' = ,, , '— ' j ~ C- = 3 = i . . , ■> . ,. -r ■ C. K. OGDEN ' ;t!> ill IP 1 ,'■*» ■mmm^. nam 1 ^^^^^^^^^^^^ ) J. ' JJmlitfimr,' rite ( -3nth]ittttf# I Modem Improvements &d>— ifir®aa i igihaal IDiirmliags ■ EHTBlAJWE to the gjseiex pari. LONDON: ALLAN, BELL & c",51 FLEET STREET," AND RTWFKTW & MARSHALL, CAT* ., I HALL COURT, 1832 NATIONAL HISTORY AND VIEWS OF LONDON AmW) ETW> HHF¥HIE@: r> EMBRACING THEIR ANTIQUITIES MODERN IMPROVEMENTS, &c. &c. FROM ORIGINAL DRAWINGS BY EMINENT ARTISTS. Edited by C. F. PARTINGTON, Esq., OF :HE LONDON INSTITUTION. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. CONTAINING 300 STEEL ENCKA V1NC.S. ALLAN BELL and Co., 12, WARWICK SQUARE; SIMPKIN and MARSHALL, STATIONERS' HALL COURT; OLIVER and BOYD, EDINBURGH : and W. CURRY & CO., DUBLIN. 1834. 1'UOMS, PHINTER AND STFUEOTYPBR, 12, WARWICK JQVARE. INDEX TO VOLUME I. )• \(.y. Admiralty 52 Albion Fire Office 62 Aldersgate 143 All-souls' Church 86 Arthur's Club-IIouse 168 A stley 's Theatre Ill Auction Mart 157 Bank of England 10 Bullion Court 11 East Side of the Bank 12 Lothbury Facade ib. Old Front of the Bank ib. Battersea Bridge 55 Church 56 Bethlehem Hospital 112 Bridewell 62 British Fire Office 31 British Gallery 124 British Institution 104 British Museum 161 Burlington Arcade 153 Caledonian Asylum 178 Canonbury House 204 Catholic Chapel, Moorfields 35 Charter-House Chapel 78 Chelsea Old Church 57 Hospital 58 from the River .... 58 Botanical Gardens 59 Royal Military Asylum ib. Chiswick Church 71 PAGP. Christ's Church, Newgate Street 46 Corn Exchange 157 County Fire Office 113 Covent G arden Theatre 188 Crockford's Club-House 155 Crosby House 158 Custom House 81 Diorama 115 Drury Lane Theatre 186 Duke of York's Column 139 East India House 115 Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly 152 Enfield Church 201 Exchange Bazaar 104 ExeterHall 31 Figure in Commemoration of the Fire of London 43 Finsbury Chapel 34 Flamstead House 76 Fleet Market, Old 62 Prison 63 Fore Street, Lambeth 1 09 Potteries in 190 Foundling Hospital 97 Fulhara Church 72 Garden Gate to the Manor House, Stoke newington 204 Gas-Light Company, Westminster 138 German Chapel, St. James's 124 I INDE X. ,1 PACK. Grammar School, Pimlico 67 Greenwich Hospital 73 Churches at 75 Naval Asylum ib. Guildhall, London 133 Haberdashers' Alms Houses 183 Haggerstone New Church 200 Hammersmith Bridge 68 Hampstead Church 200 Hammersmith Church, Old Half-Moon Tavern, Bishopsgate Street . 143 Halls— Coopers' 170 Cloth Workers' 159 Girdlers' ib. Grocers', Poultry 126 Inn Holders' 185 Masons' 161 Mercers', Cheapside 126 Old Fishmongers' 183 Painter Stainers' 160 Sadlers' 182 Vintners' 160 Watermens' 180 Harmonic Institution 168 Haymarket Theatre 113 Hendon Church 199 Highgate Church 138 Archway 199 Hospitals— Guys' 171 Thomas's, St 192 Bartholomew's, St 172 Charing Cross 30 Christ's, Part of . , 48 Part of the Ancient Building 49 NewHall ib. Old Grammar School 50 Hornsey Church 203 Horse Bazaar 1 04 Horse Guards 21 from the Park 100 House of Correction 179 of Commons 25 of Lords 24 King's Entrance to ... . 25 Hyde Park Corner 65 Cascade 27 Boat House 28 Keepers' House ib. PAGE j Hyde Park Corner — King's Road Bridge 28 Serpentine Bridge . . 27 Italian Opera House 154 James's, St., Palace 193 Park 90 Turkish Gun 102 Cadiz Mortar ib. John's, St., Gate 80 Kensington Gardens 60 Kew Gardens 53 Chinese Pagoda ib. Temple of Victory 54 Ruins of an arch ib. Chinese Temple ib. King's Cross 204< Mews 52 Weigh House 156 Lambeth Palace 106 entrance to 108 London, from Bankside 130 from Waterloo Bridge 9 London Bridge 188 Institution , 32 Stone 43 University 95 Lowther Arcade 30 Ludgate Hill , 61 Luke's, St., Hospital • 79 Mansion House 131 Old 120 Marylebone Chapel 86 Melbourne House 23 Mint 122 Montague Close 83 Monument 119 Northumberland House 52 Old St. Dunstan's Church 42 London Bridge 37 St. Paul's School 139 Queen's Head, Islington 206 Olympic Theatre 190 Ophthalmic Infirmary 36 Paddington Church J03 I N D E X. vn PAGE. Pantheon, Oxford Street 185 Patent Bread Works 66 Paul's, St., School 140 Penitentiary, Milbank 175 Physicians' College 174 Post Office, General 141 Putney 67 Church 68 Barn's Common 67 Entrance to ib. Burlington House ib. Quadrant 113 Regent's Park — Andrew's, St., Terrace . 143 Albany Cottage 110 Cambridge Terrace .. 144 Chester Terrace ib. Colosseum 50 143 Doric Villa Ill East and West Gates . . 32 The Holme 110 Macclesfield Bridge . . ib. Villas in 32 Views in 50 110 Richmond Terrace 23 Royal Exchange J 29 Royal Westminster Mews 1 38 Russel's Institution 98 Sadler's Wells Theatre 189 School for the Indigent Blind 112 Sessions House, Clerkenwell 77 Sessions House and Newgate Prison . . 164 Shot Works 29 Sir Hans Sloane's Monument 57 Sir Paul Pindar's House 177 Statues of Charles I. and James II 53 Statue of Charles II 58 G. Canning 139 Fox and Bedford 99 St. Catherine's Dock House 123 Surrey Theatre 112 Surgeons' Theatre 175 St. Botolph, Bishopsgate Street 176 Bennet's, Fink 194 Catherine Cree, Leadenhall Street . . 17 Clement's Danes 119 PACK. St. Clement's, Eastcheap 193 Dunstan's, Tower Street 16 George's, Bloomsbury 196 Hanover Square 168 Regent Street 114 James's, Clerkenwell 77 Piccadilly 123 John's, Waterloo Road 20 Chapel 104 Clerkenwell 20 Savoy 29 Kathenne's Chapel 31 Lawrence, King Street 123 Leonard's, Shoreditch 195 Luke's, Chelsea «... 59 Mark the Evangelist and St. Mary's Chapel 20 Mary's, Lambeth 105 Mary's Church 87 Martin's in the Fields - . 20 Marylebone 84 Chapel 80 Mary !e Bow 145 Aldermary 151 Aldermanbury 132 Islington 206 Woolnorth 149 Mark's, North Audley Street 169 Margaret's. Westminster 136 Mildred s, Poultry 125 Olaves 83 Old Jewry 198 Pancras New Church 195 Paul's Cathedral Monuments in 93 Ball's Pond 208 Covent Garden 30 Peter le Poor 163 Pimlico 65 Saffron Hill 169 Peter's, Hammersmith , . 69 Philip's, Regent Street 114 Saviour's Church 82 Lady Chapel 83 Stephen's, Walbrook 1 56 Chapel 26 Stock Exchange 156 Temple Church 18 Bar 42 V1H INDEX. PAOK. Town Hall, Borough 172 Tower of London 12 Bloody Tower 16 Interior of the Bowyer Tower . ib. Treasury, Whitehall 124 Trinity Church . . 179 House 121 Unitarian Chapel 36 University Club House 153 Victoria Theatre, Royal Ill Waterloo Bridge 28 West India Import Dock 169 West Strand 81 PAGE. Wentminster 90 Abbey 21 from the Park 100 North Front of 93 Henry VII. Chapel . . 92 East and West Cloisters 93 Hall 23 White Conduit House 207 Whitehall 22 Whittington's College 126 Zoological Gardens 17 Aviary 18 Bear Pit 17 Lama Hut ib. Tunnel ib. HISTORICAL TOPOGRAPHICAL ILLUSTRATIONS OK iUmtimt anli its; (£niuronsu London may well be considered as the metropolis of the world. It has been the liberal foster-parent of the elegant no less than the useful arts, — and in point of wealth and commercial prosperity it exceeds every other city on record. When " Domesday- Book" was compiled in the reign of William the Conqueror, London consisted but of a few houses near Middle- Row, on the banks of the Old-bourne, a stream which flowed into the river Fleet; and it must have made most rapid strides towards maturity, as we find William of Malmsbury in the reign of king Stephen, speaking of the Metropolis as " a noble city renowned for the opulence of its inhabitants." " But it is at the era of Elizabeth," says Mr. Britton, " that we are presented with the most curious picture of London, in the first map of a Metropolis then thought too large, and, in consequence, positively for- bidden to be further extended by that imperious sovereign. From this map it appears, that the greater part of the Metropolis was then con- tained within the walls, in which narrow limits there were many gar- dens, which have since been converted into lanes, courts, and alleys. The whole of the buildings were bounded on the east by the monastery of St. Catherine ; East Smithfield was open to Tower Hill, and of the buildings now beyond there is no appearance. The Minories were built only on the east side, which fronted the city wall ; cattle grazed in Goodman's Fields ; and Whitechapel extended but a little beyond the bars, and had no houses to the north ; for Spital Fields, now built upon, and extensive enough to compose a very large town, were then really separated from each other by hedges and rows of trees. Hounds- B 2 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS ditch consisted only of a row of houses fronting the city wall ; and the little yards and gardens behind them also opened into the fields. Bishopsgate Street, Norton Falgate, and the street called Shoreditch, were then, however, built as far as the church ; but there were only a few houses and gardens on each side, and no collateral streets or alleys. Moorfields lay entirely open to the village of Hoxton ; and Finsbury Fields, in which there were several windmills, extended to the east side of Whitecross Street. Chiswell Street was not erected ; St. John's Street extended, by the side of the priory of St. John of Jerusalem, only as far as the monastery of Clerkenwell ; and Cowcross Street opened into the fields. On leaving the city walls, the buildings were even less extensive ; for, though the village of Holborn joined London, the backs of its houses, particularly on the north side, opened into gar- dens and fields; a part of Gray's Inn Lane included the only houses that extended out of the main street; the greater part of High Holborn had no existence; St. Giles's was another village, contiguous to no part of London ; the Strand had gardens on each side, and, to the north, fields behind these gardens, with the exception of a few houses where the lower end of Drury Lane now stands ; and on the south side of the same street the gardens generally extended to the Thames, though some of the nobility and prelates had houses at the backs of their gar- dens, next to the water side. Covent Garden, literally such, and so called because it belonged to the Convent at Westminster, extended to St. Martin's Lane, and the fields behind it reached to St. Giles's. That lane had few edifices besides the church ; for Covent Garden wall was on one side, and a wall which enclosed the King's mews on the other ; and all the upper part was a lane between two hedges, which extended a little to the west of the village of St. Giles's. Hedge Lane, now Crown Street, was a lane between two hedges. The extensive street now called the Haymarket, was bounded by fields ; neither Pall Mall, St. James's Street, Piccadilly, nor any of the streets or squares in that part of the town, were built ; and Westminster was a small town on the south-west and south sides of St. James's Park. London, in respect to its position on the globe, is in latitude 51 de- grees 31 minutes north ; and in longitude 18 degrees 36 minutes; or 5 minutes 37 seconds west from the Royal Observatory Greenwich. It is distant from Edinburgh 396 miles south, and from Dublin 338 miles south-east. The immediate site of the city of London is about forty-five miles from the sea, westward, in a pleasant and spacious valley, stretching along the banks of the Thames, which river, as it flows through the me- tropolis, forms a bold curve or crescent. On the northern side the ground rises with a quick ascent, and then more gradually, but une- OF LONDON. 3 qually, heightens to the north-west and west, which are the most ele- vated parts. On the south side of the river the ground is nearly level, and was anciently an entire morass of many miles in extent ; this has been reclaimed through the artificial embankment of the river, probably commenced by the Romans, which must have been the work of ages. The average breadth of the river, in this part of its course, is from four to five hundred yards ; its general depth at low water about twelve feet ; but at springtides it rises from ten to twelve feet above that level. The tides used to flow to the distance of fifteen miles above London bridge, but since the alteration at London bridge by the demolition of the old structure, it goes much higher. Considered in the aggregate, London comprises the city and its liberties, with the city and liberties of Westminster, the borough of Southwark, and upwards of thirty of the contiguous villages of Middle- sex and Surry. The extent of this district is, from east to west, or from Poplar to Kensington, near eight miles; its breadth from north to south is very irregular, and may be said 10 vary from three to four miles. The cir- cumference of this immense congregation of buildings may be esti- mated at about twenty miles. The principal streets range from west to east, and in that direction the metropolis is intersected by three great thoroughfares; the one which is most adjacent to the river commences at Hyde-park-corner, and traverses east, under the names of Piccadilly, Haymarket, Cockspur-street, Strand, Fleet-street, Ludgate-hill, St. Paul's Church-yard, Watling-street, Cannon-street, Eastcheap, Tower- street, Tower-hill ; this line pursues its route for three miles further by East Smithfield, Ratcliffe-highway, Upper and Lower Shadwell, to Poplar and the East and West India docks. The middle line of road commences at Tyburn-turnpike, and thence under the appellations of Oxford-street, High-street St. Giles's, Holborn, Skinner-street, New- gate-street, Cheapside, Cornhill, Leadenhall-street, Aldgate,and White- chapel, leads by Mile-end and Stratford-le-Bow into Essex. The great northern thoroughfare commences at Paddington, and traverses east by the names of the New-road, Pentonville, City-road, Old-street and Hackney-road to Leyton, and the northern parts of Essex. The prin- cipal thoroughfare which intersects London from north to south com- mences at Kingsland, thence by Shoreditch, Norton- falgate, Bishops- gate-street, Gracechurch-street, Fish-street-hill, London-bridge, High- street Borough, Blackman-street, and Newington-causeway, to the Brighton and other roads. Besides this there are five other main ave- nues into Surry and Kent, over the bridges of Westminster, Waterloo, and Blackfriars, which meet at the obelisk in St. George's-fields, the 4 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS Southwark-bridge, which enters Newington-causeway near the Elephant and Castle, and Vauxhall-bridge. The metropolis is computed to contain upwards of 60 squares, 12,000 streets, lanes, courts, &c. ; and the whole formed by near 300,000 buildings of various descriptions, as public structures, churches, dwell- ing-houses, warehouses, shops, &c. The churches and other public edifices are generally built of stone ; the dwelling-houses, with the ex- ception of some of the mansions belonging to the nobility and gentry, are almost wholly of brick, though latterly the fronts of many of the more respectable ones are covered with compo, or mastic. But few wooden houses are now to be seen, and these are principally of a date anterior to the great fire of 1666. Many of the squares are very spacious, and elegantly laid out in parterres and shrubberies, for the recreation of the inhabitants of the surrounding houses. All the streets are regulaiiy paved, and divided into a carriage-way and a foot-path on each side. The carriage-way is generally paved with small blocks of Scotch granite. The foot-paths are usually laid with large thick flags, or slabs, either of Yorkshire free-stone, moor- stone, or lime-stone, and are finished with a kirb raised a few inches above the carriage-way. The mud and soil which accumulate in the streets are taken away at stated intervals, by scavengers employed by the dif- ferent parishes ; and the waste water, &c. runs off through iron gratings fixed in the kennels at proper intervals, into arched sewers or drains constructed beneath the street (and communicating by smaller drains with the houses), and having various outlets, through larger sewers, into the Thames. Through these means, and from the ample supply of water which the inhabitants derive from numerous sources, the general cleanliness is very considerable, and materially tends to the present salubrity of the metropolis. Notwithstanding the sudden and strongly-contrasted changes of the weather in London, compared with the state of the atmosphere in other climes, and although multitudes of its poorer classes live in poverty and wretchedness, the general healthiness of this capital may be deemed fully equal to that of any other in the world. The temperature of the air of London and its vicinity, is sensibly affected by the influence of the coal fires, which warm and dry the at- mosphere ; and it is a remarkable fact that vegetation is earlier by ten days or a fortnight on the west and south-west sides of the metropolis than at the northern and eastern sides. This is attributable, says Mr. Howard, to the severity of the north and north-east winds being miti- gated in their passage over London by the warmth of the coal fires. The excess of temperature is greatest in winter, and at that period OF LONDON. 5 seems lo belong- entirely to the nights, which average three degrees and seven-tenths wanner than in the country ; while the heat of the days, owing, without doubt, to the interception of a portion of the solar rays by the dense smoke inseparable to so great a metropolis, falls, on a mean of years, about a third of a degree short of that on open plains. The more prevalent winds blow from the north-east and south-west; and these, with little variation, occupy about ten or eleven months in the year. "The westerly winds," says Fordyce, "are generally preg- nant with rain, the greatest falls coming from a few points west of the south ; the easterly winds are sharp and piercing, but almost always dry. The heat of the atmosphere is very variable, it seldom remain- ing equal for many days; and every year differing from the preceding one, as well in respect to heat and cold as to moisture and rains. Some- times the winter is severely cold, with frosts from November till May, with little interruption : sometimes the water is not frozen for more than ten or twelve days. Most commonly there is a little frost in November and December ; but otherwise these months (and particularly Novem- ber) are very foggy [gloomy] and moist. The principal frost is gene- rally in January ; February is commonly a mild, open, moist month ; March is generally cold [windy] and dry. The summer months vary as much; sometimes there are three months very warm, sometimes not more than a week [in continuance]; the latter half of July [and be- ginning of August] is commonly the hottest. In August heavy rains often fall, especially in the last half of the month. The thermometer sometimes rises to above 80° of Fahrenheit's scale, very rarely to 84° ; but the most common summer heat is from 65° to 75°. In winter it sometimes falls to 15°, but the most common winter heat, when it freezes, is between 20° and 30° ; it has been known to fall below the point marked 0, but very rarely ; the most frequent, when it does not freeze, is between 40° and 50°." On the 13th of July, 1808, the thermometer, in the open air, in the shade, and with a northern aspect, near St- James's-park, rose to 94° ; and in various parts of London, in the shade also, it varied from that degree upwards, to 103°. On the same day in particular local situations, in the sun, the quicksilver rose to the extra- ordinary height of from 120 to 140°! The contrast between this day and that of the 24th of January, 1795, is most striking; on the latter the thermometer fell to six degrees below zero ! It appears from Mr. Kirwan's " Estimate of the Temperature of different Latitudes," 8vo. 1787, that taking the mean of the observations made at the house of the Royal Society, from the year 1772 to 1780, the annual temperature of London is 51° 9', or in round numbers, 52°. The situation of London is so very favourable, that springs which yield large quantities of water, are found on digging almost every 6 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS where. The main sources of that plentiful supply of water which the inhabitants receive are the Thames and the New River. This is effected by means of iron pipes laid beneath all the streets from four to five feet below the surface, and having small bores connected with leaden pipes, that lead to the kitchens and cisterns. Attached to the main pipes, at convenient distances, are fixed plugs, which can be im- mediately opened in case of fire, &c. In some parts of the metropolis, also, over the ancient wells that have been preserved, pumps are fixed for the conveniences of the public. Until the general census of the population was taken in the com- mencement of the present century, political economists differed widely in their estimates of the number of inhabitants the metropolis contained, and of the progressive ratio of increase. In the year 1377, London is said to have contained about 35,000 inhabitants. Howell, in his Londi- nopolis, says, that when Charles I. wished to ascertain the number of papists and strangers resident in the city, he sent a precept, in 1636-7, to Sir Edward Bromfield, then lord-mayor, who caused an account to be taken of the whole population within the walls, which, at that time, is said, evidently erroneously, to have amounted to 700,000. Howell having no suspicion of the inaccuracy of this calculation, and inferring that the population had increased one-third, during the twenty years that had elapsed before he published his work ; and adding to this the population of the city of Westminster and the suburbs, estimates the whole to amount to a million and a half of men, women, and children. Sir William Petty, the ancestor of the present Marquis of Lansdown, formed an equally fallacious opinion as to the increase of population in London. In 1682, he calculated the number of houses at 84,000; and that there were eight persons in each house, which would give a popu- lation of 672,000. Sir William expected that London would go on in- creasing until the year 1800, when he thought the population would amount to five millions three hundred and fifty-nine thousand persons! An historian, who wrote in 1746, calculated the number of houses at 124,000, and the population at 992,000 ; but eight years after Dr. Bra- kenbridge fixed it at only 751,812 persons, and there is strong reason to believe that this estimate was nearly correct. But to come to more certain data, we find that, according to the census of 1801, London, at that time, contained 121,229 houses, inha- bited by 216,073 families, making 864,755 persons. In 1811, it had increased to 1,099,104, and in 1821 to 1,225,964 persons. By the last census of 1831, it appears that a still further increase had taken place of no less than 248,105, thus making the present population of the metropolis, 1,474,069. The vast consumption of provisions in this immense cnpital must excite OF LONDON. 7 surprise, when duly considered, as to the means by which it is so regu- larly supplied. There are, however, no particular laws to effect this purpose ; but all is left to the simple mechanism put in force by the expectation of profit, and the assured certainty with which every dealer can dispose of his goods. The consumption of animal food is very great ; but, to form a proper idea of its extent, the average weight, as well as the number of the animals, must be ascertained. About the year 1700, the average weight of the oxen sold in the London market was 370 lbs.; of calves 50 lbs., of sheep 28 lbs., and of lambs 18 lbs. : the present average weight is, of oxen 800 lbs., of calves 140 lbs., of sheep 80 lbs., and of lambs 50 lbs. The number of oxen annually consumed in London has been estimated at 1 10,000, calves 50,000, sheep 800,000, lambs 250,000, hogs and pigs 200,000; besides animals of other kinds. Smithfield is the principal market for the above articles; and the total value of butcher's meat sold there annually is stated at £8,000,000. The quantity of fish consumed in the metropolis is comparatively small, on account of the high price which it generally bears; but this will probably be remedied, though some kinds of fish at particular seasons are cheap and of good quality. There are, on an average, annually brought to Billingsgate market 2,500 cargoes of fish, of forty tons each, and about 20,000 tons by land carriage : in the whole 120,000 tons. The supply of poultry being inadequate to a general consumption, and the price consequently high, that article is mostly confined to the tables of the wealthy. The annual consumption of wheat, in London, may, says Mr. Britton, be averaged at 900,000 quarters, each containing eight Winchester bushels ; of porter and ale 2,000,000 barrels, each containing thirty- six gallons ; spirits and compounds 11,000,000 gallons ; wines 65,000 pipes; butter 21,000,000 lbs., and cheese 26,000,000 lbs. The quan- tity of coals consumsd is about 1,200,000 chaldrons, of thirty-six bushels, or a ton and a half to each chaldron. About 10,000 cows are kept in the vicinity of the metropolis, for supplying the inhabitants with milk, and they are supposed to yield nearly 7,900,000 gallons every year ; even this great quantity, however, is considerably increased by the dealers, who adulterate it, by at least one-fourth, with water, before they serve their customers. See Picture of London, p. 69. The Port of London is acknowledged to be one of the first in the world ; and the manufacturing importance of the city, is but little, if at all, inferior to any. It is the centre of European traffic ; and every article, whether of necessity, convenience, comfort, or luxury, may be here obtained. The Port as actually occupied by shipping, extends from London- 8 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS bridge to near Deptford, a distance of at least four miles, and is from four to five hundreds yards in average breadth. It may be described as consisting of four divisions, called the upper, middle, and lower pools, and the space between Limehouse and Deptford : the upper pool ex- tends from London-bridge to Union-hole, about 1,600 yards ; the middle pool from thence to Wapping New-stairs, 700 yards ; the lower pool from the latter place to Horseferry-tier, near Limehouse, 1,800 yards; and the space below to Deptford about 2,700 yards. The number of vessels belonging to this port in September, 1800, was ascertained, by the official documents laid before parliament, to be 2,666, carrying .568,262 tons, and 41,402 men. Comparing this number with the num- ber returned in January 1701-2, the increase will be seen to be asto- nishing. At that period the vessels amounted only to 560, carrying 84,882 tons, and 10,065 men. On the quantity of tonnage it is nearly in the proportion of six to one; and on the amount of men and ships as upwards of four to one. The East India Company's ships alone carry more burthen by 21,166 tons than all the vessels of London did a cen- tury ago. The average number of ships in the Thames and docks is 1,100; together with 3,000 barges employed in lading and unlading them ; 2,288 small craft engaged in the inland trade ; and 3,000 wherries for the accommodation of passengers; 1,200 revenue officers are con- stantly on duty in different parts of the rivers; 4,000 labourers are em- ployed in lading and unlading ; and 8,000 watermen navigate the wherries and craft. The aggregate value of the goods shipped and unshipped in the course of a year, in the river Thames, has been com- puted at seventy millions sterling. The vast system of plunderage that was formerly carried on with impunity, in consequence of the crowded state of the river, led to the construction, in the early part of the present century, of those grand deposits of commercial wealth, the West India, East India, London, and Commercial docks. The present annual value of the exports and imports may be stated at upwards of sixty mil- lions, and the annual amount of the custom and excise duties at more than six millions sterling'. The government of the city is vested in the lord-mayor and aldermen, and that of Westminster in a high-constable and subordinate officers. The police of the metropolis are very numerous, and since the passing of the Act of the 10th of George IV., have been arrayed in a more systematic manner than formerly. The police is under the superinten- dence of two commissioners, appointed by the secretary of state for the home department. The military establishment of the metropolis was considerably changed by an act of parliament passed in 1794, under which two regiments of militia are raised in the city by ballot, amounting together to 2,200 men. OF LONDON. 