks at Clarks well.
Players at the Skinners well.

"The third is called Clarkes well, or Clarkenwell, [7] and is curbed about square with hard stone, not farre from the west ende of Clarkenwell Church, but close without the wall that incloseth it; the sayd Church tooke the name of the Well, and the Well tooke the name of the Parish Clarkes in London, who of old time were accustomed there yearely to assemble, and to play some large hystorie of holy Scripture. And, for example, of later time, to wit, in the yeare 1390, the 14 of Richard the Second, I read the Parish Clarks of London, on the 18 of July, playd Enterludes at Skinners well, neare vnto Clarkes well, which play continued three dayes togither, the King, Queene, and Nobles being present. Also the yeare 1409, the 10 of Henrie the 4. they played a play at the Skinners well, which lasted eight dayes, and was of matter from the creation of the worlde. There were to see the same, the most part of the Nobles and Gentiles in England, &c.

Skinners well.
Wrestling-place.

"Other smaller welles were many neare vnto Clarkes well, namely Skinners well, so called for that the Skinners of London held there certaine playes yearely playd of holy Scripture, &c. In place whereof the wrestlings haue of later yeares beene kept, and is in part continued at Bartholomew tide.

Fagges well.

"Then was there Fagges well, neare vnto Smithfield by the Charterhouse, now lately dammed vp, Tod well, Loders well, and Rad well, all decayed, and so filled vp, that there places are hardly now discerned.

"Somewhat North from Holy well is one other well curbed square with stone, and is called Dame Annis the Cleare, and not farre from it, but somewhat west, is also one other cleare water called Perillous pond[8], because diuerse youthes by swimming therein haue beene drowned; and thus much bee said for Fountaines and Wels.

"Horse poole in Westsmithfield, was sometime a great water, and because the inhabitants in that part of the Citie did there water their Horses, the same was, in olde Recordes, called Horspoole, it is now much decayed, the springs being stopped vp, and the land waters falling into the small bottome, remayning inclosed, with Bricke, is called Smithfield pond.

Poole without Cripplegate.

"By S. Giles Churchyard was a large water, called a Poole. I read in the year 1244 that Anne of Lodburie was drowned therein; this poole is now for the most part stopped vp, but the spring is preserued, and was cooped about with stone by the Executors of Richard Wittington."

Footnotes

[1] The name of this church has been Latinized as "Sancta Maria de Ossibus"!

[2] Swollen.

[3] The real quotation in Orosius is "Þa wearÐ Tiber seo e swa fledu."

[4] A bag, or purse, a fold of a garment; a bay, bight, or gulf.

[5] I cannot find this quotation in " Boedoe Historia Ecclesiastica," &c., in any edition I have seen, but in 1.33. I do find Amfleet, and in John Smith's edition (Cambridge, 1722) as a note to Amj-leor he says "Vulgo Ambleteau or Ambleteuse, about 2 miles north of Boulogne"

[6] The Records were kept in the Tower, and at the Rolls Office, in a very neglected state, until they were removed to the present Record Office in Fetter Lane.

[7] This is the only one left whose position is a matter of certainty.

[8] Afterwards known as "Peerless Pool," an unmeaning cognomen.


CHAPTER II.

LONDON, for its size, was indeed very well supplied with water, although, of course, it was not laid on to every house, as now, but, with the exception of those houses provided with wells, it had to be fetched from fixed public places, which were fairly numerous. When the waters of the Fleet, and Wallbrook, in the process of time, became contaminated, Henry III., in the 21st year of his reign (1236), granted to the Citizens of London the privilege of conveying the waters of the Tye-bourne through leaden pipes to the City, "for the poore to drinke, and the rich to dresse their meate." And it is only a few years since, that close by what is now called "Sedley Place," Oxford Street, but which used to be the old hunting lodge of bygone Lord Mayors, some of these very pipes were unearthed, a fine cistern being uncovered at the same time.

For public use there were the great Conduit in West Cheape: the Tonne or Tun in Cornhill, fountains at Billingsgate, at Paul's Wharf, and St. Giles', Cripplegate, and conduits at Aldermanbury, the Standard in Fleet Street, Gracechurch Street, Holborn Cross (afterwards Lamb's Conduit), at the Stocks Market (where the Mansion House now stands), Bishopsgate, London Wall, Aldgate, Lothbury—and this without reckoning the supply furnished from the Thames by the enterprising German, or Dutchman, Pieter Moritz, who in 1582 started the famous waterworks close to where Fishmongers' Hall now stands.

The Fleet river (I prefer that title to the other cognomen, "Ditch"), flowing through London, naturally became somewhat befouled, and in Henry the VII.'s time, circa 1502, it was cleansed, so that, as aforesaid, "boats with fish and fewel were rowed to Fleete bridge, and to Oldburne bridge." We also know, as Stow records, that more springs were introduced into the stream from Hampstead, without effect, either as to deepening or purifying the river, which had an evil reputation even in the time of Edward I., as we see in Ryley's "Placita Parliamentaria" (ed. 1661), p. 340—

"Ad peticionem Com. Lincoln. querentis quod cum cursus aque, que currit apud London sub Ponte de Holeburn, & Ponte de Fleete usque in Thamisiam solebat ita largus & latus esse, ac profundus, quod decem Naves vel duodecim ad predictum Pontem de Fleete cum diversis rebus & mercandisis solebant venire, & quedam illarum Navium sub illo Ponte transire, usque ad predictum Pontem de Holeburn ad predictum cursum mundanmum & simos exinde cariand, nunc ille cursus per fordes & inundaciones Taunatorum & p varias perturbaciones in predicta aqua, factas & maxime per exaltationem Caye & diversionem aque quam ipsi de Novo Templo fecerunt ad Molendina sua extra Castra Baignard, quod Naves predicte minime intrare possunt sicut solebant, & facere debeant &c. unde supplicat quod Maior de London assumptis secum Vice com. & discretionibus Aldermannis cursum predce aque videat, & quod per visum & sacrm~ proborum & legalium hominum faciat omnia nocumenta predicte aque que invinerit ammovere & reparare cursum predictum, & ipsum in tali statu manutenere in quo antiquitus esse solebat &c. Ita responsum est, Assignentur Rogerus le Brabazon & Constabularius Turris, London Maior & Vice Com. London, quod ipsi assumptit secum discretionibus Aldermannis London, &c., inquirant per sacramentum &c., qualiter fieri consuevit & qualis cursus. Et necumenta que invenerint ammoveant & manueri faciant in eadem statu quo antiquitus esse solebat."

Latin for which a modern schoolboy would get soundly rated, or birched, but which tells us that even as far back as Edward I. the Fleet river was a nuisance; and as the endorsement (Patent Roll 35 Edward I.) shows—"De cursu aquÆ de Fleta supervivendo et corrigendo," i.e., that the Fleet river should be looked after and amended. But the Commission issued to perfect this work was discontinued, owing to the death of the king. (Patent Roll 1 Edward II., pars 1. m. dorso.) "De Cursu AquÆ Flete, &c., reducend et impedimenta removend."

And Prynne, in his edition of Cotton's "Records" (ed. 1669, p. 188), asks "whether such a commission and inquiry to make this river navigable to Holborn Bridge or Clerkenwell, would not now be seasonable, and a work worthy to be undertaken for the public benefit, trade, and health of the City and Suburbs, I humbly submit to the wisdom and judgment of those whom it most Concerns."

So that it would appear, although otherwise stated, that the Fleet was not navigable in May, 1669, the date of the publication of Prynne's book.

As a matter of fact it got to be neither more nor less than an open sewer, to which the lines in Coleridge's "Table Talk" would well apply—

"In CÖln, that town of monks and bones,

And pavements fang'd with murderous stones,

And rags, and hags, and hideous wenches,

I counted two-and-seventy stenches;

All well-defined and genuine stinks!

Ye nymphs, that reign o'er sewers and sinks,

The river Rhine, it is well known,

Doth wash the City of Cologne;

But, tell me, nymphs, what power divine

Shall henceforth wash the River Rhine?"

The smell of the Fleet river was notorious; so much so, that Farquhar, in his Sir Harry Wildair, act ii., says, "Dicky! Oh! I was just dead of a Consumption, till the sweet smoke of Cheapside, and the dear perfume of Fleet Ditch made me a man again!" In Queen Anne's time, too, it bore an evil reputation: vide The Tatler (No. 238, October 17, 1710) by Steele and Swift.[9]

"Now from all parts the swelling kennels flow,

And bear their trophies with them as they go:

Filth of all hues and odours seem to tell

What street they sail'd from, by their sight and smell.

They, as each torrent drives, with rapid force,

From Smithfield or St. Pulchre's shape their course,

And in huge confluent join'd at Snow Hill ridge,

Fall from the Conduit, prone to Holborn Bridge.

Sweepings from butchers' stalls, dung, guts, and blood,

Drown'd puppies, stinking sprats, all drench'd in mud,

Dead cats and turnip-tops come tumbling down the flood."

We get a glimpse of prehistoric London, and the valley of the Fleet, in Gough's "British Topography," vol. i. p. 719 (ed. 1780). Speaking of John Conyers, "apothecary, one of the first Collectors of antiquities, especially those relating to London, when the City was rebuilding.... He inspected most of the gravel-pits near town for different sorts and shapes of stones. In one near the sign of Sir J. Oldcastle, about 1680, he discovered the skeleton of an elephant, which he supposed had lain there only since the time of the Romans, who, in the reign of Claudius, fought the Britons near this place, according to Selden's notes on the Polyolbion. In the same pit he found the head of a British spear of flint, afterwards in the hands of Dr. Charlett, and engraved in Bagford's letter." We, now-a-days, with our more accurate knowledge of Geology and PalÆontology, would have ascribed a far higher ancestry to the "elephant."

As a matter of course, a little river like the Fleet must have become the receptacle of many articles, which, once dropped in its waters, could not be recovered; so that it is not surprising to read in the Mirror of March 22, 1834 (No. 653, p. 180), an account of antiquarian discoveries therein, which, if not archÆologically correct, is at least interesting.

"In digging this Canal between Fleet Prison and Holborn Bridge, several Roman utensils were lately discovered at the depth of 15 feet; and a little deeper, a great quantity of Roman Coins, in silver, brass, copper, and all other metals except gold. Those of silver were ring money, of several sizes, the largest about the bigness of a Crown, but gradually decreasing; the smallest were about the size of a silver Twopence, each having a snip at the edge. And at Holborn Bridge were dug up two brazen lares, or household gods, about four inches in length, which were almost incrusted with a petrified matter: one of these was Bacchus, and the other Ceres; but the coins lying at the bottom of the current, their lustre was in a great measure preserved, by the water incessantly washing off the oxydizing metal. Probably the great quantity of coin found in this ditch, was thrown in by the Roman inhabitants of this city for its preservation at the approach of BoadicÆa at the head of her army: but the Roman Citizens, without distinction of age or sex, being barbarously murdered by the justly enraged Britons, it was not discovered till this time.

"Besides the above-mentioned antiquities, several articles of a more modern date were discovered, as arrow-heads, scales, seals with the proprietors' names upon them in Saxon characters; spur rowels of a hand's breadth, keys and daggers, covered over with livid rust; together with a considerable number of medals, with crosses, crucifixes, and Ave Marias engraven thereon."

A paper was read, on June 11, 1862, to the members of the British ArchÆological Association, by Mr. Ganston, who exhibited various relics lately recovered from the bed of the river Fleet, but they were not even of archÆological importance—a few knives, the earliest dating from the fifteenth century, and a few knife handles.

Previously, at a meeting of the same Society, on December 9, 1857, Mr. C. H. Luxmore exhibited a green glazed earthenware jug of the sixteenth century, found in the Fleet.

And, before closing this antiquarian notice of the Fleet, I cannot but record some early mention of the river which occur in the archives of the Corporation of the City of London:—

(17 Edward III., A.D. 1343, Letter-book F, fol. 67.) "Be it remembered that at the Hustings of Common Pleas, holden on the Monday next before the Feast of Gregory the Pope, in the 17th year of the reign of King Edward, after the Conquest, the Third, Simon Traunceys, Mayor, the Aldermen and the Commonalty, of the City of London, for the decency and cleanliness of the same city, granted upon lease to the butchers in the Parish of St. Nicholas Shambles, in London, a piece of land in the lane called 'Secollane' (sea coal), neare to the water of Flete, for the purpose of there, in such water, cleansing the entrails of beasts. And upon such piece of land the butchers aforesaid were to repair a certain quay at their charges, and to keep the same in repair; they paying yearly to the Mayor of London for the time being, at the Feast of our Lord's Nativity, one boar's head." [10]

(31 Edward III., A.D. 1357, Letter-book G, fol. 72.) "Also, it is ordered, that no man shall take, or cause to be carried, any manner of rubbish, earth, gravel, or dung, from out of his stables or elsewhere, to throw, and put the same into the rivers of Thames and Flete, or into the Fosses around the walls of the City: and as to the dung that is found in the streets and lanes, the same shall be carried and taken elsewhere out of the City by carts, as heretofore; or else by the raykers [11] to certain spots, that the same may be put into the dongebotes, [12] without throwing anything into the Thames; for saving the body of the river, and preserving the quays, such as Dowegate, Quenhethe, and Castle Baynards, (and) elsewhere, for lading and unlading; as also, for avoiding the filthiness that is increasing in the water, and upon the banks of the Thames, to the great abomination and damage of the people. And, if any one shall be found doing the Contrary hereof, let him have the prison for his body, and other heavy punishment as well, at the discretion of the Mayor and of the Aldermen." [13]

(7 Henry V. A.D. 1419, Journal 1, fol. 61.) "It is granted that the risshbotes[14] at the Flete and elsewhere in London shall be taken into the hands of the Chamberlain; and the Chamberlain shall cause all the streets to be cleansed."[15]

The northern heights of London, the "ultima Thule" of men like Keats, and Shelley, abound in springs, which form the bases of several little streams, which are fed on their journey to their bourne, the Thames (to which they act as tributaries), by numerous little brooklets and rivulets, which help to swell their volume. On the northern side of the ridge which runs from Hampstead to Highgate, birth is given to the Brent, which, springing from a pond in the grounds of Sir Spencer Wells, is pent up in a large reservoir at Hendon, and finally debouches into the Thames at Brentford, where, from a little spring, which it is at starting, it becomes so far a "fleet" as to allow barges to go up some distance.

SHEPHERD'S WELL, HAMPSTEAD.
SHEPHERD'S WELL, HAMPSTEAD.

On the southern side of the ridge rise the Tybourne, and the Westbourne. The former had its rise in a spring called Shepherd's Well, in Shepherd's Fields, Hampstead, which formed part of the district now known as Belsize Park and FitzJohn's Avenue, which is the finest road of private houses in London. Shepherd's Well is depicted in Hone's "Table Book," pp. 381, 2, and shows it as it was over fifty years since. Alas! it is a thing of the past; a railway tunnel drained the spring, and a mansion, now known as The Conduit Lodge, occupies its site. It meandered by Belsize House, through St. John's Wood, running into Regent's Park, where St. Dunstan's now is, and, close to the Ornamental Water, it was joined by a little rivulet which sprang from where now, is the Zoological Gardens. It went across Marylebone Road, and, as nearly as possible, Marylebone Lane shows its course; then down South Molton Street, passing Brook Street, and Conduit Street, by Mayfair, to Clarges Street, across Oxford Street and into a pond in the Green Park called the Ducking Pond, which was possibly used as a place of punishment for scolds, or may have been an ornamental pond for water-fowl. Thence it ran in front of Buckingham Palace, where it divided, which was the cause of its name. Twy, or Teo (double), and Bourne, Brook—one stream running into the Thames west of Millbank, doing duty by the way in turning the Abbey Mill (whence the name), and the other debouching east of Westminster Bridge, thus forming the Island of Thorns, or Thorney Isle, on which Edward the Confessor founded his abbey, and the City of Westminster.

The Westbourne took its rise in a small pond near "Telegraph Hill," at Hampstead; two or three brooklets joined it, and it ran its course across the Finchley Road, to the bottom of Alexandra Road, Kilburn, where it was met by another stream, which had its source at Frognal, Hampstead. It then became the West bourne, as being the most westerly of all the rivers near London, taking the Wallbrook, the Fleet, and the Tybourne.

Its course may be traced down Kilburn Park Road, and Shirland Road. Crossing the Harrow Road where now is Westbourne Park Station, Eastbourne and Westbourne Terraces mark the respective banks, and, after crossing the Uxbridge Road, it runs into the Serpentine at the Engine House. Feeding that sheet of water, it comes out again at the Albert Gate end, runs by Lowndes Square, Cadogan Place, &c., and, finally, falls into the river at Chelsea Hospital.

Footnotes

[9] Journal to Stella, October 17, 1710—"This day came out The Tatler, made up wholly of my Shower, and a preface to it. They say it is the best thing I ever writ, and I think so too."

[10] "Memorials of London and London Life in the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Centuries," by H. J. Riley, 1868, p. 214.

[11] The street sweepers.

[12] Dung boats.

[13] See Riley, p. 299.

[14] This was probably because the rushes were spilt in the river. At that time the house-floors were strewn with rushes, which were brought to London in "Rush boats;" and an ordinance, temp. 4 Henry V., provides that "all rushes in future, laden in boats or skiffs, and brought here for sale, should be sold by the cart-load, as from of old had been wont to be done. And that the same cart-loads were to be made up within the boats and skiffs in which the said rushes are brought to the City, and not upon the ground, or upon the wharves, walls, or embankments of the water of Thames, near or adjacent to such boats or skiffs; under a heavy penalty upon the owner or owners of such boats, skiffs, and rushes, at the discretion of the Mayor and Aldermen."

[15] See Riley, p. 675.


CHAPTER III.

THE Fleet, as far as can be ascertained, owes its birth to an ornamental water, fed by springs—one of the numerous ponds in Highgate and Hampstead—in the park of Ken Wood, the seat of Earl Mansfield, now occasionally occupied by the fourth successor to that title; who, being keeper of the royal Castle of Scone, prefers, as a rule, his northern residence. In the No Popery riots of 1780, with which Lord George Gordon was so intimately connected, Ken Wood House was on the brink of being destroyed by the rioters, who had, already, wrecked his lordship's house in Bloomsbury Square, and destroyed his most valuable library. Tradition says that Ken Wood was saved owing to the landlord of "The Spaniards," well known to all pedestrian frequenters of Hampstead, giving them his beer, &c., until they were incapacitated, or unwilling, to fulfil their quest, meanwhile sending messengers for the Horse Guards, who opportunely arrived, and prevented the destruction of the mansion. It is quite possible that this is a true story, for a footnote (p. 69) in Prickett's "History of Highgate" says: "The following is copied from a receipt of one of the constables of the Hundred of Ossulston: 'Received 8s. 6d., being the proportion taxed and assessed for and towards the payment of the several taxations and assessments which have been made upon the said Parish (amounting to the sum of £187. 18s. 7d.) towards an equal contribution, to be had and made for the relief of the several inhabitants of said Hundred; against whom, the several persons who were damnified by rioters within the same Hundred, in the month of June, 1780, have obtained verdicts, and had their executions respectively.'"

Commencing thus in one of the prettiest parts of the most picturesque suburbs of London, it flows from one to the other, right through the chain of the Highgate Ponds, fed by several rills, the first being near the Hampstead end of Millfield Lane—which is, by some, regarded as its source. From the lower pond it crossed the Highgate Road, and, for some distance, it ran parallel with it, although a little way eastward. It again crossed the Highgate Road not far from its junction with the Kentish Town Road, the course of which it followed, until it came to Hawley Road, where it was joined by a sister brook, whose source was the pond in the Vale of Health at Hampstead, flowing from which, it was fed by a brooklet, over which the abortive viaduct of Sir Thomas Marion Wilson's construction is carried. It ran into, and through, the Hampstead Ponds, which end at the lower east heath, near Pond Street (a locality easily recognized when once any one has seen St. Stephen's Church, Haverstock Hill, one of the most beautiful churches in London). These ponds are immortal, if they needed immortality, as the very first page of "Pickwick" gives an entry in the Transactions of the Pickwick Club:

"May 12, 1827. Joseph Smiggers, Esq., P.V.P., M.P.C., presiding. The following resolutions unanimously agreed to—

"'That this Association has heard read, with feelings of unmingled satisfaction, and unqualified approval, the paper communicated by Samuel Pickwick, Esq., G.C., M.P.C., entitled, "Speculations on the Source of the Hampstead Ponds, with some observations on the Theory of Tittlebats"; and that this Association does hereby return its warmest thanks to the said Samuel Pickwick, Esq., G.C., M.P.C., for the same.'"

Its memory is still retained in the Fleet Road.

On its way through Kentish Town it passed through a purely pastoral country, such as we, who know the district only as covered with houses, can hardly reconcile with existing circumstances. The Guildhall Collection relating to the Fleet River, is very rich in water-colour drawings and pen-and-ink sketches of undoubted authenticity, and from them I have selected what, in my opinion, are the most suitable for this work. [16]

From the above, and this view of Highgate, so late back as 1845, we can fairly judge of the pleasant scenery which existed almost at our doors—before the iron roads brought population, which begat houses, which destroyed all rusticity, leaving bricks and mortar on the site of verdant meads, and millions of chimneys vomiting unconsumed carbon and sulphur, in the place of the pure fresh air which once was dominant.

THE FLEET, KENTISH TOWN. Circa 1837.
THE FLEET, KENTISH TOWN. Circa 1837.

Here we see the Fleet running its quiet course—and the other sketches bear witness to its rurality.

VIEW OF THE VALLEY OF THE FLEET AND HIGHGATE CHURCH, FROM FORTESS TERRACE, KENTISH TOWN, SEPT. 28, 1845.
VIEW OF THE VALLEY OF THE FLEET AND HIGHGATE
CHURCH, FROM FORTESS TERRACE, KENTISH TOWN,
SEPT. 28, 1845.

(Water colour by A. Crosby.)

After the Fleet had recrossed the Highgate Road near the junction of that road and the Kentish Town Road, it passed near the Gospel Oak, which now gives its name to a railway station in the locality. About this oak, there was a tradition that it was so called because St. Augustine preached underneath its boughs—a fact which is probably as correct as the story that the Church of St. Pancras was the first Christian Church in England. In truth, there are, or were, many Gospel Oaks and Elms throughout the country; for instance, there is an iron foundry near the parishes of Tipton and Wednesbury called Gospel Oak Works. It was, as a matter of fact, a traditionary custom, in many places, when, on Holy Thursday (Ascension Day), the parochial bounds were beaten, to read a portion of the Gospels under some well-known tree, and hence its name. One or two quotations will easily prove this.

THE FLEET AT KENTISH TOWN.
THE FLEET AT KENTISH TOWN

In the "Bury Wills," p. 118, is the following passage in the will of John Cole of Thelnetham, dated May 8, 1527: "Item, I will haue a newe crosse made according to Trappett's crosse at the Hawe lanes ende, and set vp at Short Grove's end, where the gospell is sayd vpon Ascension Even, for ye wch I assigne xs."

And, in the poem of Herrick's "Hesperides," which is addressed "To Anthea."

Dearest, bury me

Under that holy Oke, or Gospel Tree;

Where, (though thou see'st not,) thou may'st think upon

Me, when thou yerely go'st procession."

It also passed near Parliament, or Traitors', Hill—a name which is much in dispute; some maintaining that it was fortified by the Parliamentary Army, under Cromwell, for the protection of London, others that the 5th of November conspirators met here to view the expected explosion of the Houses of Parliament. This, which forms the most southern part of Hampstead Heath, and therefore the nearest, and most accessible to the great bulk of Londoners, has a beautiful view of Highgate and London, and has, I am happy to say, been preserved as an open space for the public.

THE FLEET AT KENTISH TOWN.
THE FLEET AT KENTISH TOWN.

We have now followed the Fleet in its course to Kentish Town, the etymon of which is, to say the least, somewhat hazy. Being so, of course, an immense amount of theory has been expended upon it. Some contend that it springs from the Prebendary attached to St. Paul's Cathedral, of Cantelupe, or Cantelows, now (in Crockford, called Cantlers): one antiquary suggesting that it owes its name to the delta formed by the junction of the two branches of the Fleet—from Cant or Cantle, a corner;—whilst yet another authority thinks that, as the Fleet had its source from Ken Wood—it was called Ken-ditch—hence Kenditch or Kentish Town. Be it as it may, it was a very pleasant and rural suburb, and one of some note, for herein William Bruges, Garter King-at-Arms, had a country house, at which he entertained, in the year 1416, the Emperor Sigismund, who came over here, in that year, to try and mediate between our Henry V. and the King of France.

In still older times it formed part of the great Middlesex forest, which was full of wolves, wild boars, deer, and wild oxen; but we find that, in 1252, Henry III. granted to Thomas Ive, permission to inclose a portion of the highway adjoining his mansion at Kentessetone. And in 1357, John of Oxford, who was Mayor of London in 1341, gave, amongst other things, to the Priory of the Holy Trinity, in London, a mill at Kentish Town—which, of course, must have been turned by the Fleet. The kind donor was one of the very few Mayors who died during his mayoralty.

It is said, too, that Nell Gwynne had a house in Kentish Town, but I can find not the slightest confirmation of the rumour; still, as there is a very good pen-and-ink sketch of the old house said to be hers, I give it, as it helps to prove the antiquity of Kentish Town, now, alas! only too modern.

OLD HOUSE, KENTISH TOWN, SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN NELL GWYNNE'S.
OLD HOUSE, KENTISH TOWN, SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN NELL GWYNNE'S.

And there was another old house close by the Fleet there, an old farmhouse known as Brown's dairy.

THE FLEET AT KENTISH TOWN—BROWNE'S DAIRY FARM, SEPT. 21, 1833.
THE FLEET AT KENTISH TOWN—BROWNE'S DAIRY FARM,
SEPT. 21, 1833.

This old Farmhouse had, evidently, a nobler origin, for it was moated; and, in 1838, the moat existed on the east and north sides. It belonged to the College of Christ Church, Oxford, and was held of the Manor of Cantelows at a small fine. There was a good orchard, which at the above date (the time of its demolition) contained a large walnut tree and some mulberry trees. The building materials were sold for £60, so that it evidently had done its work, and passed away in the ripeness of old age.

CASTLE, KENTISH TOWN ROAD, 1848.
CASTLE, KENTISH TOWN ROAD, 1848.

The Castle Inn is said to have been the oldest house in Kentish Town, and there is a tradition that Lord Nelson once lived here, "in order that he might keep his eye upon the Fleet," and planted a sycamore in the garden.

Before taking leave of Kentish Town, I cannot help recording a legal squabble, which resulted in a victory for the public.—Times, February 12, 1841:—

"Court of Queen's Bench, Thursday, February 11, 1841. (Sittings at Nisi Prius, at Westminster, before Lord Denman and a special jury.)

"The Queen v. Tubb.

"This was an Indictment against the Defendant for obstructing a footpath leading from Pond Lane, at Hampstead, over Traitors' and Parliament Hill, to Highgate.

"The case lasted the whole day.

"The jury brought a verdict for the Crown, thus establishing the right of the Public to one of the most beautiful walks in the neighbourhood of the metropolis."

The Fleet babbled through the meadows, until its junction with that other stream which flowed from the pond in the Vale of Health at Hampstead, which took place where now is Hawley Street, and the united brook, or river, ran across what are now the Kentish, and Camden, Town Roads, and between Great College Street, and King Street; it then followed the course of the present road to King's Cross, passing by St. Pancras Church—which, originally, was of great antiquity, and close by which was a celebrated healing well, known as Pancras' Wells. These waters cured everything—scurvy, king's evil, leprosy, cancers, ulcers, rheumatism, disorders of the eyes, and pains of the stomach and bowels, colds, worms, &c., &c.

In the Church, and Churchyard, were interred many illustrious dead, especially Roman Catholics, who seem to have taken a particular fancy to have their remains buried there, probably on account of the tradition that this was the last church in which mass was celebrated. It was a favourite burial-place of the French clergy— and a story is told (how true I know not) that, down to the French Revolution, masses were celebrated in a church in the south of France, dedicated to St. Pancras, for the souls of the faithful interred here.