9 The officers are appointed by the commissioners of the king's lieute- nancy for the city of London, and one regiment may in certain cases be placed by the king under any of his general officers, and marched to any part, not exceeding twelve miles from the capital, or the nearest encampment. The household troops, comprising three regiments of foot-guards, containing about 7,000 men, including officers, and two regiments of horse-guards, consisting of 1,200 men, form the principal military esta- blishment for the metropolis : but none of these troops are permitted to enter the city without especial leave of the lord-mayor. It is difficult to ascertain the exact number of churches and chapels belonging to the establishment in the metropolis, but, we believe, it is not far short of 200. The number of religious edifices belonging to the dissenters in the metropolis is above that number. There are eighty chapels, or places of worship, for the Independents, among whom are included the Scotch Presbyterians. The Baptists have near fifty chapels; the Methodists, or followers of Whitefield and Wesley, twenty-three ; the Unitarians nine ; the Arians two ; the Quakers six ; the Swedenborgians four ; the Huntingtonians three ; the Sandemonians, the Moravians, the New Lights, and the Freethinkers, have one chapel each. In the metropolis there are six Jewish synagogues, fifteen Roman Catholic chapels, and nineteen foreign Protestant churches. London contains forty-five free-schools, with perpetual endowments for educating and maintaining near 5,000 children; seventeen other schools for poor and deserted children ; near 250 parochial schools, sup- ported by voluntary subscription, in which about 15,000 children of both sexes are constantly clothed and educated; four colleges; twenty-two hospitals for sick, lame, and pregnant women; 120 almshouses for the maintenance of aged people ; eighteen institutions for the support of the indigent of various classes ; and above fifty dispensaries for the gratuitous supply of medicine and medical aid to the poor. Exclusive of these important establishments, each parish has a workhouse for the maintenance of its own distressed poor, and the livery companies of the city distribute a portion of their immense wealth among their poor members. In conclusion, the sums annually expended in public charities have been estimated at near £900,000. A stranger could select no better point for viewing our great metro- polis, and estimating its extent and commercial prosperity than the one adopted by our artist for his first graphic illustration. Standing on Waterloo Bridge, itself a monument of the art of engineering unequalled out of England, the observer sees innumerable edifices dedicated to the worship of " the living God," and views charitable institutions intended 10 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS for the relief of almost every ailment to which humanity is liable. As, however, all the public edifices worthy of particular notice will be illus- trated in the course of this work, it will not be adviseable unnecessarily to occupy the reader's time by general remarks, but proceed at once to the THE BANK OF ENGLAND. This celebrated company was instituted in 1694, being incorporated by charter, July 27, in that year. It is the most important institution of the kind that exists in any part of the world, and the history of bank- ing furnishes no example that can at all be compared with it, for the range and multiplicity of its transactions, and for the vast influence which it possesses over public and national affairs. This extensive pile covers an irregular area of about eight acres. The exterior extent in front, or on the south side, measures 365 feet ; on the west side, 440 feet; on the north side, 410 feet; and on the east side, 245 feet. Within this space are nine open courts, a spacious ro- tunda, numerous public offices, court and committee rooms, an armoury, &c, engraving and printing offices, a library, and many convenient apartments for principal officers and servants. The principal suite of rooms occupies the ground-floor, and the chief offices being furnished with lantern lights and domes, have no apartments over them ; the basement story consists of a greater number of roams than there are above ground. The site of a portion of the edifice being a marshy soil in the course of the ancient stream of Walbrook, it was found ne- cessary to strengthen the foundations by means of piles and counter arches. An act of parliament was passed in 1694, incorporating certain sub- scribers, under the title of " The Governor and Company of the Bank of England," in consideration of a loan of 1,200,000/, granted to govern- ment, for which the subscribers received almost 8 per cent. So eager were the public to share some of the advantages of this concern, that the subscription for the whole sum of 1,200,000/. was completed in the course of ten days. The charter directed that the management of the bank should be vested in a governor, deputy-governor, and twenty-four directors ; thirteen, or more, to constitute a court, of which the governor or deputy-governor must be one. They were to have a perpetual succession, a common-seal, and the other usual powers of corporations, as making by-laws, &c, but were not allowed to borrow money under their common-seal without the authority of parliament. They were not to trade, nor suffer any person in trust for them to trade in any goods or merchandise ; but they might deal in bills of exchange, in bullion, and foreign gold and silver coin, &c. They might also lend m. LLIOS r Ol'RT -■ . CA1 THE BAKK OF IH6L ,-.BE ".A KB! . , fan /'.■/■•' I '■ v«/i ? A/,' ,!•,'■'/■./ Sngmi etl i^i JlSfuOQ OF LONDON. 17 ST. CATHERINE-CREE CHURCH, LEADENHALL STREET. This church derives its additional name of Cree, or Christ Church, from being' situated in the cemetry of the conventual church of the Holy Trinity, which was originally called Christ Church. The architecture of this church displays a singular mixture of the Italian and pointed styles. The east window is entirely filled with stained glass, the gift of SirS. Staines, knt., lord-mayor, in the first year of the reign of George I. The church was erected in 1630, and re-edified in 1805. Holbein, the celebrated painter, was interred in this church. ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS, REGENT'S PARK. — ENTRANCE The original projector of the Zoological Society was the late Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, who, on his return from the government of Bencoolen, in 1S20, so earnestly interested himself in the formation of a society, that it was established in 1825. Two years afterwards they obtained from government a piece of land in the Regent's Park, which was immediately converted into gardens for the reception of rare ani- mals, birds, &c. The whole of the buildings are from the designs of D. Burton, esq. The rustic lodges have a very pleasing appearance on entering the grounds, AMA HUT. This edifice is appropriated as a residence for two lamas, beasts of burthen, very common in South America, particularly in the moun- tainous parts of Peru. It is built in the Swiss style, and is by far the most picturesque object in the grounds. BEAR PIT. This is a great point of attraction to the visitors, on account of the sagacity of the bears, especially a Russian black bear, christened " Toby," who is remarkable for his docility. He was presented to the society by the Marquis of Hertford, who had previously kept him at Sudborne, the seat of the noble lord, where he was noted for his amusing tricks. These gardens, which form one of the principal features of attraction to the visitors in the Regent's Park, are admissible by tickets, and the payment of one shilling each person. THE TUNNEL. About two years ago the Zoological Society obtained a further grant from government, by the accession of a large piece of ground on the north side of the road, and on the south bank of the Regent's Canal. To unite the two portions of the grounds, Mr. Burton projected a tunnel, c 18 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS which was formed with considerable celerity, and is a great orna- ment to the gardens. AVIARY. There are several beautiful wire enclosures similar to the one repre- sented in the annexed plate. They contain the hardier kind of birds, especially, eagles, vultures, kites, owls, &c. TEMPLE CHURCH. The early history of this venerable edifice is enveloped in obscurity. Weever, in his " Funeral Monuments," on the credit, as he states, of British story, refers to a tradition, that on this site was a temple founded by a British monarch as a place of refuge and sanctuary for thieves and other offenders, about the year of the world 4748, and many British kings are reported to have been buried here: this, however, is only a tradition. The authentic history of the church can be traced to as early a period as 1185, in which year it was dedicated in honour of the Virgin, by Heraclius, patriarch of Jerusalem, who, at the above period, was entertained in the Temple by the Knights Templars, whilst on a mission from Pope Lucius III. to Henry II. king of England, in order to invite that monarch to ascend the throne of Jerusalem. This edifice narrowly escaped destruction in the great fire of 1666 ; in 1682, it was repaired and beautified, and a curious wainscot screen was set up. In 1695, the south-western part, which had suffered by fire, was rebuilt. It has been since that time partially repaired in various parts; the last and most extensive was in the years 1826 and 1827, under the direction of R. Smirke, esq. The plan of this church exhibits two distinct portions of buildings. The westernmost consists of the ancient circular * church, formerly in- sulated, and constituting the only church of the Templars, by whom it was erected. The eastern portion is a long square, with three aisles. * " The temples of the heathens were circular, and the rude and irregular structures of the Druids approached that shape. It was not, however, until the crusades had made the sepulchre of Jerusalem known to the romantic adventurers, that churches built in this form were introduced into this country. The first round church built in England is supposed to be that of St. Sepulchre, Cambridge, which was erected in the reign of Henry I. between the first and second crusades. The round church of St. Sepulchre, Northampton, built by the Knights Templars, exceeds that of Cambridge in beauty of proportion ; but both these are infinitely surpassed by the Temple Church in London. This church is supposed to have been first erected in the year 1 185, and was afterwards partially or wholly rebuilt in the year 1244. It forms a complete circle of six clusters, and pillars with fillets on the shafts, and Saxon capitals. In raising thj superstruction of the circular part, the architects appear to have mixed the new with the old style of arches." — Percy Histories, vol. ii. p. 255. s S"? fflUHHS C3HnD3M3ffi» WfiXEKI.00 JMbMB PUE ClETTBLiCEI JMAKK THE JEVAKOF.lL.aST. CjLIEIHULU ■ ■ Zpndcm Bd '■'■■ i B, '■■' ■'■■' ST aiAKTS nHAvMEL , SOMERS T4E OF LONDON. iy In the centre of the outer circular wall of the western pile of building 1 is a magnificent receding semi-circular arched doorway ; the various mouldings springing from pillars with capitals approaching to the Corinthian order, the intervals between which are filled with mouldings of the chevron and lozenge varieties; near the jamb are small costumic statues, supposed to represent king Henry II. and his queen; the whole is in fine preservation, and presents a magnificent specimen of Norman architecture. It owes its present state to the protection it receives from the porch of pointed architecture in front of it, which, although less ancient than the building, probably succeeded to an older porch. The interior displays one of the most interesting specimens of archi- tecture in the country ; the circular church forms a vestibule to the other, and its area is unencumbered ; in the centre is a peristyle of six clusters of columns with leaved capitals, from which spring the same number of acutely pointed arches, forming a circular aisle ; round the entire building, above the points of the arches, is a second story, con- sisting of an arcade of small intersecting circular arches, with openings at intervals to the vault over the aisles. Beneath the windows in the aisles, is a series of stalls above a continued seat ; the arches are pointed, and spring from columns with exceedingly curious capitals ; on the spandrils of every arch is a singular grotesque head. The entire of the ancient work has been wantonly destroyed at the last repair, for the sake of restoring the same with modern stone work, although no pretence of decay in the old work existed as an excuse. Above the great doorway is a closed-up circular window, and below it is a stone with a modern copy in Saxon capitals of an ancient inscription, discovered and de- stroyed in 1695. The approach to the more modern portion of the church is made by singular pointed arches, admirably accommodated to the junction of the circular with the square plan. The columns of the choir are clustered with uniform capitals, from which springs the stone-vaulted roof, which is groined in the simplest manner with arches and cross springers ; at the points of intersection are gilt bosses ; the whole is a beauiiful spe- cimen of lancet architecture. The fittings up of the church are of dark brown oak, in the usual style of Sir C. Wren's decorations. The altar screen is unusually plain. The pulpit and desks are arranged in the middle of the centre aisle ; the former is octangular with a magnificent carved sounding-board, the latter is suspended from the ceiling. Both the pulpit and sounding-board are enriched with the elaborate carving of Grinlin Gibbons. The organ screen is of the Corinthian order, and elaborately carved ; it was erected in 1682. On the entrance to the south aisle, are the arms of the Inner Temple, and to that of the north those of the Middle c> 20 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS Temple. The organ occupies the centre : it is considered one of the finest instruments in England. The monuments are very numerous and interesting-, particularly the splendid groups of sepulchral effigies which occupy the central portion of the area, in the circular church, which are, in point of curiosity, almost identified with the building, and of which a view will be given in an- other plate of this work. ST. JOHN'S CHURCH. This edifice is in the Waterloo Bridge road, and belongs to the parish of Lambeth. It was erected in 1824, from the designs of Mr. Bedford. The principal front, as shewn in the engraving, consists of a Doric portico, the pediment being supported by six columns, and the entabla- ture, ornamented with circular wreaths, is carried completely round the edifice. ST. MARTIN, IN THE FIELDS. The modern improvements in this neighbourhood have enabled the public to view the beautiful portico, and symmetrical proportions of this church to much more advantage than formerly. The parish church of St. Martin in the Fields, was completed in 1726, from designs by James Gibbs. The portico consists of eight Corinthian columns. Six in the front, and the remainder forming a return for the building. The pedi- ment is rather ostentatiously than beautifully sculptured. The tower and spire, which are very lofty, may be seen at a great distance from London, and the clock is remarkable for its peculiar excellence. The interior consists of an elliptical arched roof supported by Corinthian columns, raised on high pedestals. The east end is richly adorned with fret work. The altar window is finely painted. The church derives its name from St. Martin, an Hungarian saint, and the epithet, in the Fields, from its situation when it was taken into the Bills of Mortality. ST MARK, THE EVANGELIST, AND ST. MARY'S CHAPELS. These exquisitely beautiful, though simple places of worship, form models for economical edifices in the pointed style of architecture — a style which is certainly much fitter for the retirement and abstraction of devotion than that adopted in the Greek temples. The peculiar advan- tages which arise will be better understood, by contrasting our feelings when placed in an edifice of this description, with those produced by the church last described. In the first case, large and square windows admit one ereneral stream of light diffused through the whole interior. Now this, though a desideratum in domestic architecture, is the reverse of desirable in a religious edifice where quietude is the object sought. a | a z. - OF LONDON. 21 In the latter case, on the contrary, the large masses of shade produced by the vaulted roof, give a degree of repose, which even external cir- cumstances scarcely interrupt. The pointed window also has a similar tendency, while the clustered columns, with their alternations of light and shadow, tend most materially to add to the effect of the whole. WESTMINSTER ABBEY. Tms is one of the greatest architectural ornaments of the metropolis. The present edifice wasbuiltby Henry III. and his successor Edward I., as far as the extremity of the choir; hut the nave and west front were erected by different abbots, except the upper parts of the western towers, which wero completed by Sir Christopher Wren. The north front has a very tine appearance, to which the large window, rebuilt in 1722, greatly contributes. In the south front is another window, somewhat similar, but very elaborate in its design, erected in 1814, in place of the old one which had become ruinous. The northern window is richly ornamented with painted and stained glass, representing the Holy Scriptures surrounded by a band of cherubim in the centre, and in the large exterior divisions, our Saviour, the Evangelists, and the Apostles in recumbent attitudes. The glazing of the other window is plain. The stalls and general wainscoting of the choir were executed under the direction of the late Mr. Keene, surveyor of the works in 1775, but they have been refitted since the coronation of George IV. in 1821. The beautiful monuments of Edmund Crouchback, earl of Lancaster, second son of Henry III. ; Ayiner de Valence, earl of Pembroke and Aveline his countess, are situated on the north side of the choir, and have been lately repaired agreeably to their original style. On the south side are the monuments of Anne of Cleves, the divorced wife of Henry VIII., and that of Sebert, the original founder of this church. It contains various small chapels without the choir, dedicated to some of the saints. There is also the chapel of St. Edward the Con- fessor, in which are the monuments of numbers of kings and queens, and Henry Vllth's chapel is exceedingly fine : of these, however, more will be said when we come to describe the interior of the edifice. HORSE GUARDS. This building consists of a centre and two wing's, and has an air of solidity perfectly agreeable to the use for which it was constructed. It receives its name from the Horse Guards, who, while the king is at St James's, are here on duty, two at a time, being- constantly mounted and completely armed, under two handsome porches detached from the 22 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS buildino- towards the street, and erected to shelter them from the weather. This structure is equally calculated for the use of the foot as well as the horse soldiers on duty. In the centre of this edifice is an arched passage into St. James's Park, and the building over this has a pediment in which are the king's arms, &c, in bass-relief. The middle face of the cupola contains a clock dial, and the aperture in the lower part of this, and on the several stages of the other, are well calculated to break the plainness, without weakening the building, either in reality or appearance. The wings are plainer than the centre. They each consist of a forefront projecting a little, with ornamented windows in the principal story, and a plain one in the sides. WHITEHALL. Directly opposite the Horse Guards is the Banqueting House be- longing to the old palace of Whitehall ; and which was almost the only part that escaped the fire in 1698. This palace was originally built by Herbert de Burgh, earl of Kent, who, in the year 1243, bequeathed it to the Black Friars in Chancery Lane, Holborn, in whose church he was interred. But in 1248, the brotherhood, having disposed of it to Walter de Grey, archbishop of York, he left it to his successors, the archbishops of that see, for their city mansion ; and hence it obtained the name of "York Place." However, the royal palace at Westminster suffering greatly by fire in the reign of Henry VIII., and that prince having a great inclination for York Place, purchased it of Cardinal Wolsey, in the year 1530. In the reign of king James I., the Banquet- ing House belonging to this palace, being in a ruinous condition, that monarch formed the design of erecting a palace on the spot, worthy the residence of the kings of England. The celebrated Inigo Jones was employed to draw the plan of a noble edifice ; this was done, and the present structure erected as a part of the great intended work, for the reception of ambassadors and other audiences of state. It is a very substantial edifice of three stories in height. The lowest has a rustic wall with small square windows, and, by its appearance of strength, happily serves as a basis for the superstructure. Upon this is raised the Ionic with columns and pilasters; and between the columns are seven windows with arched and pointed pediments. Over these is placed the proper entablature, on which is raised a second series of the Corinthian order, consisting of columns and pilasters like the other ; column being placed over column, and pilaster over pilaster. From the capitals are carried festoons which meet with masks and other ornaments in the middle. This series is also crowned with its proper entablature, on which is raised the balustrade, with Attic pedestals between. Every SE OF X. © RID ' inENGS •ETTTKAT-* [IE . HDFSE OF Z. 11'E-TM1H5TO. HAM. "i I ' '■ ' . , B ;; / ■ OF LONDON. 