THE BRILL.
THE BRILL.

Many historical names are here preserved—amongst whom are Pasco de Paoli, the famous Corsican; Walker, whose dictionary is still a text book; the Chevalier d'Eon, respecting whose sex there was once such a controversy; Count O'Rourke, famous in the world of fashion in 1785; Mrs. Godwin—better known, perhaps, as Mary Woolstencraft—who also was married here; William Woollett, the eminent landscape engraver, a branch of art in which he may be said to have been the father; Samuel Cooper, whose miniatures cannot be surpassed; Scheemaker the younger, a sculptor of no small note. Nor in this campo santo was Music unrepresented, for there, amongst others, lie the bodies of Mazzinghi, who brought the violin into fashion here in 1740; and Beard, a celebrated singer in 1753. The river flows hence to Battle Bridge, or King's Cross, as it is now termed, forming in its way a sort of pond called "Pancras Wash," and running through a low-lying district called "The Brill." [17] This peculiarly unsavoury neighbourhood has now been cleared away, in order to afford siding room, &c., for the Midland Railway.

But Dr. Stukeley, who certainly had Roman Camps on the brain, discovered one in the Brill. He planned it out beautifully. Here were the Equites posted, there the Hastati, and there were the Auxiliarii. He made the Fleet do duty for a moat which nearly surrounded CÆsar's PrÆtorium, and he placed a Forum close by St. Pancras' Church, to the northward of which he assigned a PrÆtorium to Prince Mandubrace. Is it not true? for is it not all written in his "Itinerary"? and does he not devote the first seventeen pages of the second volume of that work, entirely to the Brill, assuring us of the great pleasure he received in striding over the ground—following, in imagination, the footsteps of the Roman Camp Master, who paced out the dimensions of the Camp?

Footnotes

[16] See pages 28, 29, 30, 31, &c.


CHAPTER IV.

THAT it was countrified about this part of London, is shown by the accompanying Copy of an engraving, by J. T. Smith, of a view "near Battle Bridge."[18]

The etymology of Battle Bridge, which consists of only one arch, and now forms a part of the Fleet Sewer, is a much vexed question. At one time it was an article of faith, not to be impugned, that here, A.D. 61, was fought the famous battle between the Romans, under Suetonius Paulinus, and the Britons, under Boadicea, Queen of the Iceni, which ended so disastrously for the natives—eighty thousand of whom are said to have been killed. But there seems to be a doubt, as to whether this was the exact spot where this historical contest took place, for Tacitus makes no mention of the little river Fleet, which must then have been navigable for light and small craft, for an anchor was found, in its bed, at Kentish Town. He only describes it (Tacit. Ann. lib. xiv. c. 34) a spot of ground, "narrow at the entrance, and sheltered in the rear by a thick forest." No remains have ever been exhumed, nor have Roman, or British, relics been found near the spot.

BATTLE BRIDGE.
BATTLE BRIDGE.

In the first quarter of this century the Fleet, for the greater part of its time, ran placidly along, as we see by these two pen-and-ink sketches, taken at Battle Bridge. [19] But, occasionally, it forgot its good manners, and overflowed its banks, flooding portions of Kentish Town, Somers Town, and Battle Bridge, as we read in the Gentlemans Magazine, vol. lxxxviii. part i. p. 462, Saturday, May 9, 1818:—

"From the heavy rain, which commenced yesterday afternoon at six o'clock, and continued pouring incessantly till four this morning, Battle Bridge, St. Pancras, and part of Somers Town were inundated. The water was several feet deep in many of the houses, and covered an extent of upwards of a mile. The carcases of several sheep and goats were found near Hampstead Reservoir, and property was damaged to a very considerable amount."

BATTLE BRIDGE.
BATTLE BRIDGE.

There must have been a Mill here, for Stow tells us that in the reign of Edward VI. "A Miller of Battaile Bridge was set on the Pillory in Cheape, and had both his eares cut off, for seditious words by him spoken against the Duke of Somerset."

BATTLE BRIDGE.
BATTLE BRIDGE.

Here, as elsewhere, just outside London, the road was not too safe for travellers, as the following account of a highway robbery will show. It was committed by one John Everett, whose career in life had been rather chequered. As an apprentice he ran away, and enlisted in Flanders, rising to the rank of sergeant. When the troops returned, he purchased his discharge, and got a situation in the Whitechapel Debtors' Court, but had to leave it, and he became a companion of thieves, against whom he turned king's evidence. He got into debt, and was locked up in the Fleet Prison, but was allowed to reside within the Rules, a district round about the prison, out of which no prisoner might wander; and there, in the Old Bailey, he kept a public-house. But he could not keep away from evil doing, and was sent to Newgate. On the expiration of his sentence, he turned highwayman. In the course of his professional career he, on December 24, 1730, stopped a Coach at Battle Bridge, which coach contained two ladies, a child, and a maidservant, and he despoiled them, but not uncivilly. The husband of one of the ladies coming up, pursued him, and next day he was caught. It was not then, any more than it is now, that every rogue got his deserts, but this one did, for he was hanged at Tyburn, February 20, 1731.

The name of "Battle Bridge" is well-nigh forgotten, and "King's Cross" reigns in its stead. Yet how few Londoners of the present generation know whence the name is derived! If they ever trouble their heads about it at all, they probably imagine that it was a cross, like the Eleanor Crosses, raised to the memory of some king.

And what king, think you, was it intended to keep in perpetual remembrance? None other than his Most Gracious Majesty King George the Fourth, of pious memory. Why this monument was raised I have never been able to learn, unless it was to celebrate his death, which took place in 1830, and probably to hold up his many virtues, as bright exemplars, to ages yet unborn; but a mad fit came over the inhabitants of Battle Bridge, and the hideous structure arose. It was all shoddy; in the form of an octagon building ornamented with pilasters, all substantially built of brick, and covered over with compo or cement, in order to render it more enduring. It was used as a police-station, and afterwards as a public-house, whilst the pediment of the statue was utilized as a camera obscura. I don't think they knew exactly what they were about, for one party wanted it to be called Boadicea's Cross, another went in for it being nationally named St. George's Cross; but the goodness of the late king was more popular, and carried the day, and we now enjoy the nominis umbra of King's Cross, instead of the old cognomen of Battle Bridge. It had a very brief existence. It was built between 1830 and 1835, and was demolished in 1845; the stucco statue only having been in situ for ten years. It is said that the nose of this regal statue had, for its base, an earthen draining tile, and that it was offered to a gentleman for sixpence!

There hardly seems to be any connection between "the first gentleman in Europe" and dustmen, but there is a slight link. Battle Bridge was peculiarly the home of the necessary dustman, and in a song called "The Literary Dustman," commencing—

"They call me Adam Bell, 'tis clear

That Adam vos the fust man,

And by a co-in-side-ance queer

Vy I'm the fust of dustmen,"

is the following verse:—

"Great sculptors all conwarse wi' me,

And call my taste divine, sirs,

King George's statty at King's Cross,

Vos built from my design, sirs."

Close by here, in Gray's Inn Road, was a mountain of refuse and dust; but it was as profitable as were the heaps of Mr. Boffin in Charles Dickens's "Our Mutual Friend." This mound once had a curious clearance, so it is said. It was bought in its entirety, and sent over to Russia, to help make bricks to rebuild Moscow; and the ground on which it stood was, in 1826, sold to a Company for £15,000.

DUST HEAP AT BATTLE BRIDGE.
DUST HEAP AT BATTLE BRIDGE.

"My dawning Genus fust did peep,

Near Battle Bridge,'tis plain, sirs:

You recollect the cinder heap,

Vot stood in Gray's Inn Lane, sirs?"

Let us turn to a sweeter subject, and gossip about St. Chad's Well, the site of which is now occupied by the Metropolitan Railway at King's Cross. St. Chad is a saint in the English calendar, and might have been a distinguished temperance leader, if the number of wells dedicated to him, is any criterion. He lived in the seventh century, and was educated at Lindisfarne (at least so Bede says), and afterwards became Bishop of Lichfield, and, at his death, his soul is said to have been accompanied to heaven by angels and sweet music.

A good modern account is given in Hone's "Every Day Book," vol. i. pp. 323, 4, 5, which, as it was taken from actual observation about fifty years since, may well be transcribed. Speaking of the aforesaid dust-heap he says:—

"Opposite to this unsightly site, and on the right hand side of the road, is an anglewise faded inscription—

Roadside Marker

"It stands, or rather dejects, over an elderly pair of wooden gates, one whereof opens on a scene which the unaccustomed eye may take for the pleasure-ground of Giant Despair. Trees stand as if made not to vegetate, clipped hedges seem unwilling to decline, and nameless weeds straggle weakly upon unlimited borders. If you look upwards you perceive, painted on an octagon board, 'Health restored and preserved.' Further on, towards the left, stands a low, old-fashioned, comfortable-looking, large-windowed dwelling, and, ten to one, but there also stands at the open door, an ancient ailing female, in a black bonnet, a clean, coloured cotton gown, and a check apron, her silver hair only in part tucked beneath the narrow border of a frilled cap, with a sedate and patient, yet somewhat inquiring look. She gratuitously tells you that 'the gardens' of 'St. Chad's Well' are for 'Circulation' by paying for the waters, of which you may drink as much, or as little, or nothing, as you please, at one guinea per year, 9s. 6d. quarterly, 4s. 6d. monthly, or 1s. 6d. weekly. You qualify for a single visit by paying sixpence, and a large glass tumbler, full of warm water, is handed to you. As a stranger, you are told, that 'St. Chad's Well was famous at one time.'

"Should you be inquisitive, the dame will instruct you, with an earnest eye, that 'people are not what they were,' 'things are not as they used to be,' and she 'can't tell what'll happen next.' Oracles have not ceased. While drinking St. Chad's water, you observe an immense copper, into which it is poured, wherein it is heated to due efficacy, and from whence it is drawn by a cock, into glasses. You also remark, hanging on the wall, a 'tribute of gratitude,' versified, and inscribed on vellum, beneath a pane of glass stained by the hand of time, and let into a black frame. This is an effusion for value received from St. Chad's invaluable water. But, above all, there is a full-sized portrait in oil, of a stout, comely personage, with a ruddy countenance, in a coat or cloak, supposed scarlet, a laced cravat falling down the breast, and a small red nightcap carelessly placed on the head, conveying the idea that it was painted for the likeness of some opulent butcher, who flourished in the reign of Queen Anne. Ask the dame about it, and she refers you to 'Rhone.' [20] This is a tall old man, who would be taller if he were not bent by years. 'I am ninety-four,' he will tell you, 'this present year of our Lord, one thousand, eight hundred, and twenty-five.' All that he has to communicate concerning the portrait is, 'I have heard say it is the portrait of St. Chad.' Should you venture to differ, he adds, 'this is the opinion of most people who come here.' You may gather that it is his own undoubted belief.

"On pacing the garden alleys, and peeping at the places of retirement, you imagine the whole may have been improved and beautified, for the last time, by some countryman of William III., who came over and died in the same year with that king, and whose works here, in wood and box, have been following him piecemeal ever since.

"St. Chad's Well is scarcely known in the neighbourhood save by its sign-board of invitation and forbidding externals; ... it is haunted, not frequented. A few years, and it will be with its waters, as with the water of St. Pancras' Well, which is enclosed in the garden of a private house, near old St. Pancras Churchyard."

But, although the prophecy in "Hone" was destined to be fulfilled, yet it was twelve years before it came about, and it was not until September 14, 1837, that Messrs. Warlters and Co. sold, at Garraway's Coffee House, Change Alley, Cornhill, the "valuable Copyhold Property, situate in Gray's Inn Lane, near King's Cross, Battle Bridge," which consisted of "The well-known and valuable Premises, Dwelling-house, Large Garden, and Offices, with the very celebrated Spring of Saline Water called St. Chad's Well, which, in proper hands, would produce an inexhaustible Revenue, as its qualities are allowed by the first Physicians to be unequalled."

ST. CHAD'S WELL.
ST. CHAD'S WELL.

It was a good sized piece of ground; in shape of a somewhat irregular triangle, of which the base measured about 200 feet, and from apex to base 95 feet. It was Copyhold. The vendor was not to be asked for a title prior to 1793, and it was held of the Manor of Cantlowes or Cantlers, subject to a small fine, certain, of 6s. 8d., on death or alienation, and to a Quit Rent of 5d. per annum. We should say, nowadays, that the assessment was very small, as, including the large gardens, both back and front, the whole was only valued, including the Saline Spring, at £81 10s. per annum, of which £21 10s. was let off, but which formed but a small portion of the property.

What would not the waters of St. Chad's Well cure? Really I think the proprietor hardly knew himself, for a handbill I have before me commences— "The celebrity of these waters being confined chiefly to its own immediate vicinity for a number of years; the present proprietor has thought proper to give more extensive publicity to the existence of a nostrum provided by Nature, through Divine Providence, approaching nearest that great desideratum of scientific men and mankind in general, throughout all ages; namely, an Universal Medicine.... The many cures yearly performed by these waters does not come within the limits of a handbill, but, suffice it to say, that here, upon trial, the sufferer finds a speedy and sure relief from Indigestion and its train, Habitual Costiveness, the extensive range of Liver Complaints, Dropsy in its early stages, Glandular Obstructions, and that bane of life, Scrophula; for Eruptions on the Face or Skin its almost immediate efficacy needs but a trial." This wonderful water, with use of garden, was then, say 1835, supposed to be worth to the sufferer £1 per annum, or threepence a visit, or you might have it supplied at eightpence per gallon.

And yet it seems only to have been a mild aperient, and rather dear at the price. In the Mirror of April 13, 1833, Mr. Booth, Professor of Chemistry, professed to give an analysis of the "Mineral Waters in the neighbourhood of London," and he thus writes of St. Chad's Well: "It is aperient, and is yet much resorted to by the poorer classes of the metropolis, with whom it enjoys considerable reputation. From an examination, I find it to be a strong solution of sulphate of soda and sulphate of magnesia"— but he does not favour us with a quantitative analysis.

Neither does the proprietor, one Wm. Lucas, who not only propounded the handbill from which I have quoted, but published a pamphlet on the healing virtues of the spring, and he also adds to Mr. Booth's qualitative analysis, "a small quantity of Iron, which is held in Solution by Carbonic Acid."

"The Well from which the Waters are supplied, is excluded from the external air; the Water when freshly drawn is perfectly clear and pellucid, and sparkles when poured into a glass; to the taste it is slightly bitter, not sufficiently so to render it disagreeable; indeed, Persons often think it so palatable as to take it at the table for a common beverage."

This, however, is slightly at variance with the following, "As a Purgative, more so than could be inferred from their taste, a pint is the ordinary dose for an Adult, which operates pleasantly, powerfully, and speedily:" qualities which are scarcely desirable for a Table water.

That, at one time, this Well was in fashion, although in 1825 it was in its decadence, I may quote from the pamphlet (which, however, must be taken by the reader, quantum valeat):

Jonathan Rhone, who was Gardener and Waiter at these Wells upwards of Sixty Years, says, that when he first came into office at about the middle of the eighteenth Century, the Waters were in great repute, and frequently were visited by eight or nine hundred Persons in a morning: the charge for drinking the Waters was Three pence each Person, and they were delivered at the Pump Room for exportation, at the rate of Twenty-four pint bottles, packed in hamper, for One Pound Cash."

Footnotes

[18] See next page.

[19] See pages 41, 42.

[20] Rhone was an old waiter at the Well. See p. 51.


CHAPTER V.

AS the Fleet was "the River of Wells" it may be as well to notice the Wells, which, although not absolutely contributing towards swelling its volume, are yet closely adjacent—namely, White Conduit, and Sadlers Wells. Both of these, as indeed were all the other Wells about London, were first known as mineral springs, a fact which drew the middle classes to seek relief from real, or fancied, ailments, by drinking the medicinal waters, as at Bath, Epsom, Cheltenham, Harrogate, Brixton, and elsewhere. Wherever people congregate, the mere drinking of salutary water, is but tame work, and the animal spirits of some of them must find an outlet in amusements, which materially assist, to say the least, in the agreeable passing of time. But the mere drinking of waters must have been irksome—even if people took to it as well as Shadwell in his play of "Epsom Wells" describes:—

THE WHITE CONDUIT.
THE WHITE CONDUIT.

"Brisket. I vow it is a pleasurable Morning: the Waters taste so finely after
being fudled last Night. Neighbour Fribbler here's a Pint to you.

"Fribbler. I'll pledge you, Mrs. Brisket; I have drunk eight already.

"Mrs. Brisket. How do the Waters agree with your Ladyship?

"Mrs. Woodly. Oh, Sovereignly: how many Cups have you arrived to?

"Mrs. Brisket. Truly Six, and they pass so kindly."

By degrees these medicinal waters, or Spas, as they were termed in later times, fell into desuetude, possibly because medical knowledge was advancing; and the Wells, with their gardens attached, became places of outdoor recreation, where the sober citizen could smoke his pipe, and have his beer, or cider, whilst his wife, and her gossips, indulged in tittle tattle over their Tea—which, although much dearer than at present, was a very popular beverage, and so, from health resorts, they imperceptibly merged into the modern Tea Garden—which, in its turn, has become nearly extinct, as have the Ranelagh and Vauxhall of a former age; which, however, we have seen, in our time, somewhat resuscitated in the outdoor portion of the several Exhibitions which have taken place, in the few past years, at South Kensington.

The White Conduit had a history of its own, which we can trace back, at all events, to the fifteenth century, for it was built as a reservoir to supply what was, afterwards, the Charterhouse.

This we can see by a royal licence, dated December 2, 9 Henry VI. an. 1431,[21] which granted to John Feryby, and his wife Margery, that they might grant and assign to the Prior and Convent of the House of the Salutation of the Blessed Mary of the Carthusian Order, by London, a certain well spring (fontein) and 53 perches of land in length, and 12 feet in breadth, in the vill of Iseldon (Islington) to have to them and their successors for ever, and to the same Prior and Convent, to take the said land, and construct a certain subterraneous aqueduct from the aforesaid well spring, through the aforesaid land, and through the King's highway aforesaid, and elsewhere, as it may seem best &c., non obstante the Act against mortmain (Teste Humfride Duce Gloucestr' Custode AngliÆ apud Westm.).

As we know, Henry VIII. put an end to the Monastic Orders in England, and, at the dissolution of the Priory, the reversion of the site, and house thereof, was granted, on April 14, 1545, [22] to Sir Roger North, in fee, together with "all that the Head and original Well Spring of one Channel or Aqueduct situate and being in a certain field in the parish of Islington"—and it also gave, all the channels, aqueducts, and watercourses under ground "up to the site of the said House of the Carthusians."

But, although the spring might, and did, supply the Charter House, yet it is possible that the Conduit House, from which it got the name of White Conduit, from its being built of white stone—was built by Thomas Sutton, who founded the Hospital of the Charter House,—in 1611. It was either built by him, or repaired in 1641, for, incorporated in the building, was a stone containing his arms—and initials. [23]

The other initials have not been identified. As the "White Conduit" it was known well into this century, but it fell somewhat into decay, about 1812—was never repaired, and, finally, was pulled down in 1831—to make way for the completion of some new buildings in Barnsbury Road, as a continuation of Penton Street: and the stone was broken up, and used in making the New Road.

STONE IN THE WHITE CONDUIT.
STONE IN THE WHITE CONDUIT.
Gentleman's Magazine, vol. lxxi. p. 1161, A.D. 1801.

So much for the Conduit itself; but it, although inert, exercised a large share in the amusements of Londoners down to a comparatively recent period. It was pleasantly situated in the fields, and, until this century, during the latter half of which, the modern Babylon has become one huge mass of bricks and mortar, it served as a pleasant place of recreation for the Cits. There was an uninterrupted prospect of Hampstead and Highgate—which bounded the northern view, and which was purely pastoral, with the exception of sparsely-dotted farmhouses. There is a tradition that, on the site of the comparatively modern White Conduit House, was (in the reign of Charles I.), a tavern in the course of erection, and that, being finished, the workmen were carousing at the very moment of the monarch's decapitation.

Doubtless, in these suburban fields, there was, for very many years, a place for refreshment, which probably took the form, in the Arcadian age of the seventeenth and eighteenth century, of new milk, curds and whey, and syllabubs, for Islington was famous for its dairy produce, [24] as we know by the account of the entertainment given to Queen Elizabeth at Kenilworth Castle in 1575 by the Earl of Leicester, when the Squier Minstrel of Middlesex made a long speech in praise of Islington, whose motto was said to be, "Lactis Caseus infans."

The earliest really authentic notice of the White Conduit House, I can find, is in the Daily Advertiser August 10, 1754. "This is to acquaint the public, that, at the White Conduit House, the proprietor, for the better accommodation of the gentlemen and ladies, has completed a long walk, with a handsome circular Fish-pond, a number of shady, pleasant arbours inclosed with a fence 7 feet high to prevent being the least incommoded from the people in the fields. Hot loaves, [25] and butter every day, milk directly from the Cows; coffee and tea, and all manners of liquors in the greatest perfection: also a handsome Long Room, from whence is the most Copious prospects and airy situation of any now in vogue. I humbly hope the continuance of my friends' favours, as I make it my chief study to have the best accommodations, and am, Gentlemen and Ladies, your obliged humble servant, Robert Bartholomew. Note. My Cows eat no grains, neither any adulteration in the Milk or Cream. Bats and Balls for Cricket, and a convenient field to play in."

This gives us a very fair insight into the sober relaxations of our great-great-grandfathers: and that the White Conduit House was, about this time, a resort for harmless recreation; and, certainly, it would rejoice the modern temperance enthusiasts to find that the principal beverages there drank were "non-intoxicants." Oliver Goldsmith used frequently to go there, walking from his house at Islington; and, in his "Citizen of the World," letter 122, he writes, "After having surveyed the Curiosities of this fair and beautiful town, I proceeded forward, leaving a fair stone building on my right; here the inhabitants of London often assemble to celebrate a feast of hot rolls and butter. Seeing such numbers, each with their little tables before them, employed on this occasion, must no doubt be a very amusing sight to the looker-on, but still more so to those who perform in the Solemnity."

And the same story of simplicity of amusement, and refreshment, is amusingly told in the Gentleman's Magazine for May, 1760, vol. xxx. p. 242, in a short poem by William Woty, the author of the "Shrubs of Parnassus, consisting of a variety of poetical essays, moral and comic, by I. Copywell, of Lincoln's Inn, Esq. 1760."

"And to White Conduit House

We will go, will go, will go."

Grub Street Register.

"Wish'd Sunday's come—mirth brightens ev'ry face,

And paints the rose upon the housemaid's cheek

Harriot, or Mol more ruddy. Now the heart

Of prentice resident in ample street,

Or alley, Kennel-wash'd Cheapside, Cornhill

Or Cranborne, thee, for calcuments renown'd,

With joy distends. His meal meridian o'er,

With switch in hand, he to White Conduit house

Hies merry hearted. Human beings here

In couples multitudinous assemble,

Forming the drollest groupe, that ever trod

Fair Islingtonian plains. Male after male,

Dog after dog, succeeding—husbands—wives—

Fathers and mothers—brothers—sisters—friends—

And pretty little boys and girls. Around,

Across, along, the garden's shrubby maze,

They walk, they sit, they stand. What crowds press on,

Eager to mount the stairs, eager to catch

First vacant bench or chair in long-room plac'd.

Here prig with prig holds conference polite,

And indiscriminate, the gaudy beau,

And sloven mix. Here he, who all the week

Took bearded mortals by the nose, or sat

Weaving dead hairs, and whistling wretched strain,

And eke the sturdy youth, whose trade it is

Stout oxen to contend, with gold bound hat,

And silken stocking strut. The red-arm'd belle

Here shews her tasty gown, proud to be thought

The butterfly of fashion: and, forsooth,

Her haughty mistress deigns for once to tread

The same unhallow'd floor. 'Tis hurry all,

And ratling cups and saucers. Waiter here,

And waiter there, and waiter here and there,

At once is call'd—Joe—Joe—Joe—Joe—Joe—

Joe on the right—and Joe upon the left,

For ev'ry vocal pipe re-ecchoes Joe.

Alas, poor Joe! Like Francis in the play

He stands confounded, anxious how to please

The many-headed throng. But shou'd I paint

The language, humours, customs of the place,

Together with all curtsy's lowly bows,

And compliments extern, 'twould swell my page

Beyond it's limits due. Suffice it then,

For my prophetic muse to say, 'So long

As fashion rides upon the Wing of time,

While tea and cream, and buttered rolls can please,

While rival beaux, and jealous belles exist,

So long White Conduit house, shall be thy fame.

W. W."

Later on in the century, it was still a reputable place of resort. In 1774, there was a painting at one end of the garden, the perspective of which served, artificially, to augment its size; the round fish-pond in the centre of the garden, still existed, and the refreshment-rooms, or boxes, were hung with Flemish and other pictures.

Hone ("Every Day Book," vol. ii. p. 1201, &c.) says, "About 1810, the late celebrated Wm. Huntingdon S.S.[26] of Providence Chapel, who lives in a handsome house within sight, was at the expense of clearing the spring for the use of the inhabitants; but, because his pulpit opinions were obnoxious, some of the neighbouring vulgar threw loads of soil upon it in the night, which rendered the water impure, and obstructed its channel, and, finally, ceasing to flow, the public was deprived of the kindness he proposed. The building itself, was in a very perfect state at that time, and ought to have been boarded up after the field it stood in was thrown open. As the new buildings proceeded, it was injured, and defaced, by idle labourers and boys, from mere wantonness, and reduced to a mere ruin. There was a kind of upper floor or hayloft in it, which was frequently a shelter to the houseless wanderer. A few years ago some poor creatures made it a comfortable hostel for the night with a little hay. Early in the morning a passing workman perceived smoke issuing from the crevices, and as he approached, heard loud cries from within. Some mischievous miscreants had set fire to the fodder beneath the sleepers, and, afterwards, fastened the door on the outside: the inmates were scorched by the fire, and probably they would all have been suffocated in a few minutes, if the place had not been broken open.

THE WHITE CONDUIT.
THE WHITE CONDUIT.

"The 'White Conduit' at this time (1826) merely stands to those who had the power, and neglected to preserve it.

"To the buildings grown up around, it might have been rendered a neat ornament, by planting a few trees, and enclosing the whole with an iron railing, and have stood as a monument of departed worth.

"'White Conduit House' has ceased to be a recreation in the good sense of the word. Its present denomination is the 'Minor Vauxhall,' and its chief attraction during the passing summer has been Mrs. Bland.[27] She has still powers, and, if their exercise here, has been a stay and support to this sweet melodist, so far the establishment may be deemed respectable. It is a ground for balloon flying and skittle playing, and just maintains itself above the very lowest, so as to be one of the most doubtful places of public resort. Recollections of it some years ago are more in its favour. Its tea gardens then, in summer afternoons, were well accustomed by tradesmen and their families; they are now comparatively deserted, and, instead, there is, at night, a starveling show of odd company and coloured lamps, a mock orchestra, with mock singing, dancing in a room which decent persons would prefer to withdraw their young folks from, if they entered, and fireworks 'as usual,' which, to say the truth, are, usually, very good."

WHITE CONDUIT GARDENS (INTERIOR).
WHITE CONDUIT GARDENS (INTERIOR).

WHITE CONDUIT GARDENS (EXTERIOR).
WHITE CONDUIT GARDENS (EXTERIOR).