23 thing- in this building is finely proportioned, and as happily executed. The projection of the columns from the wall, has a fine effect in the entablatures, which being brought forward in the same proportion, gives that happy diversity of light and shade so essential to fine archi- tecture. The ceiling of the grand room was painted by the celebrated Sir Peter Paul Rubens, who was ambassador here in the time of Charles I. The subject is the entrance, inauguration, and coronation of James I., represented by pagan emblems. It is esteemed one of his best performances. This apartment is, at present, used for a chapel ; but the great offices of state are kept in other parts of the building behind, and all public business is still dated from Whitehall. The whole edifice has lately been re-edified, and the architectural orna- ments on the exterior fresh sculptured. MELBOURNE HOUSE. This mansion is peculiarly distinguished by its large circular hall, pro- bably the finest of the kind in the metropolis. The back front of the edifice looks into the park, from which it is separated by a very agreeable garden. The portico, on the Whitehall side of the building, is evidently unfitted for the building to which it forms the principal entrance. We believe that it was erected subsequently. RICHMOND TERRACE. This terrace was erected on the site of a very old edifice belonging to the Duke of Richmond. It runs obliquely from Parliament Street, and in point of elegant simplicity of erection, is equal to any other series of domestic edifices in the metropolis. WESTMINSTER HALL The associations to which the site of this ancient edifice naturally give rise are of the most interesting character. In the vast hall which forms the main body of the building, some of the most splendid portions of the coronation ceremony, those of the banquet and the champion's challenge, have always been performed. And here, too, beneath the same roof, where the wassail cap and the harper minstrels of the olden time chaunted lays descriptive of love and chivalry, have been placed for judicial ordeal some of the bravest of the land, accompanied by the headsman's axe in solemn array. Pennant thus describes this immense edifice : " the great hall was built by William Rufus, or possibly rebuilt; a great hall being too ne- cessary an appendage to a palace, ever to have been neglected. The entrance into it from New Palace Yard, was bounded on each side by towers, most magnificently ornamented with numbers of statues in 24 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS rows above each other, now lost, or concealed by modern buildings ; a mutilated figure of an armed man, supposed to have been one, was discovered under the Exchequer staircase in 1781. The size may be estimated, when we are told that Henry III. entertained in this hall, and other rooms, six thousand poor men, women, and children, on New-year's day, 1236. It became ruinous before the reign of Richard II., who rebuilt it in its present form in 1397 ; and, in 1399, kept his Christmas in it, with his characteristic magnificence. Twenty- eight oxen, three hundred sheep, and fowls without number, were daily consumed. The number of his guests were each day ten thousand. From this view of the luxurious prodigality of Richard, we need not wonder that he kept two thousand cooks. They certainly appear to have been deeply learned in their profession, witness " The Forme of Cury," compiled about 1390, by the master cooks of this expensive monarch, in which are preserved receipts for the most exquisite dishe? of the time. " The length of the great hall exceeds in dimension that of any other in Europe, which is not supported by pillars ; its length is two hundred and seventy feet ; the breadth seventy-four ; and its great height adds an air of solemn magnificence to the whole. The roof consists chiefly of chesnut wood, most curiously constructed. It is every where adorned with angels supporting the arms of Richard II., or those of Edward the Confessor: as is the stone moulding that runs round the hall, with the hart couchant beneath a tree, and other devices of Richard II. It may be proper to add, that the whole front has been renovated, and new courts of law constructed at the western extremity. HOUSE OF LORDS. Tins edifice is situated on the south side of the House of Commons, with the entrance to which it communicates externally by means of a colonnade extending along the whole of the western elevation, which is represented in the accompanying engraving. The apartment in which the peers assemble is of an oblong form, and rather smaller than that of the House of Commons. The walls are huno- with the celebrated tapestry, representing the defeat of the Spanish armada, which imparts to the House an air of imposing grandeur and solemnity, greatly dis- tinguishing it from that appropriated to the use of the other branch of the legislature. This tapestry is judiciously set off by large frames of brown stained wood, which divide the pictures into compartments ; and the whole is surrounded by a border, exhibiting portraits of the naval heroes who commanded the English fleet on that memorable occasion. This room was newly fitted up in 1820, when a throne was erected of the most splendid description, instead of the elevated arm-chair before OF LONDON. 25 used as the seat of the monarch. It consists of an immense canopy of crimson velvet, surmounted by an imperial crown, and supported by columns richly gilt and decorated with acorns and oak leaves. The seats of the Lord Chancellor, (who is speaker of the House of Lords,) of the judges and officers, are woolsacks covered with crimson baize; and the peers, on ordinary occasions promiscuously arranged, sit on benches similarly covered. For the accommodation of strangers, a gallery has very recently been erected at the end opposite to the throne, a portion of which is set apart exclusively for the use of peeresses and their daughters. The interior may be inspected at any time, and while the House is sitting, either by the introduction of a peer, or through the medium of the door-keepers. Adjoining the south-east corner of the House of Lords is the Painted Chamber, a long lofty room lighted by pointed windows, which is used as the place of conference with the other House of Parliament. The vault, called Guy Fawke's cellar, which was under the old House of Lords, has been during the recent alterations destroyed. KING'S ENTRANCE.— HOUSE OF LORDS. His Majesty has an entrance peculiarly fitted both for his private access to the House, and for public observances of state. It forms a projecting embattled porch, and is accurately figured in the same plate as contains the external view of the edifice : it was rebuilt by Sir John Soane in 1 824. HOUSE OF COMMONS. The Commons House of Parliament hold their sittings in a large hall, to which access is obtained by this front. The committee rooms occupy that portion exhibited in the engraving. A view of this constituent assembly, when it last held its sittings, will not be out of place. " The House of Commons consists of 658 members, viz. 16 barons of the Cinque Ports; 80 knights of the shire for England, 12 for Wales, 30 for Scotland, and 64 for Ireland; and 343 burgesses for England, 12 for Wales, 15 for Scotland, and 36 for Ireland. By law, these members, in all cases, ought to be elected by the people, without any undue influence, either from the crown, the peerage, or any other power. Anciently, in the Saxon times, the affairs of the kingdom were regulated in National Councils, and such councils were by law to be held twice in every year ; but the Commons of England, as represented by knights, citizens, and burgesses, were not specifically named, until the latter years of Henry III.'s reign, when the brave Simon de Mont- fort, earl of Leicester, caused them to be duly summoned, for the pur- pose of employing their influence against the arbitrary domination of 26 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS the crown. In the 4th of Edward III., (cap. 14.) it was enacted, that ' a Parliament should be holden every year, twice, and more often if need be ;' and this continued to be the statute law, although frequently violated by our sovereigns, until after the Restoration of Charles II., when an act was passed for ' the assembling of, and holding, parlia- ments once in three years at least, which act was confirmed by William and Mary, soon after the glorious Revolution of 1688. In the first year of George I., the then existing parliament, most traitorously, under the influence of the crown, enacted that they should sit for seven years. Many attempts have since been made to restore triennial par- liaments, which every judicious writer on constitutional authority con- ceives to be the surest safeguard of a people's liberties, but hitherto without success; and our parliaments now sit for any period not ex- ceeding a septennial duration, at the will of the ministry. When a member speaks, he addresses the Speaker only, and is not allowed to speak a second time during the debate, unless in reply (if he was the mover of the question), or in answer to personal reflections, or in a committee of the whole House, into which the Commons frequently form themselves, for greater freedom. Forty members are requisite to form a House, nor can any business be commenced until that number be present. The usual time of taking the chair is four o'clock, p.m. The Speaker is elected from the body of the members on the first day of the meeting of a new parliament. In voting, the words used are ' Yea' and ' Nay.' In divisions, one party always quits the House, the number of each being counted by two tellers of the opposite side ; but to this there is one exception, viz. in committees of the whole House, when they divide by the ' Yeas , taking the right, and the * Nays' the left of the chair." The great measure of a reform in parliament, which is now so happily for Great Britain a part of the law of the land, bids fair to remedy all those abuses in the representation which had previously ren- dered the proceedings of this House the most disgraceful and incon- sistent of any portion of the legislature. It is most probable that, after having thus revivyfied itself, one of its earliest acts will be a return to the old and more salutary arrangement of triennial if not annual elections. ST. STEPHEN'S CHAPEL. This is in fact but another front to the edifice already described. Those who are in the habit of ascending- the river on the Middlesex side, will obtain a much better view of the edifice than they are likely to gain from the land side, where the whole erection is of a modern character. It appears that the chapel was originally erected by king IRPJBKT11?E JB *■■. Dnwnbf ff.Wktt 'T Ml: CAS CAB . . £rt,7r\nt\{ hv JStn< OF LONDON. 27 Stephen, and dedicated to his namesake the protomartyr. It was re- built by Edward III., in 1347. SERPENTINE BRIDGE. Hyde Park, and the adjacent Gardens of Kensington, contain some of the most picturesque scenery that is to be found in the neighbourhood of the metropolis. It is bounded by the Knightsbridge road on the south, and the Uxbridge road on the north, whilst a continuous series of large and elegant houses form the eastern boundary. The Serpentine river was begun by the king's command in 1730; when the expense of the excavation, 400 yards in length, 100 in breadth, and 40 feet deep, was estimated at 6,000/. This Serpentine outline was the happy contrivance of Charles Withers, esq., surveyor- general of his majesty's woods, &c, who employed 200 men to effect it. The Westminster Water Work's Company had pipes which passed through Hyde and the Green Parks ; but they were purchased by the king's order for about 2,500/., and removed to complete the river. The bridge was erected by Mr. Rennie, and allows of a passage across the river, from the two shores in Kensington Gardens, as well as the Park. This is effected by carrying a line of light iron fence across the centre of the bridge. To prevent those persons who bathe in the river entering the Park, a net-work of iron is carried completely across the water. The two small arches have iron gates, closed at certain hours, according to the season, which serve to admit pedestrians from the Park to the Gardens, and vice versa. The view from this bridge is considered superior to that from any other part of the Park, as it includes the Triumphal Arches, Westminster Abbey, a part of the New Palace, &c. THE CASCADE. On visiting this " Cascade," or rather site for a cascade, in the month of June, for the purpose of furnishing our readers with a descriptive account of the minor Tivoli, represented in the plate ; we found duck- weed supplying the place of water, and decaying brambles and lightning- scath'd trees instead of sylvan foliage : need we add, that it is highly creditable to the artist, who, by a little poetical licence, has been enabled to convert so unpromising a spot into a truly picturesque and graphic delineation. The whole river might be put in motion, and its stagnant character changed to that of a running stream, by the aid of a single pipe from the Middlesex Water Works. The public would then have a cascade at every period of the year, and not, as in the present case, find it dry at the only season when the pedestrian is likely to benefit by its presence. 28 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS KING'S ROAD BRIDGE. We have already directed the reader's attention to the Serpentine Bridge, but there is another erection of a less assuming character in the neighbourhood, which must not escape observation. It is a pretty little erection crossing the basin at the King's Road, and in the summer season there are few spots more picturesque than the one chosen by the artist, who is seen seated at the root of a tree. KEEPER'S HOUSE. The office of Keeper is entirely distinct from that of Ranger, the latter being merely nominal, whilst the other is generally a very active and useful person. The Keeper's residence is near the Boat House, and it is evidently a building of great antiquity. To any contemplative person, who has been hurried along by the vortex of fashion and fri- volity in the line of the King's Road, this is indeed a pleasing change. Here he may find a delightful relief from the mixture of peers and black-legs; women of quality, and ladies of questionable character, who make up the long line of equestrians as well as promenaders on the other side of the Park. BOAT HOUSE. Lake or river scenery is of little value unaccompanied by a boat or some such object floating upon its glassy surface. The Boat House is erected on the north side of the Serpentine, and in addition to the vessel contained within its gothic inclosure, there is a boat moored close by for the use of the Royal Humane Society ; and we regret to say, that in consequence of numerous casualties, its services are often put in requisition. WATERLOO BRIDGE. Bridge-building, as a science, has attained a degree of eminence in this country, far surpassing that of any other nation in civilized Europe. It is, however, a fact worthy of record in the annals of science, that France, whose soil has not produced a single practical engineer of any importance, should yet have furnished some of the earliest and best treatises on the subject. This apparent anomaly may, however, readily be accounted for. We are a nation of practical mechanics, and the soil of England seems peculiarly adapted to the growth of this branch of science ; indeed the names of Smeaton, Ferguson, Rennie, and Watt, will sufficiently prove that in England the humblest origin is no bar to the highest honours, and the most lucrative professional emplov- ment. ■ ' . ' ji_l stems ' OF LONDON. 29 Waterloo Bridge, of which we have a very accurate delineation, is 1,240 feet in length, and its harmonizing' continuous line, running nearly parallel with the river or water-line throughout, gives an air of simplicity and grandeur which is not equalled by any work in Europe. The length of the brick arches, from the north shore to the Strand, is 440 feet; while its total length, including both approaches, is 2,890 feet. The span of the nine stone arches over the river, all of which are of equal dimensions, is 120 feet each. The width of the bridge within the balustrades, is forty-two feet, divided on each side by a foot- way of seven feet. The number of brick or dry arches on the south shore is forty, and on the north or Strand side is sixteen, so that there are in all sixty-five arches. The whole of the exterior of the bridge is constructed of granite. ST. JOHN'S, SAVOY. Close to Waterloo Bridge is the church of St. John the Baptist, origi- nally erected as a chapel to the Savoy Palace. It was partly destroyed by Wat Tyler, in 1381, and re-edified by Henry VII., in 1509. The Strand has been raised about twenty feet in the neighbourhood of this church, so that we catch a sort of bird's-eye view of the edifice. Con- siderable alterations and repairs have lately been effected. • SHOT WORKS. The patent Shot Works, of which we furnish two views, are intended for the manufacture of shot by a new and improved process. One of these towers furnishes a very picturesque ornament to the south side of Waterloo Bridge, and we can scarcely conceive a more interesting view than it presents, when seen resting, with its beautiful outline reflected from the glassy surface of the Thames. The great peculiarity of the arrangement adopted in these works consists in dropping the molten lead, which forms the material for shot, from a great height into water, which is placed beneath to receive it; by which several very considerable imperfections attendant upon the previous method of manufacture are obviated. According to the old arrangement, the pierced plate through the holes in which the lead was poured, was ele- vated only about four inches above the water ; the consequence was, that the exterior surface of the lower part of each portion of lead be- coming suddenly congealed by contact with the water, the upper half, which was still liquid, as it also cooled and contracted, necessarily be- came irregular, so that the greater part of the shot were hollow on one side. These defects are, however, entirely remedied in the patent arrangement of which we have spoken, in which the lead falling, from a height of from 40 to 100 feet, becomes solid before it enters the water, 30 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS thus producing" shot perfectly sound and regular. The subsequent ope- rations are those of drying", sifting, and, as it is technically termed, boarding, which consists in scattering the shot on several polished slabs or trays of hard wood, to which a slight inclination and alternate motion is given, by which means those which are imperfect are detected by their remaining on the board, while the others being perfectly smooth, roll off; and lastly, polishing, which is performed by agitating them with the addition of a small quantity of black lead, in an iron vessel turning - on a horizontal axis like a butter churn. ST. PAUL'S, COVENT GARDEN. The scite of this church was originally part of the garden belonging to the abbot of Westminster. In 1640, Francis Earl of Bedford erected a chapel for the use of his tenants in that neighbourhood. It was first legally converted into a parish church in 1660. The beautifully simple edifice represented in our plate, was erected from the designs of Inigo Jones, who is said to have taken as his model some rustic edifice pointed out by the Duke of Bedford. LOWTHER ARCADE. The bazaars that form so prominent a feature in eastern commercial transactions, were first imported into this country by Mr. Trotter of Soho Square. The Lowther Arcade is decidedly the most elegant establishment of this description erected in the metropolis. The per- spective view given in our engraving will furnish a very perfect notion of the place as seen from the Strand ; and when we compare the costly and elegant bijoidrie exhibited for sale, it will be found that the dealers lose nothing by comparison with those celebrated in the Arabian Nights, and other works of eastern fiction. The Lowther Arcade leads from the Strand to Adelaide Street; and the only drawback on its beauty as seen from either extremity, is the excessive multiplicity of ornament, which causes a degree of indistinctness in the vista. CHARING-CROSS HOSPITAL. If to clothe the poor and feed the hungry be commendable virtues, how much more commendable must it be to relieve the sick and find a shelter and medicine for those who suffer under the greatest of all privations, namely, the loss of health. England is richly endowed with establish- ments of this description, but the British metropolis stands forth pre- eminent in the path of well-doing. The Charing-Cross Hospital was commenced in 1831, and is entirely supported by voluntarily contri- butions. ■4 OF LONDON. 31 EXETER HALL. The public meetings connected with charitable and religious insti- tutions were formerly held, with very few exceptions, at the Free Mason's and London Taverns, and this Hall was erected to prevent the strange anomaly which frequently occurred of anti-tippling associations meeting in a tavern, and the committees of charitable institutions being compelled to expend large portions of their funds in the purchase of costly dinners, entirely unconnected with the real business of their meeting. The Strand entrance consists of Loggia, having a frontispiece with fluted columns, and Antae from the Choragic monument of Ly- sicrates. The Hall is 110 feet long, and 76 feet wide. WEST STRAND. The improvements that have been effected in this part of Westminster, more resemble those ascribed to the wand of the enchanter than those of a calculating and commercial people. Buonaparte called us "a nation of shopkeepers," and there is some point in the observation, but there are certainly many of his sovereign princes whose mansions were less worthy of notice than the shopkeepers' residences in this street. The Italian style prevails through a large portion of these edifices, and though mixed up with much that is fanciful, they form a very favour- able specimen of London architecture. BRITISH FIRE OFFICE. Fire Offices, generally speaking, are of the greatest possible import- ance, in large cities where the chance of loss from fire must of necessity be much greater than in less crowded places. The British Fire Office is not a very old establishment, and the present edifice is intended to unite the business of the Westminster Life Office with that of Insurance against loss by fire. The edifice is in the Roman style of architecture, and exceedingly neat in its external appearance. ST. KATHERINE'S CHAPEL. This chapel forms apart of the hospital dedicated to St. Katherine, originally erected in the neighbourhood of the Tower, in 1272. The ancient edifice was removed to make way for the formation of large docks and warehouses, which still retain the name of the hospital. The edifice, represented in our plate, is a handsome building in the old English style of architecture. The turreted buttresses at the angles, are in excellent proportion with the edifice. The two wing buildings are in- tended for a chapter-house and school-room. The quadrangle, part of which is shewn in the engraving, is intended for the residence of the brother-hood of the hospital, though, we believe, they are occupied by 32 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS tenants entirely unconnected with the establishment. The residence of Sir Herbert Taylor, who is master, is also represented in the plate. EAST AND WEST GATES. The first of these pretty edifices is now better known by the name of Gloucester Gate. They differ very much in their style and arrange- ment, so much so indeed, that it appears extraordinary how they could ever have been placed in the same neighbourhood with reference to any ruling principle of good taste. The columns which form the en- trance to Gloucester Gate, give a depth and dignity to the whole, which really fits it for the beautiful scenery which bursts upon the view on entering the Park. West Lodge, though pretty, is really fitter for a citizen's box, than the office for which it was designed. VILLAS IN THE REGENT'S PARK. The upper part of the plate, which we have been describing, contains two villas. The first of these forms a portion of St. Katherine's Hos- pital, and is intended for the Master, Sir Herbert Taylor. It partakes of the same architectural character, only much more enriched than the other portions of the establishment. The second of these edifices was designed by Mr. Raffield, and is now, we believe the residence of Mr. Maberly. The centre of the building is ornamented by two piers, which support a pediment, and include between them a similar number of pilasters of the Corinthian order. The wings project from the centre, and are embellished in basso-relievo. Below the large window is a spacious porch formed by piers, and supporting lions of no great merit as works of sculpture. The mansion is coated with cement, which may be considered as one of the peculiar characteristics of the modern metropolitan edifices. This species of surface is peculiarly well fitted for architectural embellishment, as the ornamental parts of the building may be cast from the same cement as forms the external walls. The cement used in this edifice exactly resembles Portland stone. THE LONDON INSTITUTION. This establishment has tended very materially towards the spread of useful knowledge in the city of London. The library was originally formed in the Old Jewry, and afterwards removed to King's Arms Yard. The present edifice was designed by Mr. William Brooks, and completed in 1819, by Mr. Cubitt, who has since so greatly distinguished himself by the erection of some of the most important buildings in this country. The principal apartment is the library, a magnificent saloon, 97 feet in length, by 42 in width, and 28 in height ; containing about 35,000 N°2. SIR. BDEIEJ»JEJfi.T TA3X*ELS ""UI.iiM HUB (JJ-JOTTS TAirtr -•ilJUr^ IT? THI RJE -aT!ELA2R_O^ES r~Bi A ,l : c'. 1 . , T» V. ' o^ltX . ,TS , IELS S-E^T S louden PutlisW.Ty .Allan JJ & C">Augn832 OF LONDON. 33 volumes. It is accessible every day to proprietors and their friends from ten o'clock in the morning' till the same hour in the evening-, with the exception of Saturdays] and Sundays; on the former of which it is closed at three o'clock in the afternoon, on the latter it is, of course always shut. Below are the reading-rooms, furnished with the daily newspapers and the periodical publications, together with the committee-room and sub-librarian's apartments. The Theatre, or Lecture-room, which is connected with the main building by a vestibule and double folding doors, is capable of accommodating about 600 persons, and the seats are so admirably arranged as to afford from all parts an uninterrupted view of the experiments performed on the lecture-table. The light is ad- mitted by a circular lantern, placed immediately over the centre of the room, and is excluded, when necessary, by means of a false ceiling. Behind the Lecture-room are placed the Laboratory and apparatus- rooms, both of which are admirably constructed for the use of the lec- ture department. The former is furnished with furnaces, sand-baths, a still, worm-tub, and a complete set of chemical apparatus ; and the models and philosophical instruments of the latter form a very distin- guished feature of the establishment. On laying the foundation stone of the London Institution, a very ad- mirable address was delivered by Charles Butler, esq., the barrister, and it so fully explains the objects of the founders in its establishment, that we cannot do better than furnish our readers with an extract from the speech, which was privately printed for the use of the proprietors. " About ten years ago, some gentlemen of high rank in commerce, and distinguished by their enlarged and cultivated understandings, pro- jected the Institution, on whose account you have this day been con- vened. Considering the mercantile eminence of their country ; per- suaded that, whatever increases the splendour, increases equally the strength and activity of commerce, and contemplating the example of almost every other European nation ; they thought it due to thedignity and glory of the empire, that her commercial metropolis should be graced by a Literary and Scientific Institution, on a liberal and exten- sive plan. They judged, that such an establishment would bring science and commerce into contact, and that, by their approximation, each would draw forth and invigorate whatever there might be of latent energy or power in the other. " Under this impression, they submitted their views to the consider- ation of their fellow-citizens, and solicited the co-operation of their munificence. The design was universally approved, and a subscrip- tion of about 70,000/. immediately raised, within the walls of the city of London, and her commercial environs. The portion of land which D 34 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS has just been honoured with your presence, was purchased from the Corporation of London, with the view of erecting upon it a building- suited to the purposes of the Institution. I am authorized to add, that the gentlemen who treated with the Corporation for the purchase of it, speak in high terms of the liberality of their proceedings. " That the union of science and commerce produces public and in- dividual happiness, and elevates in the rank of nations, the countries that are blessed with them, would, if it required proof, be better shown by history than argument. " The spacious provinces, which now compose the Ottoman empire, were once the seat of science and commerce. Then, they were dig- nified by wisdom and valour ; and, for a long time, were the fairest portion of the Christian world. Of their science and commerce they were deprived by their invaders; and, in consequence of it, sunk into a state of abject misery, which no tongue can adequately describe : — large territories dispeopled ; goodly cities made desolate ; sumptuous buildings become ruins; glorious temples subverted or'prostituted; true religion discountenanced and oppressed ; all nobility extinguished; vio- lence and rapine exulting over all, and leaving no security, except to abject minds and unlooked-on poverty. Such is the state of a country Avhich has lost her commerce and science. Would you behold a coun- try in the full possession of them — contemplate your own : — the number and mag-nificence of her cities, the high state of her asricul- ture, the activity of her manufactures, the easy intercourse between all parts of the nation ; her grand foundations, both for learning and charity, the graceful dignity and conciliating ease of high life, the countless decencies of the middle ranks, the cheerful industry of the lowest, the general veneration for the constitution, the general obe- dience to law, the general devotion to their country. — Such is England! If it be inquired by what means she hath attained this height of glory and prosperity, much, it must be answered, is owing to that happy union of science and commerce, for which in every part of her history she has been eminently distinguished. Now science and commerce are mutally dependant ; each assists the other, and each receives from the other, a liberal return." FINSBURY CHAPEL. Tins elegant edifice was erected for the Rev. Alexander Fletcher, from designs furnished by Mr. Brooks. The pulpit is considered the prin- cipal architectural ornament of its interior. It is constructed on the very elegant and classical model of the " Lanthern of Demosthenes." The galleries and body of the chapel are capable of accommodating about 2000 persons. There are two inscriptions on the front of the OF LONDON. 35 chapel which always excite the attention of those who pass round the circus, at the corner of which it is situated. The one relates to the fall of man, and the other to the sanctification through faith. CATHOLIC CHAPEL. This eleo-ant place of worship was erected in 1820, from the designs of Mr. Newman. The front, as seen from Liverpool Street, consists of a pediment supported by two columns of the composite order, which is further enriched by a striking alto relievo of the " two Mary's" era- bracino- the cross of Christ. The figures are simple and somewhat elegant, but their anatomy is incorrect, and the tripping attitude of the one to the right of the cross, tends to destroy the impassioned and sacred character which it may be presumed the sculptor contemplated in his design. In extenuation of these defects it may be proper to state, that the group is the production of a self-taught genius — a man, who at the time he executed it, had neither models of his own, nor assistance from the study of any other artist. The pediment is like- wise ornamented by much that is not strictly consistent with the order of architecture which it professedly imitates; but we are yet of opinion that this extraneous ornament serves to enrich rather than blemish it, and that the general effect is consistent with good taste. Pass we now to the interior of this magnificent edifice, dedicated to the worship of the living God ; for our orthodox regard for the re- formed church will on no account enable us to picture in the meek and laborious priesthood who minister at its altar, either the cruel and bi- gotted traits of a Bonner or a Gardiner. No ! as we pause at the threshold to admire the beautiful works of art with which this edifice is ornamented, we even now see, in the mind's eye, it is true, the very counterpart of Sterne's poor Franciscan, — the hectic can hardly be said to be passing from his cheek, for the whole of his countenance is radiant with fervour and devotion ; neither is he clothed in the tunic of the order, but he is preaching in plain and convincing language against image worship — a species of idolatry which he very truly observed was expressly reprobated in the cathecism of the church. We trust that we shall be indulged in this brief digression ; for the church of Rome has done so much for art, and has been so completely the "nursing-mother" of painting and sculpture, that a little excess in ornament — a slight departure from the Genevese simplicity of our own churches, may be pardoned them. Ascending a flight of stone steps, we are at once ushered into the edifice, and the eye is powerfully arrested by a large picture in fresco, painted by Aglio. It is a bold and masterly attempt to represent that awful appearance which Scripture informs us took place at the crucifixion of Christ. There d 2 3(3 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS is much of grandeur in the sky and the surrounding' mountains, joined to an animated though rather confused grouping of the figures, such as we may conjecture would compose the spectators of that scene. It may be proper to state that the artist has introduced his own likeness in the armed warrior, who leans on a piece of rock-work to the right of the picture. The ceiling of the chapel is also by the same artist; the side compartments are in fresco,* whilst the centre is painted in oils. The great altar is admirably sculptured in white marble, and be- sides the confessionals which run along the walls,, there is a rich crimson chair, surmounted by an episcopal mitre, intended for the use of the Catholic bishop of the diocese. The organ is placed in a new gallery at the eastern end of the church. It is of great power, and was erected by Mr. Bevington. A marble monument has recently been placed im- mediately beneath the organ to the memory of Dr. Poynter, the late Catholic bishop. There is a large and elegant dwelling-house for the ministers of the chapel in Finsbury Circus, and a small door for pri- vate purposes in East Street. OPTHALMIC INPIRMAR7. At the corner of North Buildings and East Street, there is now a very useful establishment for diseases of the eye. Mr. Lawrence may be considered as the great founder of this Institution, which is supported by voluntary contributions. It contains the necessary accommodation for a small number of in-door patients, but its main utility is found to arise from the facility with which a letter of introduction may be ob- tained for gratuitous medical advice. + There is a theatre for lectures on optics and diseases of the eye, which is well attended by medical students. A laboratory has lately been added for chemical and pharmaceutical purposes. UNITARIAN CHAPEL. It is a curious and interesting subject for the researches of the anti- quary, as well as the political economist, to trace the various and pro- • By fresco painting, is meant the application of colour to a freshly plaistered wall, so that the colours are imbibed by the lime and sand. To revivify a fresco painting, it is only necessary to scrape away a portion of the surface of the wall, and the colours come out in all their original freshness. t It may here be remarked, that the practice adopted in this infirmary, and pursued in many other respectable establishments of bringing together a vast number of diseased per- sons, without even the accommodation of a large open hall, and gates to prevent contagious diseases being spread through the neighbourhood, is well worthy the especial attention of the legislature. It is well known that some diseases of the eye are contagious, and yet there is scarcely a person passing this establishment before the ordinary hour of admission, who is not obliged to come into direct contact with a crowd of patients labouring under disease in a variety of forms. ■i ,\i M I '" ftTBl '1L I' - CJBLA FEU 1L I l EOJ I 'If EN ST IT t'T : ..,rn: tx:mi:ipjl.e B«m ©JLB ST JDTJW S T ^.^r's VM.TIM.VEL LS L OND 6K 5B.I If «JE IS 1. DlSDOH STttHE, fAHJJOM SXJftEET IF ; - I i I COO*] EMHMSAa'TOTB OF THE FEME OF LOHIOM OF LONDON. 37 gressive stages of improvement which have rapidly and recently oc- curred in the environs of the metropolis. Only a few centuries back, London was nearly confined to the limits of its walls, — while that part which formerly constituted the city boundaries, has now become little more than a speck in the centre of our colossal city. Barren moors, and stagnant pools, are now quickly giving place to stately edifices ; while the pasture and garden grounds, which formerly served as pleas- ing retreats from the bustle and confusion of a populous city, are as rapidly transformed into spacious squares and crowded streets. The whole of Moorfields, on the scite of which the Finsbury Circus is now erected, was originally nothing more than a tract of waste marsh land, justly termed, by Fitz Stephen, a great fen or moor ; and in the time of Edward II., this extensive waste was of so little value, that the whole, including the ground on which the parishes of St. Leonard, Shoreditch, and St. Botolph, Bishopsgate, now stand, was let for four marks a years ; a sum considerably less than the present annual ground rent of a single tenement. There are nine places of public worship in this neighbourhood, though only three of much architectural beauty, and of these we have already described two ; the other edifice, exhibted on this plate, was erected for a very eloquent Unitarian clergyman, the Rev. Mr. Fox. In this chapel a series of leetures were delivered by Dr. Southwood Smith on the anatomy of the heart. It is situated in the rear of Fins- bury Circus, and its principal front, which is in South Place, is of the Greek order of architecture. The eastern side of the chapel joins the boundary wall of the Theatre of the London Institution. OLD LONDON BRIDGE. This curious and venerable structure is now nearly levelled with the surface of the stream which it has for so many centuries proudly be- strode. London Bridge was commenced in 1176, under the direction of Peter of Colechurch, and in process of time became crowded with houses, forming a narrow and inconvenient street of about twenty feet wide. After several accidents from fire, the whole of the buildings were demolished, in accordance with an act of parliament to that effect, passed in 1756. But little alteration has occurred from that period to the time of its final demolition in the present year. The water-works formed a prominent feature in the old bridge, and are stated by the ingenious chronicler of this edifice to have been superior to the cele- brated works at Marli in France. But we cannot do better than fur- nish our readers with a description of the entire machinery which so long supplied that portion of London with water, copied from the same accurate pages. 38 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS The wheels beneath the arches were turned by the common tide- water of the Thames ; the axle-trees being 19 feet in length, and 3 in diameter, having four sets of arms, eight in each place, on which were fixed 4 rings or fellies, 20 feet in diameter, with 26 floats of 14 feet long, and 18 inches deep. The gudgeons, or centre pins of these wheels rested upon brasses, fixed on two large levers 16 feet long, the tops of which were formed of arched timber, the levers beino- made circular on their lower sides to an arch, and kept in their places by two arching studs fixed in a stock. To the lower part of the arch on the lever, was fixed a strong triple chain, the links attached to circles of one foot in diameter, having notches or teeth to take hold of the leaves of a cast-iron pinion, 10 inches in diameter, with eight teeth in it, moving on an axis. The other end of this chain had a large weight hanging from it, to assist in counterpoising the wheel, and to preserve the chain from sliding on the pinion. On the same axis with the pinion, were two toothed wheels ; one of 6 feet in diameter, having 48 teeth, and another of 51 teeth, each working in a trundle of six rounds ; on this axis there was also a winch, by which one man could raise or lower the wheels as occasion might require. Near the end of the great axle-tree was another cog-wheel of 8 feet in diameter, and 44 teeth, working into a trundle of 20 rounds, 4| feet in diameter, the axis of which was fixed in brasses at each end of the lever before- mentioned, and communicated with iron cranks having four necks, each of which raised an iron spear attached to levers 24 feet in length. To the other ends were fastened iron rods and forcing-plugs, working in cast-iron cylinders 4| feet long, 7 inches in bore above, and 9 below. These cylinders were placed over a hollow trunk of cast-iron, with four valves in it, immediately beneath them ; and as one end of the trunk was furnished with a sucking-pipe and grate going into the water, they were each filled alternately, and delivered their supplies through curved pipes into a second trunk, furnished with an iron pipe, through which the water was forced up to any height required. These were, however, only half the works; the whole of the mechanism being double to each wheel. It was stated before a committee of the House of Commons, that in the year 1820, these works supplied 26,322,705 hogsheads of water daily. The erection of chapels on bridges is of the highest antiquity, and, no doubt, originated from the custom of making sacrifices on bridges, whence Plutarch has derived the word Pontifex. The most remark- able bridge of this sort was at Droitwich, where the high road passed through the chapel, and divided the congregation from the reading- desk and pulpit. The priests attached to the chapels were commis- sioned, as an indispensable part of their office, to keep the bridge in OF LONDON. 39 repair ; and hence, although Stowe is wrong in stating, that London Bridge was built by the priests of St. Mary Overy, it is not improbable that they were enjoined to repair it, in accordance with the ancient custom. The chapel on London Bridge was at first endowed for two priests and four clerks, and in the reign of Henry VI. it maintained four chaplains. Four years after the bridge was finished, it was the scene of a very tragical accident. In the night of the 10th of July, 1213, a fire broke out in Southwark ; when the bridge became crowded with people, all hastening from the city, either to witness or extinguish the conflagra- tion. The flames, catching St. Mary Overy's church, were, by a strong southerly wind, extended to the Southwark end of the bridge : those who were foremost in the advancing throng endeavoured, but vainly, to fall back from the destroying element ; the multitude on the London side, ignorant of the danger, continued to press unyieldingly forward, and, in this tumultuous conflict, numbers were trampled to death ; others leaped into the river, to find only a watery grave ; while many more perished miserably in the flames. Not less than 3000 lives are stated to have been lost on the occasion. It is supposed, that at this period the only building on the bridge was the chapel of St. Thomas a Becket ; nay, it has been said, that even as late as 1395, " the bridge, at that time, was only coped on each side, and not replenished with houses.'' (Seymour and Marchant). That, at least, the last statement is erroneous, is, however, quite certain ; for among the records pre- served in the Tower, there are letters patent of Edward L, by which, in 1280, he authorizes a collection to be made throughout the realm, for the repair of London Bridge, which is there described to be in such a ruinous condition, that " unless speedy remedy be put, not only the sudden fall of the bridge, but also the destruction. of innumerable people dwelling on it, may suddenly be feared." The subscriptions obtained under the letters patent of Edward I. being found inadequate to the execution of the repairs wanted, Edward, in 1281, ordered a toll to be levied, during three years, on all persons crossing the bridge with merchandize, and on " every saleable pack.'' Whenever it was necessary for the sovereign to cross the bridge, he was treated with great magnificence by the citizens. Richard II. and his young queen, Anne of Bohemia, were met by the citizens " at the gate of the brigge of London," says an old chronicler, " where they pre- sented him with a mylk-white stede, saddled and bridled, and trapped with cloth of gold and rede parted togedre ; and the queue, a palfry all white, and in the same way trapped with white and rede, while all the condites were rounen with wyne, bothe whyte and rede, for all maner of peple to drynke of." 40 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS In 1282, on the breaking- up of the river after a great frost, five arches of the bridge were carried away ; and, though these appear to have been immediately restored, yet in 1289 the bridge was again so much decayed, that people were afraid to pass over it. A new collec- tion was therefore made throughout the kingdom for its repair, and that yielding, as before, but little, it was found necessary, in 1298, to revive the toll on goods and passengers. The bridge was now so encumbered with houses, that the broad way between them did not exceed twelve feet in breadth ; yet it appears to have been employed as a sort of joint mart for the inhabitants of the city and those of the borough. The first order of Common Council upon record is one of 1277, prohibiting "any market from being held on London Bridge.'' What had been a theatre for the quarrels of coster- mongers, became afterwards the chosen spot of jousts of a higher order. On St. George's day, 1395, there was a grand jousting match upon London Bridge, at which the lord Wells engaged to maintain the renown of England against all comers. A stout Scotsman, David, earl of Crawford, entered the lists, and at the third course threw the English champion out of his saddle. In 1471, when Falconbridge was repulsed in his attempt to seize the city, several houses on the bridge were burnt down by the disappointed invaders. The next remarkable conflagration took place in 1632, when forty houses were destroyed. The Thames being frozen over at the time, water could not he obtained, and the fire continued burning in the vaults and cellars upwards of a week. All the houses destroyed on this occasion had not been replaced, when the great fire of 1666 caused a still greater devastation. Amidst the general improvements for which that calamity paved the way, the bridge was not neglected. The whole of the houses, from one end to the other, were taken down, with the exception of one house at the north end, which had been constructed in Holland, and was called the Tower of London Bridge, or the Nonsuch, from its not having a single nail in it, but being pinned together with wooden pegs. New ones were erected of a uniform breadth and elevation ; and three vacancies left at equal distances, from which a view of the river might be obtained. The Nonsuch occupying the whole breadth of the bridge, the archway under it was raised to the height of two stories, and over it the following inscription was placed : — Anno MDCLXXXV., et primo Jacobi II. Regis. This street was opened and enlarged from twelve to the width of twenty feet. Sir James Smith, knight, Lord Mayor. The bridge itself consisted of nineteen arches, the highest of which rose sixty feet above the water level. OF LONDON. 41 The three widest of these arches used to be called the Navigable Locks, from their being the only ones which afforded an easy passage for vessels. The one nearest to the London side was particularly dis- tinguished by the name of the Rock Lock, in consequence of a strange imagination among the vulgar, that there was a growing or vegetating species of rock beneath the water at this spot. It appears, from many subsequent observations, that this growing rock was nothing more than a collection of fallen materials ; some former arch or coping — which, by serving as a nucleus for the deposits of the daily tides, has given rise to the popular and metaphorical notion. The arch nearest of all to the London side was formed of a draw- bridge ; and, as late as 1722, such were the ideas which then prevailed of the means by which the invasion of enemies is best resisted, that the corporation did not grudge the expense of laying down a new one, nor the public the interruption occasioned by this idle project for adding to the security of the capital. Besides the Nonsuch Tower at the city end of the bridge, there was another at the Southwark end, and to each there were gates with pos- terns for foot passengers. It was on the last of these towers that the heads of traitors in later times were exposed, when the citizens of London, falling into a distaste for such marks of civilization, chose to re- move them from their own end of the bridge. As late as 1598,Hentzer, the German traveller relates, that he counted on it above thirty heads. In 1756, an act of parliament was obtained for improving the bridge, and a temporary wooden bridge was constructed while the repairs were going on ; but, with the fate common to wooden bridges, the latter was destroyed by fire the 11th April, 1759. The two centre arches of the stone bridge were now thrown into one ; and the remaining houses, which were principally occupied by pin and needle makers, were taken down, and the bridge put into that state in which it appeared before its demolition. On the opening of the great arch, the excavation around and under the starlings was so considerable, that the bridge was thought to be in great danger of falling. Mr. Smeaton, the engineer, was then in York- shire, but an express was sent for him, and he arrived with the utmost despatch ; when the apprehensions of the bridge falling were so general, that few persons would pass over or under it. Mr. Smeaton having ascertained the state of the starlings, and called the committee together, recommended that they should re-purchase the stones that had been taken from the middle pier, then lying on Moorfields, and throw them into the river to guard the starlings. Nothing shows the fears enter- tained for the stability of the bridge more than the alacrity with which his advice was adopted. The stones were re-purchased, and on the 42 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS following morning the work commenced, which in all probability pre- served the bridge from falling. The present beautiful structure will be found described in another portion of our work. TEMPLE BAR. This is a very handsome gate. It originally consisted of little more than iron posts, rails, and a chain, as in other places where the city liberties terminated. Subsequently a building of timber was erected across the street, with a narrow gateway, and an entry through the south side of it. The present structure was erected after the great fire of London, and is the only gate at the extremity of the city liberties. The great arch is elliptical, and very flat; and there is a postern on either side for passengers. It is built entirely of Portland stone of rustic work below, and of the Corinthian order. Over the gateway, on the east side, in two niches, are stone statues of queen Elizabeth and king James I., with the king's arms over the keystone, and on the west side are the statues of king Charles I. and king Charles II., in Roman habits. Temple Bar is still formally closed, on certain occa- sions, against the official agents of the court, and it is re-opened only by the special order of the lord mayor, who, as governor of the city of London, thus maintains his peculiar privileges. This gate was, in former ages, used for the disgusting exhibition of the heads of persons executed upon charges of high treason. OLD ST. DUNSTANS. On contrasting the old edifice with the present beautiful structure, the march of good taste must at once be obvious to every unprejudiced mind. The architect who demolished this edifice, and planned the new church, which he did not entirely complete, has now passed to that " bourne from whence no traveller e'er returns; 1 ' but the lover of civic ecclesiastical architecture must ever feel grateful for the improve- ments which he has effected on the site of Old St. Dunstan's church. The church of St. Dunstan, commonly called St. Dunstan in the West, to distinguish it from the other church dedicated to the same saint in Tower Ward, was situate between the ends of Fetter Lane and Chancery Lane, in Fleet Street; where it projected out into the street, and contracted the passage in a most awkward and inconvenient manner. It appears to have been built at least 400 years, since there are accounts of funerals and donations to it from the year 1421, and it had obviously been repaired and altered at different periods, till the original stile, whatever it was, was lost. It narrowly escaped the fire in \666, the flames stopping within three houses of it. This edifice was but an incumbrance in the road way, and without having any thing but deformity itself, spoiled the beauty of the whole street ; hiding the OF LONDON. 