As time went on, the place did not improve, as we may see by the New Monthly Magazine for 1833, in an article—part of "Four Views of London." Speaking of the White Conduit—"Here too is that Paradise of apprentice boys, White Cundick Couse, as it is cacophoniously pronounced by its visitors, which has done much to expel the decencies of the district. Thirty years ago this place was better frequented—that is, there was a larger number of respectable adults—fathers and mothers, with their children, and a smaller moiety of shop lads, and such like Sunday bucks, who were awed into decency by their elders. The manners, perhaps, are much upon a par with what they were. The ballroom gentlemen then went through country dances with their hats on, and their coats off:—hats are now taken off, but coats are still unfashionable on these gala nights. The belles of that day wore long trains to their gowns: it was a favourite mode of introduction to a lady there, to tread on it, and then, apologizing handsomely, acquaintance was begun, and soon ripened into an invitation to tea, and the hot loaves for which these gardens were once celebrated. Being now a popular haunt, those who hang on the rear of the march of human nature, the suttlers, camp followers, and plunderers, know that where large numbers of men and boys are in pursuit of pleasure, there is a sprinkling of the number to whom vice and debauchery are ever welcome: they have, therefore, supplied what these wanted; and Pentonville may now hold up its head, and boast of its depravities before any part of London."[28]

It got more and more disreputable, until it was pulled down in 1849, and the present White Conduit Tavern was built upon a portion of its site.

Footnotes

[21] Cart. Antiq. in Off. Augm. vol. ii. No. 43.

[22] Pat. 36 Henry VIII. p. 13, m. 31.

[23] See next page.

[24] In an early sixteenth century book (unique) printed by Wynkyn de Worde, called "Cocke Lorelles Boke" the dairy farming at Islington is mentioned—

"Also mathewe to the drawer of London,
And sybly sole mylke-wyfe of Islington."

[25] These Rolls were as famous as Chelsea Buns. "White Conduit loaves" being a familiar street cry.

[26] This revivalist used these initials as meaning "Sinner Saved."

[27] A somewhat famous singer in the latter part of the eighteenth and first quarter of the nineteenth centuries. She sang and acted at Drury Lane and the Haymarket—and also sang at Vauxhall. She became poor, and on July 5, 1824, she had a benefit at Drury Lane, which, with a public subscription, produced about £800. Lord Egremont also allowed her £80 a year. She was somewhat related to Royalty: her husband, Bland, an actor at Drury Lane, being the brother of Mrs. Jordan, who was the wife of William the Fourth.

[28] A frequent visitor at these gardens was the late George Cruikshank, and many subjects were transferred to his sketch book. He was so well known, as to become a sort of terror to the habituÉs of the place, and children were threatened, when fractious, "that if they made such ugly faces, Mr. Cruikshank would put them in his book."


CHAPTER VI.

SADLER'S WELLS does not really feed the Fleet River, but I notice the spring, for the same reason that I noticed the White Conduit.

A very fair account of its early history is given in a little pamphlet entitled "A True and Exact Account of Sadlers Well: or the New Mineral Waters. Lately found out at Islington: Treating of its nature and Virtues. Together with an Enumeration of the Chiefest Diseases which it is good for, and against which it may be used, and the Manner and Order of Taking of it. Published for publick good by T. G. (Thomas Guidot) Doctor of Physick. Printed for Thomas Malthus at the Sun in the Poultry. 1684."

It begins thus:—"The New Well at Islington is a certain Spring in the middle of a Garden, belonging to the Musick House built by Mr. Sadler, on the North side of the Great Cistern that receives the New River Water near Islington, the Water whereof was, before the Reformation, very much famed for several extraordinary Cures performed thereby, and was, thereupon, accounted sacred, and called Holy Well. The Priests belonging to the Priory of Clarkenwell using to attend there, made the People believe that the virtues of the Waters proceeded from the efficacy of their Prayers. But upon the Reformation the Well was stopt up, upon a supposition that the frequenting it was altogether superstitious, and so, by degrees, it grew out of remembrance, and was wholly lost, until found out, and the Fame of it revived again by the following accident.

"Mr. Sadler being made Surveyor of the High Ways, and having good Gravel in his own Gardens, employed two Men to Dig there, and when they had Dug pretty deep, one of them found his Pickax strike upon some thing that was very hard; whereupon he endeavoured to break it, but could not: whereupon thinking with himself that it might, peradventure, be some Treasure hid there, he uncovered it very carefully, and found it to be a Broad, Flat Stone: which, having loosened, and lifted up, he saw it was supported by four Oaken Posts, and had under it a large Well of Stone Arched over, and curiously carved; and, having viewed it, he called his fellow Labourer to see it likewise, and asked him whether they should fetch Mr. Sadler, and shew it to him? Who, having no kindness for Sadler, said no; he should not know of it, but as they had found it, so they would stop it up again, and take no notice of it; which he that found it consented to at first, but after a little time he found himself (whether out of Curiosity, or some other reason, I shall not determine) strongly inclined to tell Sadler of the Well; which he did, one Sabbath Day in the Evening.

"Sadler, upon this, went down to see the Well, and observing the Curiosity of the Stone Work, that was about it, and fancying within himself that it was a Medicinal Water, formerly had in great esteem, but by some accident or other lost, he took some of it in a Bottle, and carryed it to an Eminent Physician, telling him how the Well was found out, and desiring his Judgment of the Water; who having tasted and tried it, told him it was very strong of a Mineral taste, and advised him to Brew some Beer with it, and carry it to some Persons, to whom he would recommend him; which he did accordingly. And some of those who used to have it of him in Bottles, found so much good by it, that they desired him to bring it in Roundlets."


Sadler's success, for such it was, provoked the envy of others, and one or two satires upon the Wells were produced.

Soon after he opened the Wells, Evelyn visited them, as we read in his invaluable diary. "June 11, 1686. I went to see Middleton's receptacle of water [29] and the New Spa Wells, near Islington." The Spring was still known as Sadler's up to 1697 as we find in advertisements in the Post Boy and Flying Post of June, in that year. But the "Musick House" seems to have passed into other hands, for in 1699 it was called "Miles's Musick House." They seem to have had peculiar entertainments here, judging by an account in Dawk's Protestant Mercury of May 24, 1699. "On Tuesday last a fellow at Sadler's Wells, near Islington, after he had dined heartily on a buttock of beef, for the lucre of five guineas, eat a live cock, feathers, guts, and all, with only a plate of oil and vinegar for sawce, and half a pint of brandy to wash it down, and afterwards proffered to lay five guineas more, that he could do the same again in two hours' time."

That this was a fact is amply borne out by the testimony of Ned Ward, who managed to see most of what was going on in town, and he thus describes the sight in his rough, but vigorous language.

"With much difficulty we crowded upstairs, where we soon got intelligence of the beastly scene in agitation. At last a table was spread with a dirty cloth in the middle of the room, furnished with bread, pepper, oil, and vinegar; but neither knife, plate, fork, or napkin; and when the beholders had conveniently mounted themselves upon one another's shoulders to take a fair view of his Beastlyness's banquet, in comes the lord of the feast, disguised in an Antick's Cap, like a country hangman, attended by a train of Newmarket executioners. When a chair was set, and he had placed himself in sight of the whole assembly, a live Cock was given into the ravenous paws of this ingurgitating monster."

In the same year, in his "Walk to Islington," Ward gives a description of the people who frequented this "Musick House."

"——mixed with a vermin trained up for the gallows,

As Bullocks[30] and files,[31] housebreakers and padders.[32]

With prize fighters, sweetners,[33] and such sort of traders,

Informers, thief-takers, deer-stealers, and bullies."

It seems to have been kept by Francis Forcer, a musician, about 1725, and the scene at the Wells is graphically described in "The New River, a Poem, by William Garbott."

"Through Islington then glides my best loved theme

And Miles's garden washes with his stream:

Now F—r's Garden is its proper name,

Though Miles the man was, who first got it fame;

And tho' it's own'd, Miles first did make it known,

F—r improves the same we all must own.

There you may sit under the shady trees,

And drink and smoak, fann'd by a gentle breeze;

Behold the fish, how wantonly they play,

And catch them also, if you please, you may,

Two Noble Swans swim by this garden side,

Of water-fowl the glory and the pride;

Which to the Garden no small beauty are;

Were they but black they would be much more rare:

With ducks so tame that from your hand they'll feed,

And, I believe, for that, they sometimes bleed.

A noble Walk likewise adorns the place,

To which the river adds a greater grace:

There you may sit or walk, do which you please,

Which best you like, and suits most with your ease.

Now to the Show-room let's awhile repair,

To see the active feats performed there.

How the bold Dutchman, on the rope doth bound,

With greater air than others on the ground:

What capers does he cut! how backward leaps!

With Andrew Merry eyeing all his steps:

His comick humours with delight you see,

Pleasing unto the best of company," &c.

But a very vivid description of Sadler's Wells is given in "Mackliniana, or Anecdotes of the late Mr. Charles Macklin, Comedian" in the European Magazine for 1801 (vol. xl. p. 16):—

"Being met one night at Sadler's Wells by a friend, who afterwards saw him home, he went into a history of that place, with an accuracy which, though nature generally denies to the recollection of old age in recent events, seems to atone for it in the remembrance of more remote periods.

"Sir, I remember the time when the price of admission here was but threepence, except a few places scuttled off at the sides of the stage at sixpence, and which was usually reserved for people of fashion, who occasionally came to see the fun. Here we smoked, and drank porter and rum and water, as much as we could pay for, and every man had his doxy that liked it, and so forth; and though we had a mixture of very odd company (for I believe it was a good deal the baiting place of thieves and highwaymen) there was little or no rioting. There was a public then, Sir, that kept one another in awe.

"Q. Were the entertainments anything like the present? A. No, no; nothing in the shape of them; some hornpipes and ballad singing, with a kind of pantomimic ballet, and some lofty tumbling—and all this was done by daylight, and there were four or five exhibitions every day.

"Q. How long did these continue at a time? A. Why, Sir, it depended upon circumstances. The proprietors had always a fellow on the outside of the booth, to calculate how many people were collected for a second exhibition, and when he thought there were enough, he came to the back of the upper seats, and cried out, 'Is Hiram Fisteman here?' This was the cant word agreed upon between the parties, to know the state of the people without—upon which they concluded the entertainment with a song, dismissed that audience, and prepared for a second representation.

"Q. Was this in Rozamon's time? A. No, no, Sir; long before—not but old Rozamon improved it a good deal, and, I believe, raised the price generally to sixpence, and in this way got a great deal of money."

Space prevents one going into the merits of the Theatre here, but it may not be out of place if I mention some of the singers, and actors, who have appeared on those boards—Joey Grimaldi, Braham, Miss Shields (afterwards Mrs. Leffler), Edmund Kean, the great traveller Belzoni, Miss Tree, Phelps, of Shakespearian fame, Marston, and others, testify to the talent which has had its home in this theatre. One peculiarity about Sadler's Wells Theatre was the introduction of real water as a scenic effect. It seems to have been first used on Easter Monday, April 2, 1804, in an entertainment called Naumachia. A very large tank was made under the stage, and filled with water from the New River; and in this tank mimic men o' war bombarded Gibraltar, but were repulsed, with loss, by the heroic garrison. Afterwards, it was frequently used for Spectacles, in which water was used as an adjunct.

After this digression let us follow the course of the River Fleet. Leaving St. Chad's Well, and before coming to Bagnigge Wells, there stood in Gray's Inn Road an old public-house called the Pindar of Wakefield, the pounder, or keeper of the pound at that town, the famous George À Green, who gave Robin Hood a notable thrashing, extorting from that bold outlaw this confession—

"For this was one of the best pinders

That ever I tryed with sword."

This old house was destroyed by a hurricane in November, 1723, when the two daughters of the landlord were killed by the falling walls. It was, however, at once rebuilt, and a public-house, bearing the same sign, exists at 328, Gray's Inn Road—most probably occupying the original site.

Footnotes

[29] The New River Head.

[30] A hector, or bully.

[31] A pickpocket.

[32] A tramp.

[33] A Sharper.


>THE PINDAR OF WAKEFIELD.
THE PINDAR OF WAKEFIELD.

CHAPTER VII.

BETWEEN this house, and Bagnigge Wells, was Bagnigge Wash, or Marsh, and Black Mary's Wells, or Hole. The etymology of this place is contested. In the Gentleman's Magazine for 1813, part ii. p. 557, in an "Account of various Mineral Wells near London," is the following: "Lastly, in the same neighbourhood, may be mentioned the spring or conduit on the eastern side of the road leading from Clerken Well to Bagnigge Wells, and which has given name to a very few small houses as Black Mary's Hole. The land here was, formerly, called Bagnigg Marsh, from the river Bagnigg,[34] which passes through it. But, in after-time, the citizens resorting to drink the waters of the conduit, which then was leased to one Mary, who kept a black Cow, whose milk the gentlemen and ladies drank with the waters of the Conduit, from whence, the wits of that age used to say, 'Come, let us go to Mary's black hole.' However, Mary dying, and the place degenerating into licentiousness, about 1687, Walter Baynes Esqre, of the Inner Temple, enclosed the Conduit in the manner it now is, which looks like a great oven. He is supposed to have left a fund for keeping the same in perpetual repair. The stone with the inscription was carried away during the night about ten years ago. The water (which formerly fed two ponds on the other side of the road) falls into the old Bagnigge river."

This etymon, however, is contested in a pamphlet called An experimental enquiry concerning the Contents, Qualities, Medicinal Virtues of the two Mineral Waters of Bagnigge Wells, &c., by John Bevis, M.D. This pamphlet was originally published in 1767, but I quote from the third edition of 1819. "At what time these waters were first known cannot be made out with any degree of evidence. A tradition goes that the place of old was called Blessed Mary's Well; but that the name of the Holy Virgin having, in some measure, fallen into disrepute after the Reformation, the title was altered to Black Mary's Well, as it now stands upon Mr. Rocque's map, and then to Black Mary's Hole; though there is a very different account of these latter appellations; for there are those who insist they were taken from one Mary Woolaston, whose occupation was attending at a well, now covered in, on an opposite eminence, by the footway from Bagnigge to Islington to supply the soldiery, encamped in the adjacent fields, with water. But waving such uncertainties, it may be relied on for truth, that a late proprietor, upon taking possession of the estate, found two wells thereon, both steaned in a workmanlike manner; but when, or for what purpose, they were sunk, he is entirely ignorant."

But Black Mary's Hole, during the first half of the last century, had a very queer reputation. There was a little public-house with the sign of "The Fox at Bay," which probably had something to do with the numerous highway robberies that occurred thereabouts.

In Cromwell's "History of Clerkenwell," pp. 318, 319, we hear of the last of Black Mary's Hole. He says, "Beneath the front garden of a house in Spring Place, and extending under the foot-pavement almost to the turnpike gate called the Pantheon Gate, lies the capacious receptacle of a Mineral Spring, which in former times was in considerable repute, both as a chalybeate, and for its supposed efficacy in the cure of sore eyes.... About ten years back, when Spring Place was erected, the builder removed every external appearance of Walter Baynes's labours, and converted the receptacle beneath into a cesspool for the drainage of his houses. The spring thus degraded, and its situation concealed, it is probable that the lapse of a few more years would have effaced the memory of it for ever, had not an accident re-discovered it in the summer of 1826. Its covering, which was only of boards, having rotted, suddenly gave way, and left a large chasm in the footpath. After some efforts, not perfectly successful, to turn off the drainage, it was then arched with brickwork, and a leaden pump placed over it, in the garden where it chiefly lies. But the pump being stolen during the following winter, the spring has again fallen into neglect, and possibly this page alone will prevent its being totally forgotten."

Still following the Fleet to its outfall, we next come to Bagnigge Well, a chalybeate spring, first used medicinally, and then, like all these Spas, merely as a promenade, and place of out-of-door recreation.

Originally, this spring probably belonged to the Nunnery at Clerkenwell, and may possibly be the "Rode Well" mentioned in the Register of Clerkenwell. But we are indebted to Dr. Bevis, from whose pamphlet I have already quoted, for a history of its modern rise and development (p. 38).

"In the year 1757, the spot of ground in which this well is sunk was let out to a gentleman curious in gardening, who observed that the oftener he watered his flowers from it the worse they throve. I happened, toward the end of that summer, to be in company with a friend who made a transient visit to Mr. Hughes, and was asked to taste the water; and, being surprised to find its flavour so near that of the best German chalybeates, did not hesitate to declare my opinion, that it might be made of great benefit both to the public and himself. At my request, he sent me some of the water, in a large stone bottle, well corked, the next day; a gallon whereof I immediately set over a fire, and by a hasty evaporation found it very rich in mineral contents, though much less so than I afterwards experienced it to be when more leisurely exhaled by a gentle heat. Whilst this operation was carrying on, I made some experiments on the remainder of the water, particularly with powdered galls, which I found to give, in less than a minute, a very rich and deep purple tincture to it, that lasted many days without any great alteration. I reported these matters to Mr. Hughes, but, soon after, a very dangerous illness put a stop to my experiments, which I did not resume for a considerable time, when the proprietor called, and told me his waters were in very great repute, and known by the name of Bagnigge Wells; which I remembered to have seen in the newspapers, without so much as guessing it had been given to these springs. Mr. Hughes took me to his wells, where I was not a little pleased with the elegant accommodations he had provided for company in so short a time."

The house attached to the Spa is said to have been the residence of Nell Gwyn, but tradition has assigned her so many houses; at Chelsea, Bagnigge Wells, Highgate, Walworth, and Filberts, near Windsor—nay, one enterprising tradesman in the Strand has christened a milk shop "Nell Gwyn's Dairy," and has gone to some expense, in pictorial tiles, to impress on passers-by the genuineness of his assertion.

Still, local tradition is strong, and, in a book called "The Recreations[35] of Mr. Zigzag the elder" (a pseudonym for Mr. John Wykeham Archer, artist and antiquary), which is in the Library of the City of London, and which is profusely "Grangerised" by the author, is a small water colour of Bagnigge House, the reputed dwelling of Nell Gwyn, which I have reproduced in outline, and on this drawing is a note, "Moreover several small tenements at the north end of the Garden were formerly entitled Nell Gwynne's Buildings, which seems to verify the tradition." [36]

BAGNIGGE HOUSE. (Said to have been Nell Gwyn's.)
BAGNIGGE HOUSE. (Said to have been Nell Gwyn's.)

But the evidence is all of a quasi kind. In the long room, supposed to have been the banqueting room, was, over the mantel, a bust, an alto relievo, of a female, supposed to be Nell Gwyn, and said to be modelled by Sir Peter Lely, enclosed in a circular border of fruit, which, of course, was at once set down as a delicate allusion to the actress's former calling of orange wench in the theatres. The bust and border were painted to imitate nature, and on either side were coats of arms—one the Royal arms, and, on the other side, the Royal arms quartered with others, which were supposed to be those assumed by the actress. When the old house was pulled down, the bust disappeared, and no one knows whither it went.

I give a quotation from the Sunday Times, July 5, 1840, not as adding authority, or weight, to the idea that Bagnigge House was Nell's residence, but to show how deeply rooted was the tradition. It is a portion of the "Maximms and Speciments of William Muggins, Natural Philosopher, and Citizen of the World"—

"Oh! how werry different London are now to wot it war at the time as I took my view on it from the post; none of them beautiful squares and streets, as lies heast and west, and north of the hospital, war built then; it war hall hopen fields right hup to Ampstead an Ighgate and Hislington. Bagnigge Well stood by itself at the foot of the hill, jist where it does now; and then it looked the werry pictur of countryfiedness and hinnocence. There war the beautiful white washed walls, with the shell grotto in the hoctagon summer house, where Nell Gwynne used to sit and watch for King Charles the Second. By the by, a pictur done by a famous hartist of them days, Sir Somebody Neller I thinks war his name, represents the hidentical ouse (it war a fine palace then) with the hidentical hoctagon summer house, with the beautiful Nelly leaning hout of the winder, with her lilly white hand and arm a-beckoning, while the King is seed in the distance galloping like vinking across the fields a waving his hat and feathers; while a little page, with little tobacker-pipe legs, in white stockings, stands ready to hopen a little door in the garden wall, and let hin the royal wisitor, while two little black and tan spanels is frisking about and playing hup hold gooseberry among the flower beds.

That ere pictur used to hang hup in the bar parlor; its wanished now—so are the bust as were in the long room; but there's another portrait pictur of her, all alone by herself, done by Sir Peter Lely, still to be seen. (This here last coorosity war discovered honly a year or two ago, rolled hup among sum rubbige in the loft hunder the roof.)"

The old house, however, was evidently of some importance, for, over a low doorway which led into the garden, was a stone, on which was sculptured a head in relief, and the following inscription—

X
THIS IS BAGNIGGE
HOUSE NEARE
THE PINDAR A
WAKEFIELDE
1680.

thus showing that the Pindar of Wakefield was the older house, and famous in that locality. This doorway and stone were in existence within the last forty years, for, in a footnote to page 572 of the Gentleman's Magazine of June, 1847, it says, "The gate and inscription still remain, and will be found, where we saw them a few weeks since, in the road called Coppice Row, on the left going from Clerkenwell towards the New Road."

The following illustration gives Bagnigge Wells as it appeared at the end of last century.

BAGNIGGE WELLS, NEAR BATTLE BRIDGE, ISLINGTON
BAGNIGGE WELLS, NEAR BATTLE BRIDGE, ISLINGTON

We have read how these gardens were first started in 1757, but they soon became well known and, indeed, notorious, as we read in a very scurrilous poem called "Bagnigge Wells," by W. Woty, in 1760—

"Wells, and the place I sing, at early dawn

Frequented oft, where male and female meet,

And strive to drink a long adieu to pain.

In that refreshing Vale with fragrance fill'd,

Renown'd of old for Nymph of public fame

And amorous Encounter, where the sons

Of lawless lust conven'd—where each by turns

His venal Doxy woo'd, and stil'd the place

Black Mary's Hole—there stands a Dome superb,

Hight Bagnigge; where from our Forefathers hid,

Long have two Springs in dull stagnation slept;

But, taught at length by subtle art to flow,

They rise, forth from Oblivion's bed they rise,

And manifest their Virtues to Mankind."

The major portion of this poem (?) is rather too risque for modern publication, but the following extract shows the sort of people who went there with the view of benefiting their health—

"Here ambulates th' Attorney looking grave,

And Rake from Bacchanalian rout uprose,

And mad festivity. Here, too, the Cit,

With belly, turtle-stuff'd, and man of Gout,

With leg of size enormous. Hobbling on,

The Pump-room he salutes, and in the chair

He squats himself unwieldy. Much he drinks,

And much he laughs to see the females quaff

The friendly beverage. He, nor jest obscene,

Of meretricious wench, nor quibble quaint,

Of prentic'd punster heeds, himself a wit

And dealer in conundrums, but retorts

The repartee jocosely. Soft! how pale

Yon antiquated virgin looks! Alas!

In vain she drinks, in vain she glides around

The Garden's labyrinth. 'Tis not for thee,

Mistaken nymph! these waters pour their streams," &c.

And in the prologue to "Bon Ton: or High Life above Stairs," by David Garrick, acted at Drury Lane for the first time, for the benefit of Mr. King, in 1775, not much is said as to the character of its frequenters.

"Ah! I loves life and all the joy it yields,

Says Madam Fupock, warm from Spittlefields.

Bon Ton's the space 'twixt Saturday and Monday,

And riding in a one-horse chaise on Sunday,

'Tis drinking tea on summer's afternoons

At Bagnigge Wells, with china and gilt spoons."

Footnotes

[34] Otherwise the Fleet.

[35] These papers appeared in the Illustrated Family Journal.

[36] In Cromwell's "History of Clerkenwell," p. 322, we read, "In memory of its supposed proprietor, the owner of some small tenements near the north end of the gardens styled them 'Nell Gwynn's Buildings;' but the inscription was erased before 1803."


CHAPTER VIII.

THE gardens were pretty, after the manner of the times; we should not, perhaps, particularly admire the formally cut lines and hedges, nor the fountain in which a Cupid is hugging a swan, nor the rustic statuary of the haymakers. Still it was a little walk out of London, where fresh air could be breathed, and a good view obtained of the northern hills of Hampstead and Highgate, with the interlying pastoral country, sparsely dotted with farmhouses and cottages. The Fleet, here, had not been polluted into a sewer as it was further on, and there were all the elements of spending a pleasant, happy day, in good air, amid rural scenes.

A VIEW TAKEN FROM THE CENTER BRIDGE IN THE GARDENS OF BAGNIGGE WELLS
A VIEW TAKEN FROM THE CENTER BRIDGE IN THE GARDENS OF BAGNIGGE WELLS

WAITER FROM THE BREAD AND BUTTER MANUFACTORY; OR, THE HUMOURS OF BAGNIGGE WELLS.
WAITER FROM THE BREAD AND BUTTER MANUFACTORY;
OR, THE HUMOURS OF BAGNIGGE WELLS.
THE BREAD AND BUTTER MANUFACTORY; OR, THE HUMOURS OF BAGNIGGE WELLS.
THE BREAD AND BUTTER MANUFACTORY; OR, THE HUMOURS OF BAGNIGGE WELLS.

The place, however, rapidly became a disreputable rendezvous, and we get an excellent glimpse of the costumes of circa 1780 in the two following engravings taken from mezzotints published by Carington Bowles; although not dated, they are of that period, showing the Macaronis and Belles of that time. The first is called "The Bread and Butter Manufactory, [37] or the Humours of Bagnigge Wells," and the second "A Bagnigge Wells Scene, or no resisting temptation," which gives a charming representation of the ultra fashion of dress then worn.

A BAGNIGGE WELLS SCENE; OR, NO RESISTING TEMPTATION.
A BAGNIGGE WELLS SCENE; OR, NO RESISTING TEMPTATION.

Yet another glance at the manners of the time is afforded by the boy waiter, who hurries along with his tray of tea-things and kettle of hot water.[38]

THE BAGNIGGE ORGANIST.
THE BAGNIGGE ORGANIST.

And there was good music there, too—an organ in the long room, on which Charles Griffith performed, as may be seen in the accompanying illustration. The name of Davis on the music books, is that of the then proprietor, and the lines underneath are parodied from Dryden's "Song for St. Cecilia's day, 1687."

"What passion cannot music raise and quell!

When Jubal struck the corded shell,

His listening brethren stood around,

And, wondering, on their faces fell."

It went on with varying fortunes, and under various proprietors. First of all Mr. Hughes, then, in 1792, Davis had it; in 1813 it was in the hands of one Salter; in 1818, a man named Thorogood took it, but let it to one Monkhouse, who failed, and it reverted to Thorogood. Then came as tenant, a Mr. Chapman, who was bankrupt in 1833, and, in 1834, Richard Chapman was proprietor. I fancy he was the last, as public house, and gardens, combined.

Mr. William Muggins, before quoted, laments its decadence thus: "Besides the whitewashed walls, and hoctagon shell grotto, there war the tea garden, with its honey suckle and sweet briar harbours, where they used to drink tea hout of werry small cups, and heat the far famed little hot loaves and butter; then there war the dancing plot, and the gold and silver fish ponds, and the bowling green, and skittle alley, and fire work ground hall so romantic and rural, standing in the middle of a lot of fields, and shaded around with trees. Now it's a werry different concarn, for it's surrounded with buildings—the gardens is cut hoff to nuffin, and the ouse looks tumble down and miserable." That was in 1840.

It was about this time that a song appeared in "The Little Melodist," 1839—dilating on the delights of the neighbourhood of Islington, and the first verse ran thus:

"Will you go to Bagnigge Wells,

Bonnet builder, O!

Where the Fleet ditch fragrant smells,

Bonnet builder, O!

Where the fishes used to swim,

So nice and sleek and trim,

But the pond's now covered in,

Bonnet builder, O!

Punch, too, when it was young, and had warm blood coursing through its veins, visited Bagnigge Wells, and recorded the visit in its pages (Sept. 7, 1843). After a description of the walk thither, it says, "We last visited Bagnigge Wells about the beginning of the present week, and, like many travellers, at first passed close to it without seeing it. Upon returning, however, our eye was first arrested by an ancient door in the wall over which was inscribed the following:— [39]

"This inscription, of which the above is a fac simile was surmounted by a noseless head carved in stone; and, underneath, was a cartoon drawn in chalk upon the door, evidently of a later date, and bearing a resemblance to some of the same class in Gell's 'Pompeii.' Underneath was written in letters of an irregular alphabet, 'Chucky'—the entire drawing being, without doubt, some local pasquinade.

"Not being able to obtain admittance at the door, we went on a short distance, and came to the ruins of the ancient 'Wells,' of which part of the banqueting room still exists. These are entirely open to the public as well as the adjoining pleasure grounds, although the thick layer of brick-bats with which they are covered, renders walking a task of some difficulty. The adjacent premises of an eminent builder separate them by some cubits from the road of Gray's Inn, near which, what we suppose to be the 'Well' is still visible. It is a round hole in the ground behind the ruins, filled up with rubbish and mosaics of oyster shells, but, at present, about eighteen inches deep.

"It is very evident that the character of Bagnigge Wells has much altered within the last century. For, bearing that date, we have before us the 'Song of the 'Prentice to his Mistress' in which the attractions of the place are thus set forth:—

"'Come, come, Miss Priscy, make it up,

And we will lovers be:

And we will go to Bagnigge Wells,

And there we'll have some tea.

And there you'll see the ladybirds

All on the stinging nettles;

And there you'll see the water-works,

And shining copper kettles.

And there you'll see the fishes, Miss,

More curious than whales;

They're made of gold and silver, Miss,

And wag their little tails.' [40]

"Of the wonders recounted in these stanzas, the stinging nettles alone remain flourishing, which they do in great quantity. The Waterworks are now confined to two spouts and a butt against the adjacent building; and the gold and silver fishes separately, in the form of red herrings and sprats, have been removed to the stalls in the neighbourhood, with a great deal more of the wag in the dealer, than in themselves.

"The real Bagnigge Wells, where company assemble to drink, at the present day, is next door to the ruins. The waters are never drank, however, now, without being strongly medicated, by a process carried on at the various brewers and distillers of the Metropolis: without this, they are supposed, by some classes, to be highly injurious. Their analysis have produced various results. Soda has been detected in one species, analogous to the German Seltzer, and designated 'Webb's'; others contain iron in appreciable quantities, and institute a galvanic circle, when quaffed from goblets formed from an alloy of tin and lead: in some constitutions quickening the circulation, and raising the animal temperature—in others, producing utter prostration.

"Flannel jackets, and brown paper caps appeared to be the costume of the valetudinarians who were drinking at the Wells, during our stay. We patronized the tepid spa by ordering 'Sixpennyworth warm,' as the potion was termed in the dialect of Bagnigge, for the purpose of drawing the proprietor into conversation. But he was, evidently, reluctant to impart much information, and told us nothing beyond what we already knew—a custom very prevalent at all the springs we have visited.

"Lodgings, provisions, clothing, &c., are to be had at low rates in the neighbourhood, and there are several delightful spots in the vicinity of Bagnigge Wells.

"The Excursion to Battle Bridge will be found highly interesting, returning by the Brill; and, to the admirers of nature, the panorama from the summit of King's Cross, embracing the Small Pox Hospital, and Imperial Gas Works, with the very low countries surrounding them, is peculiarly worthy of especial notice."

Two years previous to this notice, there was a paragraph in the Times (April 6, 1841) which shows how the Wells had fallen into decadence.

"The Old Grotto, which had all the windows out, and was greatly dilapidated, and the upper part of the Garden Wall, was knocked down by some persons going along Bagnigge Road, early this morning."

The old place had fulfilled its mission. It had ministered to the recreation and amusement, harmless, or otherwise, of generations of Londoners, and it came to final grief, and disappeared in 1844. Its name is still preserved in "The Bagnigge Wells" Tavern, 39, King's Cross Road, and that is all the reminiscence we have of this once famous place of recreative resort.

Footnotes

[37] An allusion to the hot buttered rolls, which were in vogue there.

[38] See p. 89

[39] See ante-p. 84

[40] With all due deference to Punch, I think his version is slightly, only slightly, inaccurate. I have before me five copies, two MS. and three printed, all of which run—

"Come, prithee make it up, Miss,

And be as lovers be,

We'll go to Bagnigge Wells, Miss,

And there we'll have some tea.

It's there you'll see the Lady-birds

Perch'd on the Stinging Nettles;

The Chrystal water Fountain,

And the Copper, shining Kettles.

It's there you'll see the Fishes,

More curious they than Whales,

And they're made of Gold and Silver, Miss,

And wags their little tails.

Oh! they wags their little Tails

—They wags their little Tails

Oh! they're made of gold and silver, Miss, and they wags their little Tails.

Oh! dear! Oh! la! Oh! dear! Oh! la!

Oh! dear! Oh! la!

How funny!"


CHAPTER IX.

A LITTLE farther on, it washed the walls of Cold Bath Fields Prison, the House of Correction, and we get a view of it in Hone's "Table Book,"[41] p. 75. Here he says,

"In 1825, this was the first open view, nearest London, of the ancient River Fleet: it was taken during the building of the high arched walls connected with the House of Correction, Cold Bath Fields, close to which prison the river ran, as here seen. At that time, the newly erected walls communicated a peculiarly picturesque effect to the stream flowing within their confines."

This "House of Correction" was indebted for its birth to the famous John Howard, who had made an European tour, not to mention a home one, inquisitorially inspecting prisons. We all know the result of his labours; how he exposed abuses fearlessly, and made men's hearts soften somewhat towards those incarcerated.

THE ANCIENT RIVER FLEET, AT CLERKENWELL, 1825.
THE ANCIENT RIVER FLEET, AT CLERKENWELL, 1825.

Howard, writing in 1789, held that capital punishment should be abolished except for murder, setting houses on fire, and for house breaking, attended with acts of cruelty. And speaking of his Penitentiaries, he says:

"To these houses, however, I would have none but old, hardened offenders, and those who have, as the laws now stand, forfeited their lives by robbery, house breaking, and similar Crimes, should be committed; or, in short, those Criminals who are to be confined for a long term or for life....

"The Penitentiary houses, I would have built, in a great measure, by the convicts. I will suppose that a power is obtained from Parliament to employ such of them as are now at work on the Thames, or some of those who are in the county gaols, under sentence of transportation, as may be thought most expedient. In the first place, let the surrounding wall, intended for full security against escapes, be completed, and proper lodges for the gate keepers. Let temporary buildings, of the nature of barracks, be erected in some part of this enclosure which would be wanted the least, till the whole is finished."

This was a portion of his scheme, and he suggested that it should be located, where it was afterwards built, in Cold Bath Fields—because the situation was healthy, that good water could be obtained from the White Conduit, as the Charter House no longer required that source of supply, it being well served by the New River Company—that labour was cheap—and so was food, especially the coarse meat from the shambles at Islington.

The prisoners were to have separate cells, so as to prevent the promiscuous herding of all, which had previously produced such mischievous results, and these cells were to be light and airy. The convicts of both sexes were to work, and their food was to be apportioned to the work they had to do. Also—a very great step in the right direction—they were all to wear a prison uniform. Howard, philanthropist as he was, was very far from lenient to the rogue. He was fully aware of the value of work, and specially provided that his rogues, in their reformation, should pass through the purifying process of hard labour. In later times, the way of transgressors was hard in that place, and it became a terror to evildoers, being known by the name of the English Bastile—which, however, amongst its patrons, was diminished, until it finally was abbreviated into "the Steel" by which name it was known until its abolition.[42]

This cognomen was so well known, that, in 1799, a book was written by "A Middlesex Magistrate" entitled "The Secrets of the English Bastile disclosed"—which was a favourable story of the management of the prison in Cold Bath Fields. Still, it was the subject of a Parliamentary inquiry, as we find in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1798-9, under date of Dec. 31, 1798, p. 398, that, in the House of Commons, Sir Francis Burdett gave notice of his intention of moving, at some future day, for a report relative to the system practised in the prison, called the House of Correction, Cold Bath Fields, with regard to the persons therein confined.

In the "Parliamentary History of England," vol. xxxiv. p. 566, we learn that on Mar. 6, 1799, Mr. W. Dundas moved that a Select Committee be appointed to inquire into the state of his Majesty's prison in Cold Bath Fields, Clerkenwell, and report the same, as it shall appear to them, together with their opinion thereupon, to the House; and a Committee was appointed accordingly. Unfortunately, the pages of what, afterwards, become Hansard's, do not record the result.

But in the Annual Register for the same year on Dec. 21st there was a long report respecting it during a debate on the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act. Mr. Courtenay said, that, "having visited the prisons, he found the prisoners without fire, and without candles, denied every kind of society, exposed to the cold and the rain, allowed to breathe the air out of their cells only for an hour, denied every comfort, every innocent amusement, excluded from all intercourse with each other, and, each night locked up from all the rest of the world. He supposed it was scarcely necessary to inform the House, that the prison of which he had been speaking, was that in Cold Bath Fields, known by the name of the Bastille." There was a lot more nonsense of the same type talked by other M.P.'s and, it is needless to say, that the exaggerated statements were anent a political prisoner—who afterwards suffered death for treason. And in the remainder of the debate even the very foundation for the libel was destroyed. It is a curious fact, that people have an idea that political prisoners, who have done as much harm to the commonweal as they have the possibility of doing, are to be treated daintily, and with every consideration for their extremely sensitive feelings. We, perhaps, in these latter days, may read a profitable lesson in the suppression of treason, from the proper carrying out of the sentences legally imposed upon those who resist the law out of pure malice (legal).

In the Gentleman's Magazine for 1796, is the following letter to—

Dec. 10, 1795.

Mr. Urban.—Your respect for the memory of Mr. Howard, will induce you to insert the inclosed view of the House of Correction for the County of Middlesex, formed principally on his judicious suggestions. It is situated on the North side of London, between Cold Bath Fields, and Gray's Inn Lane. The spot on which it is erected having been naturally swampy, and long used for a public lay-stall, it was found prudent to lay the foundation so deep, and pile it so securely, that it is supposed there are as many bricks laid underground as appear to sight. What is more to the purpose, the internal regulations of this place of security are believed to be perfectly well adapted to the salutary purposes to which the building is appropriated.

"Yours, &c.,
"Eugenio."

Still Cold Bath Fields Prison had an evil name—in all probability, because prisoners there, were treated as if they had sinned against the social canons, and were not persons to be coaxed and petted into behaviour such as would enable them to rank among their more honest fellows, and in this way wrote Coleridge and Southey in "The Devil's Walk," which was suggested by the pseudo Christos Brothers who as these gentlemen wrote:—[43]

"He walked into London leisurely,

The streets were dirty and dim:

But there he saw Brothers, the Prophet,

And Brothers the Prophet saw him."

Well, in the Devil's rambles he came across Cold Bath Fields Prison—which, as I have said, was not beloved of the criminal class, and, simply, as I think, for the sake of saying something smart, and not that they ever had experienced incarceration, or is there any evidence that they had even seen the prison, they write:

"As he passed through Cold Bath Fields he look'd

At a solitary Cell;

And he was well-pleased, for it gave him a hint

For improving the prisons of Hell.

He saw a turnkey tie a thief's hands

With a cordial try and a jerk;

Nimbly, quoth he, a man's fingers move

When his heart is in his work.

He saw the same turnkey unfettering a man

With little expedition;

And he chuckled to think of his dear slave trade,

And the long debates, and delays that were made

Concerning its abolition."

There is very little doubt, however, that, in the closing year of last, and the commencing one of this, century, the conduct of the Governor—a man named Aris—was open to very grave censure. People outside imagined that all sorts of evils were being perpetrated within its walls, and, either through laxity, or too great severity, of discipline, something nigh akin to mutiny occurred in the prison in July, 1800—which was promptly stopped by the presence of a company of the Clerkenwell Volunteers. In August of the same year, there was another outbreak in the prison, the occupants shouting "Murder," and that they were being starved, in tones loud enough to be heard outside, and, once more the Volunteers were the active agents in enforcing law and order. This latter "seething of the pot" lasted a few days, and it culminated in the discharge of the obnoxious Governor Aris.

There is nothing noteworthy to chronicle of this prison from that date,[44] all prison details being, necessarily, unsavoury—and this particular one was not watered with rose water. It was a place of hard work, and not likely to impress the unproductive class, with a wish to be permanent inhabitants thereof. Yet, as this present year witnessed its demolition, something more must be said respecting it. In the Globe newspaper of January 1, 1887, is this short paragraph: "Notices were yesterday posted on the walls of Coldbath Fields Prison, intimating that it is for sale. Tenders are invited for the site, and all buildings, &c., contained within the boundary walls. The prison covers an area of eight acres and three quarters."

There ought to be some record of its dying days, for the demolition of a prison in a large community of people, like ours in London, must mean one of two things, either a diminution of crime, or, that the prison is not suitable to the requirements of the age.

The Ninth Report of the Commissioners of Prisons, for the Year ended March 31, 1886, speaking of Pentonville Prison, says:

"In November, 1885, the majority of the prisoners confined in Coldbath Fields Prison were transferred to this Prison; and since that date, the remainder have also been removed here, that prison being now vacated, and in charge of a warder acting as caretaker.

"The tread-wheel[45] has been taken down at Coldbath Fields Prison, and is in process of re-erection here.

"The behaviour of the officers has been good, with the exception of four, discharged by order of the Prison Commissioners.

"The conduct of the prisoners has been generally good.

"The materials and provisions supplied by the Contractors have been good, and have given satisfaction.

"To meet the requirements of the local prison service, a room is being completed for the convenience of the members of the Visiting Committee who attend here, also a room for the daily collection of prisoners to see the medical officer, and other purposes, as well as various minor alterations found necessary since the transfer.

"A bakehouse has been completed, and is in working order, supplying bread to all metropolitan prisons.

"The routine and discipline have been carried out in the same general manner as heretofore.

"The industrial labour continues to be attended with satisfactory results; the greater portion is still devoted to supplying the wants of other prisons or Government establishments instead of the market.

"Uniform clothing for officers is cut out here for all local prisons, and made up for a considerable number of the smaller prisons, also prisoners' clothing and bedding, hospital slippers for the Admiralty, as well as a large number of Cases and other articles for the General Post Office have been supplied.

"The duties of the Chaplain's department have been performed uninterruptedly during the year, morning prayers have been said daily, and Divine Service has been performed on Sundays, Good Friday, and Christmas day, in the morning and afternoon, with a sermon at both services. The Holy Communion has been celebrated from time to time on Sundays and on the great Sunday Festivals. The hospital has been daily visited; special attention has been paid to the prisoners confined in the punishment Cells, and constant opportunity has been offered to all of private instruction and advice. Books from the prisoners' library have been issued to all who are entitled to receive them, all prisoners who cannot pass standard three, as set forth by the Education Committee have been admitted to school instruction.

"School books and slates and pencils are issued to prisoners in their cells.

"The medical officer states that the health of the prisoners at Coldbath Fields, and since the transfer to this prison, has been good. One case of smallpox occurred at Coldbath Fields; as the prisoner had been some months in gaol, it was clear that he had caught the disease, either from a warder, or from some prisoner recently received; he had been a cleaner in the rotunda, and, of course, had been coming into contact with warders and prisoners alike, in the busiest part of the prison, the presumption is that the disease had been carried by the uniform of some warder. There were five cases of erysipelas at Coldbath Fields, and one at this prison, at the former place the cases came from all parts of the prison, new and old. The air shafts were thoroughly swept and limewashed, and disinfected as far as could be reached, and there is no doubt that it checked the disease.

"The dietary has been satisfactory during the year, and the new pattern clothing a great improvement.

"Every precaution is taken in classing prisoners for labour suited to their age, physique and health.

"The sanitary arrangements are most carefully supervised; the ventilation in the cells is very good."


I offer no apology for intruding this report of Prison life, which, if one took the trouble to look up the yearly reports, he would find they are all couched in almost identical language.[46] I simply give it for the consideration of my readers—who, with myself, do not belong to the criminal classes—to show them how those who have preyed upon them, and have deservedly merited punishment, meet with treatment such as the indigent and industrious poor, when, fallen upon evil times, can not obtain, and the sooner these pampered criminals feel, through their flesh—either by the whip, hard labour, or hunger—that the wages of sin are not paid at a higher rate than that procurable by honest labour, the probability is that the community at large would be considerably benefited, and the criminal classes would be in a great measure deprived of clubs to which there is neither entrance fee, nor annual subscription, in which everything of the best quality is found them free of charge, and the health of their precious carcases specially looked after, and gratuitously attended to.

Footnotes

[41] See next page.

[42] J. T. Smith in his "Vagabondiana," ed. 1815-1817, p. 51, alludes thus to the prison: "Perhaps the only waggery in public-house customs now remaining, is in the tap room of the Appletree, opposite to Cold Bath Fields Prison. There are a pair of hand cuffs fastened to the wires as bell-pulls, and the orders given by some of the company, when they wish their friends to ring, are, to 'Agitate the Conductor.'"

[43] "After this I was in a vision, having the angel of God near me, and saw Satan walking leisurely into London" ("Brothers' Prophecies," part i. p. 41).

[44] I have met with a Newspaper Cutting, with no clue to its authenticity or date. "Dreadful Ravages of the Influenza in the House of Correction.—Yesterday afternoon, Inquests were holden by William Baker, Esq., one of the Coroners for the County of Middlesex, at the House of Correction, Coldbath Fields, on no less than five individuals, namely, Peter Griffiths, Michael Hughes, James Jones, Thomas Lillie, and Ann Connard, all of whom had died from the effects of the present prevalent epidemic, or influenza, and who were inmates of that prison, and had been sentenced to different periods of imprisonment. It is a fact that, for the last two months, more prisoners have died in this prison, principally from the effects of influenza, than had died there during the whole of the preceding year." Possibly the poor Fleet River, at that time hardly degraded to the level of the Sewer—which now it is—may have had something to do with the unsanitary condition of the prison.—J. A.

[45] Adopted at Coldbath Fields Prison, July, 1822.

[46] Let any one compare, for instance, reports for 1884 and 1886.


CHAPTER X.

COLDBATH FIELDS were, a hundred and twenty years ago, fairly rural, for (although it certainly is recorded as an abnormal occurrence) we find, in the Daily Courant, November 12, 1765, "Friday afternoon, about two o'clock, a hare crossed the New Road, near Dobney's Bowling green, ran to the New River Head, and from thence to Coldbath Fields, where, in some turning among the different avenues, she was lost. She appeared to have been hard run, by her dirty and shabby coat."

These fields took their name from a spring (part of the River of Wells) which had its source there. A Mr. Walter Baynes of the Temple, who was, for his day, far-seeing, and made the most of the "town lots" which were in the market, bought this plot of land, and at once utilized it to his profit. It was of some note, as we read in a book published in Queen Anne's reign, "A New View of London," 1708, vol. ii. p. 785. "Cold Bath. The most noted and first[47] about London was that near Sir John Oldcastle's, where, in the Year 1697, Mr. Bains undertook and yet manages this business of Cold Bathing, which they say is good against Rheumatisms, Convulsions of the Nerves, &c., but of that, those that have made the Experiments are the best judges. The Rates are 2s. 6d. if the Chair is used,[48] and 2s. without it. Hours are from five in the morning to one, afternoon."

We learn two things from this—the pristine existence of "tub," and the fact that it was purely matutinal. Nay, from the same book we learn more, for, under the heading of "Southwark Cold Bath," we find that the "utmost time to be in, three minutes." At this latter places were "ex votos," so frequently seen at shrines on the Continent. "Here are eleven Crutches, which they say, were those of persons cured by this Water." Bathing was a luxury then—water was bought by the pailful, and a warm bath at the Hummums cost 5s., equal to between 10s. and 15s. of our money.

Walter Baynes, Esq., of the Middle Temple, seems to have been a pushing man of business, and willing to make the most of his property. He traded on the uncleanliness of the times, when baths were mostly used in case of illness, and daily ablution of the whole body was unknown. Ladies were quite content to dab their faces with some "fucus" or face wash, or else smear them with a greasy larded rag. The shock of a veritable cold bath from a spring, must have astonished most of those who endured it, and no doubt invested it with a mysterious merit which it did not possess, otherwise than by cleansing the skin, both by the washing, and the subsequent rubbing dry.

SOUTH VIEW OF THE COLD BATHS.
SOUTH VIEW OF THE COLD BATHS.

However, we find Mr. Baynes advertising in the _Post Boy_, March 28, 1700, the curative effects of his wonderful spring. "This is to give notice that the Cold Baths in Sir John Oldcastle's field near the north end of Gray's Inn Lane, London, in all seasons of the year, especially in the spring and summer, has been found, by experience, to be the best remedy in these following distempers, viz., Dizziness, Drowsiness, and heavyness of the head, Lethargies, Palsies, Convulsions, all Hectical creeping Fevers, heats and flushings. Inflammations and ebullitions of the blood, and spirits, all vapours, and disorders of the spleen and womb, also stiffness of the limbs, and Rheumatick pains, also shortness of the breath, weakness of the joints, as Rickets, &c., sore eyes, redness of the face, and all impurities of the skin, also deafness, ruptures, dropsies, and jaundice. It both prevents and cures colds, creates appetite, and helps digestion, and makes hardy the tenderest constitution. The coach way is by Hockley in the Hole."

Of course, viewed by the light of modern medical science, Mr. Baynes was a charlatan, and a quack, but he acted, doubtless, according to his lights, in those days; and, if a few were killed, it is probable that many more were benefited by being washed.

Sir Richard Steele, writing in 1715, says thus:

"On the Cold Bath at Oldcastle's."

"Hail, sacred Spring! Thou ever-living Stream,

Ears to the Deaf, Supporters to the Lame,

Where fair Hygienia ev'ry morn attends,

And with kind Waves, her gentle Succour lends.

While in the Cristal Fountain we behold

The trembling Limbs, Enervate, Pale and Cold;

A Rosy Hue she on the face bestows,

And Nature in the chilling fluid glows,

The Eyes shoot Fire, first kindled in the Brain,

As beds of Lime smoke after showers of Rain;

The fiery Particles concentred there,

Break ope' their Prison Doors and range in Air;

Hail then thou pow'rful Goddess that presides

O'er these cold Baths as Neptune o'er his Tides,

Receive what Tribute a pure Muse can pay

For Health that makes the Senses Brisk and Gay,

The fairest Offspring of the heavenly Ray."

At one time there was a famous house of refreshment and recreation, either called the Cobham's Head, or the Sir John Oldcastle—or there were one of each. Authorities differ, and, although I have spent some time and trouble in trying to reconcile so-called facts, I have come to the conclusion that, for my reader's sake, le jeu ne vaut pas la chandelle. There is a tradition that Sir John Oldcastle who was a famous Lollard in the time of Henry V., either had an estate here, or hid in a house of entertainment there, during his persecution for faith. But the whole is hazy.

We know that there was a Sir John Oldcastle, who was born in the fourteenth century, and who was the fourth husband of Joan, Lady Cobham, in whose right he took the title of Lord Cobham. We know also, that he enjoyed the friendship of Henry V., and was of his household. But he got imbued with the doctrines of Wyclif, was cited to appear, more than once, before the ecclesiastical authorities, declined the invitations, and was duly excommunicated. He wrangled with the priests, got committed to the Tower, escaped and hid in Wales, was accused of heading a trumpery insurrection, and was, finally, captured, tried, and hanged in chains alive, upon a gallows in St. Giles' Fields, when, fire being put under him, he was slowly roasted to death in December, 1417. A pious nobleman, like the late Lord Shaftesbury, for instance, was not popular at that time, if we may believe a few lines from "Wright's Political Songs from Edward II. to Henry VI."

"Hit is unkindly for a Knight

That shuld a kynges castel kepe,

To bable the Bible day and night,

In restyng time when he shuld slepe,

And carefoly away to crepe;

For alle the chefe of chivalrie,

Wel ought hym to wail and wepe,

That swyche [49] lust is in Lollardie."

The English were always famous bowmen, and archery—although gunpowder has long superseded bows and arrows in warfare—still is a favourite and fashionable pastime, witness the Toxopholite Society in Regent's Park, and the various Archery associations throughout the kingdom; so that it is not remarkable that an open space like Coldbath Fields should vie with the Artillery ground at Finsbury, in favour with the citizens, as a place for this sport; and we find, in Queen Anne's reign, that the Sir John Oldcastle was frequented by Archers. And for this information we may thank that old sinner, John Bagford (who spoilt so many books for the sake of their title-pages) for preserving. It tells its own story:—[50]

"All gentlemen of the ancient and noble exercise of Archery, are invited to the annual dinner of the Clerkenwell Archers, Mrs. Mary Barton's, at the sign of Sir John Oldcastle (Cold Bath Fields) on Friday, July 18, 1707, at one o'clock, and to pay the bearer, Thomas Beaumont, Marshall, 2s. 6d., taking a sealed ticket, that a certain number may be known, and provision made accordingly. Nath. Axtall, Esq., and Edward Bromwich, Gent., Stewards."

There were very pleasant gardens attached to this tavern, and, like all the suburban places of recreation, they were well patronized, and they gave a very decent amusement in the shape of music—instrumental and vocal—and, occasionally, fireworks. But there seems to have been the same difficulty then, as now, as to keeping outdoor amusements, if not select, at least decorous, for, acccording to the Daily Advertisement of June 3, 1745, "Sir John Oldcastle's Gardens, Cold Bath Fields. This evening's entertainment will continue the Summer Season. The Band consists of the best masters. Sixpence for admission, for which they have a ticket, which ticket will be taken as sixpence in their reckoning. Particular care will be taken that the provisions shall be the very best in their separate kinds; likewise to keep a just decorum in the gardens. Note.—Several ladies and gentlemen that come to the gardens give the drawers their tickets, which is no benefit to the proprietor; therefore it's humbly desired that if any gentlemen or ladies don't chuse to have the value of their tickets in liquor, or eating, they will be so kind as to leave them at the bar."

THE SMALLPOX HOSPITAL IN COLD BATH FIELDS.
THE SMALLPOX HOSPITAL IN COLD BATH FIELDS.

As a place of amusement, it seems, even in 1745, to have been on the wane. In 1758 the Smallpox Hospital was built close to it, and in 1761 the Sir John Oldcastle was bought by the trustees of the hospital, in order to enlarge it, and was pulled down in 1762. Noorthouck ("New History of London," ed. 1763, p. 752), speaking of Cold Bath Square, in which was the famed cold bath, says, "The North side of this square is, as yet, open to the fields, but a little to the east stands the Small Pox Hospital for receiving patients who catch the disease in the natural way; and is a very plain, neat structure. The Center, which projects a little from the rest of the building, is terminated on the top by an angular pediment, on the apex of which is placed a vase upon a small pedestal. This excellent charity was instituted in the year 1746, and is supported by a subscription of noblemen, gentlemen, and ladies, who were desirous that a charity useful in itself, and so beneficial to the public, might be begun near this great metropolis, there not being any hospital of the kind in Europe. A neat hospital for inoculating this disorder has been lately built clear of the town on the north side of the New Road."[51]

In 1791 this hospital wanted extensive repairs, which would need an outlay of about £800; and the trustees, not willing to incur this expense, built another on the site of the Inoculating Hospital at Islington; and thither, when it was finished, all the patients were removed from Cold Bath Fields. But their new home was wanted for the Great Northern Railway, and another place was built, and still is, on Highgate Hill. The old building in Cold Bath Fields was first of all used as a distillery, and afterwards subdivided. Quoting again from Noorthouck: "Eastward from the Small Pox Hospital, on the south side of the Spawfield, is an humble imitation of the Pantheon in Oxford Road; calculated for the amusement of a suitable class of company; here apprentices, journeymen, and clerks dressed to ridiculous extremes, entertain their ladies on Sundays; and to the utmost of their power, if not beyond their proper power, affect the dissipated manners of their superiors. Bagnigge Wells and the White Conduit House, two other receptacles of the same kind, with gardens laid out in miniature taste, are to be found within the compass of two or three fields, together with Sadler's Wells, a small theatre for the summer exhibition of tumbling, rope-dancing, and other drolls, in vulgar stile. The tendency of these cheap, enticing places of pleasure just at the skirts of this vast town is too obvious to need further explanation; they swarm with loose women, and with boys, whose morals are thus depraved, and their constitution ruined, before they arrive at manhood; indeed, the licentious resort to the tea-drinking gardens was carried to such excess every night, that the magistrates lately thought proper to suppress the organs in their public rooms."