43 prospect of Temple Bar, which now terminates the view very advan- tageously, and which may be seen at a much greater distance than formerly. But as if the church had not sufficiently spoiled the street, a range of paltry sheds were suffered to remain round it, though a par- liamentary authority was obtained for removing them. The dial of the clock projected over the pathway at the west end, with a double face, at the extremity of a beam; and over it by a kind of whimsical conceit, calculated only for the amusement of countrymen and children, was an Ionic porch containing the figures of two savages, carved and painted, as large as life, which, with knotted clubs, alternately struck the hours and quarters on two bells hung between them. In a niche at the east end of the church, looking down the street, was placed the statue of Queen Elizabeth, which formerly stood over Ludgate. It is a very ancient foundation, in the- gift of the abbot and convent of Westminster, who, in 1237, gave it to king Henry III. toward the maintenance of the house called the Rolls, for the reception of con- verted Jews. It was afterwards presented to the abbot and convent of Alnwick, in Northumberland, in which patronage it continued till that religious house was suppressed by king Henry VIII. Edward VI. granted the advowson of this church, under the name of a vicarage, to Lord Dudley, with whom it did not long continue, but after a series of changes for public purposes it ultimately returned to private hands. LONDON STONE. On the south side of Cannon Street, the civic antiquary may see one of the most curious relics of London in the olden time. Fabian con- siders that it was set up as a mark of our ancestors' devotion to the great founder of our faith, as may be seen from the following rhymes : " It is so sure a stone that that is upon sette, For though some have it thrette With Manasses grym and grette Yet hurt had it none. Cryst is the very stone That the city is sette uppon, Which from al hys Foone Hath ever preserved yt." This opinion is, however, controverted by a most judicious London antiquary, who says, that it anciently served as the standard, whence all distances were measured, — that it was also used for tenderino- and making payments, — and adds, that it was actually set up about fifteen years before the Christian era. FIGURE COMMEMORATIVE OF THE FIRE OF LONDON. The ravages of the great fire in 1666, extended without the boundary of the city as far as the Temple Church on the west, and along the 44 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS wall to Holborn Bridge, and to Pye Corner, which formed the north- east corner of Cock Lane, at the entrance of Smithfield. The spot itself is now occupied by a public-house, bearing the sign of The For- tune of War ; over the door of which is now placed the carved wooden figure represented in the plate. It is rudely executed, and much worn, and is painted flesh-colour, with an inscription across the arms and body, in black letters, stating, that " This boy is in memory put up of iate fire of London, occasioned by the sin of gluttony, 1666." The figure was probably a relic of some building preserved from the conflagration ; and the singular statement in the inscription might have been occasioned by the circumstance of the fire having begun at Pud- ding Lane and ended at Pye Corner. The following account of the great fire of London, from the pen of Mr. Braley, is valuable, as furnishing the best account we have yet seen of that calamitous occurrence. The great fire of London, as it has been most appropriately called, broke out at one o'clock on Sunday morning, Sept. 2d, 1666, at the house of one Farryner, a baker, in Pudding Lane, Fish Street Hill. Whether it originated in accident or design, is a point on which histo- rians by no means agree, while all concur in repi'esenting it as at once more destructive in its progress, and ultimately productive of more beneficial effects, than any conflagration recorded in history. It is even the opinion of more than one respectable writer, that the fire was almost necessary to promote the complete extinction of the plague, which had the year before dealt desolation with such an unsparing hand in the metropolis, that the very air had become tainted with the putre- faction of the dead ; we are far from thinking this to have been the case, but it is not too much to infer, that, had it not been for some such calamity as the great fire, London might long have suffered by that dreadful scourge of humanity, which its crowded streets, by confining the circulation of the air, and the want of cleanliness on account of the scanty supply of water, seemed so well calculated to promote. It is true that a city was destroyed and property to an unparalleled amount was lost ; but the result was, a new city, improved in wealth, grandeur, and all the conveniences of life, which otherwise would not have been obtained for ages : and, however fatal the calamity must have been to the age in which it happened, it has been productive of the most lasting benefits to posterity. The part of the town where it began is now very confined, but it was much more so at that time, when the neighbourhood consisted of nothing but narrow lanes and passages, and the houses were principally of wood, or lath and plaster. The fire soon spread to the adjacent houses, and defied the power of buckets, for the engines could not be brought to bear upon it with any degree of success, on OF LONDON. 45 account of the narrowness of the streets. It was then suggested to the lord mayor, Sir Thomas Bludworth, who arrived on the spot at three o'clock in the morning, that it would be advisable to pull down several houses, in order to intercept the progress of the flames ; but he refused to allow of so prudent a measure, and is said to have expressed his opi- nion of the insignificance of the fire in flippant and indelicate terms. By eight o'clock in the morning it had reached London Bridge, " and there dividing, left enough to burn down all that had been erected on it since the fire in 1633, and, with the main body pressed forward into Thame's Street,'' which was charged with combustible materials that augmented it very considerably, raging with great fury the whole day, and striking the inhabitants with such terror, that, says Lord Clarendon, " all men stood amazed as spectators only, no man knowing what re- medy to apply, nor the magistrates what orders to give." The amiable Evelyn, who has left a most nervous and unaffected narrative of this great calamity, says, "the conflagration was so uni- versal, and the people so astonished, that from the beginning, I know not by what despondency or fate, they hardly stirred to quench it, so that there was nothing heard or seen but crying out and lamentations, running about like distracted creatures, without at all attempting to save even their goods, such a strange consternation there was upon them." At first the fire took an easterly direction, and proceeded so rapidly, that considerable fears were entertained it would reach the Tower, to prevent which, several houses were pulled down : but on the night of Monday it became directed to other quarters. The wind changed, and blew with " so great and irresistible violence, that it scat- tered the fire from pursuing the line that it was in with all its force, and spread it over the city, so that they who went late to bed, at a great distance from any place where the fire prevailed, were awakened before morning with their own houses being in a flame." On Monday, Gracechurch Street, and part of both Lombard Street and Fenchurch Street, were in flames; the fire then was burning in the form of a bow. When the first panic was over, and the fire spread so rapidly that no person could calculate on the safety of his house, great exertions- were made to remove the property into the adjacent fields, which, for many miles round, were strewed with all sorts of moveables. Five, ten, and even fifty pounds were given for a cart, to remove some valuable property about to be consumed — the boats and barges on the river were all laden; and "scarcely a back, either of man or woman, that had strength, but had a burden on it in the street." The night of Monday was more dreadful than the preceding one ; the fire shone with such a fearful blaze, that the streets were as light as from the sun at noon-day. After spreading, in one line westward, 46 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS along the banks of the Thames, as far as Queenhithe, and in a parallel direction along Cornhill to the Royal Exchange, and northward to Dowgate and Watling Street, it divided itself into four branches, which united in one great flame at the eastern end of Cheapside : on Tues- day the whole of that street was in flames, and the fire was seen " leaping from house to house, and street to street, at a great distance one from the other." The impetuous flames now advanced with law- less power to the cathedral of St. Paul ; " the stones of which," says Evelyn, " flew like granados, mealting lead running downe the streetes in a streame, and the very pavements glowing with a fiery rednesse, so as no horse nor man was able to tread on them, and the demolition had stopped all the passages, so that no help could be applied." The neighbouring streets shared the same fate, and the writer just quoted draws a vivid feature of the appalling scene : " Oh, the miserable and calamitous spectacle!" he exclaims, "such as haply the world had not seene the like since the foundation of it, nor be outdone till the univer- sal conflagration. All the skie was of a fiery aspect, like the top of a burning oven, the light seene above forty miles round about for many nights. God grant my eyes may never behold the like, now seeing above 10,000 houses all in one flame ; the noise and cracking and thunder of the impetuous flames, the shrieking of women and children, the hurry of the people, the fall of towers, houses, and churches, was like an hideous storme, and the air all about so hot and inflamed, that at last one was not able to approach it, so that they were forced to stand still and let the flames burn on, which they did for neere two miles in length and one in breadth. The clouds of smoke were dismall and reached, upon computation, neere fifty miles in length. Thus I left it this afternoone burning, a resemblance of Sodom, or the last day. London was, but is no more." On Tuesday night, the devouring element continued its destructive havoc, sweeping away Ludgate Hill, the Old Bailey, the whole of Fleet Street, and the Inner Temple, and threatening even the court at Whitehall, which now began to be alarmed, and gave directions to blow up several houses with gunpowder — a plan which, if adopted at the commencement of the fire, when it was suggested by some seamen, might have saved half the city ; but this " some tenacious and avaricious men, aldermen, &c, would not permit, because their houses must have been of the first."* CHRIST CHURCH, NEWGATE STREET. The structure which originally stood upon the site of this noble insti- tution, was that assigned by the City to the order of Franciscans, or * See Evelyn's Diary, vol. i. p. 313. TAB.T ®? THE UHLD BTOTnLDUf<& CMMSTS 30^TEM. OOLB '&AA2CSCAT& SCHOOL OF LONDON. 47 Grey Friars, in the parish of St. Nicholas Shambles, about 1225, in the reign of king- Henry III. After their establishment, the premises were greatly extended by a church and other buildings erected at the cost of the wealthy devout, and endowed with numerous gifts for their sup- port; so that when the monastery was surrendered November 12, 1538, its revenues amounted to 32Z. 19s. Within the great Franciscan Church were buried many of the most illustrious personages of the time ; for four queens, as many duchesses and countesses, a duke, two earls, eight barons, and thirty-five knights, are recorded to have been interred there. It was erected by Margaret, consort of Edward I. in 1306, and occupied twenty-one years in building; its dimensions ex- ceeded that of any church in London, except the cathedral. At the dissolution, however, the tombs were all taken up and sold, and the church was despoiled of its ornaments, and for some time converted into a receptacle for French prizes ; but, a short time before his death, Henry VIII. ordered it to be re-opened for divine service, purposing to make a gift of it to the City for the relief of the poor. His intention was announced by Ridley, bishop of Rochester, in a sermon at St. Paul's Cross; which was succeeded by a covenant, that all the premises of the Franciscans, the church and hospital of St. Bartholomew, the parishes of St. Nicholas and St. Ewen, and so much of that of St. Sepulchre as lay within Newgate, should be formed into a separate parish, called Christ Church. The present church, which forms the first subject on the plate, stands between Christ's Hospital and the north side of Newgate Street. The original edifice having been destroyed in the great fire, was replaced in 1687, by a substantial stone fabric, by Sir Christopher Wren, amount- ing to 1 1,778/. 9s. 6d., and was finished in 1704. It has a square tower, surmounted by a lofty and handsome spire ; and within it is ornamented with a very rich altar-piece, organ, and carved pulpit. Though Christ Church be still so spacious a building, that it is said to be the largest parish church in the city, it covers only half the ground occupied by the ancient monastical church, or rather only that of the choir; since the full half lying on the west is an open yard, and used for burying the dead. At the rebuilding of London, the parish of St. Leonard, Foster Lane, was united to that of Christ Church ; and the former being a rectory, in the gift of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, they pre- sent alternately with the Governors of St. Bartholomew's Hospital. It was not until about six years after Henry VIII. had given Christ Church to the city, in the latter part of the reign of Edward VI., that the foundation of the present noble charity was completed. After a sermon preached by Ridley, then Bishop of London, before the king at Westminster; Edward sent a letter to Sir Richard Dobbs, lord 48 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS mayor, desiring- his assistance in relieving the London poor, and soon afterwards a regular system was formed for the purpose. According to this plan St. Bartholomew's and St. Thomas's Hospitals were to relieve the diseased ; that of Bridewell was to reform, and take charge of the idle ; and Christ's Hospital was assigned for the maintenance and education of the young and helpless. The governors of these several institutions were then incorporated by the title of " The Mayor, Commonalty, and Citizens, of the City of London, Governors of the Possessions, Revenues, and Goods, of the Hospitals of Edward VI., king of England." The king also endowed Christ's Hospital with lands of the Savoy, amounting to 600/. yearly, and several privileges. In September, 1552, the house of the Grey Friars was ready for the reception of the children, and nearly 400 were then admitted ; and in the afternoon of the succeeding Christmas-day, when the lord mayor and aldermen rode to St. Paul's, 340 of whom stood in a line along Cheapside, from St. Lawrence Lane almost to the cathedral. On that occasion they were dressed in russet cotton, though, at the following Easter, it was exchanged for blue cloth ; which latter costume is still retained in colour, shape, and material. In 1674, the king added a mathematical school to the foundation, and endowed it with 1000/. per annum, for seven years, payable out of the exchequer. Of the scholars, ten are annually apprenticed to the sea service, and ten others received in their places. Another mathematical school, for thirty-seven boys, was founded by Mr. Samuel Travers, about 1724, which is now united with the preceding. There are nearly 1200 children at present on the foundation, but about 500 of that number, including all the younger boys and females, are educated at establishments at Ware and Hertford. The general course of education at Christ's Hospital consists of reading, writing, and arithmetic ; but Greek and Latin are also taught, and one scholar is sent annually to Cambridge, and every three years another to Oxford. The ancient monastic buildings of this Hospital were nearly all de- stroyed in the great fire of London, and were supplied by Sir Christo- pher Wren; so that the whole edifice consists of various irregular parts covering a very extensive space of ground. The south front stands parallel with Newgate Street, from which there is a low covered passage leading to that PART OF CHRIST'S HOSPITAL IN THE CHURCH YARD, represented in the Plate. It is a red brick building, ornamented with a cornice, pediments, and Doric pilasters of stone, and over the archway leading into the cloisters, with a statue of the founder, and an inscrip- tion. These cloisters are part of the ancient edifice, and serve for OF LONDON. 49 the exercise of the scholars in wet weather, and as a thoroughfare for foot passengers. Some other fragments of the original structure are also remaining, though greatly modernised, and PART OF THE ANCIENT BUILDING OF CHRIST'S HOSPITAL is represented in the plate, taken from the exterior of the northern cloisters. Above the cloisters was erected the old Great Hall, a spacious room in which the scholars took their meals. It was repaired and fitted up after the Great Fire, by Sir John Frederick, alderman, at an expense of 5,000/. Almost the whole of one entire side was covered by a picture by Verrio, representing James II. receiving the president, go- vernors, and children of Christ's Hospital ; though the portrait of the monarch had been originally intended for Charles II. Beyond this picture was another, sometimes considered to have been the work of Holbein, of Edward VI. delivering the charter of the hospital to the mayor and aldermen of London. The old hall also contained an organ, given by Edward Skelton, esq. in 1672. In April 1825, the late Duke of York laid the first stone of the very beautiful NEW HALL CHRIST'S HOSPITAL, represented in the centre of the plate, the architect of which was the late Mr. John Shaw, F.A. S., who also designed the new church of St. Dunstan in Fleet Street. The present hall was opened on Friday, May 29, 1829, with a prayer read by the Bishop of LandafF, recitations in Latin and English by the senior scholars, and by the scholars dining in public, when about 1500 visitors were present, including several of the nobility. The species of architecture adopted for this building, is a mixture of Gothic and the early Tudor style ; and it consists of a long edifice castellated at the top, with octangular towers at each end, and on each side a fine series of nine flat arched windows, between which are buttresses crowned with pinnacles. The basement is pierced by a series of broad, short arches, over the centre one of which is a shield bearing the following inscription, above which is an effigy of Edward VI. — " This Hall, erected by public munificence, was opened for the use of the Children of Christ's Hospital, on the 29th day of May, 1829; the Right Honourable William Thompson, M. P., Lord Mayor, presi- dent; Thomas Poynder, jun. esq. treasurer; John Shaw, F. A. S. archi- tect." The hall is entered by a flight of stone stairs from the cloisters beneath, and the interior presents a magnificent room 187 feet in length, by 51 i in width, and 462 in height. The walls for about 10 feet from the ground are covered with a grained oaken wainscoting ; and on the side opposite the windows, the pannels are surmounted by small carved E 50 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS heads of the founder of the hospital. The arms and names of the be- nefactors, presidents, and treasurers, of the institution are also painted upon the wainscot. Verrio's picture, as before, occupies one side of the hall, and that attributed to Holbein is placed at the upper end ; whilst painting's of Faith, Hope, Truth, and Justice, are inserted between the windows : both ends are furnished with a gallery, and in that above the entrance is erected the organ. The ceiling is oak, and consists of light flat arches with carved spandrils, and longitudinal ribs with rosettes and pendants. THE OLD GRAMMAR SCHOOL formed, till recently, the most northern part of this building, and con- sisted of a handsome brick structure erected in 1793 : but as the greater part of the old edifices belonging to the foundation have fallen to decay, and the governors have resolved to rebuild the whole, a new grammar school has been erected on the site, of the same style of architecture as the new hall. VIEWS IN THE REGENT'S PARK. Under this head we may place the views of the Colosseum, and Villas in the accompanying plate. The Regent's Park contains some of the most picturesque scenery, and some of the best specimens of landscape gardening in the neighbourhood of the metropolis. The architects who have been engaged in the erection of the edifices in its neighbourhood, have been but little fettered either by size or locality of erection, and the consequence has been, that ..hose who pos- sessed real genius in their art have advanced our metropolitan edifices very considerably in the scale of good taste; while the mere London house-builder, freed from the trammels of the " building act," has con- trived to manufacture monstrosities, which would be a disgrace to any place or period of art. The accompanying villas are some of the best in their way, but we must proceed at once to the principal ornament of the Park. THE COLOSSEUM. The original plan for this building, we believe, was simply the con- struction of a panorama on a grand scale, and the spirited proprietor justly conceived that he could not do better than begin with the capital of his native country, which is not only the largest in Europe, but exhibits more objects of vast undertaking and intrinsic value than any in the world. With this \\e\v, during three or four summers, he had his tent pitched on the summit of St. Paul's, and in the serenity of the mornings, and while the city was yet unobscured by the smoke, which during the day is poured forth from half a million of chimneys, was occupied in tracing the outlines of the city, and the prominent objects T1TT.I.A 1ST THE JLE«jET7;; TAKX JIT TBS B_B REITTf; 2AELX- COLISEUM AMI' PAST OF LAKE RJE&ETTTS TATRTT lili-I". «"7K P. i,:)OCE HB6EKTS TPAItE SOH3TJHI VULLA, XE«EJ?T S TaATKTg, ■Oraim ti -BWcrt. /.cruten-Pubhvhtii if Mi. ■• 1SSZ OF LONDON. 51 of the country for at least twenty miles round. This being completed, it naturally occurred that the space around the building 1 might be laid out in such a manner as to form an additional attraction to the public; and for this purpose he planned a great variety of buildings and works of different kinds, which are now completed, and which has probably excited more interest than the principal object, the panorama itself. The panorama extends round the whole of the interior of the build- ing, and the canvass on which it is drawn is said to be between one and two acres in extent. The spectator is supposed to be placed in the lantern of St. Paul's, and has a view of London, such as it appears in a very clear day about noon. Those who have not seen the original in a fine day, at the height of 300 feet above the surface of the earth, will be astonished and delighted with the imposing scene which this pano- rama presents to view. A space of nearly seven miles square, covered with houses and shops of every description, churches and spires, ware- houses, docks, public buildings, palaces, &c, interspersed with the finest squares in the world, and traversed by the winding Thames covered with thousands of ships, and vessels of almost all sizes and denomi- nations, can hardly fail to excite astonishment even in the most careless observer. The river, with six bridges, forms the most conspicuous feature in the extensive view, the ships below London Bridge, the Monument, with the thick cluster of church spires around St. Paul's, the new Post Office, Somerset House, and Westminster Abbey in the dis- tance, form the next objects of attraction; and in the back ground there is a beautiful, though rather indistinct, view of Greenwich Hospital, Shooter's Hill, Harrow-on-the-Hill, the Surrey hills, with occasional glimpses of the Thames nearly as far up as Windsor Castle. The buildings and streets in the immediate neighbourhood are so dis- tinctly seen, and correctly delineated, that almost every individual house and street may be recognized at once. The two towers of St. Paul's, with the roof immediately below the spectator, are given with the utmost correctness. The bridges also are excellent, and the scenery in the back ground, with a few exceptions, deserves great praise. There are a number of curiosities, such as the old cross of St. Paul's, the hut in which Mr. Horner took the outlines of the panorama, a saloon for the fine arts, &c. An enchanting effect is produced on the spectator on quitting the gallery and ascending to the summit of the building, when, though in a different position, he has a view of the city in reality, the image of which he had seen in the panorama below. There is at present a conservatory, filled with a great variety of foreign and choice plants and shrubs ; a refectory, a Swiss cottage, grottos, waterfalls, and jets-d'eau. The visitor is now admitted to the whole exhibition for two shillings. e 2 52 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS ADMIRALTY. The principal naval affairs of Great Britain are transacted in this public office. The length of the building is 201 feet, and the breadth 63 ; the east wings are 30 feet each, and the height 54 feet. The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty removed there in September 1725. The architecture cannot be commended with justice, as the proportions are incorrect. The portico, composed of four stone pillars of the Ionic order, supporting an entablature and pediment, seems as it were thrust between two projecting brick wings in a most incongruous manner; nor is the screen erected by Mr. Adam in 1760, any great improvement. In short, the whole front is an enormous mass of in- elegance. The front next the park is without ornament, but well executed in brick. The semaphore on the roof has a singular effect when in motion. NORTHUMBERLAND HOUSE. Northumberland House is situated where the Hospital of St. Mary Rounceval originally stood, which was founded by William Marshal, earl of Pembroke, in the reign of Henry III. It was suppressed as an alien priory by Henry V., refounded by Edward IV., and finally sup- pressed by Henry VIII., after which the site went through several hands, till it came to the noble family of Percy. Part of the present mansion is from the designs of Bernard Jansen ; and the frontispiece or gateway from those of Gerard Chrismas. This gateway cannot possibly be described correctly, as the ornaments are scattered in the utmost profusion, from the base to the attic, which supports a copy of Michael Angelo's celebrated lion. Double ranges of grotesque pilasters inclose eight niches on the sides, and there is a large bow window above the gate. The basement of the whole front contains fourteen niches, with imitations of ancient weapons, crossed within them ; and the upper stories have twenty-four windows, in two ranges, with pierced battle- ments. Each wing terminates in a cupola, and the angles have rustic quoins. The quadrangle within the gate is in a better style of build- ing, but rather distinguished for simplicity than grandeur ; and the gardens next the Thames serve to screen the mansion from those dis- agreeable objects which bound the shores of the river in our vast metropolis. THE KING'S MEWS. The remains of this spacious edifice, of which we give the principal front in the plate, is still standing on the north side of Charing Cross. It is a place of great antiquity, and acquires its name from having been used for the accommodation of his Majesty's falcons or hawks, as early .THITM.HEJR1.AJT JU> HOTTSE XI5 B L.