There is no doubt but that some of these tea-gardens needed reform; so much so, that the grand jury of Middlesex, in May, 1744, made a presentment of several places which, in their opinion, were not conducive to the public morality; and these were two gaming-houses near Covent Garden, kept by the ladies Mordington and Castle; Sadler's Wells near the New River head, the New Wells in Goodman's Fields, the New Wells near the London Spaw in Clerkenwell; and a place called Hallam's Theatre in Mayfair.

A possibly fair account of these gardens is found in the St. James's Chronicle, May 14-16, 1772:

"To the Printer of the S. J. Chronicle.

"Sir,—Happening to dine last Sunday with a Friend in the City, after coming from Church, the Weather being very inviting, we took a walk as far as Islington. In our Return home towards Cold Bath Fields, we stepped in, out of mere Curiosity, to view the Pantheon there; but such a Scene of Disorder, Riot, and Confusion presented itself to me on my Entrance, that I was just turning on my Heel, in order to quit it, when my friend observing to me that we might as well have something for our Money (for the Doorkeeper obliged each of us to deposit a Tester before he granted us Admittance), I acquiesced in his Proposal, and became one of the giddy Multitude. I soon, however, repented of my Choice; for, besides having our Sides almost squeezed together, we were in Danger every Minute of being scalded by the Boiling Water, which the officious Mercuries[52] were circulating with the utmost Expedition thro' their respective Districts: We began therefore to look out for some Place to sit down in, which, with the greatest Difficulty, we at length procured, and, producing our Tickets, were served with Twelve pennyworth of Punch. Being seated towards the Front of one of the Galleries, I had now a better Opportunity of viewing this dissipated Scene. The Male Part of the Company seemed to consist chiefly of City Apprentices, and the lower Class of Tradesmen. The Ladies, who constituted by far the greater Part of the Assembly, seemed, most of them, to be Pupils of the Cyprian Goddess, and appeared to be thoroughly acquainted with their Profession, the different Arts and Manoeuvres of which they played off with great Freedom, and I doubt not with equal Success. Whatever Quarter I turned my Eyes to, I was sure to be saluted with a Nod, a Wink, or a Smile; and was even sometimes accosted with, 'Pray, Sir, will you treat me with a Dish of Tea?'... A Bill, I think, was in Agitation this Session of Parliament for enforcing the Laws already made for the better Observance of Sunday. Nothing, in my Opinion, tends more to its Profanation, among the lower Class of People, than the great Number of Tea Houses, in the Environs of London; the most exceptionable of which that I have had Occasion to be in, is the Pantheon. I could wish them either totally suppressed or else laid under some Restrictions, particularly on the Sabbath Day.

"I am,
"Sir,
"Your Constant Reader,
"and occasional Correspondent,
"Chiswick, May 5.Speculator."

This Pantheon was a large circular building surmounted by a statue of Fame. It was well warmed by a stove in its centre, and the grounds were prettily laid out. There were the usual walks, flower-beds, and pond, in the centre of which was a statue of Hercules, and, of course, the usual out-of-door refreshment boxes, or arbours. But it is just possible that it was owing to its somewhat disreputable conduct that the landlord became bankrupt in 1774, and the Pantheon was offered for sale. It was closed as a place of amusement in 1776, and the famous Countess of Huntingdon had some idea of utilizing it for the propagation of her peculiar religious views. However, the sum necessary for alterations, proved too much for her ladyship, yet by a strange mutation of fortune, somewhat akin to what we have seen in our time, in the Grecian Theatre in the City Road, being taken by the Salvation Army, the Pantheon was turned into a Proprietary Chapel, called Northampton Chapel, which was served by clergymen of the Church of England of strictly Evangelical principles, and it filled so well, that the incumbent of the parish church asserted his right to preach there whenever he liked, and also to nominate its chaplains. This the proprietors did not quite see, and they closed the chapel. Then Lady Huntingdon bought it, and, henceforth, it was called Spa Fields Chapel.

The illustration[53] is taken from the New Spiritual Magazine, and I do not think that an uglier building could be produced. Probably the statue of Fame was obliged to be removed, but the ventilator in its place was certainly not an improvement. However, it is now pulled down; but, before its demolition, it had to pass through the ordeal of more proceedings at law. As long as the chapel was served by clergy, nominally belonging to the Church of England, so long did the incumbent of St. James's, Clerkenwell, assert his right to the patronage of it. The Countess relied on her privilege as a peeress, to appoint her own Chaplain, but this was overridden by competent legal opinion, and nothing was left but for the officiating clergy to secede from the Church of England, and take the oath of allegiance as Dissenting Ministers. This the Countess did not relish; she would fain be in the fold, and yet not of the fold, as do many others of this age, but she had to eat the leek. She had the proud privilege of founding a religious sect, and she left the bulk of her large property, after very generous legacies, to the support of sixty-four chapels which she had established throughout the kingdom. She died at her house in Spa Fields, and was buried at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, in Leicestershire, "dressed in the suit of white silk which she wore at the opening of a chapel in Goodman's Fields."[54]

VIEW OF NORTHAMPTON OR SPA FIELDS CHAPEL, WITH THE COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON'S HOUSE ADJOINING.
VIEW OF NORTHAMPTON OR SPA FIELDS CHAPEL, WITH THE COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON'S HOUSE ADJOINING.

Footnotes

[47] Conduit.

[48] This, I take it, refers to a practice mentioned in a pamphlet, "A Step to the Bath" (London, 1700), which I think is by Ned Ward. "The usual time being come to forsake that fickle Element, Half Tub Chairs, Lin'd with Blankets, Ply'd as thick as Coaches at the Play House, or Carts at the Custom House." It has been suggested that the Chair was used for debilitated patients; but, knowing the use of the term "Chair" at that epoch, I venture to propose my solution.

[49] Such pleasure.

[50] Harl. MSS., 5961.

[51] Noorthouck (book i. p. 358) says, "It is to be observed that in 1746, an hospital was founded by subscription between London and Islington, for relieving poor people afflicted with the smallpox, and for inoculation. This is said to be the first foundation of the kind in Europe, and consisted of three houses; one in Old Street for preparing patients for inoculation; another in Islington" (Lower Street) "when the disease appeared, and the third in Cold Bath fields for patients in the natural way."

[52] See p. 89.

[53] See next page.

[54] Gentleman's Magazine, vol. lxi. (1791), p. 589. The Chapel was pulled down in January or February, 1887.


CHAPTER XI.

IT is almost impossible to write about anything connected with Spa Fields, without mentioning the famous "Spa Fields Riots," which occurred on Dec. 2, 1816. In every great city there will always be a leaven of disquietude: demagogues who have nothing to lose, but all to gain, will always find an audience for their outpourings; and, often, the ignorant, and unthinking, have only to be told, by any knave, that they are underpaid, downtrodden, or what not, and they are ready to yell, with their sweet breaths, that they are. So was it then in 1816.

And it is also remarkable how history repeats itself; for, part of the scheme proposed by the agitators on that day, was exactly similar to the proposals of certain Irishmen and Socialists of our time—teste the following handbill, taken from the Times, the newspaper of Dec. 7, 1816.

"Spence's Plan. For Parochial Partnerships in the Land, is the only effectual Remedy for the Distresses and Oppression of the People. The Landowners are not Proprietors in Chief; they are but the Stewards of the Public; For the Land is the People's Farm. The Expenses of the Government do not cause the Misery that surrounds us, but the enormous exactions of these 'Unjust Stewards.' Landed Monopoly is indeed equally contrary to the benign spirit of Christianity, and destructive of the Independence and Morality of Mankind.

"'The Profit of the Earth is for all.'

"Yet how deplorably destitute are the great Mass of the People! Nor is it possible for their situations to be radically amended, but by the establishment of a system, founded on the immutable basis of Nature and Justice. Experience demonstrates its necessity and the rights of mankind require it for their preservation.

"To obtain this important object, by extending the knowledge of the above system, the Society of Spencean Philanthropists has been instituted. Further information of it's principles may be obtained by attending any of it's sectional meetings, where subjects are discussed, calculated to enlighten the human understanding, and where, also, the regulations of the society may be procured, containing a Complete development of the Spencean system. Every individual is admitted free of expense, who will conduct himself with decorum.

First Section every Wednesday at the Cock, Grafton Street, Soho.
Second " " Thursday " Mulberry Tree, Mulberry Ct., Wilson Street, Moorfields.
Third " " Monday " Nag's Head, Carnaby Mrkt.
Fourth " " Tuesday " No. 8, Lumber St., Mint, Borough."

There! does not that read exactly like a modern speech delivered in Trafalgar Square, Hyde Park, or Dublin? Of course it was the old story of Demagogy. The pot boiled, the scum came to the top, and it boiled over, so that, one fine day, there was a riot. It was a period of distress for the working classes, who did not then, as now, swarm into London from all parts of England, and expect Jupiter to help them; but then, as now, the rich were ever willing to help their poorer brethren, for, in the very same Times newspaper that gives an account of this Spa Fields Riot, there is a list of subscriptions towards the relief of distress in Spitalfields alone, amounting to over £18,000.

The story is one that should be told, because it has its lesson and its parallel in all time. The ruling spirit of the movement was Henry Hunt, generally called Orator Hunt, a man fairly well to do, and who did not agitate for the sake of his daily bread. The occasion of the meeting in Spa Fields, at which some 10,000 people were present, was to receive the answer of the Prince Regent to a petition from the distressed mechanics of London and its vicinity for relief. It was held first of all in front of the "Merlin's Cave" (a name which still survives at 131, Rosomon Street, Clerkenwell), and afterwards in the adjacent fields. The following account of the riots is from the Times of Dec. 3, 1816:

"As a prelude to the scene that followed, and with the spirit of the ruling demagogue, a person mounted a coal waggon with three flags, on which were inscribed certain mottoes; and, after having harangued a small audience, draughted off from the general body, proceeded to the city, where the acts of violence were perpetrated, which will be found in another part of our paper.

"The speech of this orator, and the conduct of his audience, we shall give in an extract from an evening paper as we were not present at the first part of the drama ourselves.

"'In the field was a Coal waggon, upon which were mounted about twenty persons, chiefly in the dress of sailors. Several flags were displayed; two tricoloured ones, on one of which was the following inscription:

"'Nature, Truth, and Justice!

Feed the Hungry!

Protect the Oppressed!

Punish Crimes!'

"'On a second tricoloured flag, no inscription.

"'On a third white flag was inscribed in red letters the following:

"'The brave Soldiers are our Brothers; treat them kindly.'

"'Many had bludgeons, and others pockets full of stones. One person in the waggon then addressed the meeting in the following strain:—"I am sorry to tell you that our application to the Prince has failed. He, the father of his people, answered—'My family have never attended to Petitions but from Oxford and Cambridge, and the City of London.' And is this Man the father of the people? No. Has he listened to your petition? No. The day is come—(It is, It is, from the mob.) We must do more than words. We have been oppressed for 800 years since the Norman Conquest. If they would give ye a hod, a shovel, a spade, and a hoe, your mother earth would supply you. (Aye, aye, she would. Loud Applause.) Country men, if you will have your wrongs redressed, follow me. (That we will. Shouts.) Wat Tyler would have succeeded had he not been basely murdered by a Lord Mayor, William of Walworth. Has the Parliament done their duty? No. Has the Regent done his duty? No, no. A man who receives one million a year public money gives only £5,000 to the poor. They have neglected the starving people, robbed them of everything, and given them a penny. Is this to be endured? Four millions are in distress; our brothers in Ireland are in a worse state, the climax of misery is complete, it can go no farther. The Ministers have not granted our rights. Shall we take them? (Yes, yes, from the mob.) Will you demand them? (Yes, yes.) If I jump down will you follow me? (Yes, yes, was again vociferated.)."

"'The persons on the waggon then descended with the flags; the constables immediately laid hold of the flags. Some persons attempted resistance, and two were therefore taken up forthwith, and sent to prison. The constables succeeded in getting one of the flags.

"'When the second flag was displayed, it was supposed that it headed Mr. Hunt's procession, and there was a loud huzza, which stopped one of the waggon orators for five minutes.'

"[For all the rest we hold ourselves responsible, as it is our own report of what passed.]."

The Times then gives in detail a report of the meeting, commencing from the arrival of "Orator" Hunt, who read the correspondence between himself and Lord Sidmouth, and said: "The statement of Lord Sidmouth to him was, that neither any King of the House of Brunswick, nor the Prince Regent, since he had attained sovereign power, ever gave any answer to petitions except they came from the Corporation of the City of London, or from the two Universities which had the privilege of being heard, and answered from the throne. 'If I were to carry your present petition to the levÉe (added his lordship) I should deliver it into his Royal Highness's hand, make my bow, and walk on; and if you, yourself, Mr. Hunt, were to appear, you would do just the same thing; you would deliver your petition, make your bow, and pass on.' This, Gentlemen, is a little more about Court matters than I was aware of before. (Loud laughter and applause.) The meeting had the consolation to think, that, if their petition was not answered by the Prince Regent, it had met with no worse fate than other petitions presented to the House of Hanover since the accession of this family to the throne. (Applause.)

"He expected to have seen this day a deputation from the Soup Committee, for the purpose of returning thanks to this meeting for obtaining the £5,000 which the Prince Regent had granted. (Great applause.) He was convinced that it was owing to the exertions and patriotism of the last assembly in those fields that his Royal Highness was induced to give this pittance: but his Royal Highness had not gone the full length of the requests which had then been made. It was required that he should bestow on the inhabitants of the metropolis £2 or 300,000 out of the Civil List; but, instead of this, what had been done? Some enemy to his country, some corrupt minister had persuaded his Royal Highness to send £5000 out of the Droits of the Admiralty, which properly belonged to the sailors: those droits, the piratical seizing of which had caused so much bloodshed, and the loss of so many British lives."


This was the sort of fustian that was talked then, as now, and probably always will be, to an ignorant mob; and, as a natural sequence, words begot actions. Blind—foolishly blind—the idiotic mob marched towards the City, not knowing why, or what advantage they were to gain by so doing. Naturally, there were thieves about, and they plundered the shop of Mr. Beckwith, a gunmaker, in Skinner Street, Snow Hill, shooting a gentleman, named Platt, who happened to be in the shop, at the time.

At the Royal Exchange, the Lord Mayor, Sir James Shaw, with his own hands, seized a man, who was bearing a flag, and the mob, unable to force the gates, fired inside; but as far as I can learn, without effect. Foiled in the attempt to sack, or destroy the Exchange, by the arrival of some civil force to the assistance of his Lordship, they moved on, seemingly aimlessly, towards the Tower: why—unless it was to supply themselves with arms—no one can guess. Of course, if they had tried to take it, they could not have accomplished their purpose, but it never came to that. They stole a few guns from two gunmakers in the Minories, Messrs. Brander and Rea; and then this gathering of rogues and fools dispersed, and the nine days' wonder was over.

As usual, nothing was gained by violence. Socialism certainly did not advance—nor was any more employment found for anybody—and the thing fizzled out. But it was not the fault of the agitators. Let us read a short extract from a leading article in the Times of December 4, 1816:—

"As to the foreseeing what was to happen—have we forgotten Mr. Hunt's advice on the first day to petition, then, if that failed to resort to physical force. They did petition, and he calls them together to tell them that their petition has failed; and yet it is to be supposed that he foresees on their part no resort to physical force! Why! this would be trifling with the understanding of an infant. But the second time Mr. Hunt said nothing about physical force! Oh, no. Whilst the bloody business was in hand by his myrmidons in Newgate Street, and at the Royal Exchange—whilst an innocent gentleman was in the hands of his assassins—whilst the life of the Chief Magistrate of the city was attacked by ruffians, the first inciter to the use of physical force was coolly haranguing on the comparative merits of himself and his hunter, in Spa Fields. What! did anybody expect that he would get up, and accuse himself openly of high treason? Did Catilina, in the Roman Senate, avow his parricidal intentions against his country? But, to quit Mr. Hunt for awhile, let us recall to the recollection of our readers, the incendiary handbills thrust under the doors of public houses, several weeks ago. A copy of one of them was inserted in our paper of the 1st of last month; but, at the time it did not command that attention which its real importance perhaps deserved. It was of the following tenour:—'Britons to arms! Break open all gun and sword shops, pawnbrokers, and other likely places to find arms. No rise of bread, &c. No Castlereagh. Off with his head. No National Debt. The whole country waits the signal from London to fly to arms. Stand firm now or never.—N.B. Printed bills containing further directions, will be circulated as soon as possible.'"

I have dwelt thus at length on these Spa Fields riots because the Socialistic and Communistic development therein contained, runs fairly parallel with our own times; and it is comforting to know, that in this case, as in all others in England, the movement was purely evanescent; the love of law and order being too deeply seated in the breasts of Englishmen. Nay, in this case, the butchers from the shambles in Whitechapel attacked the mob, and compelled them to give up their arms, "which the butchers express a wish to retain, as trophies and proofs of their loyalty and courage." Hunt fizzled out, and returned to his previous nonentity.


CHAPTER XII.

STILL continuing the downward course of the Fleet, an historical place is reached, "Hockley-in-the-Hole," or Hollow, so famous for its rough sports of bear baiting and sword and cudgel playing. The combative nature of an Englishman is curious, but it is inbred in him; sometimes it takes the form of "writing to the papers," sometimes of going to law, sometimes of "punching" somebody's head; in many it ends in a stubborn fight against difficulties to be overcome—but, anyhow, I cannot deny that an Englishman is pugnacious by nature. Hear what Misson, an intelligent French traveller, who visited England in the reign of William III., says: "Anything that looks like fighting is delicious to an Englishman. If two little Boys quarrel in the Street, the Passengers stop, make a Ring round them in a Moment, and set them against one another, that they may come to Fisticuffs. When 'tis come to a Fight, each pulls off his Neckcloth and his Waistcoat, and give them to hold to some of the Standers by: then they begin to brandish their Fists in the Air; the Blows are aim'd all at the Face, they Kick at one another's Shins, they tug one another by the Hair, &c. He that has got the other down may give him one Blow or two before he rises, but no more; and, let the Boy get up ever so often, the other is obliged to box him again as often as he requires it. During the Fight, the Ring of Bystanders encourage the Combatants with great Delight of Heart, and never part them while they fight according to the Rules. The Father and Mother of the Boys let them fight on as well as the rest, and hearten him that gives Ground, or has the Worst."

This was about 1700; and, if it was so in the green tree (or boy), what would it be in the dry (or man)? I am afraid our ancestors were not over-refined. They did not all cram for examinations, and there were no Girton girls in those days, neither had they analytical novels: so that, to a certain extent, we must make allowances for them. Tea and coffee were hardly in use for breakfast, and men and women had a certain amount of faith in beer and beef, which may have had something to do in forming their tastes. Anyhow, the men were manly, and the women not a whit worse than they are now; and woe be to the man that insulted one. A code of honour was then in existence, and every gentleman carried with him the means of enforcing it. Therefore, up to a certain limit, they were combative, and not being cigarette-smoking mashers, and not being overburdened with novels and periodicals, and club smoking and billiard rooms being unknown, they enjoyed a more physical existence than is led by the young men of the theatrical stalls of the present day, and attended Sword and Cudgel playing, and Bull and Bear baiting, together with fighting an occasional main of Cocks. It might be very wrong; but then they had not our advantages of being able to criticize the almost unhidden charms of the "chorus," or descant on the merits of a "lemon squash," so that, as man must have some employment, they acted after their lights, and I do not think we can fairly blame them.

For Londoners, a favourite place, early in the eighteenth century, for rough sports, was Hockley-in-the-Hole. Here was bear and bull baiting for the public, a fact that was so well known, according to Gay,[55] that

"Experienc'd Men, inur'd to City Ways,

Need not the Calendar to count their Days.

When through the Town, with slow and solemn Air,

Led by the Nostril walks the muzzled Bear;

Behind him moves, majestically dull,

The Pride of Hockley Hole, the surly Bull;

Learn hence the Periods of the Week to name,

Mondays and Thursdays are the Days of Game."

Even earlier than Gay, Hockley-in-the-Hole is mentioned by Butler in his "Hudibras"[56] in somewhat gruesome fashion:—

"But Trulla straight brought on the Charge,

And in the selfsame Limbo put

The Knight and Squire, where he was shut,

Where leaving them in Hockley-i'-th'-Hole,

Their Bangs and Durance to condole."

But Butler also talks of Bear baiting, both in the first and second cantos of "Hudibras," especially in canto the first, where, beginning at line 675, he says:

"But now a Sport more formidable

Had rak'd together Village Rabble:

'Twas an old Way of recreating—

Which learned Butchers call Bear-Baiting:

A bold advent'rous Exercise,

With ancient Heroes in high Prize;

For Authors do affirm it came

From Isthmian or Nemean Game;

Others derive it from the Bear

That's fix'd in Northern Hemisphere,

And round about the Pole does make

A Circle like a Bear at Stake.

That at the Chain's End wheels about,

And overturns the Rabble Rout.

For, after solemn Proclamation

In the Bear's Name (as is the Fashion

According to the Law of Arms,

To keep men from inglorious Harms)

That none presume to come so near

As forty Foot of Stake of Bear;

If any yet be so foolhardy

T' expose themselves to vain Jeopardy;

If they come wounded off, and lame,

No honour's got by such a Maim;

Altho' the Bear gain much; b'ing bound

In Honour to make good his Ground,

When he's engag'd and takes no Notice,

If any press upon him, who 'tis,

But let's them know, at their own Cost,

That he intends to keep his Post."

Bear baiting was so identified, as a sport, to the London Citizens who frequented Hockley-in-the-Hole, that we read that in 1709 Christopher Preston, who then kept the Bear Garden, was attacked and partly eaten by one of his own bears.

Bear Gardens are proverbially rough, and this place was no exception; but there were two others in London where bears were baited, one at Marrybone Fields (at the back of Soho Square), and at Tuttle or Tothill Fields, at Westminster—thus showing the popularity of the Sports, which was not declared illegal until 1835.

Of course in these our days, we know nothing of bear baiting, and if a Pyrenean bear were now taken about the country, as I have frequently seen them, even if he "danced to the genteelest of tunes," his proprietor would be in danger of the judgment—some dear mollycoddling old woman in trousers, belonging to some special "faddy" society, being always ready to prosecute.

Bears not, at present, being indigenous to Britain, were naturally scarce, so the homely and offensive Bull had to afford rough sport to the multitude, and several towns now bear testimony to the popularity of the sport of bull baiting in their "Bull rings" (Birmingham, to wit). In the fourteenth century we know that even horses were baited with dogs, and as long as fox hunting, coursing, or wild stag hunting, are recognized as sports among us, I fail to see the superior cruelty of our ancestors. It may be that people imagine that the larger the animal, the greater the cruelty; but I cannot see it. Anyhow, far earlier than the Bear garden of Hockley-in-the-Hole, both bear and bull baiting were not only popular, but aristocratic amusements. Erasmus, who visited England in Henry VIII.'s time, speaks of many herds of bears being kept for baiting; and when Queen Mary visited her sister the Princess Elizabeth, they were "right well content" with the bear baiting. Nay, when she became Queen, Elizabeth was a great patron of the sport; for when, on May 25, 1559, she entertained the French Ambassadors, as an after-dinner spectacle, she gave them some bull and bear baiting. Her delight in this diversion did not decrease with age, for, twenty-seven years later, she provided the same amusement for the delectation of the Danish Ambassador. Paul Hentzner, who visited England in 1598, speaking of this sport, says:— "There is still another Place, built in the Form of a Theatre, which serves for the baiting of Bulls and Bears; they are fastened behind, and then worried by the great English Bull dogs; but not without great Risque to the Dogs, from the Horns of the one, and the Teeth of the other; and it sometimes happens they are killed upon the Spot; fresh ones are immediately supplied in the Place of those that are wounded, or tired. To this Entertainment there often follows that of whipping a blinded Bear, which is performed by five or six Men standing circularly with Whips, which they exercise upon him without any Mercy, as he cannot escape from them because of his Chain; he defends himself with all his Force and Skill, throwing down all who come within his Reach, and are not active enough to get out of it, and tearing the Whips out of their Hands, and breaking them."

And, again are we indebted to a foreigner for a description of a bull baiting, thus realizing Burns' aspiration seeing "oursen as others see us," vide Misson.

"Here follows the Manner of those Bull Baitings which are so much talk'd of: They tie a Rope to the Root of the Ox or Bull, and fasten the other End of the Cord to an Iron Ring fix'd to a Stake driven into the Ground; so that this Cord being 15 Foot long, the Bull is confin'd to a Sphere of about 30 Foot Diameter. Several Butchers, or other Gentlemen, that are desirous to exercise their Dogs, stand round about, each holding his own by the Ears; and, when the Sport begins, they let loose one of the Dogs; The Dog runs at the Bull: the Bull immovable, looks down upon the Dog with an Eye of Scorn, and only turns a Horn to him to hinder him from coming near: the Dog is not daunted at this, he runs round him, and tries to get beneath his Belly, in order to seize him by the Muzzle, or the Dew lap, or the pendant Glands: The Bull then puts himself into a Posture of Defence; he beats the Ground with his Feet, which he joins together as close as possible, and his chief Aim is not to gore the Dog with the Point of his Horn, but to slide one of them under the Dog's Belly (who creeps close to the Ground to hinder it) and to throw him so high in the Air that he may break his Neck in the Fall. This often happens: When the Dog thinks he is sure of fixing his Teeth, a turn of the Horn, which seems to be done with all the Negligence in the World, gives him a Sprawl thirty Foot high, and puts him in danger of a damnable Squelch when he comes down. This danger would be unavoidable, if the Dog's Friends were not ready beneath him, some with their Backs to give him a soft Reception, and others with long Poles which they offer him slant ways, to the Intent that, sliding down them, it may break the Force of his Fall. Notwithstanding all this care, a Toss generally makes him sing to a very scurvy Tune, and draw his Phiz into a pitiful Grimace: But, unless he is totally stunn'd with the Fall, he is sure to crawl again towards the Bull, with his old Antipathy, come on't what will. Sometimes a second Frisk into the Air disables him for ever from playing his old Tricks; But, sometimes, too, he fastens upon his Enemy, and when he has seiz'd him with his Eye teeth, he sticks to him like a Leech, and would sooner die than leave his Hold. Then the Bull bellows, and bounds, and Kicks about to shake off the Dog; by his Leaping the Dog seems to be no Manner of Weight to him, tho in all Appearance he puts him to great Pain. In the End, either the Dog tears out the Piece he has laid Hold on, and falls, or else remains fix'd to him, with an Obstinacy that would never end, if they did not pull him off. To call him away, would be in vain; to give him a hundred blows would be as much so; you might cut him to Pieces Joint by Joint before he would let him loose. What is to be done then? While some hold the Bull, others thrust Staves into the Dog's Mouth, and open it by main Force. This is the only Way to part them."

But the dogs did not always get the best of it—many a one was gored and killed by the bull. Cruelty, however, would scarcely rest content with simple bull baiting. It was improved upon, as we see in the following advertisement. "At the Bear Garden in Hockley in the Hole, 1710. This is to give notice to all Gentlemen, Gamsters, and Others, That on this present Monday is a Match to be fought by two Dogs, one from Newgate Market against one of Honey Lane Market, at a Bull, for a Guinea to be spent. Five Let goes out off Hand, which goes fairest and farthest in, Wins all; like wise a Green Bull to be baited, which was never baited before, and a Bull to be turned loose with Fire works all over him; also a Mad Ass to be baited; With variety of Bull baiting, and Bear baiting; and a Dog to be drawn up with Fire works." [57]

I cannot, however, consider this as an ordinary programme, and it was evidently so considered at the time; for a book was advertised in the Tatler, January 3-5, 1709 (1710):— "This Day is published The Bull Baiting or Sach——ll[58] dressed up in Fire works; lately brought over from the Bear Garden in Southwark, and exposed for the Diversion of the Citizens of London: at 6d. a piece." But Steele in No. cxxxiv. of the Tatler, condemns the cruelty of the age, and says he has "often wondered that we do not lay aside a custom which makes us appear barbarous to nations much more rude and unpolished than ourselves. Some French writers have represented this diversion of the common people much to our disadvantage, and imputed it to natural fierceness and cruelty of temper, as they do some other entertainments peculiar to our nation: I mean those elegant diversions of bull baiting and prize fighting, with the like ingenious recreations of the Bear-garden. I wish I knew how to answer this reproach which is cast upon us, and excuse the death of so many innocent cocks, bulls, dogs, and bears, as have been set together by the ears, or died untimely deaths, only to make us sport."

Of all the places where these cruel pastimes were practised, certainly Hockley-in-the-Hole, bore off the palm for blackguardism; and it is thus mentioned in an essay of Steele's in the Tatler (No. xxviii.),

"I have myself seen Prince Eugene make Catinat fly from the backside of Grays Inn Lane to Hockley-in-the-Hole, and not give over the pursuit, until obliged to leave the Bear Garden, on the right, to avoid being borne down by fencers, wild bulls, and monsters, too terrible for the encounter of any heroes, but such as their lives are livelihood." To this mention of Hockley-in-the-Hole, there is, in an edition of 1789, a footnote (p. 274), "There was a sort of amphitheatre here, dedicated originally to bull-baiting, bear-baiting, prize fighting, and all other sorts of rough-game; and it was not only attended by butchers, drovers, and great crowds of all sorts of mobs, but likewise by Dukes, Lords, Knights, Squires, &c. There were seats particularly set apart for the quality, ornamented with old tapestry hangings, into which none were admitted under half a crown at least. Its neighbourhood was famous for sheltering thieves, pickpockets, and infamous women; and for breeding bulldogs."

Bull baiting died hard, and in one famous debate in the House of Commons, on 24th of May, 1802, much eloquence was wasted on the subject, both pro. and con., one hon. gentleman (the Right Hon. W. Windham, M.P. for Norwich), even trying to prove that the bull enjoyed the baiting. Said he, "It would be ridiculous to say he felt no pain; yet, when on such occasions he exhibited no signs of terror, it was a demonstrable proof that he felt some pleasure." Other hon. gentlemen defended it on various grounds, and, although Wilberforce and Sheridan spoke eloquently in favour of the abolition of the practice, they were beaten, on a division, by which decision Parliament inflicted a standing disgrace, for many years, upon the English Nation.

Hockley-in-the-Hole was not only the temple of S. S. Taurus et Canis; but the genus Homo, type gladiator, was there in his glory. It was there that sword play was best shown, but we do not hear much of it before William the Third, or Anne's reign, or that of George I., when the redoubtable Figg was the Champion swordsman of England. As Hockley-in-the-Hole belongs to the Fleet River, so do these gladiatorial exhibitions belong to Hockley-in-the-Hole. I have treated of them once,[59] and on looking back, with the knowledge that many of my readers may not have seen that book, and having nothing better in the space allotted to this peculiar spot, to offer them (for I then drew my best on the subject) I quote, with apologies, from myself.

"In those days, when every one with any pretensions to gentility wore a sword, and duelling was rife, it is no wonder that exhibitions of skill in that weapon were favourites. Like modern prize fights, they drew together all the scum and riff-raff, as well as the gentry, who were fond of so-called sport. They were disreputable affairs, and were decried by every class of contemporary. The preliminaries were swagger and bounce, as one or two out of a very large number will show.[60]

"'At the Bear Garden in Hockley-in-the-Hole.

"'A Tryal of Skill to be Performed between two Profound Masters of the Noble Science of Defence on Wednesday next, being this 13th of the instant July, 1709, at Two of the Clock precisely.

"'I, George Gray, born in the City of Norwich, who has Fought in most Parts of the West Indies, viz., Jamaica, Barbadoes, and several other Parts of the World; in all Twenty-five times, upon a Stage, and was never yet Worsted, and now lately come to London; do invite James Harris, to meet and Exercise at these following Weapons, viz.:

Back Sword, } { Single Falchon
Sword and Dagger, and
Sword and Buckler, Case of Falchons.'

"'I, James Harris, Master of the said Noble Science of Defence, who formerly rid in the Horse Guards, and hath Fought a Hundred and Ten Prizes, and never left a Stage to any Man; will not fail, (God Willing) to meet this brave and bold Inviter, at the Time and Place appointed, desiring Sharp swords, and from him no Favour.

"'right-pointing hand Note. No persons to be upon the Stage but the Seconds. Vivat Regina.'"

This is not the only available advertisement, but it is a typical one, and will serve for all.

"The challenger would wager some twenty or thirty pounds, and the stakes would be deposited and delivered to the Challenged: the challenger receiving the money [61] taken at the door, or as we should term it, gate money; which, frequently, twice or thrice exceeded the value of the stakes.

"There is one remarkable exception, I have found, to this monetary arrangement, but it is the only one in my experience. For, in an advertisement of the usual character, there comes: 'Note.—That John Stokes fights James Harris, and Thomas Hesgate fights John Terriwest, three Bouts each at Back Sword, for Love.'

"Preliminaries arranged, handbills printed and distributed, the Combat duly advertised in at least one newspaper, and the day arrived; like the bull and bear, the combatants paraded the streets, preceded by a drum, having their sleeves tucked up, and their Swords in hand. All authorities agree that the fights were, to a certain extent, serious.[62] 'The Edge of the Sword was a little blunted, and the Care of the Prize-fighters was not so much to avoid wounding each other, as to avoid doing it dangerously: Nevertheless, as they were oblig'd to fight till some Blood was shed, without which no Body would give a Farthing for the Show, they were sometimes forc'd to play a little ruffly. I once saw a much deeper and longer Cut given than was intended.' "Ward[63] gives a short description of one of these fights: 'Great Preparations at the Bear Garden all Morning, for the noble Tryal of Skill that is to be play'd in the Afternoon. Seats fill'd and crowded by Two. Drums beat, Dogs yelp, Butchers and Foot soldiers clatter their Sticks; At last the two heroes, in their fine borrow'd Holland Shirts, mount the Stage about Three; Cut large Collops out of one another, to divert the Mob, and Make Work for the Surgeons: Smoking, Swearing, Drinking, Thrusting, Justling, Elbowing, Sweating, Kicking, Cuffing, all the while the Company stays.'

Steele gives a good account of a prize fight: [64] 'The Combatants met in the Middle of the Stage, and, shaking Hands, as removing all Malice, they retired with much Grace to the Extremities of it; from whence they immediately faced about, and approached each other. Miller, with an Heart full of Resolution, Buck, with a watchful, untroubled Countenance; Buck regarding principally his own Defence, Miller chiefly thoughtful of his Opponent. It is not easie to describe the many Escapes and imperceptible Defences between Two Men of Quick Eyes, and ready Limbs; but Miller's Heat laid him open to the Rebuke of the calm Buck, by a large Cut on the Forehead. Much Effusion of Blood covered his Eyes in a Moment, and the Huzzas of the Crowd undoubtedly quickened his Anguish. The Assembly was divided into Parties upon their different ways of Fighting: while a poor Nymph in one of the Galleries apparently suffered for Miller, and burst into a Flood of Tears. As soon as his Wound was wrapped up, he came on again in a little Rage, which still disabled him further. But what brave Man can be wounded with more Patience and Caution? The next was a warm eager Onset, which ended in a decisive Stroke on the Left Leg of Miller. The Lady in the Gallery, during the second Strife, covered her face; and for my Part, I could not keep my thoughts from being mostly employed on the Consideration of her unhappy Circumstances that Moment, hearing the Clash of Swords, and apprehending Life or Victory concerned her Lover in every Blow, but not daring to satisfie herself on whom they fell. The Wound was exposed to the View of all who could delight in it, and sowed up on the Stage. The surly Second of Miller declared at this Time, that he would, that Day Fortnight, fight Mr. Buck at the Same Weapons, declaring himself the Master of the renowned German; but Buck denied him the Honour of that Courageous Disciple, and, asserting that he himself had taught that Champion, accepted the Challenge."

In No. 449, of the Spectator, is the following letter re Hockley-in-the-Hole:—

"Mr. Spectator,—I was the other day at the Bear-garden, in hopes to have seen your short face; but not being so fortunate, I must tell you by way of letter, that there is a mystery among the gladiators which has escaped your spectatorial penetration. For, being in a Box at an Alehouse, near that renowned Seat or Honour above mentioned, I overheard two Masters of the Science agreeing to quarrel on the next Opportunity. This was to happen in the Company of a Set of the Fraternity of Basket Hilts, who were to meet that Evening. When that was settled, one asked the other, Will you give Cuts, or receive? the other answered, Receive. It was replied, Are you a passionate Man? No, provided you cut no more, nor no deeper than we agree. I thought it my duty to acquaint you with this, that the people may not pay their money for fighting, and be cheated.

"Your humble servant,

"Scabbard Rusty."

It was not sword play alone that was the favourite pastime at Hockley-in-the-Hole, there was cudgel playing—and fighting with "the Ancient Weapon called the Threshing Flail." There is an advertisement extant of a fight with this weapon between John Terrewest and John Parkes of Coventry, whose tombstone affirms that he fought three hundred and fifty battles in different parts of Europe. Fisticuffs also came prominently into vogue early in the eighteenth century, and it is needless to say that Hockley was a favourite place with its professors. The site of the Bear Garden is said to be occupied by the "Coach and Horses," 29, Ray Street, Farringdon Road.

Footnotes

[55] "Trivia," book ii.

[56] Book iii. line 1,000, &c.

[57] Harl. MSS. 5931, 46.

[58] Dr. Sacheverell.

[59] "Social Life in the Reign of Queen Anne," by John Ashton (Chatto and Windus).

[60] Harl. MSS. 5931, 50.

[61] De. SorbiÈre.

[62] Misson.

[63] "Comical View of London and Westminster."

[64] Spectator, No. 436.


CHAPTER XIII.

IN connection with the Fleet, I have omitted to mention one locality, in this immediate neighbourhood, which certainly deserves notice from its associations, namely Laystall Street and Mount Pleasant; for here it was, that a fort to command Gray's Inn Road, was built, when the lines for the protection of the City were formed by order of Parliament in 1643—at the time when it was feared that Prince Rupert was coming to attack it. For nearly, if not quite, a hundred years those lines of defence were partially visible; and, certainly, among others, one was at Mount Pleasant. It is a somewhat curious thing that the names survive. A Laystall meant a dung or dust heap, and, after this artificial mound was utilized for the community its name was euphemised into Mount Pleasant, which it bears to this day.

This work of intrenchment was almost impressment, for we can hardly consider that it was voluntary, when we read in a newspaper of 1643, that, by order of the Parliament, "many thousands of men and women (good housekeepers), their children, and servants, went out of the several parishes of London with spades, shovels, pickaxes, and baskets, and drums and colours before them; some of the chief men of every parish marching before them, and so went into the fields, and worked hard all day in digging and making of trenches, from fort to fort, wherebie to intrench the citie round from one end to the other, on this side of the Thames; and late at night the company came back in like manner they went out, and the next day a many more went, and so they continued daily, with such cheerfulnesse that the whole will be finished ere many dayes." And so these works of fortification went on, encouraged by the presence of a member of the Common Council, and some of the Trained Bands (the City Militia of that time) and it was a work in which all classes joined—willingly, or not, I know not—but the latter, probably, as the City of London was generally loyal to its king, although on occasion, the dwellers therein, knew how to hold their own in defence of their prerogatives. But the fear of Prince Rupert, and his familiar spirit—the white poodle dog "Boy" (who was killed, after passing through many a battle-field unscathed, at Marston Moor, July 2, 1644), may possibly have had something to do with it. Of course we know that tailors and shoemakers, are mostly radicals, and socialists in politics, probably on account of their sedentary work, where political discussion is rife, and from their constant inter-association, not mixing much with the outer world; therefore we can scarcely wonder that on the 5th of June, 1643, that some five thousand or six thousand Tailors went out to help intrench the City against the redoubted Prince, and that, afterwards, the shoemakers followed their example. Two thousand porters also helped in the work. Most probably, a moral "shrewd privie nipp" was administered to most people by those then in power, and they were forced into taking an active part in raising the fortifications, irrespective of their being either Cavaliers or Roundheads.

At all events, the fort at Mount Pleasant was raised, although never used, and it belongs to the history of the Fleet River—as, close by, a little affluent joined it. Gardens sloped down to its banks, notably those of the great Priory of St. John's Clerkenwell, and, like Bermondsey, with its "Cherry Gardens"—the names of "Vineyard Walk" and "Pear Tree Court" bear testimony to the fruitfulness of this part of London. There is also "Vine Street" in Saffron Hill, which latter name is extremely suggestive of the growth of a plant which, in old times, was much used both in medicine and cooking. It was called "The Liberty of Saffron Hill, Hatton Garden, and Ely Place"—which was in the Manor of Portpool.

Saffron Hill, nowadays, is the home of the Italian organ-grinder, who, although not unknown to the police, is undoubtedly a better citizen than previous dwellers therein. Specially was West Street, or Chick Lane, as it was formerly called, a neighbourhood to be avoided by all honest men. It ran both east and west of the Fleet, which it crossed by a bridge. Stow calls it Chicken Lane, but it certainly was not inhabited by young and innocent birds. It ran into Field Lane, of unsavoury memory, and now done away with.

This was the state of West Street, as exemplified by a cutting from the Morning Herald of Feb. 11, 1834:

"Yesterday an inquest was held at the Horse Shoe and Magpie, Saffron Hill, before Thomas Stirling, Esq., Coroner, on the body of James Parkinson, aged 36, who came by his death under the following circumstances.

"The Jury proceeded to view the body of the deceased, which lay in the upper part of a low lodging-house for travellers, in West Street, Saffron Hill. It was in a high state of decomposition, and a report was generally circulated that he had come by his death by unfair means.

"Mary Wood being sworn, deposed that she was the landlady of the house in West Street, which she let out in lodgings. The deceased occasionally lodged with her, and he was a dealer in cat's meat. On Tuesday night last he came home and asked her for a light, and proceeded to his bedroom. On the Wednesday witness proceeded upstairs to make the beds, when she saw the deceased lying on his bed apparently asleep, but she did not speak to him. On the Thursday she proceeded to the upper part of the house for the same purpose, when she again saw the deceased lying as if asleep, but she did not disturb him, and he was ultimately discovered to be a corpse, and his face quite black.

"Juror. Pray, how many beds are there in the room where the deceased slept?

"Witness. Only eight, and please you, Sir.

"Indeed, and how many persons are in the habit of sleeping in the same apartment?—There are generally two or three in a bed, but the deceased had a bed to himself.

"Very comfortable truly. Is it not strange that none of his fellow lodgers ascertained that he was dead?—No, Sir, they go in and out without seeming to care for each other.

"Do you mean to say, if a poor man was to take a lodging at your house, you would let him lie for upwards of 48 hours without inquiring whether he required nourishment?—Why, Sir, I have known some of my lodgers, who have been out upon the spree to lay in bed for three and four days together, without a bit or a sup, and then they have gone out to their work as well and as hearty as ever they was in their lives; I have known it often to have been done. There was plenty of grub in the house if he liked to have asked for it; but I thought if I asked him to have victuals he would be offended, as he might receive it as a hint for the few nights' lodging that he owed me.

"Mr. Appleby, the parish surgeon, proved that the deceased died a natural death, and the Jury returned a verdict of 'Died by the visitation of God.'"

There was an old house in West Street, pulled down in April, 1840, which tradition affirmed to have been the residence of the infamous Jonathan Wild, and, when destroyed, its age was considered to be about three hundred years. At one time it was the Red Lion Inn; but for a hundred years prior to its demolition it was a low lodging-house. Owing to the numerous facilities for secretion and escape, it was the haunt of coiners, secret distillers, thieves, and perhaps worse. There were trap doors connected with the Fleet River through which booty might be thrown, or a man get away, if hard pressed; a secret door in a garret led to the next house, and there were many hiding places—in one of which a chimney sweep named Jones, who had escaped from Newgate, lay hidden for about six weeks, although the house was repeatedly searched by the police.

And there was Field Lane too, which was the house of the "Fence," or receiver of stolen goods. It was from this interesting locality that Charles Dickens drew that wonderful study of Fagin—who was a real character. Cruikshank has made him as immortal, but Kenny Meadows tried to delineate him in a clever series which appeared in Bell's Life in London, under the title of "Gallery of Comicalities."

FAGIN, THE JEW.
FAGIN, THE JEW.

"Welcome, Old Star, of Saffron hill.

Of villainy a sample bright,

Awake to Prigs, and plunder still,

Thou merry, ancient Israelite!

Thy face is rough, with matted shag,

Foul is thy form, old shrivell'd wretch.

How cunningly you eye the swag,

Harden'd purveyor to Jack Ketch!

Incrusted with continued crime,

Your hopeful pupils still employ—

Thou wert indeed a Tutor prime

To Oliver, the Workhouse Boy.

Poor Lad! condemn'd to fate's hard stripes,

To herd with Fagin's plundering pack;

And learn the art of filching wipes,

From Charley Bates, and Dawkins Jack.

To hear 'The Dodger' patter slang,

With knowing wink, and accent glib,

Or learn from 'Sikes's' ruffian gang,

In slap up style to crack a crib.

Hail, Fagin! Patriarch of the whole!

Kind Patron of these knowing ones—

In thee we trace a kindred soul

Of honest Ikey Solomon's!

We leave you to your courses vile,

For conscience you have none, old Codger!

And in our next we'll trace in style,

The mug of Jack, the artful dodger."

FIELD LANE NEGOTIATIONS; OR, A SPECIMEN OF 'FINE DRAWING.'
FIELD LANE NEGOTIATIONS; OR, A SPECIMEN OF "FINE DRAWING."

The artistic merit of this poetry is nil, and my only excuse is the introduction of a forgotten sketch by a dead artist, who, in his day was popular and famous. Who, for instance, remembering Leech's pictures in Punch, would think that this illustration ever came from his pencil? but it did, and from Bell's Life in London; and so did another, of two children fighting in Chick Lane, whilst their parents, the father with a broken nose, and the mother with a black eye, look on approvingly.

"Field Lane Negotiations; or, a Specimen of 'Fine Drawing.' Thish ish vot I callsh 'caushe and effect;' caushe if vee thidn't buy, no bothy vood shell, and if vee thidn't shell, nobothy vood buy; and vot's more, if peoplesh thidn't have foglesh, vy, nobothy could prig em" (See Abrahams on the "Economy of Wipes").

Those were the days of large and valuable silk Bandana handkerchiefs, and the story used to be told that you might have your pocket picked of your handkerchief at one end of Field Lane, and buy it again at the other end, with the marking taken out.

Long before Fagin's time, however, there was a school for young thieves in this neighbourhood, vide Gentleman's Magazine (1765), vol. xxxv. p. 145.

"Four boys, detected in picking pockets, were examined before the Lord Mayor, when one was admitted as evidence, who gave an account, that a man who kept a public-house near Fleet Market, had a club of boys, whom he instructed in picking pockets, and other iniquitous practices; beginning first with teaching them to pick a handchief out of his own pocket, and next his watch; so that, at last, the evidence was so great an adept, that he got the publican's watch four times in one evening, when he swore he was as perfect as one of twenty years' practice. The pilfering out of shops was his next art; his instructions to his pupils were, that as many chandlers, or other shops, as had hatches, [65] one boy was to knock for admittance for some trifle, whilst another was lying on his belly, close to the hatch, who when the boy came out, the hatch on jar, and the owner withdrawn, was to crawl in, on all fours, and take the tills or anything else he could meet with, and to retire in the same manner. Breaking into shops by night was another article which was to be effected thus: as walls of brick under shop windows are very thin, two of them were to lie under a window as destitute beggars, asleep to passers by, but, when alone, were provided with pickers to pick the mortar out of the bricks, and so on till they had opened a hole big enough to go in, when one was to lie, as if asleep, before the breach, till the other accomplished his purpose."

Footnotes

[65] Dwarf doors.


CHAPTER XIV.

CLOSE by Saffron Hill, and Fleet Lane, is Hatton Garden, or Ely Place, formerly the seats of the Bishops of Ely; which Shakespeare has made so familiar to us in Richard III. act iii. sc. 4. "My Lord of Ely, when I was last in Holborn, I saw good strawberries in your garden there; I do beseech you, send for some of them."[66] In Queen Elizabeth's time an arrangement was effected so that her favourite Chancellor Hatton, who "led the brawls, the Seal and Maces danc'd before him,"[67] should have this little estate, the gardens of which sloped down to the Fleet River. Hence the Bishop of Ely's place assumed the name of Hatton Garden.

There is a legend—and I give it as such—that this Sir Christopher Hatton married a beautiful gipsy girl, who bewitched him; and the price she had to pay, according to her compact with the Evil One, was her soul, and body, after a given time. When that arrived, the Devil duly came for her, and seizing her, bore her aloft, and, whilst in the air, he rent her in pieces, and threw her still palpitating heart to earth. Where it fell was, for years, known as Bleeding Heart Yard; but now, the authorities, whoever they may be, have altered it to Bleeding Hart, which, in all probability was the cognizance of the family who resided there.

This Ely Place had very extensive premises, consisting of numerous buildings, a Hall, Quadrangle, Cloisters, Chapel, a field, the historic garden, cum multis aliis; and they occupied a large space. Only the Chapel now remains, and that has had a curious career. At one time marriages were celebrated there, as at the Fleet, presumably that it was not under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London, but this fiction was overruled in the case of Barton v. Wells in the Consistory Court, Nov. 17, 1789, when Sir Wm. Scott (afterwards Lord Stowell) decided that Ely Chapel was under the authority of the Bishop of London, and that Curates thereto must be licensed by him.

The Bishops came to London in former times, as now, and their residences, in several cases were known as Places, or Palaces. Thus, there was Winchester Place, in Southwark, now the headquarters of the Fire Brigade—formerly the palace of the Bishops of Winchester, a city which was once the metropolis of England, where Parliaments were held, and whose Bishops to this day are titular Prelates of the Garter. The Bishop of Bangor, who, although his see claims to be as old as any, has not the richest bishopric, had a palace in Shoe Lane, Holborn, and the Bishop of Lincoln also lived in Holborn.

The first mention of the connection of the Bishops of Ely, is in the will of John de Kirkeby (who was appointed Bishop in 1286), and whose will was proved in 1290, or 18 Edward I., and in the Close Roll of that year, is the following (in Latin, of course):

"For the Executors of the Will of the Bishop of Ely.

"Whereas the King hath understood that John, late Bishop of Ely, deceased, of pious memory, hath in his last will bequeathed his houses which he had in the parish of St. Andrew near Holeburn, in the suburbs, and within the liberty of the city of London, to God, and the Church of St. Etheldreda[68] of Ely, and his successors, bishops of the same place, so that they should pay the debts which the same deceased owed for those houses to Gregory de Rokesle, the King's Citizen, of London; Ralph de Sandwich, warden of the said City, is commanded, that, without delay, he deliver the aforesaid houses, with appurtenances, which are in the King's hand and custody, by reason of the death of the aforesaid bishop, thereof to make execution of the said will.

"Witness the King at Westminster on the 18th day of July."

The next bishop—William de Luda (who must have been a person of some distinction, for he had previously held the Deanery of St. Martin's le Grand, and the Archdeaconry of Durham, besides being Chamberlain, Treasurer, and Keeper of the Wardrobe to the King) bequeathed more property to the See, and in all likelihood, built the Chapel of St. Etheldreda, which, however, was most probably considerably modified by a later Bishop, Thomas de Arundel, who held the See from 1374 to 1388—as the windows, mouldings, &c., now existing show, being about as good an example, as possible, of Decorated, or Second Pointed architecture.

"Old Iohn of Gaunt, time-honoured Lancaster" lived at Ely Place for a time—in all likelihood after his palace in the Savoy, had been destroyed by rioters. This fact is noted by Shakespeare in "The life and death of King Richard the Second," act i. sc. 4:

"Busby. Old Iohn of Gaunt is verie sick, my Lord,
Sodainly taken, and hath sent post haste
To entreat your Majesty to visit him.
Richard. Where lyes he?
Busby. At Ely house."

Hollinshed, also, under date 1399, says: "In the meane time, the Duke of Lancaster departed out of this life at the Bishop of Elie's place, in Holborne, and lieth buried in the Cathedrall Church of St. Paule, in London, on the north side of the high altar, by the Ladie Blanche, his first wife."

The premises were of very great extent, as appears by plans taken before its almost total demolition in 1772. Under the Chapel was a cellar, or under croft—divided into two—and this seems to have caused some inconvenience in the seventeenth century, for Malcolm, in his "Londinium Redivivum" (vol. ii. p. 236) says: "One half of the crypt under the chapel, which had been used for interments, was then frequented as a drinking-place, where liquor was retailed; and the intoxication of the people assembled, often interrupted the offices of religion above them." And this statement seems to be borne out by a reference to Harl. MSS. 3789, et seq., where it says: "Even half of the vault or burying place under the Chapel is made use of as a public cellar (or was so very lately) to sell drink in, there having been frequently revellings heard there during Divine Service."

More curious things than this happened to Ely Place, for the Journals of the House of Commons inform us how, on January 3, 1642-3, "The palace was this day ordered to be converted into a prison, and John Hunt, Sergeant-at-arms, appointed keeper during the pleasure of the House." He was, at the same time, commanded to take care that the gardens, trees, chapel, and its windows, received no injury. A sufficient sum for repairs was granted from the revenues of the see.

Again, on March 1, 1660: "Ordered that it be referred to a Committee to consider how, and in what manner, the said widows, orphans, and maim'd soldiers, at Ely House, may be provided for, and paid, for the future, with the least prejudice, and most ease to the nation; and how a weekly revenue may be settled for their maintenance; and how the maimed soldiers may be disposed of, so as the nation may be eased of the charge, and how they may be provided of a preaching minister."

There were always squabbles about this property, and it nearly fell into ruin; but in 1772 an Act of Parliament was passed (Geo. III., an. 12, cap. 43) entitled "An Act for vesting Ely House, in Holbourn, in His Majesty, his Heirs and Successors, and for applying the Purchase Money, with another Sum therein mentioned, in the purchasing of a Freehold Piece of Ground in Dover Street, and in the building, and fitting up another House thereon, for the future Residence of the Bishops of Ely, and the Surplus to the Benefit of the See; and for other Purposes therein mentioned." And the town residence of the Bishop of Ely is now 37, Dover Street, Piccadilly. This little bargain was the sale to the Crown of Ely Place for £6,500, and a perpetual annuity of £200 to the Bishop of Ely and his successors.

The site and materials were purchased by a Mr. Charles Cole, an architect and builder, and he built Ely Place, Holborn. The chapel was let, and, eventually, to the Welsh Episcopalians of London. But the property got into Chancery, and the estate was ordered to be sold; and it was sold on January 28, 1874, and the chapel alone fetched £5,250. As there was no stipulation as to its purchase by any particular religious body, it was bought by the Roman Catholics, and is now St. Etheldreda's Church, Convent, and schools.

ELY HOUSE, 1784.
ELY HOUSE, 1784.

Apropos of Ely House, when Bishop Coxe demurred at surrendering the property of his see to Hatton, Queen Elizabeth wrote him that famous letter, beginning "Proud Prelate," and telling him that, if he did not do as he was told, she, who had made him what he was, could unmake him, and if he did not immediately comply, she would unfrock him—signing this very characteristic and peremptory epistle, "Yours, as you demean yourself, Elizabeth."

On the other or east side of the Fleet was a tributary brook called Turnmill brook—a name now surviving in Turnmill Street—which, even in this century, drove flour and flatting mills, and we have indisputable evidence of its industrial powers, in an advertisement in the Daily Courant September 17, 1714, which calls attention to a house in Bowling (Green) Alley, [69] Turnmill Street, which had the power of utilizing "a common sewer with a good stream, and a good current, for purposes of a Mill;" and it was on Turnmill Brook that Cave, the publisher, in 1740, went into an unprofitable partnership with one Lewis Paul, of Birmingham, to work a mill for the utilization of a patent taken out by Paul for a "Machine to spin wool or cotton into thread, yarn, or worsted." This experiment, however, was not a success.