—» AD MIK..LTT E -*T OF CMABLLBS 1«? CTLULE I . ■ <■ - 1 jiSEE S HP? W i OF LONDON. 53 as 1377 ; but the King's stables at Lomesbury, or Bloomsbury, having been destroyed by tire in 1537, the hawks were removed, and the place converted into a series of royal stables. The building was re-edihed in 1732, although the greater part of the offices have been destroyed to make way for the improvements in the neighbourhood. In 1828, the upper part of the building was employed as a national repository for the exhibition of improved machinery, arts, and manufactures. This exhibition closed in the spring of the present year 1832, but the Insti- tution (an en "raving and description of which will be found in another part of this work), or at least a similar establishment, under the name of the British Institution, for the Encouragement of Arts and Manu- factures, is now in active operation in Baker Street. Models of all the improved patent machines are exhibited ; steam carriages and engines of various kinds are put in motion, so as at once to transport the visitor into the workshop of the practical artizan ; and a gallery devoted to the most beautiful specimens of the tine arts forms part of the exhibition. STATUES OF CHARLES I. AND JAMES II. The statue of Charles I. was modelled by Hubert le Sueur, in 1G33. It was cast in bronze by the same artist, and erected the following year. Mr. Britton states, that during the civil wars it was, in pursuance of a Parliamentary order, sold to John River, a brazier in Holborn, who, instead of breaking it up and melting it, concealed it under ground till after the Restoration. In 1678, it was re-erected on a pedestal, which was ornamented by Grinling Gibbons. The bronze statue of James II. is placed between the Banqueting House and the Thames. It was cast by Gibbons, in 1687, the year be- fore the king's abdication. As a work of art, it possesses but little merit. KEW GARDENS. These interesting royal gardens are situated about seven miles from town, and have long been the resort of the lovers of the picturesque and rural scenery, from the circumstance of their proximity to the seat of royalty, and their short distances from the metropolis. THE CHINESE PAGODA forms a principal feature in the tasteful embellishments of these gardens. It was erected under the direction of William Chambers, esq., in 1762. The design was in imitation of the Chinese Taa. It stands surrounded by a cluster of trees, and appears to most advantage when viewed from the lawn standing near the rustic bridge. In form, it is a regular octagon, forty-nine feet in diameter, and it is composed of ten stories or prisms. The lowest of these stories is twenty-six feet, and the tenth is seventeen feet, and measures, with the 54 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS superstructure twenty feet in height. Each story is finished with a projecting roof, after the Chinese manner, covered with plates of var- nished iron of different colours, and round each is a gallery enclosed with a rail. The angles of the roof are adorned with large dragons, eio-ht in number, covered with a kind of thin glass of various colours, which produce a most dazzling reflection, and the whole of the orna- ments at the top are gilt. The walls of the building are composed of very hard bricks. In the centre is the staircase which leads to the dif- ferent stories, and the prospect from the summit is exceedingly exten- sive, commanding a view in some directions upwards of forty miles, over a rich and variegated country. The whole structure from the base to the top of the heuron measures 163 feet. THE TEMPLE OF VICTORY stands on the summit of a hill, and was built in commemoration of the signal victory obtained on the first of August, 1759, near Minden, by the allied army under Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, over the French army commanded by the Marshal de Contades. The figure of the temple is the circular peripterios, the order Ionian; the columns are fluted, and richly finished. The cell commands an ex- tensive prospect towards Richmond, and over Middlesex. The ceiling and walls are neatly finished with stucco ornaments, representing Hano- verian and French trophies : the whole was designed by Sir William Chambers, and erected in 1759, soon after the battle. In passing from this temple, the first object that meets the eye, are THE RUINS OF AN ARCH, built in imitation of a Roman triumphal arch. It was originally built with three apertures in 1752, and the intention was to have made a passage for carriages and cattle over one of the principal walks of the garden. Two of the doors were subsequently closed up and converted into rooms, by which entrance was obtained by doors in the sides of the principal arch. The soffit of the principal arch is enriched with coffers and roses, and both the fronts of the structure are rustic. The north front is confined between rocks overgrown with briars and other wild plants, and topped with thickets, amongst which are seen several columns, and other fragments of buildings and architectural remains. The central structure of the building is bounded on each side by a range of arches : and the ground and the adjoining thickets are spread over with remains of cornices and walls. CHINESE TEMPLE. At the head of the lake stands a Chinese octagon building of two stories, 4 s 9 4 OF LONDON. 55 built probably in the early part of the eighteenth century. It is com- monly called the House of Confucius, from the circumstance of several little historical subjects, relating to Confucius, painted on the wall, among grotesque ornaments and transactions of the Christian mission in China. It also contained, at the close of the last century, a sofa and several chairs, which were covered with tapestry of the Gobelius. The lower story of the temple is divided into a room and two closets, and the upper story is a little saloon, which commands a very pleasant pros- pect over the lake and gardens. Besides the above specially enumerated buildings, the gardens pos- sess several others of considerable interest, among which is the her- mitage, an engraving of which we have also given in the plate. There are also several other temples, among which those of Bellona, Eolus, the Turkish Mosque, and Alhambra, form prominent features. The original situation of the gardens was by no means advantageous, being low and commanding no prospect, the ground was one dead flat, the soil barren, and without either wood or water. With so many dis- advantages it was not easy to produce any thing even tolerable in gardening ; but princely munificence, guided by a director equally skilled in cultivating the earth, and in the politer arts, overcame all difficulties. What was once a desart, is now an Eden. The judgment with which art has been employed to supply the defects of nature, and to cover its deformities, have very justly gained universal admiration, and reflect credit on the refined taste of the noble contriver. BATTER SEA. Under this head we may place the old wooden bridge and the church. The first of these has but few attractions in itself, but the views from it are some of the most picturesque in that part of the river. To the west is seen the beautiful bend of water called Battersea Reach, with the village from whence it derives its name on the left. Chelsea meadows and their villas appear to the right. Wandsworth occupies the shore, where the river is lost to the view ; and Wandsworth Hill in all its beauty, with the woods of Wimbledon Park, form the rising dis- tance. This prospect may be imperfectly seen from the water, but acquires considerable advantage and a greater extent from the elevated situation in which the passenger of the bridge commands it. The view is finely contrasted by the bold and broad length of the river called Chelsea Reach, which is seen on the eastern side of the bridge ; Chel- sea, with its long line of buildings and the screen of trees before them, covers the Middlesex shore. On the Surrey side, the scene stretches away to the gentle but rich declivities of Clapham ; the centre is occu- 56 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS pied by a grand and expansive flow of water ; while the spires and turrets of the metropolis complete the prospect. BATTERSEA CHURCH. Tins is a conspicuous edifice on the Surrey side of the river. It is a modern structure, and has neither aisles nor chancel; the communion table is placed within a small recess at the east end. It was rebuilt by an act of parliament, passed 14th George III., and was opened on the 17th of November 1777. It is of brick, and has a tower, with a small conical spire at the west end. The east window consists of painted glass, which was carefully preserved at the rebuilding of the church, and contains portraits of Henry VII., his grandmother, Mar- garet Beauchamp, and Queen Elizabeth. They do not appear to have been coeval with the persons they represent, but of a more recent date. Over the portraits are the royal arms in the central compartment, and on each side the arms and quarterings of the St. Johns : the portraits are likewise surrounded with borders containing the arms of the families allied to them by marriage. The former church was built of brick, and, therefore, probably not very ancient. It may be proper to add, that a church is mentioned in Doomsday Book. Besides the monuments of the St. John family, there is a very singular one to the memory of Sir Edward Wynter, who lived at York House, and whose exploits surpass even the heroic achievements of Lord Herbert of Cherbury, who, alone, chased a host of midnight robbers from his house. Sir Edward Wynter's monument is against the south wall ; on the top is his bust of a large size ; underneath the inscription is a basso-relievo, representing him in the act of performing the two exploits mentioned in his epitaph, from which we make a brief extract : — " Nor less in martial honour was his name ; Witness his actions of immortal fame : Alone, unarmed, a tiger he opprest, And crushed to death the monster of a beast. Twice twenty mounted Moors he overthrew, Singly on foot, some wounded, some he slew, Dispersed the rest, — what more could Sampson do? True to his friends, a terror to his foes, Here now in peace his honoured bones repose!" At the east end of the church, over the north gallery, is a monument to the memory of Sir John Fleet, alderman of London, who died in 1712. Over the south gallery is another, to the memory .of Mr. James Bull, merchant, who died in 1713. The other monuments mentioned by Aubrey, were not preserved at the rebuilding of the church. STATTT1K OIF CHAMLJBS JUL". ,'MENT OF SIB. JffiAH'S SJLOAJOl BATTIHSIA JBR.IJ1&1E .31 CHr»CH -#rrfu £onA-on..P,Mi.rh<;1 hyJllanJM! . fclik its 1/4 fl^By^ •C-— I J U' — ~4*^^mmMH 3MBOE, jEErrsirrGxojT aej«jDi;r?s . ■ j»x. s. MHS1NSTB? PALACE. iPMMIR. aorsE 6REIK BIOPSE ?/"E JRAJRBL CO?. , T plr , . fMllfO PATENT BREAD W11M.,PM OF LONDON. 67 GRAMMAR SCHOOL, PIMLICO. In this establishment young' persons are educated upon the principles pursued in the King's College, and the edifice has little to recommend it beyond a neat and simple portico. It may, however, be somewhat questionable whether a little less money bestowed upon the porch, and a little more on the building, might not have been desirable. PUTNEY. This plate furnishes five views of Putney and its environs, the most interesting of which we may now describe. It is a village of large extent, and contains many elegant and hand- some houses. The waste land which belongs to it is very considerable, occupying the whole of Putney Heath, with a great part of Wimbledon Common; and to which may be added two hundred and thirty acres of Richmond Park. Of its cultivated ground, a considerable portion is employed in raising vegetables for the London market. The name of this place is of uncertain etymology. In Doomsday Book it is denominated Puttelei: in subsequent records it is written Puttenheth, or Pittenheth. At length, however, it has obtained the name of Putney. Leland, when he mentions this village in his Cygnea Cantio, distinguishes it by the appellation of Puttenega amaenum. Putney boasts the honour of producing two eminent statesmen ; Ni- cholas West, Bishop of Ely, and Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex ; both of whom were born in humble life, and attained by their superior merit and talents to the hio-hest ecclesiastical and civil stations. The ferry of Putney is mentioned, in the Doomsday Book, as yield- ing a toll of twenty shillings per annum to the lord of the manor. Putney appears at all times to have been a considerable thoroughfare ; as it was usual formerly for persons travelling from London to many parts of the west England, to proceed as far as this by water. In the household expenses of Edward the First, are certain entries of money paid to the ferryman at Putney, for conveying the king and royal family to Fulham and Westminster. At a court held for the manor of Wimbledon, in the forty-second year of Queen Elizabeth, it was ordered, that if any waterman should omit to pay an halfpenny for every stranger, and a farthing for every inhabitant of Putney, whom he should carry across the river, to the owner of the ferry, he should forfeit to the lord two shillings and sixpence. The manorial records contain various other circumstances relative to this ferry ; but an act of parliament having passed, in the twelfth year of George the First, for building a bridge over the Thames from Putney to Fulham, it was begun and finished in the year 1729, and the ferry purchased by the proprietors for the sum of eight thousand i' 2 68 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS pounds. This work was undertaken by thirty subscribers, who each advanced the sum of seven hundred and forty pounds. The bridge is a wooden structure, eight hundred and five feet in length from gate to gate ; and though the excess of its revenues above its expenditure far exceeds that of the other bridges that cross the Thames, it is, in appearance, the worstof them all, and disgraces the river which it ought to adorn. PUTNEY CHURCH. This Church was first built as a chapel of ease to Wimbledon some time after the Conquest, though there does not appear any certain re- cord to decide the date ; it is older however than that of Mortlake ; for Archbishop Winchelsey held a public ordination in it in the year 1302. It exhibits the architecture of very different periods. It appears to have been in a great measure rebuilt in the reign of Henry VII. ; the arches and clustered columns which separate the nave from the aisles are undoubtedly of that age. The north and south walls are of much greater antiquity, and by the shape of some of the windows might be thought coeval with the original structure. At the west end is a hand- some stone tower, which bears no certain criterion of its age. It is undoubtedly, however, of later date than the first building of the church, and there is good reason for supposing that it was erected before the middle of the fifteenth century. Over the belfry door is an ancient coat of arms, which can be appropriated to no other family than that of Chamberlayne, a name which does not occur among the inhabitants of this place since the period above mentioned. Except the building of a vestry, the church has undergone no material alterations since the be- ginning of the seventeenth century, at which time the large windows, which give light to the galleries, were added. It is small, irregularly pewed, and by no means calculated for the inhabitants of so populous a parish. Its chief ornament is a little chapel, at the east end of the south aisle, built by Bishop West, the roof of which is adorned with rich Gothic tracery, interspersed with the bishop's arms, and the initials of his name. At the east end is a small tablet, put up by the late Dr. Pettiward, with a short inscription, which mentions the founder of the chapel, and the circumstance of his being born at Putney. The parish of Barnes, of which we give a small portion of the common, is situated in the hundred of Brixton, about six miles from Hyde Park Corner. The common close by, adjoins Putney, and con- tains more than one hundred acres. Near the river is some rich meadow land. HAMMERSMITH BRIDGE. The suspension bridge thrown over the Thames at Hammersmith, forms a remarkable object, displaying the great superiority acquired by c A 1 n$t) 3 P - 5 ST PETJE3 CmHTjftCJEI, JHL&MMKRSBlinrjEIo FTOHAM CHURCH . MMEK.SM1T3HL OLD CBntTRCJET CHISWICK CHURCH . i Wirt, I,.;./,;,/:-.. . . Engraved IpJShiay. OK LONDON. OP British artists in the manufacture of iron-work. The design was by Mr. Tiemey Clark, the engineer, and the whole was executed under his direction. The following are the dimensions: Feet. In. The extent of water-way between the suspension towers rising from the head of the river 400 3 The distance between each of these and the corresponding pier on the shore is as follows : On the Middlesex side 142 11 On the Surrey side 145 6 Leaving a clear water-way of ... . 688 8 The suspension towers are 48 feet above the level of the road-way, where they are 22 feet thick. The road-way is slightly curved up- wards, and is 16 feet above high water, and the extreme length from the back of ths piers on shore is 822 feet 8 inches, supporting 688 feet of road-way, being 135 feet more than the Menai Bridge. There are 8 chains, composed of wrought-iron bars, 5 inches deep and 1 inch thick each. Four of these chains have 6 bars in each chain, and 4 have only 3 bars in each chain, making in the total 36 bars, which make a dip or curvature in the centre of about 29 feet. From these vertical rods are suspended, which support the road-way, formed of strong timbers covered with granite. The width of the carriage-way is 20 feet, with foot-ways 5 feet wide. The chains pass over the suspension towers, and are secured to the piers on each shore. The suspension towers are built of stone, and designed as archways of the Tuscan order. The expense of its erection amounted to rather less than 80,000^. ST. PETER'S, HAMMERSMITH. Tins is a very simple and elegant edifice. The plan is a parallelo- gram, with a tower and lobbies at the western end. The superstruc- ture is built of Suffolk brick, with Bath stone dressings. The tower is entirely of stone. The west front consists of a tetrastyle portico of the Grecian Ionic order, surmounted with a pediment, the columns being fluted. The intercolumniations are solid, the central beino- wider than the lateral one*, and containing the principal entrance, which is surmounted by a pediment resting on trusses, over which is a sunk panel. In each of the flanks is a lintelled doorway, with a circular window over it. Above the portico the elevation is carried on, in an attic, supported at the flanks with trusses, and relieved by a break in the centre, and pilasters at the ends; above the centre of the attic rises the tower, which com- mences with an octagonal pedestal, having unequal faces ; in the four larger ones, which correspond with the different fronts of the main 70 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS erection are circular apertures for dials. The succeeding portion ot the design is cylindrical, being broken at equal intervals by four antae, which rise from above the smaller faces of the octagon basement, be- tween which are arched windows ; the whole is crowned with an enta- blature and blocking-course, the latter broken by circular-headed blocks placed over the antre. The finish of the structure is a gra- duated cupola, consisting of three steps, the highest sustaining a gilt cross. The portico being of less width than the body of the church, the western wall forms a small wing at each side, to which the entabla- ture and blocking-course, continued from the portico, constitute a crowning member. The flanks are uniform. The face of the wall is made by breaks into a central and lateral division, and is crowned with the entablature and blocking-course as before. The architrave and frieze are brick ; the mouldings and cornice only being of stone. Each flank has five semi-circular arched windows enclosed in architraves of stone. The east end is plain, the face of the wall relieved with breaks ; it has a segment-arched window in the centre, and also two doors, used as subordinate entrances to the church. The elevation is finished with the continued entablature, and above the centre is an attic flanked with trusses, corresponding with the principal front. The roof is slated. The interior is approached by three lobbies in the portico ; the central is the basement story of the tower, and forms a porch to the principal entrance ; the others contain stairs to the galleries. The body of the church is not divided into nave and aisles, but presents an unbroken area ; it has consequently no striking architectural features. The walls are finished with an architrave ; and the ceiling, which is horizontal, is panelled by flying cornices into compartments, consisting of four ranges longitudinally, and three breadthwise. Each of the central compartments is subdivided into a large square and two narrow oblong panels, the first containing expanded flowers. A gallery occupies the west end and the two sides of the church ; it is sustained on Doric columns unfluted ; the front is composed of an entablatui-e and attic. The altar-screen, situated against the eastern wall, is painted in imitation of veined marble. It has a large panel in the centre, inscribed with the Deca- logue ; and in side panels are the Creed and Paternoster. The whole is surmounted by an entablature, the frieze charged with flowers, and an attic, the several mouldings being continued from the galleries : over the side divisions are pediments with acroteria. The pulpit and read- ing-desk, in obedience to the Commissioners' directions, but contrary to the olden practice, are alike ; they are varnished in imitation of oak, octagonal in plan, and sustained on pillars of the same form. The organ is placed in the centre of the western portion of the gallery. The case is oak, and ornamented with two Ionic columns and OF LONDON. 71 two aiita?, crowned willi an entablature, witli a pediment and acroteria over the centre. The font, situated beneath the west gallery, is a shallow vase of a circular form, designed from the antique, and sus- tained on a cylindrical pedestal. Taken as a whole, this church presents a very fair specimen off modern Grecian architecture. The tower has considerable merit. The design is novel and pleasing, and the proportions are harmonious. The interior is, however, chaste and formal, displaying even a presbyterian nakedness, the dulness of which is increased by the purple furniture of the altar. The best church which may be designed in this style, only proves the difficulty of appropriating Grecian architecture to such buildings; its coldness may suit the heartless school of the philosopher, but it chills the devotional fervour of the Christian. This church will accommodate 1001 persons in pews, and 690 in free seats, making- a total of 1691. The amount of the contract was 12,223/. 8s. Ad. The site was given by George Scott, esq. The first stone was laid on the 16th May, 1827, and the church was consecrated on the 15th October, 1829. The Bishop of London preached on the occasion. We are indebted for this account of St. Peter's Church to one of a very scientific series of papers, inserted in the Gentleman's Magazine. The other religious edifice which belongs to the same place, and of which an engraving is given beneath, has little to interest either the antiquary or lover of picturesque architecture. CHISWICK CHURCH. The church of this place, which is dedicated to St. Nicholas, stands near the water-side. The present structure appears to have consisted originally only of a nave and chancel, and was built probably about the beginning' of the fifteenth century, at which time the tower was erected, at the charge of William Bordall, vicar of Chiswick, who died in 1435. It is built of stone and flint, as is the north wall of the church and the chancel; the latter has been much repaired with brick: a transverse aisle, at the east end of the nave, was added on the south side in the middle of the seventeenth century, and a corresponding aisle on the north side towards the beginning of the last; the former was enlarged in 1772, by subscription, and carried on to the west end of the nave : both the aisles are of brick. On the south wall of the chanced is the monument of Sir Thomas Chaloner, whose effigies, and that of his wife, are represented kneeling at a fald-stool under a pavilion, the curtains of which are supported by two armed soldiers. On a tablet beneath is the following inscription: " Here lieth the bodey of Sir Thomas Chaloner, who was knighted in the warres of France, by Kinge Henry the Fourthe, a° 1591, and 72 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS after Governor in the minority, and Chamberlayne to the late prince of famous memorey, Henrey Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornewall, and Earle of Chester. He married to his firste wife Elizabeth, daughter to William Fleetwood, sergeant at law to Q. Eliz. and Recorder of London, by whom he had yssue, Thomas, deceased; Will m ; Edward ; Thomas ; Henry ; deceased ; Arthure, deceased ; James ; Elizabeth, deceased; Mary, wife to S r Edward Fisher, knight; Elizabeth; and Dorothey ; and died the 22 d of June, a° 1603, aged 35 years: and to his second wife he married Jude, the daughter of Will m Blunt of London, esquier, by whom he had also yssue Henrey ; Charles ; Frede- ricke, and Arthure; Anne; Ratherine, and Frances; and she deceased the 30 day of June, a° 1615, aged 36 years: and the aforesayed Sir William Chaloner died the 18 th day of November 1615, being of the age of 51 years — An. Dom. 1751. In grateful remembrance of his honourable ancestor, this monument was repaired at the charge of Edward Chaloner of Gisbrough, in com. Ebor. Esq." On the monu- ment are the arms of Sir Thomas Chaloner, as well as his two wives; and we are induced to give this long inscription as a specimen of mo- numental genealogy. On the wall of the church-yard is the following singular inscription: " This wall was made at the charges of the right honourable and truelie pious Lorde Francis Russell, Duke of Bedford, oute of true zeal and care for the keeping of this church-yard, and the wardrobe of Goddes saintes, whose bodies lay therein buryed, from violateing by swine and other prophanation ; so witnesseth William Walker, V. A. D. 1623." FULHAM CHURCH. This Church, which is dedicated to All Saints, stands at a small distance from the river. It is an ancient stone building, and consists of a nave, chancel, and two aisles. At the west end is a handsome Gothic tower, built, if we may judge from the architecture, some time in or near the fourteenth century. In the chancel window are the arms of the see of London impaling Compton ; in the south wall is a single stone stall, with a handsome Gothic canopy, ornamented with quatrefoils. Near it is an altar-tomb, with a figure in brass of a man in armour : the arms and inscriptions are gone. On the north wall is a rich Gothic monu- ment, with an obtuse arch, ornamented with oak-leaves and other foliage, under which are the vestiges of brass figures and escutcheons. In this church is a monument to the memory of Sir W. Butts. He was one of the founders of the College of Physicians. He was es- teemed a man of great learning, skill, and experience, and was trusted by Henry VIII. in many important affairs. Shaksneare introduces him discovering to the king the malice of Gardiner, and others of the ' kCH SEW CHUaCH JR.O'S'.A.X. HOSPITAL (JMEKWlfH JBJJllB^Pai! " ■»- ■- - "'' -S&SI jj?l Htifl BwlL i\]p 1 _ 1. Jy.- ■7S32 OF LONDON. 73 council against Cranmer. A portrait of Butts is introduced in Hol- bein's picture of Henry VIII. granting the charter to the Barber' Surgeons' Company. ROYAL HOSPITAL, GREENWICH. The spot now occupied by this edifice, was formerly the site of a royal palace; we have traces of this as early as the year 1300, when Edward the First made an offering of seven shillings at each of the holy crosses in the chapel of the Virgin Mary, at Greenwich, and the prince made an offering of half that sum. Henry the Fourth dates his will in 1-108, from his manor of Greenwich. Greenwich Hospital, in il3 present state, consists of four distinct piles of building, distingnished by the names of King Charles's; Queen Anne's; King William's, and Queen Mary's. King Charles's and Queen Anne's are those next the river; between them is the grand square, 270 feet wide ; and in front by the river side a terrace 865 feet in length. The view from the north gate, which opens to the terrace midway between the two buildings, presents an assemblage of objects uncommonly grand and striking. Beyond the square are seen the hall and chapel, with their beautiful domes, and the two colonnades which form a kind of avenue, terminat- ed by the Ranger's Lodge in the park ; on an eminence of which ap- pears the Royal Observatory amidst groves of trees. In the centre of the great square, above mentioned, is a statue of George the Second, by Rysbrach. The original block out of which it was formed weighed eleven tons. It was taken from the French by Sir George Rooke. King Charles's building stands on the west side of the great square ; the eastern part of it, which is of Portland stone, was erected in 1664, by Webb, after a design of his father-in-law, In'go Jones. The front towards the east has in its centre a portico, supported by four Corin- thian columns ; and at each end, a pavilion formed by four columns of the same order. In this range of buildings is the council-room, with an anti-chamber, in which there are some sea pieces, given by Thomas Harman, esq., representing the exploits of his ancestor, Captain Thomas Harman, in the reign of Charles the Second ; and a series of small pic- tures, representing the loss of the Luxemburgh galley, which was burnt in her passage from Jamaica to London, in 1727; and the sub- sequent distresses of part of her crew who escaped in the long boat, and were at sea from June 25 to July 7, without provisions. In the council-room are portraits of William and Mary, by Kneller; several of Sir James Thornhill's original sketches for the great hall ; and a va- riety of portraits by other eminent artists. The north front of King Charles's building, which is towards the river, contains the apartments of the governor and lieutenant governor. This and the south front 74 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS have each two pavilions similar to those in the east front. The west side of this building, comprehending the north-west and south-west pavilions, was originally all of brick. It was the first addition to king Charles's palace, being called the base building. The foundation was laid in 1696, and it was nearly completed in 1698. The whole of what is now called King Charles's building contains fourteen wards, in which are 301 beds. Queen Anne's building, on the east side of the great square, nearly corresponds with King Charles's on the opposite side. The foundation was laid in 1698 ; the greater part of it was raised and covered in be- fore 1728. In this building are several of the officers' apartments ; and 24 wards, in which are 437 beds. King" Williams's building stands to the south-west of the great square. It contains the great hall, vestibule, and dome, designed and erected by Sir Christopher Wren, between 1698 and 1703 : to the east of these adjoins a colonnade, 347 feet in length, supported by co- lumns and pilasters of the Doric order, 20 feet in height. The paint- ing of this hall was undertaken by Sir James Thornhill, in 1708, and finished in 1727. The west front of King Williams's building, which is of brick, was finished by Sir John Vanburgh, about the year 1726; This building contains 1 1 wards, in which are 551 beds. The foundation of the eastern colonnade was laid in 1699 ; but the chapel, and other parts of Queen Mary's building which adjoin to it, were not finished till 1752. This building, which corresponds to that of King Williams's, contains 13 wards, in which are 1092 beds. On the second of January, 1799, a dreadful fire happened in this build- ing, which destroyed the chapel, with its dome, part of the colonnade, and as many of the adjoining wards as contained 500 beds. The whole has been since rebuilt. The former chapel which was destroyed, was designed by Kipley; the present chapel, by the late James Stewart. It is 111 feet in length, and 52 in width ; the portal is extremely rich ; and the interior fitted up in the most elegant style of Grecian architec- ture. On the sides are galleries for the officers and their families, and beneath, seats for the pensioners, nurses, and boys. Over the altar is a large painting, 25 feet by 14, representing the Shipwreck of St. Paul, by West. Over the lower windows are paintings in chiaro-obscuro, by Rebecca and other artists. The pulpit is very richly ornamented with carved work, representing scripture subjects. The organ, which is esteemed a very fine one, was made by Green. The east and west entrances into the Hospital are formed by two piers of rustic work. On those at the west are placed two large stone globes, each six feet in diameter. The Infirmary, which we must now mention, is a quadrangular brick OF LONDON. 7H building, 198 feet in length, and 175 in breadth, containing 64 rooms, each formed so as to accommodate four patients; every room having a chimney-piece and ventilator. This building contains also a chapel hall, and kitchen ; apartments for the physician, surgeon, apothecary, and matron. In 1783, a school-house, with a dormitory for the boys, was built without the walls of the Hospital; the ward which the boys formerly occupied being appropriated to the reception of an additional number of pensioners. It is 146 feet in length, and 42 in breadth, ex- clusive of a Tuscan colonnade in front, which is 180 feet long, and 20 broad. The school-room is 100 feet by 25, and capable of containing 200 boys. In the upper stories are two dormitories of the same length, furnished with hammocks. There are apartments also for the guar- dian, nurses, and other attendants. The Naval Asylum for boys educated for the navy, is nearly opposite the Hospital we have now been describing, and is a fit adjunct for so noble and praiseworthy an institution. CHURCHES AT GREENWICH. In consequence of the first church having become ruinous, the inha- bitants petitioned the House of Commons for a grant of money towards rebuilding it, which they obtained by an act passed in the ninth of Queen Anne, which specified that one of the fifty new churches then about to be built in London and its environs, should be in the parish of Greenwich. John James was the architect of the new church, which was consecrated on the 18th of September, 1718. It is a handsome stone structure ; at the west end is a square tower, over which rises a cupola, supported by Corinthian pillars, and the whole surmounted by a small spire. The inside is fitted up in the Grecian style, and pewed with oak. On the north side is suspended a painting on panel, repre- senting a monumental effigy of Queen Elizabeth beneath a canopy, supported by columns of the Corinthian order ; underneath which is inscribed a distich in Latin. There is also a picture of Charles the First, at his devotions, on the south wall ; and on the east are the por- traits of Queen Anne and George I. There was a chantry in the old church of St. Alphege, dedicated to the Holy Cross, and a guild or fraternity of that name, to which be- longed a building and four acres of land. It also contained a fine portrait of Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, in stained glass. The new church is a very handsome edifice. Its tower and portico are especially admired for the chaste simplicity of their design. 76 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS FLAMSTEAD HOUSE. The Greenwich Observatory, or the Royal Observatory of England, was built and endowed by King Charles II., who, to use the words of Bailly, " well knew how essential astronomy was to a maritime and commercial people like the English, who aspired to the seas." This building' was erected on the site of the ancient moated tower of Duke Humphrey, uncle to Henry VI., and the first stone of it was laid A-uo-ust 10, 1675, by Mr. Flamstead, who had been appointed astro- nomer royal. It is situated on the highest eminence of Greenwich Park, about 160 feet above low water-mark. The soil here is par- ticularly favourable for such an establishment, being of a flinty o-ravel, through which the rain soon passes, and which contributes to the preservation of the instruments, as well as to the uniformity or refraction. This establishment comprehends two principal buildings, one of which is the observatory, and the other the dwelling-house of the astronomer royal. The observatory is an oblong edifice running east and west, and containing four rooms or apartments on the ground floor. The first, or mo-t easterly room, has been erected for the re- ception and fitting up of a very fine transit circle by Troughton, and a clock of great value by Hardy. The next apartment is the transit room. It has a double sloping roof, with sliding shutters, which are opened both north and south with great ease by pulleys. The transit instrument, which is eight feet long, and the axis three feet, is suspended on two stone pillars. This instrument is celebrated for its having been used by Halley, Brad- ley, and Maskelyne. It was originally made by Bird, and has been successively improved by Dollond and Troughton. The astronomical or transit clock, which is attached to a stone pillar, was made by Gra- ham, and has been rendered very accurate by Earnshaw. The third apartment is the assistant observer's library and place for calculation; and the western apartment of the building is the quadrant room. Here is erected a stone pier running north and south, to which are attached two mural quadrants, each of eight feet radius. That on the eastern face, which observes the southern meridian, was made by Bird, and the other, which observes the northern, by Graham. Suspended to the western wall is the famous zenith sector, with which Bradley made the observations at Kew and Wanstead, that led to the discoveries of the aberration of light, and the nutation of the earth's axis. South of the quadrant room is a small wooden building for making occasional observations in any direction, where only the use of a tele- ) ST JAIflES'S CXEJODEir'VrEI.I. S? JOEOfS SATE, i'I,ERKEr!"''Ell HICK'S BUSJE C3L.EM3KJE2SwTEJL.JLi , tyZMSIupkerd.. I, ■„,/.;,./},/:■ £70/1:: , OF LONDON. 77 scope, and an accurate knowledge of the time, is required. It is furnished with sliding shutters on the roof and sides, to view any point of the hemisphere, from the prime vertical down to the southern horizon. It contains some excellent telescopes, particularly a forty- inch achromatic, with a triple object-glass, and a five-feet achromatic, both by Dollond ; with a six-feet reflector, by Dr. Herschel. To the north of the observatory, and east of the house, are two small buildings, covered with hemispherical sliding domes, in each of which is an equatorial sector, by Sisson, and a clock, by Arnold. These are chiefly used for observing comets. With respect to the dwelling- house, the lower apartments are occupied by the astronomer royal, and over them is a large octagonal room, which contains a great variety of astronomical instruments, with a library, consisting chiefly of scien- tific and scarce works. On the top of the house is an excellent camera obscura, which could not be better placed for the exhibition of inte- resting objects. It is not unworthy of notice, that early in Flamstead's time there was a well sunk in the south-east corner of what is now the garden, behind the observatory, for the purpose of seeing the stars in the day-time, and observing the earth's annual parallax. It was a hundred feet deep, with stone stairs down to the bottom : but it has been long arched over, as the improvements in the telescope have ren- dered it unnecessary for astronomical purposes. SESSIONS' HOUSE. A building, called Hicks's Hall, standing in St. John Street, was the original Sessions' House ; but having become ruinous, the present edi- fice was erected from the designs of Mr. Rogers, about 1780. The front is of stone, and consists of a rustic basement, supporting pillars, surmounted by an architrave and pediment. Over some of the windows are ornaments, sculptured by Nollekens. The interior contains the court, the hall, and apartments for the magistrates and grand jury. Clerkenwell Green, where the Sessions' House stands, is a very exten- sive, open plot of ground, and close to St. James's Church, which is delineated on the same plate. ST. JAMES'S, CLERKENWELL. This Church was consecrated on the 10th July, 1792, by Beilby, Lord Bishop of London. Large and peculiarly excellent vaults extend under it, where several of the original monuments are preserved, together with that of Bishop Burnet, who was buried in the old church. The inside of this building is rather plain, without pillars, having a flat ceiling, galleries for the congre- gation, and others at a great height at the west end, which is circular, for 78 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS the charity children. The altar-piece is under a large blank Venetian window, of the Doric order, with pediments, and decorated with gilt ornaments The outside of the church is of brick. The south side has wings of triflino- projection, and in them are large Doric doors, in arches, ap- proached by many steps, and over each arched windows, quoins at the corners, with a cornice, dentals, and balustrade. The cornice is conti- nued, but the balustrade is confined to the wings. The body of the church contains four small windows below, and the same number of large ones above. The east end is completed with a pediment ; in the tympanum a semi-circular window, and a Venetian under it. This part is nearly enclosed by houses, and so is the north side. The centre of the west end, which supports the steeple, is of stone ; and in it is a large door, on seven steps ; over it an arched window, with balustrades, and nitches on each side. The tower is Tuscan, crowned by balustrades and vases. The lantern is an octagon, from which rises a sexagon obelisk, placed on balls. The bells, which were re-cast at the time the church was re- built, and are very musical, are eight in number. CHARTER HOUSE. This institution, the name of which is a corruption of the French word Chartreux, was formerly, as that term signifies, a priory for monks of the Carthusian order; but, in the year 1611, the building was con- verted, by Thomas Sutton, esq. into an hospital, for a master, forty-four boys, and eighty decayed gentlemen, who had been merchants or mili- tary men. He endowed this foundation with lands worth, at that time, about 4500/. per annum, the income from which is, of course, now im- mensely increased. The boys are instructed in classical learning, and the pensioners allowed a certain sum per annum, besides a gown, provisions, fire, and lodging. This foundation also allows 20/. per annum each, for eight years, to twenty-nine students at the universi- ties ; and there are nine ecclesiastical preferments in the patronage of the o-overnors. The priory having passed into the possession of the Howard family, after the Reformation, Thomas Howard, Earl of Suffolk, in the reign of James I., alienated it for thirteen thousand pounds, to Mr. Sutton, who founded the present establishment. The buildings forming the Charter House, though of late consider- ably altered, still retain many traces of the improvements and alterations made by the Duke of Norfolk in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. The Chapel, which is represented in our plate, has painted windows, in two of which the armorial bearings of Mr. Sutton are represented in stained OF LONDON. 79 glas3. The old court room is decorated with sculpture, and paintino- of the arms of the Howard family. It has been much defaced with whitewash. The Hall has a large window, ornamented with painted glass. In the governor's room is a half-length portrait of Mr. Sutton. He was descended from a good family in the county of Lincoln, and became an eminent London merchant in the reign of Elizabeth. Great as was his wealth, he was more distinguished for his integrity, genero- sity, and true charity, than for his riches, which had been obtained by industry in his holding of honourable posts under government, or by the success of his enterprise against the Spaniards. As master of a privateer, he took a Spanish prize worth twenty thousand pounds. He also commanded the bark called the Sutton, as a volunteer against the Spanish Armada. In years of scarcity, he bought corn in large quan- tities, and caused it to be retailed at low prices to his poor neighbours. He died in December, 1611, aged 79. His body was embalmed, and kept in his own house till the following May, when it was deposited with great pomp in Christ Church, whence it was again removed on the shoulders of the poor, to the chapel in his own hospital. His effigy, in a gown, is placed in a recumbent attitude upon his tomb : on each side is a man in armour, erect ; and above, a preacher, represented in the act of addressing his audience. ST. LUKE'S HOSPITAL. This Hospital, which is established for persons suffering under the greatest of all human maladies, contains a very large number of luna- tics. It is situated at the top of Old Street, and the end of the wall which forms the fore ground of our engraving, is at the corner of Bath Street. The burial ground for the poor of St. Luke's parish is at the back of the edifice, which altogether has a very prison-like appearance. The following are the principal regulations of the place. Patients shall be taken into this hospital, according to the order of time in which their petitions have been delivered to the secretary, without favour or partiality, and shall be admitted without expense, except only that such of them who are not parish poor, shall provide their bedding, which they are at liberty to take away at their discharge. On the admission of every patient, two responsible housekeepers, re- siding within the bills of mortality (whose names, with their places of abode, shall have been left in writing with the secretary four days at least before such admission, and who shall be approved of by the com- mittee), shall enter into a bond to the treasurer, for the time being, in the panalty of 100/. to take away such patient within seven days next after notice given to them for that purpose, by the Committee or their secretary. But no governor of this hospital shall be security 80 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS for any patient. The patients in this hospital shall not be exposed to public view. Monies received for the use of this charity, shall on no account be expended in entertaining the general court or committee at any of their meetings. ST. JOHN'S GATE. The Gate represented in our engraving is one of the most curious relics of London in the olden time. It stands in St. John's Square, and the principal room is now occupied by the visitors of a tavern. Our readers will readily recognise in this gate the symbol of the oldest, and in topographical matters, the best periodical work which this country has produced. The Gentleman's Magazine is now more than a cen- tury old, and for that period of years has St. John's Gate ornamented its pages. The Knights of St. John of Jerusalem originally possessed an esta- blishment on this site, and our account of a spot which derives its greatest historical interest from their splendid pageantry and princely hospitality, would be incomplete without some notice of their early origin. Some time before the first Crusade, several merchants of Melphis, in the kingdom of Naples, who traded to the Levant, obtained leave from the Caliph of Egypt, to build a house at Jerusalem for themselves and countrymen, who should go in pilgrimage there, upon condition of paying an annual tribute. Having thus gained an establishment there, they built two oratories, and received pilgrims according to their ori- ginal design, with a charity, which, in the circumstances of the times, was very serviceable. The example was followed by others, and it was found that their charitable purpose would be more completely ful- filled by providing for the relief ot the sick, whom, no doubt, the priva- tions and difficulties of a long journey caused to be very numerous. An hospital, therefore, was founded, and at the same time a church, which was dedicated to St. John, and hence the community took the title of Hospitalers of St. John of Jerusalem. After the conquest of the Holy Land by the Crusaders, they undertook a more active assist- ance of the pilgrims, whom they bound themselves by a vow to defend against their enemies the Saracens, as well as to succour in sickness. This alteration, which may be considered as the foundation of the Order of Knighthood, took place in the year 1104, when Baldwin, Count of Flanders, was king of Jerusalem ; and from that time they became partly a military order, and changed their name to Knights, or rather added that to their original title. OF LONDON. 