The Fleet flowing to its bourne, [70] the Thames, was bridged over at Holborn. Stow says: "Oldbourne bridge, over the said river of Wels more towards the north, was so called, of a bourn that sometimes ran down Oldbourne hill into the said river. This bridge of stone, like as Fleet bridge from Ludgate West, serveth for passengers with Carriage, or otherwise, from Newgate toward the west and by north." This was written in 1598.

After the great fire of 1666 the Fleet was widened, and canalized, from the Thames, to Holborn Bridge; thence, to its source, it took its natural course, and, although there were then three bridges over it, from Holborn to Newgate Street, set close, side by side, yet it was considered too narrow for the traffic, as we see in an Act of Parliament passed in 1670 (22 Car. II., cap. 11), entitled "An additional Act for the Rebuilding of the City of London, Uniting of Parishes, and Rebuilding of the Cathedral and Parochial Churches within the said City." Section 7 says: "And, whereas the Way or Passage of Holborn-Bridge is now too strait, or incommodious for the many Carriages and Passengers daily using and frequenting the same, and is therefore necessary to be enlarged; Be it therefore likewise enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for the said Mayor, Aldermen, and Commons, so to enlarge and make wider the same, as that the said Way and Passage may run in a Bevil Line from a certain Timber house on the North side thereof, commonly called or known by the Name or Sign of the Cock, into the Front of the Buildings of a certain Inn called the Swan Inn, situate on the North side of Holborn Hill, as aforesaid."

Sir Christopher Wren built this bridge, which was meant to be the ornamental end of "The New Canal," as it is described in the map of Farringdon Ward in Stow's "Survey" (ed. 1720). It must have taken some time to complete, for it was not finished until the Mayoralty of Sir William Hooker, whose name appeared carved upon it (although somewhat mutilated) when it was uncovered in March, 1840. Sir William Tite, C.B., M.P., F.S.A., &c., Architect to the City of London, writing at that date, says: "The Sewer at Holborn Hill was opened, and as I was passing, I saw the southern face of the Bridge which crossed the Fleet at this place uncovered to some extent. It was built of red brick, and the arch was about twenty feet span. The road from the east intersected the bridge obliquely, which irregularity was obviated from a moulded and well-executed stone corbel arising out of the angle thus formed, which carried the parapet. On the plinth course of the parapet was cut the inscription following, recording the fact of the erection of the bridge, with the name of the Lord Mayor at the period:—"William Hooke(r). (A)nno D. 1674."

Sir William Tite says it was a red brick bridge; Hatton, in his "New View of London" (1708), says it was of stone; but then, probably, he never really saw it, and Tite did. Hatton's description is: "Holbourn Bridge is built of Stone, it leads from Holbourn to Snow Hill, over the N. end of the Fleet Brook, where a little rivulet called Wells, falls by Hockley Hole, running a little E'd of Saffron Hill, crossing near the W. end of Chick Lane, and so into this Brook."

The canalization of the Fleet after 1666 was a useful work, as it enabled barges to go up to Holborn Bridge; and that it was availed of, we can judge by the frontispiece, which was painted in the middle of the eighteenth century; but it was not much used, if we can trust Ned Ward, whose sharp eyes looked everywhere, and whose pen recorded his scrutiny [71] : "From thence we took a turn down by the Ditch side, I desiring my Friend to inform me what great Advantages this costly Brook contributed to the Town, to Countervail the Expence of Seventy four Thousand Pounds, which I read in a very Credible Author, was the Charge of its making: He told me he was wholly unacquainted with any, unless it was now and then to bring up a few Chaldron of Coles to two or three Pedling Fewel-Marchants, who sell them never the Cheaper to the Poor for such a Conveniency: and, as for those Cellars you see on each side design'd for Ware-Houses, they are render'd by their dampness so unfit for that purpose that they are wholly useless, except ... or to harbour Frogs, Toads, and other Vermin. The greatest good that ever I heard it did was to the Undertaker, who is bound to acknowledge he has found better Fishing in that muddy Stream, than ever he did in clear Water."

END OF HOLBORN BRIDGE, TAKEN FROM THE SOUTH, AND PART OF HOLBORN HILL. JUNE 2, 1840.
END OF HOLBORN BRIDGE, TAKEN FROM THE SOUTH, AND PART OF HOLBORN HILL. JUNE 2, 1840.

Gay, too, in his "Trivia," more than once mentions the foulness of the Fleet in book ii.

"Or who that rugged street[72] would traverse o'er,

That stretches, O Fleet-Ditch, from thy black shore

To the Tour's moated walls?"

And again:

"If where Fleet-Ditch with muddy current flows."

Here is a pen-and-ink sketch of Holborn Bridge—from some old engraving or painting (Crosby does not give his authority), which gives an excellent idea of old London—squalid and filthy according to our ideas. How different from that noble viaduct which now spans the course of the Fleet River! which her Majesty opened on November 6, 1869.

HOLBORN BRIDGE.
HOLBORN BRIDGE.

Footnotes

[66] Hollinshed says—speaking of a Council at the Tower, relative to the Coronation of Edward V., at which the Protector presided, "After a little talking with them, he said unto the Bishop of Ely, 'My Lord, you have verie good strawberries at your garden in Holborne, I require you let us have a messe of them.' 'Gladlie, my Lord,' quoth he, 'would God I had some better thing as readie to your pleasure as that!' And there withall, in all haste, he sent his servant for a messe of strawberries."

[67] Gray, "A long Story."

[68] Afterwards Anglicised into Audrey.

[69] There is now Bowling Green Street, Farringdon Street.

[70] See next two pages.

[71] "London Spy," part vi.

[72] Thames Street.


CHAPTER XV.

THEN, close by (still keeping up its title of the River of the Wells) was Lamb's Conduit, on Snow Hill, which was fed from a little rill which had its source near where the Foundling Hospital now stands, its course being perpetuated by the name of Lamb's Conduit Street, where, according to the "Old English Herbal," watercresses used to flourish. "It groweth of its own accord in gardens and fields by the way side, in divers places, and particularly in the next pasture to the Conduit Head, behind Gray's Inn, that brings water to Mr. Lamb's Conduit in Holborn."

William Lamb was a citizen of London, and of the Guild of Cloth-workers, besides which, he was some time Gentleman of the Chapel to Henry VIII. He benefited his fellow-citizens by restoring a conduit in 1577, which had been in existence since the fifteenth century; and, after the Great Fire, the busy Sir Christopher Wren was employed to design a covering for the spring, which he did, putting a lamb on the top, with a very short inscription on the front panel, to the effect that it was "Rebuilt in the year 1677 Sr Thos Davis Knt Ld Mayor."

It is curious to learn how the suburbs of London have grown within the memory of living men. Take, for instance, the following, from Notes and Queries (April, 1857, p. 265), referring to Lamb's Conduit. A correspondent writes that "About sixty years since, I was travelling from the West of England in one of the old stage coaches of that day, and my fellow-travellers were an octogenarian clergyman and his daughter. In speaking of the then increasing size of London, the old gentleman said that when he was a boy, and recovering from an attack of smallpox, he was sent into the country to a row of houses standing on the west side of the present Lamb's Conduit Street; that all the space before him was open fields; that a streamlet of water ran under his window; and he saw a man snipe-shooting, who sprung a snipe near to the house, and shot it."

It was no small gift of William Lamb to the City, for it cost him £1,500, which was equivalent to thrice that sum at present, and, to make it complete, he gave to one hundred and twenty poor women, pails wherewith to serve and carry water, whereby they earned an honest, although a somewhat laborious, living. Lamb left many charitable bequests, and also founded a chapel, by Monkwell Street, now pulled down. This Conduit existed until about 1755, when it was demolished, and an obelisk with lamps erected in its place, but, that being found a nuisance, was, in its turn, soon done away with.

LAMB'S CONDUIT, SNOW HILL.
LAMB'S CONDUIT, SNOW HILL.

Lamb was buried in the Church of St. Faith's, under St. Paul's, and on a pillar was a brass to his memory, which is so quaint, that I make no apology for introducing it.

"William Lambe so sometime was my name,

Whiles alive dyd runne my mortall race,

Serving a Prince of most immortall fame,

Henry the Eight, who of his Princely grace

In his Chapell allowed me a place.

By whose favour, from Gentleman to Esquire

I was preferr'd, with worship, for my hire.

With wives three I joyned wedlock band,

Which (all alive) true lovers were to me,

Joane, Alice, and Joane; for so they came to hand,

What needeth prayse regarding their degree?

In wively truth none stedfast more could be.

Who, though on earth, death's force did once dissever,

Heaven, yet, I trust, shall joyn us all together.

O Lambe of God, which sinne didst take away;

And as a Lambe, was offred up for sinne,

Where I (poor Lambe) went from thy flock astray,

Yet thou, good Lord, vouchsafe thy Lambe to winne

Home to thy folde, and holde thy Lambe therein;

That at the day, when Lambes and Goates shall sever,

Of thy choice Lambes, Lambe may be one for ever.

I pray you all, that receive Bread and Pence,

To say the Lord's Prayer before ye go hence."

It is said, also, that the old verses, so well known, were appended to the brass, or, rather, engraved on his tombstone.

"As I was, so are ye,

As I am, you shall be,

That I had, that I gave,

That I gave, that I have.

Thus I end all my cost,

That I felt, that I lost."

But there is one well must not be lost sight of; for, in its small way, it was tributary to the Fleet—and that is Clerk's Well, or Clerkenwell, which gives its name to a large district of London. It was of old repute, for we see, in Ralph Aggas' Map of London, published about 1560, a conduit spouting from a wall, into a stone tank or trough. This is, perhaps, the earliest pictorial delineation of it; but FitzStephen mentions it under "fons Clericorum" so called, it is said, from the Parish Clerks of London, who chose this place for a representation of Miracle Plays, or scenes from Scripture realistically rendered, as now survives in the Ober Ammergau Passion Play. This little Company, which still exists as one of the City Guilds, has never attained to the dignity of having a livery, but they have a Hall of their own (in Silver Street, Wood Street, E.C.), and in their time have done good service in composing the "Bills of Mortality;" and gruesome pamphlets they were—all skulls, skeletons, and cross-bones—especially during the great Plague.

These plays were, as I have said, extremely realistic. One, played at Chester A.D. 1327, [73] represented Adam and Eve, both stark naked, but, afterwards, they wore fig leaves. The language used in them, would to our ears be coarse, but it was the language of the time, and, probably, men and women were no worse than they are now. But, at all events this Guild, which was incorporated in the 17 Henry III. A.D. 1232, used occasionally to delight their fellow Citizens with dramatic representations in the open air (as have lately been revived in the "Pastoral plays" at Wimbledon) at what was then an accessible, and yet a rural, suburb of London.

Map of Ray Street

Hence the name—but the well, alas, is no more—but when I say that, I mean that it is no longer available to the public. That it does exist, is well known to the occupier of the house where it formerly was in use, for the basement has frequently to be pumped dry. The neighbourhood has been so altered of late years, that its absolute site was somewhat difficult to fix; yet any one can identify it for themselves from the accompanying slight sketch of the locality as it existed over sixty years since. Ray Street (at least this portion of it) is now termed Farringdon Road, and what with Model lodging-houses, and underground railways, its physical and geographical arrangement is decidedly altered.

Early in the last century, in Queen Anne's time, the Spring had ceased to be a conduit, as shown in Ralph Aggas' Map, but had been turned into a pump; and this pump even was moved, in 1800, to a more convenient spot in Ray Street, where it was in existence (which I rather doubt), according to Pink's History of Clerkenwell in 1865. However, there is very good evidence of its being, in an engraving dated May 1, 1822, of the "Clerk's Well"—which shows the pump, and a stone tablet with the following inscription:

"A.D. 1800.
Willm. Bound } Church-
Joseph Bird Warden.

For the better accommodation of the Neighbourhood, this Pump was removed to the Spot where it now Stands. The Spring by which it is supplied is situated four Feet eastward, and round it, as History informs us, the Parish Clerks of London in remote Ages annually performed sacred Plays. That Custom caused it to be denominated Clerks' Well, and from which this Parish derives its Name. The Water was greatly esteemed by the Prior and Brethren of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, and the Benedictine Nuns in the Neighbourhood."

In later days, the Fleet, as every other stream on whose banks houses are built, became a sewer, and "behaved as sich;" so that it was deemed prudent to cover some portion of it, at all events, and that part where now is Farringdon Street, was arched over, and made into the Fleet Market. Our ancestors were far more alive to the advantages of ready cash, and consequent keen competition among dealers, than we are, although through the medium of Co-operative Stores, &c., we are beginning to learn the lost lesson, but, at all events, they had the acumen to know that large centres of supply were cheaper to the consumer than small, isolated shops, and the Market, was the outcome. It is next to impossible to make a Market—witness in our own times, the Central Fish Market, and Columbia Market, both of which are not absolute failures, but, to use a theatrical slang term, frosts—and this was an example.

The Canal, up to Holborn Bridge, was expensive to keep up, and as we saw, by the quotation from Ned Ward, it was next door to worthless. Meantime, sewage and silt played their work, as the stream was neglected, and, becoming a public nuisance, it was arched over, pursuant to an Act 6 Geo. II. cap. 22, entitled "An Act for filling up such Part of the Channell of Bridewell Dock, and Fleet Bridge, as lies between Holborn Bridge and Fleet Bridge, and for converting the Ground, when filled up, to the use of the City of London." The works were begun in 1734 and was arched over and finished in 1735; but, as buildings are necessary for a market, it was not opened, as such, until Sept. 30, 1737. For nearly a century it remained a market for meat, fish, and vegetables, although, of course, the largest meat market was Newgate, as being near Smithfield; and for fish, Billingsgate, which still maintains its pre-eminence But in 1829 it was pulled down, in order to make a wider street from Holborn to Blackfriars Bridge; and this part of the Fleet was called, and now is, Farringdon Street.

FLEET MARKET, FROM HOLBORN BRIDGE.
FLEET MARKET, FROM HOLBORN BRIDGE.

The Vegetable Market, for it had come to that only, was swept away, and a site found for it, nearly opposite the Fleet prison. It is still so used, but it is not much of a financial help to the City, as it only brings in an annual income (according to the last return I have been able to obtain) of between £700 and £800. It was thought that trade might be encouraged, and revived, if it were worthier housed, so what is now, the Central Fish Market, was erected; but, before the vendors of vegetables could enter into possession, a great cry had arisen as to the supply of fish to London, and the monopoly of Billingsgate, and the market was given over to the fishmongers. But it is not a success in a monetary point of view; is a great loss to the City, and, as a fish market, a very doubtful boon to the public.

The Fleet Prison, which was on the east side of Farringdon Street, will be noticed in its place; and, as we have seen, the river was arched over from Holborn to Fleet Bridge, after which it still flowed, an open sewer, into the Thames.

But, before going farther, we must needs glance at a curious little bit of Fleet history, which is to be found in "The Secret History of the Rye House Plot, and Monmouth's Rebellion," written by Ford. Lord Grey who was a party to the plot, addressed it to James the Second, 1685, but it was not printed until 1754. In p. 28 it states, "About the latter end of Oct. Monmouth s'd to Sir Thos. Armstrong and Lord Grey, that it was necessary for them to view the passage into the City, which, accordingly they did, from the lower end of Fleet-ditch, next the river, to the other end of it, by Snow Hill." And again (p. 34): "Sunday night was pitched upon for the rising in London, as all shops would be shut. Their men were to be armed at the Duke of Monmouth's in Hedge Lane, Northumberland House, Bedford House, and four or five meeting houses in the City.

"The first alarm was designed to be between eleven and twelve at night, by attacking the train bands at the Royal Exchange, and then possessing ourselves of Newgate, Ludgate, and Aldersgate. The first two gates we did not design to defend, unless we were beaten from Fleet Bridge and Snow Hill, where we intended to receive the first attack of the King's Guards. At Snow Hill, we intended to make a Barricade, and plant three or four pieces of Cannon, upon Ship's Carriages; at Fleet Bridge we designed to use our Cannon upon the carriages, and to make a breast-work for our musqueteers bridge next us, and to fill the houses on that side the ditch with men who should fire from the windows, but the bridge to be clear."

As a matter of fact, there seem to have been two bridges over the Fleet, crossing it at Fleet Street and Ludgate Hill, both side by side, as at Holborn. Crosby, upon whose collection I have so largely drawn, says that it is so, from personal observation, one bridge being 24 ft. 6 in., and the other, 24 ft. wide, making in all, a roadway of 48 ft. 6 in. presumably including parapets. From his measurements, the span of the bridge was 12 ft., and the height of the arch was 11 ft. 6 in., but he does not say whence he takes his measurement—from the bottom of the Fleet, or from the river level.

To this measurement hangs a tale, which is best told in Crosby's own words, from a memo of his in the Guildhall Library:—

"Fleet Bridge, Tuesday, July 28th, 1840. As I could not depend upon the admeasurements which, at the beginning of the year, I had taken in a hurried manner, at Fleet Bridges, while bricklayers were placing in a brick bottom in place of the original one of alluvial soil, I determined to obtain them the first opportunity. This evening, therefore, at ten o'clock, I met Bridgewater, one of the workmen employed in constructing the New Sewer from Holborn Bridge to Clerkenwell, by appointment, at the Hoard there, water boots being in readiness. I lighted my lamps, and, assisted by the watchmen, King and Arion, we descended the ladder, and got into that branch of the sewer which joins Wren's bridge, at Holborn. We then walked carefully till we reached Fleet Bridge. I suspended my Argand lamp on the Breakwater of the Sewer, and with my Lanthorn light we proceeded towards the Thames. We got a considerable distance, during which the channel of the Sewer twice turned to the right, at a slight angle, the last portion we entered, was barrelled at the bottom, the middle so full of holes, and the water so deep, as we approached the Thames, that we thought it prudent to return to Fleet bridge." (Here they lit up and took measurements). "All went well till about a quarter to twelve o'clock, when to our surprise we found the Tide had suddenly come in to the depth of two feet and a half. No time was to be lost, but I had only one more admeasurement to make, viz., the width of the north bridge. I managed this, and we then snatched up the basket, and holding our Lamps aloft, dashed up the Sewer, which we had to get up one half before out of danger. The air was close, and made us faint. However we got safe to Holborn Bridge...."

Footnotes

[73] Harl. MSS. 2013.


CHAPTER XVI.

HATTON, writing in 1708, says: "Fleet Bridge is even with the Str(eet); it leads from Fleet Street over the Fleet Ditch to Ludgate Hill; is accommodated with strong Battlements which are adorned with six Peers and enriched with the Arms of London, and Supporters Pine-apples, &c., all of Stone; and bet(wee)n the Peers are Iron Rails and Bannisters, on the N. & S. sides of the Bridge."

On either side of where the Bridge used to be, are two obelisks, one on the North, or Farringdon Street side, to Alderman Waithman, and on the South, or Bridge Street side, to John Wilkes the notorious. The first bears the following inscription:—

Erected
to the memory
of
Robert
Waithman
by
his friends and
fellow citizens
,
M.D.C.C.C.XXXIII.

This Alderman Waithman was almost one of the typical class so often held up as an example for all poor boys to follow, i.e., he began life with simply his own energy, and opportunity to help him. And, as a virtuous example of industry, when the times were not so pushing as now; and half, and quarter, or less commissions on transactions were unknown, we may just spend a minute in reading about him. Wrexham was his birthplace in 1764, and his father dying soon after, he was adopted by his uncle and sent to school. No one was then left very many years in statu pupillari, and, consequently, he had to join his uncle in business, as a linendraper at Bath. The uncle died in 1788, and he took a place at Reading, whence he came to London, and lived as a linendraper's assistant until he came of age. He then married, and opened a shop at the South end of the Fleet Market, nearly precisely on the spot where his monument now stands.

He prospered in business, and moved to other, and larger premises, became Common Councilman, tried to get into Parliament for the City, and ultimately succeeded in 1818. Next election he lost it, but in all subsequent ones he was the favoured candidate. He was Alderman of Farringdon Without, Sheriff, and filled the office of Mayor in 1823-4. The obelisk to his memory remains, but he has dropped out of general memory, and this revival of his life, for imitation, in industry and rectitude of conduct, must be my excuse for taking up my readers' time.

Far different is it with John Wilkes, about whom every one knows, and I have only to say that his obelisk bears the inscription—

A.D.
M.D.C.C.LXXV.

The Right
Honorable
John Wilkes
,
Lord Mayor.

This inscription became effaced through the weather, and was, within the last few years, replaced with a new stone; but it was grumbled at for not having the original word "Esquire" after John Wilkes, which was surely a work of supererogation.

Close by was Ludgate, with its debtors' prison of Lud-gate, which was rather aristocratic, being "purely for Insolvent Citizens of London, Beneficed Clergy, and Attorneys at Law," and which was even peculiar in the time when it existed; for Maitland, in his "History of London" (ed. 1775, pp. 28, 29) says:—

"The domestick Government of this Prison having something very singular and remarkable in it, I presume an Account thereof will not be unacceptable to the Reader. I shall, therefore, insert a compendious Abstract thereof from an Account published some Time ago by one who had been a long Time Prisoner there.

"For the quiet and good Government of this Prison, and the Punishment of Crimes and Misdemeanors therein committed, the Master Keeper and Prisoners from among themselves chuse the following Officers, viz., A Reader of Divine Service; an upper Steward, called the Master of the Box; an Under Steward; seven Assistants, who by Turns officiate daily; a Running Assistant; two Churchwardens; a Scavenger; a Chamberlain; a Running Post; and the Criers or Beggars at the Gates, who are generally six in number.

"The Reader is chosen by the Master Keeper, Stewards, and Assistants, and not at a General Election, as the other Officers are. The Reader, besides reading Prayers, was, originally, obliged to Ring the Bell twice a Day for Prayers, and also for the Space of a Quarter of an Hour before Nine at Night, as a Warning for all Strangers to depart the Prison; but for the Dignity of his Office, he is now exempt from those Services, and others in his stead are appointed to perform them. This Officer's salary is two Shillings and eight Pence per Month, and a Penny of every Prisoner at his Entrance, if his Garnish[74] amount to sixteen Pence; and a Dish of Meat out of the Lord Mayor's Basket.

"The Upper Steward, or Master of the Box, is, by all the Prisoners held in equal Esteem with the Keeper of the Prison; and to his Charge is committed the keeping of all the several Orders of the House, with the Accounts of Cash received upon Legacies; the Distribution of all the Provisions sent in by the Lord Mayor, and others; the cash received by Garnish, and begging at the Grates, which he weekly lays out in Bread, Candles, and other Necessaries. He likewise keeps a List of all the Prisoners, as well those that are upon the Charity, as those that are not; to each of whom, by the Aid of the Assistant for the Day, he distributes their several proportions of Bread and other Provisions. He receives the Gifts of the Butchers, Fishmongers, Poulterers, and other Market People, sent in by the Clerk of the Market, by the Running Post, for which he gives a Receipt, and, afterwards, in the Presence of the Assistant for the Day, exposes for Sale to the Charity Men, by Way of Market; and the Money arising thereby is deposited in the Common Stock, or Bank.

"This Officer, with the Under Steward, Assistants, and Churchwardens, are elected monthly by the Suffrages of the Prisoners; but all the other Officers, except the Chamberlain, are appointed by the Master-Keeper, Stewards, and Assistants. The Design of these frequent Elections, is to prevent Frauds and Abuses in the respective Officers; but, when they are known to be Men of Probity, they are generally reelected, and often continue in such Posts many Months. The Monday after every Election, the Accounts are audited and passed, and the Balance divided; and, if it amount to three Shillings and four Pence per Man, the Keeper of the Prison arbitrarily extorts from each Prisoner two Shillings and Four Pence, without the least Colour of Right: But, if the Dividend arises not so high, then he only takes one Shilling and two Pence; the other Moiety being charged to the Prisoner's Account, to be paid at the Time of his Discharge; which new and detestable Impositions are apparently contrary to the Intention of the Founder.

"Another great Grievance the distressed and miserable Prisoners are subject to, is, their being obliged to pay the Turnkey twelve Shillings per Month, for no other Service than that of opening the Door to let in Gifts and Charities sent to the Prison, which often amount to little more than what he receives.

"The Under Steward is an Assistant, or Deputy, to the Upper Steward, in whose Absence or Indisposition he performs the several Functions of his Office.

"The Assistants, being seven in Number, are chosen Monthly with the Stewards; one whereof, officiating daily, his Business is to attend in the Hall, to enter all Charities, and keep an Account of the Money taken out of the Boxes, which are opened at five o'Clock in the Afternoon, and at Nine at Night; which Money he pays to the Upper Steward, at the passing of whose Accounts the Assistants are Auditors.

"Every Person put in Nomination for the Office of an Assistant, refusing to serve, forfeits one Shilling to the Use of the Publick, or, in lieu thereof, to be put in Fetters for three Days. The officiating Assistant is invested with a magisterial Power, whereby he can commit a Prisoner to the Stocks or Shackles, for the Abuse of any Person. This Officer is to see the Cellar cleared every Night, by ten o'Clock of all the Prisoners; for which he receives six Pence out of the Charity Money; two Pence whereof to his own Use, two Pence to the Upper Steward, and two Pence to the Running Assistant. This Office was anciently in such Esteem, that the Assistant, at his entering upon it, used nightly, at Eight o'Clock, to be ushered into the Hall, by an Illumination of forty or fifty great Candles, carried by so many Prisoners.

"The Running Assistant's Business is, to attend upon the Criers at the Gates, to change Money; and open the Boxes: to put up Candles in their respective Places, attend upon the Stewards and Assistants, look after the Clock, ring the Bell for Prayers; and to be Crier at the Sale of Provisions. His Salary is four Shillings and eight Pence per Month, and an eighth part of the Garnish Money.

"The Churchwardens are chosen from among the youngest Prisoners. The Upper Warden's Office is, to call to Prayers on Sundays, after the Bell has done ringing; and the Under Warden's is to call the Prisoners to Prayers all other Days. They are likewise to take cognizance of all Persons who are upon the Charity Foundation; who in default of Attendance are fined one Penny each. The Under Warden's Salary for this Service is four Pence per Month; and the Penalty for not serving, when duly elected, is four Pence.

"The Scavenger's Office is, to keep clean the Prison, and to fetter, and put in the Stocks all Offenders; for which he is intitled to receive from each Criminal one Penny, together with a Salary of five Shillings and eight Pence per Month, and two Pence out of every sixteen Pence of the Garnish Money.

"The Chamberlain is chosen by the Keeper of the Prison, whose Office it is to take Care of all the Bedding and Linen belonging to the Keeper; to place Men at their coming in, and to furnish them with Sheets, and to give Notice to Strangers to depart the Prison by Ten o'Clock at Night. This Officer, formerly, was obliged to make the Charity-Men's Beds, for which he received two Pence per Month.

"The Running Post's Business is, to fetch in a Basket the broken Meat from the Lord-Mayor, Clerk of the Market, private Families, and Charities given in the Streets, which are often so inconsiderable as not to admit of a Dividend; wherefore it is disposed of by Sale or publick Market, as aforesaid. The Salary annexed to this office, is four Shillings per Month; one Penny per Month out of each Man's Dividend, and one Penny out of every sixteen Pence of Garnish money.

"The Criers are six in Number; two whereof daily beg at the Grates; he at the Grate within is allowed one Fourth of what is given, and he at that on Blackfriars Side one Moiety of what is given there."


This custom is alluded to in the Spectator, No. lxxxii.:

"Passing under Ludgate the other Day I heard a Voice bawling for Charity, which I thought I had somewhere heard before. Coming near to the Grate, the Prisoner called me by my Name, and desired I would throw something into the Box. I was out of Countenance for him, and did as he bid me, by putting in half a Crown."

Of this Grate there is a pretty and romantic story told by Stow.[75]

"When the Prison was in this Condition, there happened to be Prisoner there one Stephen Foster, who (as poor Men are at this Day) was a Cryer at the Grate, to beg the benevolent Charities of pious and commiserate Benefactors that passed by. As he was doing his doleful Office, a rich Widow of London hearing his Complaint, enquired of him, what would release him? To which he answered, Twenty Pound, which she in Charity expended; and, clearing him out of Prison, entertained him in her Service; who, afterward, falling into the Way of Merchandize, and increasing as well in Wealth as Courage, wooed his Mistress, Dame Agnes, and married her.

"Her Riches and his Industry brought him both great Wealth and Honour, being afterwards no less than Sir Stephen Foster, Lord Mayor of the Honourable City of London: Yet whilst he lived in this great Honour and Dignity, he forgat not the Place of his Captivity, but, mindful of the sad and irksome Place wherein poor Men were imprisoned, bethought himself of enlarging it, to make it a little more delightful and pleasant for those who in after Times should be imprisoned and shut up therein. And, in order thereunto, acquainted his Lady with this his pious Purpose and Intention; in whom likewise he found so affable and willing a Mind to do Good to the Poor, that she promised to expend as much as he should do for the carrying on of the Work."

And they did spend their money on it right royally, building, amongst many other conveniences, a Chapel for the inmates, A.D. 1454, which they endowed, so as to maintain a "preacher" or chaplain. Sir Stephen Foster likewise provided that the place "should be free for all Freemen, and that they, providing their own Bedding, should pay nothing at their Departure for Lodging, or Chamber rent (as now they call it), which to many poor Men becomes oftentimes as burdensome as their Debts, and are by the Keeper detained in Prison as for Debt, only for their Fees, though discharged and acquitted of what they were committed for."

Nor did his charitable goodness end here, for he gave a supply of water gratis to the prisoners, as was recorded on a brass in the Chapel, very pithily—

"Devout Souls that pass this way

For Stephen Foster, late Maior, heartily pray,

And Dame Agnes, his Spouse, to God consecrate,

That of Pity this House made for Londoners in Ludgate.

So that for Lodging and Water, Prisoners have nought to pay,

As their Keepers shall all answer at dreadful Doomsday."

Dame Agnes survived her husband, but was ultimately buried by his side in the Church of St. Botolph, Billingsgate.

For a Prison, Ludgate compared more than favourably with every other in London. As we have seen, the prisoners were select; they were helped, in the matter of food, by the king of the City, the Lord Mayor: their fees were infinitesimal as compared with other debtors' prisons. Strype (ed. 1720, book ii. p. 179) says:—

"Formerly Debtors that were not able to satisfy their Debts, put themselves into this Prison of Ludgate, for shelter from their Creditors. And these were Merchants and Tradesmen that had been driven to want by Losses at Sea. When King Philip in the Month of August 1554 came first through London, these prisoners were Thirty in number; and owed £10,000, but compounded for £2,000. Who presented a well penned Latin Speech to that Prince, to redress their Miseries, and, by his Royal Generosity, to free them. 'And the rather, for that that Place was not Sceleratorum Carcer, sed miserorum Custodia; i.e., a Gaol for Villains, but a Place of Restraint for poor unfortunate Men. And that they were put in there, not by others, but themselves fled thither; and that not out of fear of Punishment, but in hope of better Fortune.' The whole Letter was drawn by the curious Pen of Roger Ascham, and is extant among his Epistles, Lib. iii.

"If a Freeman or Freewoman of London be committed to Ludgate, they are to be excused from the ignominy of Irons, if they can find Sureties to be true Prisoners, and if the Sum be not above £100. There is another Custom of the liberal and mild Imprisonment of the Citizens in Ludgate, whereby they have Indulgence and Favour to go abroad into any place by Baston, as we term it, under the guard and superintendency of their Keeper, with whom they must return again to the Prison at Night."

Footnotes

[74] "Garnish" was the footing that every prisoner paid on his entrance, and woe become him if it were not forthcoming; he was simply stripped of his clothes.

[75] Strype's "Stow's Survey," ed. 1720, vol. ii. p. 26 appendix.


CHAPTER XVII.

THE Course of the Fleet is nearly run, but, before closing this account of the river, we should not forget the residence of the mighty King-maker, the Earl of Warwick, whose pleasant gardens ran down to the Fleet; and there, in Warwick Lane, after the great Fire, was built the College of Physicians, described thus by Dr. Garth, in his "Dispensary":—

"Not far from that most celebrated Place,

Where angry Justice shews her awful Face;

Where little Villains must submit to Fate,

That great ones may enjoy the World in State,

There stands a Dome, majestick to the sight,

And sumptuous Arches bear its oval height;

A golden Globe plac'd high with artful skill,

Seems, to the distant sight, a gilded Pill."

Here they were housed until 1825, and, from the Fleet, could be seen the Apothecaries' Hall, in Water Lane, Blackfriars,

"Nigh where Fleet Ditch descends in sable Streams

To wash his sooty Naiads in the Thames;

There stands a Structure on a Rising Hill,

Where Tyro's take their Freedom out to Kill."

Then there was the Monastery of the Dominicans, or Blackfriars, which has given its name to a whole district; and there was a fortification, or postern, on the little river, near Ludgate Hill; and, close to its junction with the Thames, was Bridewell Bridge, so called from the Royal Palace of that name, which, in its turn, received its cognomen from another well, which went to form the "River of Wells," St. Bridget's or Bride's Well. This bridge is shown in the frontispiece, and was necessarily made very high in order to allow sailing craft to go under it.

It was here that Pope, in his "Dunciad" (book ii.), thus sings:

"This labour past, by Bridewell all descend,

(As morning pray'r, and flagellation end)

To where Fleet-ditch with disemboguing streams

Rolls the large tribute of dead dogs to Thames,

The King of Dykes! than whom, no sluice of mud,

With deeper sable blots the silver flood.

'Here strip, my children! here at once leap in,

Here prove who best can dash thro' thick and thin.'"[76]

Ward bursts into song over Bridewell, thus:—

"'Twas once the Palace of a Prince,

If we may Books Confide in;

But given was, by him long since,

For Vagrants to Reside in."

BRIDEWELL BRIDGE.
BRIDEWELL BRIDGE.

The Royal Palace of Bridewell stood on the site of the Castle of Montfichet, who is believed to have come over with William the Conqueror. Tradition assigns it a still earlier date, even Roman, but then, I don't say there was not a Roman fortress here, but I cannot say there was. Certainly Cardinal Wolsey lived here, and Henry VIII. held occasional Court.

Strype, in his edition of Stow (1720) says that after the destruction of Montfichet Castle and its Stone being given away:—

"This Tower or Castle being thus destroyed, stood, as it may seem, in Place where now standeth the House called Bridewell. For, notwithstanding the Destruction of the said Castle or Tower, the House remained large, so that the Kings of this Realm long after were lodged there and kept their Courts. For, in the Ninth Year of Henry the Third, the Courts of Law, and Justice were kept in the King's House, wheresoever he was lodged, and not else where. And that the Kings have been lodged, and kept their Law Courts in this Place, I could shew you many Authorities of Record....

"More, (as Matthew Paris hath) about the Year 1210, King John, in the Twelfth Year of his Reign, summoned a Parliament at S. Brides in London; where he exacted of the Clergy, and Religious Persons the Sum of One Hundred Thousand Pounds; And besides all this, the White Monks were compelled to cancel their Privileges, and to pay £4000 to the King, &c. This House of S. Brides (of later Time) being left, and not used by the Kings, fell to Ruin; insomuch that the very Platform thereof remained (for great part) waste, and as it were, but a Lay Stall of Filth and Rubbish, only a fair Well remained there. A great part whereof, namely, on the West, as hath been said, was given to the Bishop of Salisbury; the other Part toward the East remained waste, until King Henry the Eighth builded a stately and beautiful House, thereupon, giving it to Name, Bridewell, of the Parish and Well there. This House he purposely builded for the Entertainment of the Emperor Charles the Fifth;[77] who in the Year 1522 came into this City.... Being in Decay, and long disused, King Edward VI. gave it to the City in the Seventh[78] Year of his Reign.

"It is seated near to Blackfriars; from which it is severed by the Canal of the Fleet-ditch. It was obtained of the King at first for an Harbour of poor Harbourless People, that lay abroad in the Streets. It was soon after improved to be a Workhouse, not only to give Lodging to poor, idle, wandring Persons, Beggars, and others; but to find them Work, to help to maintain themselves. But tho' this was granted in the Year 1553, yet it seems, it was not before Two Years after, that the City entred and took possession of it by Gerard their Maior, having obtained Queen Mary's Confirmation.

"In the time of Queen Elizabeth, about the Year 1570 and odd, one John Pain, a Citizen, invented a Mill to grind Corn; which he got recommended to the Lord Maior, for the Use of Bridewell. This Mill had Two Conveniences: One was, That it would grind a greater Quantity considerably than any other Mills of that Sort could do. And the other (which would render it so useful to Bridewell) was, That the Lame, either in Arms or Legs, might work at it, if they had but the Use of either. And, accordingly, these Mills were termed Hand-Mills or Foot-Mills.

"This Mill he shewed to the Lord Maior, who saw it grind as much Corn with the Labour of Two Men, as they did then at Bridewell with Ten. That is to say, Two Men with Hands, two Bushels the Hour; or Two Men with Feet, two Bushels the Hour. If they were Lame in their Arms, then they might earn their Livings with their Legs. If Lame in their Legs, then they might earn their Livings with their Arms."

—This, perhaps, is the earliest mention of the treadmill, as a punishment.

Still quoting Strype, (same edition):

"The Use of this Hospital now is for an House of Correction, and to be a Place where all Strumpets, Night-walkers, Pickpockets, vagrant and idle Persons, that are taken up for their ill Lives, as also incorrigible and disobedient Servants, are committed by the Mayor and Aldermen, who are Justices of the Peace within the said City; And being so committed are forced to beat Hemp in publick View, with due Correction of whipping, according to their Offence, for such a Time as the President and Court shall see Cause."

Bridewell is well shown by Hogarth in the fourth picture of the "Harlot's progress," where both men and women are seen "beetling" hemp.[79]

In a very rare tract called "Mr. William Fullers Trip to Bridewell" (1703) he gives a fairly graphic description of a prisoner's entry therein. "As soon as I came there, the Word was Strip, pull off your Cloaths, and with much intreaty, I prevail'd to keep on my Westcoat; then I was set to a Block, a punny of Hemp was laid thereon, and Ralph Cumpton (a Journy Man in the Shop) presented me with a Beatle, bidding me knock the Hemp with that, as fast as I could. This Beatle is of Brazel, [80] and weigh'd about 12 pounds."

Previously to this, poor Fuller had to stand twice in the pillory, on one of which occasions he was nearly killed by the mob, and when taken to Bridewell, all black and blue as he was, he had a whipping:— "My Hands were put in the Stocks, and then Mr. Hemings the Whipper, began to noint me with his Instrument, that had, I believe, about a dozen Strings notted at the end, and with that I had Thirty Nine Stripes (so that according to a certain Almanack Maker, who reckoned Dr. Oates's Stripes by every String, I had twelve times Thirty Nine). I had given the Rascal Half a Crown, but he afforded me very little favour, but struck home at every stroak; I confess I could not forbear bawling out, but good Sir Robert [81] knockt at last, and I was let out of the Stocks."

The prisoners, if they chose, could find their own food, but they were kept strictly at work as is quaintly put by Fuller—

"I had, in each Shop, the Thieves for my Fellow-labourers, and the Journeymen, our Deputy Task Masters, were frequently calling to the Prisoners, Why don't you Work there, strike hard: Then threaten, and sometimes beat them with a small Cane. These Task-masters are so accustomed to keeping their Prisoners hard at Work, that I have heard themselves say, they have, frequently, (forgetting themselves) called out, when they had no Prisoner in the Shop, as before, Why don't you work there."

Ward (in the "London Spy") gives an almost too graphic account of this prison, but expresses unmitigated disgust at the whipping of women, which took place there, and solemnly protested against its continuance. His description of a woman being flogged, is as follows:—

"My Friend Re-conducted me cc Quadrangle, and led me up a pair of Stairs into a Spacious Chamber, where the Court was sitting in great Grandeur and Order. A Grave Gentleman, whose Awful Looks bespoke him some Honourable Citizen, was mounted in the Judgement-Seat, Arm'd with a Hammer, like a Change-Broker at Lloyd's Coffee House, when selling Goods by Inch of Candle, and a Woman under the Lash in the next Room; where Folding doors were open'd, that the whole Court might see the Punishment Inflicted; at last down went the Hammer, and the Scourging ceas'd.... Another Accusation being then deliver'd by a Flat-Cap against a poor Wench, who having no Friend to speak in her behalf, Proclamation was made, viz. All you who are willing E——th T——ll, should have present Punishment, pray hold up your hands. Which was done accordingly:

WOMEN BEATING HEMP.
WOMEN BEATING HEMP.

And then she was order'd the Civility of the House, and was forc'd to shew her tender Back and Breasts to the Grave Sages of the August Assembly, who were mov'd by her Modest Mein, together with the whiteness of her Skin, to give her but a gentle Correction."

John Howard, in his "State of the Prisons in England and Wales" (ed. 1777) gives the following description of Bridewell:—

"This building was formerly a Palace, near St. Bridget's (St. Bride's) Well; from whence it had the name; which, after it became a Prison, was applied to other Prisons of the same sort. It was given to the City by King Edward VI. in 1552.

"That part of Bridewell which relates to my subject has wards for men and women quite separate. [82] The men's ward on the ground floor, is a day room in which they beat hemp; and a night room over it. One of the upper chambers is fitting up for an Infirmary.—The woman's ward is a day room on the ground floor, in which they beat hemp; and a night room over it. I was told that the chamber above this is to be fitted up for an Infirmary. The sick, have, hitherto, been commonly sent to St. Bartholomew's Hospital. All the Prisoners are kept within doors.

"The women's rooms are large, and have opposite windows, for fresh air. Their Ward, as well as the men's, has plenty of water: and there is a Hand-Ventilator on the outside, with a tube to each room of the women's ward. This is of great service, when the rooms are crowded with Prisoners, and the weather is warm.

PASS ROOM, BRIDEWELL, 1808.
PASS ROOM, BRIDEWELL, 1808.

"The Prisoners are employed by a Hemp dresser, who has the profit of their labour, an apartment in the Prison, and a salary of £14. I generally found them at work: they are provided for, so as to be able to perform it. The hours of work are, in winter, from eight to four; in summer from six to six, deducting meal times. The Steward is allowed eightpence a day for the maintenance of each Prisoner; and contracts to supply them as follows:—On Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, a penny loaf, ten ounces of dressed beef without bone, broth, and three pints of ten shilling beer; on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, a penny loaf, four ounces of cheese, or some butter, a pint of milk pottage, and three pints of ten shilling beer.... In winter they have some firing. The night rooms are supplied with straw. No other Prison in London has any straw, or other bedding.... I found there in 1776:—

March 13. Prisoners 20
May 1. " 7
Dec. 3. " 24."

It continued as a House of Correction for the City of London until its abolition, with other Civic prisons by an Act of 40 and 41 Vict. cap. 21, entitled "An Act to amend the Law relating to Prisons in England." But there was an exception made in its favour, and it still remains a House of Correction in a mild way—thanks to the very kindly and fatherly wishes and representations of the Civic Authorities.

The good old days of Apprenticing boys to some craft for seven years, during which he was to serve his master faithfully, and in return, was to be housed, fed, and taught his business, have all but passed away, but not quite. There are still some refractory apprentices, as there ever have been. We know the common saying of "Boys will be boys," which is applied in mitigation of juvenile indiscretion, but there is also another apothegm, "Little boys, when they are naughty, must be smacked, and sent to bed." Bridewell has always been a place where idle or refractory City apprentices have had the opportunity of pondering over the errors of their ways, and in passing this Act, a special exemption was made, and there still exist six cells, which, I am sorry to say, are frequently occupied by erring youths. It is all done in the kindest, and most fatherly way. The City Chamberlain from the time of the Indentures of the lad being signed, to giving him his Freedom, acts as his guardian, to a great extent. Has the lad any complaint to make against his master it is to the Chamberlain he must appeal, and vice versÂ. The Cause is heard in camerÂ, and every effort is made to reconcile the parties, but, as will sometimes happen with a boy who is obstinate, sullen, or vicious, all attempts to bring him to a better sense fail, then the Chamberlain, by virtue of his office commits the boy to Bridewell, where he eats the bread, and drinks the water, of affliction for a while, a treatment, which combined with the confinement, hard work, and enforced sequestration from society, largely aided by the good advice of the Chaplain, very seldom fails to effect its object, and render that lad a decent member of the commonweal. It just arrests him in his downward path, there is no publicity, the thing is never chronicled in any Newspaper, as it might be, supposing no Bridewell existed, and the case was brought before a police magistrate—it need never be known outside his family circle, and he escapes the taint of being a gaol bird.

Bridewell seems to have been long associated with apprentices, not all of them "Thomas Idles," I am happy to say; and Hatton in "The New View of London" (1708) writes, showing the tender care that the City of London have always had for their poor:

"It is also an Hospital for Indigent Persons, and where 20 Art Masters (as they are called) being decayed Traders as Shoemakers, Taylors, Flax-dressers, &c., have Houses, and their Servants, or Apprentices (being about 140 in all) have Cloaths at the House Charge, and their Masters having the Profit of their Work do often advance by this means their own Fortunes, and these Boys, having served their time faithfully, have not only their Freedom, but also £10 each towards carrying on their respective Trades, and many have even arrived from nothing to be Governors."

This arrangement has, of course, had to "march with the times," and in 1860 the Master of the Rolls approved of, and sanctioned, a scheme of the Charity Commissioners, whereby nearly all the funds appertaining to Bridewell are utilized by two industrial schools called "King Edward's Schools," most impartially divided—one at Witley, in Surrey, affording accommodation for two hundred and forty boys, and another in St. George's Fields, Lambeth, for two hundred and forty girls; so that, even in these latter days, Bridewell still exists, and, if the spirits of its numerous benefactors have the power to see the manner in which their money is being spent, I fancy they would not grumble.

Before leaving the topic of Bridewell, as a prison, I must not fail to mention a notorious, but naughty, old woman who lived in the time of Charles II., commonly known as "Old Mother Cresswell." It is no slander on her memory, to say that her sense of morality was exceedingly lax, and she died in Bridewell. She evidently had saved some money, and with that curious spirit which possesses some people, and produces adulatory epitaphs, she would fain be better thought of after her death, than she was estimated when alive, for, in her will, she left a legacy for a sermon at her funeral, the preacher's remuneration to be £10, on one condition, that he should say nothing but what was well of her. A clergyman having been found, he preached a sermon generally adapted to the occasion, and wound up by saying: "By the will of the deceased, it is expected that I should mention her, and say nothing but what was well of her. All that I shall say of her, however, is this: she was born well, she lived well, and she died well; for she was born with the name of Cresswell, she lived in Clerkenwell, and she died in Bridewell."

There was a fine old Court-room, which is thus described in the "Microcosm of London" (1808):

"The Court-room is an interesting piece of antiquity, as on its site were held courts of justice, and probably parliaments, under our early kings. At the upper end are the old arms of England; and it is wainscotted with English Oak, ornamented with Carved work. This Oak was formerly of the solemn colour which it attains by age, and was relieved by the carving being gilt. It must have been no small effort of ingenuity to destroy at one stroke all this venerable, time-honoured grandeur: it was, however, happily achieved, by daubing over with paint the fine veins and polish of the old oak, to make a bad imitation of the pale modern wainscot; and other decorations are added in similar taste.

"On the upper part of the walls are the names, in gold letters, of benefactors to the hospital: the dates commence with 1565, and end with 1713. This is said to have been the Court in which the sentence of divorce was pronounced against Catherine of Arragon, which had been concluded on in the opposite monastery of the Black Friars.

"From this room is the entrance into the hall, which is a very noble one: at the upper end is a picture by Holbein,[83] representing Edward VI. delivering the Charter of the hospital to Sir George Barnes, then Lord Mayor; near him are William, Earl of Pembroke, and Thomas Goodrich, Bishop of Ely. There are ten figures in the picture, besides the king, whose portrait is painted with great truth and feeling: it displays all that languor and debility which mark an approaching dissolution, and which, unhappily, followed so soon after, together with that of the painter; so that it has been sometimes doubted whether the picture was really painted by Holbein—his portrait, however, is introduced; it is the furthest figure in the corner on the right hand, looking over the shoulders of the persons before him.

"On one side of this picture is a portrait of Charles II. sitting, and, on the other, that of James II. standing; they are both painted by Sir Peter Lely. Round the room are several portraits of the Presidents and different benefactors, ending with that of Sir Richard Carr Glyn. The walls of this room are covered with the names of those who have been friends to the institution, written in letters of gold."

This Hall was pulled down in 1862.

Footnotes

[76] See next page.

[77] Of Spain.

[78] A.D. 1553.

[79] A Beetle is a portion of a trunk of a tree, large or small as occasion demanded, sometimes more than one man could lift, vide Shakspeare (2 Hen. IV. act i. sc. 2), "Fillip me with a three-man beetle," i.e., one with three handles. All exogenous fibres have to be crushed, in order to release the fibre from the wooden core, and this, which is now done by machinery, was then done by beetles, or wooden hammers.

[80] Brazil wood.

[81] Sir Robert Jeffries the President and Justice at Bridewell, when he knocked with a hammer the punishment ceased.

[82] In Hogarth's picture both men and women are working together.

[83] The writer is in error, as the event it represents took place some ten years after Holbein's death. The picture is now in Christ's Hospital.


CHAPTER XVIII.

BORDERING upon Bridewell, and almost part and parcel of it, was Whitefriars, which, westward, ran to the Temple, and eastward to the Fleet. It is so-called from a Carmelite monastery, established here in the reign of Edward I. Within its precincts was the right of sanctuary, and, like the Jewish Cities of Refuge, offenders against the law might flee thither, and be protected from arrest. Naturally, the very scum of London floated thither, to the Mint in Southwark, and the precincts of the Savoy in the Strand, in none of which the King's warrant ran, unless backed by a force sufficient to overawe the lawless denizens of these localities. Whitefriars we may take as its original name, but there was given it a nick-name, "Alsatia," from Alsace, or Elsass, on the frontier between France and Germany, which was always a battle-field between the two nations; and so, from the incessant fighting that went on in this unruly neighbourhood, it acquired its cognomen.

Sir Walter Scott, in "The Fortunes of Nigel," gives a vivid description of the utter lawlessness and debauchery of this quarter of the town, but his was second-hand. Perhaps one of the most graphic pictures of this sink of iniquity is given in Shadwell's "Squire of Alsatia," acted in 1688, and which was so popular, that it had a run of thirteen nights. Here we get at the manners and customs of the natives, without any glossing over; and, just to give an example of the real state of the district at that time, I make two or three extracts, showing how the denizens were banded together in mutual defence.

"Cheatly. So long as you forbear all Violence, you are safe;
but, if you strike here, we command the Fryers, and will raise the Posse....

[A Noise of Tumult without, and blowing a Horn.]

Cheatly. What is this I hear?

Shamwell. They are up in the Friers; Pray Heav'n the Sheriff's Officers be not come.

Cheatly. 'Slife, 'tis so! 'Squire, let me conduct you——This is your wicked Father with Officers.

Exit.

[Cry without, the Tip-Staff! an Arrest! an Arrest! and the horn blows.]

[Enter Sir William Belfond, and a Tip-Staff, with the Constable,
and his Watchmen; and, against them, the Posse of the Friers
drawn up, Bankrupts hurrying to escape.
]

Sir Will. Are you mad, to resist the Tip-Staff, the King's Authority?

[They cry out, An Arrest! several flock to 'em with all sorts of
Weapons, Women with Fire-Forks, Spits, Paring Shovels, &c.
]


Tip-Staff. I charge you, in the King's Name, all to assist me.

Rabble. Fall on.

[Rabble beat the Constable, and the rest run into the Temple. Tip-Staff runs away.]."

So that we see how an ordinary sheriff's officer and the civil authorities were treated when they attempted to execute the law; but, further on in the play, we find a Lord Chief Justice's warrant, backed up by a military force—and then we see the difference.

"Truman. What do all these Rabble here?

Constable. Fire amongst 'em.

Sergeant. Present.

[The Debtors run up and dozen, some without their Breeches, others
without their Coats; some out of Balconies; some crying out,
Oars! Oars! Sculler! Five Pounds for a Boat! The Inhabitants
all come out arm'd as before; but as soon as they see the
Musqueteers, they run, and every one shifts for himself.
]

And almost at the close of the play one of the characters, Sir Edward Belfond, moralizes thus:

"Was ever such Impudence suffer'd in a Government? Ireland's conquer'd; Wales subdued; Scotland united: But there are some few Spots of Ground in London, just in the Face of the Government, unconquer'd yet, that hold in Rebellion still. Methinks 'tis strange, that Places so near the King's Palace should be no Parts of his Dominions. 'Tis a Shame to the Societies of the Law, to countenance such Practices: Should any Place be shut against the King's Writ, or Posse Comitatus?"

This right of sanctuary was taken from Whitefriars by William III., the nest of rogues, vagabonds, and thieves broken up, the occupants dispersed, and law reigned supreme in that once defiant place.

We have now traced the Fleet River to its junction with the Thames. Poor little river! its life began pure enough, but men so befouled it, that their evil deeds rose against themselves, and the river retaliated in such kind, as to become a malodorous and offensive nuisance, dangerous to the health of those men who would not leave it in its purity. So it was covered over, about 1764 (for it took some time to do it), and the present Bridge Street is over its foul stream, which was curbed, and bricked in, forming a portion of our vast and wonderful system of sewers. It has taken its toll of human life, in its time, though but few instances are recorded. In the Gentleman's Magazine, January 11, 1763, we read: "A man was found in the Fleet Ditch standing upright, and frozen to death. He appears to have been a barber at Bromley, in Kent; had come to town to see his children, and had, unfortunately, mistaken his way in the night, and slipt into the ditch; and, being in liquor, could not disentangle himself."

Bell's Weekly Messenger, August 2, 1835: "Some workmen have been for a few days past engaged in making a new sewer, communicating with the foulest of all streams, the Fleet Ditch. In consequence of the rain the men had left off work; and, soon afterwards, a young man named Macarthy, a bricklayer, proceeded to the sewer for the purpose of bringing away a ladder, when, owing to the slippery state of the works, he fell down the Sewer, but in his descent, caught hold of the ladder he was in search of, to which he hung for nearly a quarter of an hour, calling loudly all the time for assistance, though from some extraordinary cause or other, no person was able to afford him any. At length some of the labourers arrived—but too late; he had just before fallen into the Sewer, and was carried into the Fleet Ditch; and owing to its having been swollen by the heavy shower, floated along as far as the mouth of the Fleet Ditch, at Blackfriars, where his body was found, covered with the filth of the sewer, which the unfortunate man had met with in his progress to the Thames."

And the Times of October 3, 1839, records another fatal accident during some repairs.

Naturally, this River was celebrated in verse. There was a very foolish and dull poem by Arthur Murphy in 1761 called "Ode to the Naiads of Fleet Ditch;" and, previously, it had been sung by Ben Jonson, "On the famous Voyage," which will be found among his epigrams. This voyage was from Bridewell to Holborn, and describes very graphically the then state of the river. Too graphic, indeed, is it for the reading of the modern public, so I transcribe but a very small portion of it, showing its then state.

"But hold my torch, while I describe the entry

To this dire passage. Say, thou stop thy nose;

'Tis but light pains: indeed, this dock's no rose.

In the first jaws appear'd that ugly monster

Y'cleped mud, which, when their oars did once stir,

Belched forth an air as hot, as at the muster

Of all your night tubs, when the carts do cluster,

Who shall discharge first his merd-urinous load;

Through her womb they make their famous road."

1768. THE ARREST. (Drawn from a late real scene.)
1768. THE ARREST. (Drawn from a late real scene.)

"Sir Fopling Flutter through his Glass

Inspects the ladies as they pass,

Yet still the Coxcomb lacks the Wit

To guard against the Bailiff's Writ."


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

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