81 CUSTOM-HOUSE. The edifice employed for the purpose of collecting his majesty's customs, is well fitted to produce feelings of respect in the minds of foreigners on their first visit to our metropolis. Prior to the accident which caused the fall of part of the edifice, the front represented in our enfirravinjr might be considered as one of the finest at the eastern side of London. It is now simplified, without, in our opinion, at all adding to the effect of the structure. A beautiful series of figures in bas-relief, executed by Mr. Bubb, in lithargelite, ran along the water-front, of which our artist has given a very accurate view in its present altered state. The edifice was executed from the designs of Mr. Laing, well known for his architectural skill. The builder, however, appears to have paid so little attention to the solidity of the piles, that the centre gave way, and it has since been found necessary to rebuild a portion of the work. The entire front is nearly 500 feet in length, of which that portion termed the " loner room," forms almost two- fifths. Early in the sixteenth century appears the first trace of an official structure appropriated to the collection of his majesty's customs; for we find it noticed as having been involved in the general conflagration that levelled nearly the whole of the ancient city with the ground in 1666. When the desolated metropolis rose like a phoenix from its ashes, Charles II. took advantage of the opportunity to erect, as a custom-house, a building that might have some pretensions to supe- riority over those which claimed no higher character than that of ware- houses to the wharfs and quays about it. It was, therefore, rebuilt at the expense of 10,000/. ; and to render it more conspicuous to the public eye, the site was enlarged by the addition of a house and grounds then appertaining to Sir Anthony Cope, of Hanwell, but granted by him to the king at a rent of 274/. per annum. Whatever were the conveniences of this structure as a public office for dispatch of business, it was not proof against the all-prevailing effects of fire ; it was burnt down in the year 1718. The business of the port continuing to increase, additional rooms and warehouses, with apartments for proper officers, were provided in the greatly enlarged edifice which succeeded ; but even this, before the end of the century, and especially in the beginning of the present century? was found to be on too contracted and inconvenient a scale. The mer- chants repeatedly complained of postponements occasioned by want of accommodation for a sufficient number of custom-house clerks and officers ; while, not seldom, the crowd of applicants crossing each other on business, became an additional cause of increased delay and incon- venience. G 82 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS To the river front of this custom-house were annexed two mighty wings, each presenting a passage colonnade of the Tuscan order; the upper story being relieved with Ionic pilasters and pediments. The whole external length of the structure was 1 89 feet ; and the centre was in depth 29 feet. But there was in this building an appropriate feature, called the long room, which extended nearly the whole length of the centre ; being in length 127 feet, 29 feet in width, and 24 feet in height. It afforded accommodation to a considerable number of clerks, attached to various departments, and was originally, and for some years, honoured with the personal superintendance of the com- missioners themselves. Unfortunately, however, this building was not sufficiently guarded against fire ; to which element it fell a prey in the course of a few hours, on the 12th of February, 1814. ST. SAVIOUR'S CHURCH. This religious edifice stands at the south end of London Bridge. On the spot where it is built, it is said there was anciently a priory of nuns, founded by St. Mary, the owner of a ferry over the river Thames, before the building of London Bridge ; hence we are fur- nished with the obvious derivation of the present name, which appears to have been originally, St. Mary of the Ferry, or St. Mary of Ferry's and, at length, as we now find it, St. Mary Overy's. Some time after, the priory was converted into a college of priests ; but that establish- ment, as well as the former, proving of no great duration, it was in the year 1106 founded by two Norman knights, and the Bishop of Win- chester, for canons regular. This edifice was destroyed by fire, about the year 1207 ; but it being soon after rebuilt, Peter de la Roche, bishop of Winchester, added to it a spacious chapel, which he dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene ; and this being afterwards appointed for the use of the inhabitants, it at last became their parish church. On the suppression of religious houses, the parishes of St. Mary Mag- dalen and St. Margaret purchased the conventual church of King Henry; and were the next year united by act of parliament; and the church being thus repaired, was called by the new name of St. Sa- viour's. The rectory is in the gift of the parish. Both the construction and extent of this Gothic structure resemble a cathedral more than a parish church. The length is 260 feet, and that of the cross aisle 109 ; the breadth of the body is 54 feet, and the height of the tower, including the pinnacles, is 150 feet. The construction of the windows, entrances, and every other part, is purely in the Gothic style, except a modern door, which is neither Gothic nor agreeable to the rules of any other architecture. The tower, which is square and well-proportioned, is supported by massy pillars over the meeting of ST S-^VTIOIUR'S CELUB-CMo 1820 ST gilaves chtcrcm MOUTPAOTPE TILOSE ILAiyYTE CUAJPEL london Jte>tis?ud hyh r S.t WJA 13. JZnprawl by i/. 0W>-. OF LONDON. S3 the middle and cross aisles ; it is crowned with battlements, and has a tall, slender pinnacle at each corner. MONTAGUE CLOSE is placed between the Thames and .St. Saviour's Church. Our artist has preserved it rather as a curious relic of old London, than for any pic- turesque beauty of design which it possesses. THE LADY-CHAPEL. Passing from the main edifice of St. Saviour's, we came to the " Ladye- Chapel." Our readers have no doubt heard of the improvements now in progress for the re-edification of this beautiful specimen of early architecture. Mr. Gwilt deserves great credit for the active part he has taken in the matter, and for having gratuitously contributed the aid of his professional talents in the works. They are not, however, in a state of sufficient forwardness to enable us to speak of their general effect ; and the following extract from Stowe, the historian of our metro- polis, will show the state of the Ladye-Chapel in' his time. (Anno 1598.) "It is now called the nezo Chapel; and indeed, though very old, it now may be called a new one, because newly redeemed from such use and employment as, in respect of that it was built to, divine and religious duties, may very well be branded with the style of wretched, base, and unworthy. For that which, before this abuse, was, and is now, a fair and beautiful chapel, by those that were then the corpora- tion, which is a body consisting of thirty vestrymen, six of those thirty, churchwardens, was leased and let out, and this house of God made a bakehouse. " Two very fair doors, that from the two side aisles of the chancel of this church, and two, that through the head of the chancel, as at this day they do again, went into it, were lathed, daubed, and dammed up ; the fair pillars were ordinary posts, against which they piled billets and bavins. In this place they had their ovens, in that a bolting-place ; I have heard, a hog's-trough : for the words that were given me were these : ' This place have I known a hog's-stye ; in another a store- house, to store up, their hoarded meal ; and, in all of it, something of this sordid kind and condition." ' ST. OLAVE'S. Though the time of the first erection of this church cannot be dis- covered, yet it appears *o be of considerable antiquity, as there is a grant extant of John, Earl Warren, in 1281, to the abbot and convent of St. Augustine, in Canterbury, of certain messuages, situate between this church and the Bridge-yard. It is a rectory standing on the g 2 S4 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS north side of Tooley, alias St. Olave's Street, in the gift of the crown. Part of this church having fallen down in 1736, and the rest being found in a ruinous condition, the parishioners applied to Parliament for power to rebuilt it ; which being granted, they were enabled to raise the sum of 5000/., by a rate of sixpence in the pound, to be levied out of the rents of all lands and tenements within the parish; in con- sequence of which the church was taken down in 1737, and the work prosecuted with such assiduity, that the present edifice was finished in 1739. ST. MAEY-LE-BONE CHURCH. The old church for this parish was in High Street, and we believe that it is still employed for some services connected with the church ; its size, as compared with the new edifice, furnishes a curious comparative view of the change which has taken place since the commencement of the last century in the population of Mary-le-bone parish. Chapels and churches are now almost as numerous as the houses at the period to which we allude ; and, as our readers are aware, its population and wealth has now entitled it to a repi-esentation in the British senate. Our engraving represents the north and principal front of the new church, as seen from York Gate, Regent's Park. It is a handsome facade, and consists of a winged portico of the Roman Corinthian order, surmounted by a tower. The portico is composed of eight columns, six in the front and two in flank, raised on a flight of steps, and sustaining an entablature and pediment, the architecture after the Pantheon ; within the portico are three lintelled entrances, surmounted by cornices and two arched windows. Above this is a long panel designed for sculpture, which has never been set up ; the ceiling of the portico is panelled, each panel containing an expanded flower. The wings have no windows ; on their northern front the angles are guarded by pilasters, and the flanks are enriched with two columns. The entabla- ture continued from the portico, and surmounted by an attic and balus- trades, are applied as a finish to the entire building. The tower is in three stories ; the first is rusticated, and forms a plinth to the elevation; it is finished with a cornice, and has a dial in each face ; it supports a circular story, which has a peristyle of twelve Corinthian columns, sus- taining an entablature, upon which rises the third story, a circular temple, raised on a stylobate of three steps, and pierced with arched openings ; to the piers between the arches are attached eight caryatidal statues of angels, supporting an entablature and cornice, which is broke in the intervals between the statues. The elevation is crowned with a spherical dome, and finished with a small pedestal, sustaining a vane. N°5 All ^othls rarafMAtweBA:.'! .!■!..■ ns. RUT 3L0tA2>o T ^JHL"S"-iE-3SOT7 2. rj-iT«.r27, N3E"W ]>.OAJ» . ST KLAJCy'S ra^ME , WWDEAM M.ACE. ST SiL&jRY-XE-MQrrE CHAPSL. BrmmbrJUTett. '.■.'...• "."" OF LONDON. 85 The east and west sides of the church are uniform ; they are made into two stories by a plain course; each story has five windows, the lower are slightly arched, the upper lofty, with arched heads, besides one window in the returns of the wings. The south front consists of a centre flanked by two wings, which projects diagonally from the building, being formed at the angles which are cut off. The wings contain windows corresponding with the church, in their sides and the eastern niche a doorway, and has in its front wings; they are guarded at the angles by pilasters, and the central division has a Venetian window. The interior is approached from the north front by a circular vestibule, formed in the basement story of the tower, and two lobbies at the sides of it, which contain stairs to the galleries, and by an entrance in the south-eastern wing. The sides and north end are occupied by two spacious tier of galleries, with panelled fronts supported by slender iron columns, having reeded shafts, and leaved capitals ; to those of the lower tier are also attached modillions; the shafts are bronzed, and the capitals gilt. The altar, which is at the south end of the church, has a mahogany screen, enriched with four Ionic pilasters, between which are the usual inscriptions, and above was placed a picture of the Holy Trinity, by West, presented by the artist to the parish ; a gallery con- tains seats for the charity children, and the organ. As originally con- structed, there was an arched opening in the centre of the instrument, occupied by a transparency on canvass, a copy of one of the painted Avindows in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, from the design of Mr. West; the subject, "The Angel appearing to the Shepherds." The greatest absurdity, however, consisted in the erection of private galleries at the sides of the organ, which were fitted with chairs, and fire-places; and in their openings to the church so exactly resembled the private boxes which look upon the proscenium of our theatres, that the spectator might almost suppose he was in a building which originally had that destination, but had been converted into a conventicle for the purpose of deriving pecuniary advantage. Soon after the erection of the edifice some judicious alterations took place ; the organ was reduced to the customary form and size, the transparency being removed ; the galleries were made to sweep round to the instrument, thus causing the destruction of the private boxes, the space formerly occupied by which being fitted with seats for the children of the National School; the theatrical appearance is in consequence removed, and the building has more the appearance of a place of worship. The ceiling is curved at the sides, the horizontal portion made into panels by bundles of rods bound together with ribbons ; in the centre is a large expanded flower. The pulpit and desks are con- 86 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS structed of mahognany, and are situated on opposite sides of the area of the building. The former is elegantly carved ; it rests on a single pillar which spreads at the capital, and is finished with a group of cherubim heads. The font, situated beneath the northern gallery, is of great beauty. The effect of the church appears to have been injured by the altera- tions which were made, when the vestry determined on altering it to a parish church. It would have been far better to have left it as a chapel, and built a church somewhere else. The northern facade is grand and imposing, but the tower is but a poor design ; the basement does not appear large enough for the superstructure, and the angels too far from the ground to be seen with ease and comfort to the spec- tator ; the transition of the circular part of the elevation from the square is too abruptly managed. In other respects the exterior, taken as a whole, appears a handsome building. The portico and tower, to- gether with the cornices, attic, and some other particulars, are stone ; the walls are brick, covered with stucco. The first stone was laid on the 5th July, 1813, and the expense of the building was about 60,000?. ; the congregation accommodated, in- cluding the charity children, is upwards of 3,000 persons. ST. MARY-LE-BONS CHAPEL. This neat and unassuming edifice is in the neighbourhood of what was called St. John's Wood. It is simple in its character, and well fitted for the wants of the neighbourhood. TRINITY CHURCH. is more assuming, and offers such a strange combination of brick and stone in its exterior, as must offend the eye of every person of taste ; a defect from which it is hardly redeemed by the balustrade and ornaments. ALL SOULS' CHURCH This edifice is in Langham Place. With the exception of the steeple and portico, the exterior shows a plain stone building, lighted by two tiers of windows, and finished with a balustraded parapet. The steeple consists of two portions, a circular tower and a cone ; the first rests on a flight of steps, and is occupied to a considerable portion of its height by a peristyle of twelve Ionic columns, sustaining the entablature of the order. The capitals are highly enriched ; from the volutes depend festoons of foliage, and between them, attached to the abacus, is a che- rubim with expanded wings : the effect, however, is not pleasing, the exuberance of the ornament giving to the capital an appearance of clumsiness. Above the entablature of this peristyle, the tower is con- tinued plain to the remainder of its height, broken only by the dials. OF LONDON. 87 The base of the cone, which is situated within the circular tower, is sur- rounded wit'.i a peristyle of fourteen Corinthian columns, sustaining an entablature and balustrades ; the remainder of the cone is unbroken ; the surface is fluted, and to render the point more acute, it is finished with metal. It surely would have produced a better effect, if the spire had terminated in the usual way, with a cross : as it is, the whole struc- ture has so novel an appearance, that to those who have been accus- tomed to the old style of church towers, the present suffers greatly by comparison ; its novelty surprises, but does not satisfy the judgment. A pointed spire transplanted from a country village, and made a finish to a showy street of modern houses, is so out of character, that whatever may be the merit of originality displayed by Mr. Nash, his design is less pleasing than if it had assimilated more closely to the older style of church spires, of the school of Sir C. Wren and his followers. The approaches are by two doorways in the principal front, and by another beneath the lower peristyle, which leads into a circular vestibule, lighted by two windows. The interior is very pleasing ; it is formed more closely on the model of the older churches in the Italian style than the generality of the new ones are. The west, north, and south sides, and a portion of the east end, have galleries attached to them, resting on octagonal piers ; the residue of the east end is occupied by the altar. Above the fronts of the galleries rises a colonnade of Corinthian columns^ sustaining an architrave and cornice, on the latter of which rests the ceiling of the church. The south and north sides have each eight columns ; two others are situated on the eastern gallery, and two more to correspond on the western. The ceiling of the centre division of the church is elliptical, flattened in the centre, the whole surface of the cove being enriched with octagonal sunk panels. For a full account of this church, see an ingenious critic in the Gentleman's Magazine. ST. MARY'S CHURCH. The principal front of this church, contrary to the usual arrangement, is the southern ; in the centre of which is the portico and tower. This view of the church, has been selected by our artist for its peculiar effect. In its plan the building consists of a nave, or body, with side aisles, a portion of the design at the angles being taken out of the plan to form vestries and lobbies, whereby the body is made longer than the aisles. The tower is circular in plan ; the elevation is made into three stories; the basement has a doorway with a lintelled architrave, and above it three round-headed windows. A portico consisting of six Ionic co- lumns, and two anta?, sustaining an entablature and attic, the latter ornamented with arched panels instead of a balustrade, sweeps round 89 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS that portion of the tower which projects from the main building. Above the parapet, the circular tower is continued, and forms a stylobate to the second story, which has eight semi-columns, of the early Corin- thian order attached to it, with windows having arched heads in the space between ; the cornice is finished with a parapet set round with Grecian tiles, and upon this story is a pedestal, still continuing the same form, having four circular apertures for the clock dials, and finished with a cornice sustaining a circular temple pierced with eight arched openings, the piers between which are ornamented with antas, support- ing an entablature, cornice, and parapet, the latter set round with Gre- cian tiles, and crowned with a conical dome, on the vertex of which is a gilt cross. The remaining part of this side of the church is formed into two stories by a stone course, and finished by a cornice and parapet continued from the portico : the lower story contains, on each side of the portico, three square windows with stone architraves, and the upper story the same number of lofty arched windows, with architraves of stone round the heads, resting, by way of impost, on a stone course. Within the portico there is also an entrance, with a window above it in the wall of the church on each of the towers. The west front is in like manner made into two stories, and also vertically into three divi- sions, the lateral ones containing windows, and finished with cornices and parapets as before ; the central division has three doorways, with lintelled heads in its basement, and three arched windows above. This division is surmounted with a pediment to conceal the ridged roof. The north side of the church only differs from the south in having three more windows in each story in the space which is occupied by the tower and portico on the side already described. The east front is in three di- visions, the side one similar to the western ; the central division retires behind the line of the front, and has a square window divided into three compartments by antse, and finished with a pediment. The church is built of brick, except the tower, cornices, and other particulars before mentioned. The interior is made into a nave and side aisles. On each side the former are square piers, supporting galleries, the fronts of which are composed of a cornice and attic, which being con- tinued round the whole church, divide the elevation into two stories. Upon the upper member of the attic are placed at intervals flat square plinths, from which rise six fluted columns, intended for Grecian Doric, on each side of the church, sustaining an anomalous entablature, on which rests the ceilinsf. The nave is arched in a small segment of a circle ; the ceiling of the aisles is horizontal ; the surface of both is di- vided into square panels. A western gallery extends across the church to the depth of two of the intercolumniations. The altar has a hand- some screen of scagliola, in imitation of veined marbles ; it is com- OF LONDON. 89 poied of an ornamented wall, finished by a cornice and attic, and flanked by piers. The central portion, imitating Sienna marble, is enriched with a square panel of porphyry, surrounded by gold mouldings above the altar, between two long perpendicular panels of the same "materials ; the piers have Ionic antae of porphyry, with gold capitals; the architrave and cornice, and the attic above the piers, are statuary marble with gold mouldings, the latter portions charged with crosses in irradiations of gold, and sustain vases sup- ported on grouped modillions. The centre of the attic, which is Sienna, has narrow horizontal panels enriched with honeysuckles in circles splendidly gilt. Above this is the east window ; the antae are veined marble, and sustain an entablature and parapet of the same material ; the window is filled with stained glass, the subject the As- cension of our Lord ; the execution is far from good, the colours are glaring, and the red has a brick-dust hue. The Commandments are inserted in gold letters on a white ground, on 'that portion of the wall not occupied by the screen, and the north and south sides of the recess in which the altar is situated. The pulpit and reading-desks are similar ; they rest on pedestals, and are enriched with antae. On the crimson furniture of the altar, pulpit, and reading-desk, are respec- tively a dove surrounded with rays of gold, the Hebrew name of the Diety, in an irradiated triangle, and the initials I. H. S., and a cross within the crown of thorns, all irradiated. The splendid decorations of the altar are judicious and appropriate. The font is situated in the front of the altar rails ; it is a handsome circular basin of veined mar- ble, standing on a pillar of the same material ; its situation is, however, a very incorrect one. The organ is placed at the back of the spacious western gallery, in a handsome case. Although the church, upon the whole, is a handsome building, the beauty of it is obscured by the liberties which have been taken with the architecture. If a carpenter was directed to build a Grecian summer- house, or set up a shop front in that style, it is not at all unlikely that he might think he was improving the Doric order by lengthening the columns, and hoisting them upon tall pedestals ; he might suppose that the baseless shaft required something at the bottom to support it, and he therefore might place there a square piece of wood. A carpenter might and would do these things ; but when an architect of well- known and acknowledged taste condescends to such absurdities, the spectator cannot fail of attributing to carelessness what in the me- chanic he would impute to ignorance. The shop front, or the sum- mer-house, may be destroyed as the fashion alters, or the whim of the occupant directs, but a church exists for ages, to hand down to pos- terity the taste, or the want of it in its architect. It will not be difficult go HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS to anticipate the judgment which posterity will form of Mr. Smith's care, when it witnesses a building' in which the Doric is made the upper interior order, to an exterior in which a professedly Grecian Doric column is set upon a plinth, and made to support an entablature belong- ing to no one of the Greek or Roman orders, and in which both trig- liths and mutules are omitted. Of what style this novel order is to be taken as an example, it would be difficult to say, unless, according to the well-known professional dictum it is " Gothic," since it is any thing but Grecian. The public have a right to expect better things from eminent architects, and the public taste demands a protection from the insult which such absurdities offer to it. This church was erected prior to 1824. The estimate was 20,000/. and the number accommodated, according to the reports of the commis- sioners, is 1828 persons, which, however, must be considerably less than the actual number. It was consecrated on the 7th of January, 1824. Near the east end of the church, is the Western National School, a spacious and handsome edifice, the principal front of which is in a cor- responding style with the church. "WESTMINSTER. As many of our views of public buildings have been taken from the city of Westminster, and we have studiously abstained from any general view of that important portion of the British metropolis, it will be adviseable now to enter briefly into its history. The very accurate view taken from Lambeth, may be said to comprehend its principal aquatic features. The city itself originated in a monastry, which was founded by Sebert, king of Essex, anno 610, on a track of land called Thorney Island, on the north bank of the river Thames, and nearly one mile and a half west of London. Hence the origin of the name West Monastei'ium, or Westminster. That portion of Westminster which, strictly speaking, is the city, consists of the two parishes of St. Margaret and St. John the Evangelist. Seven other parishes are contained within the liberties, viz. St. Martin in the Fields; St. James ; St. Anne ; St. Paul, Covent Garden; St. Mary-le-Strand ; St. Clement Danes, and St. George, Hanover Square. By the census of 1831, the population of the whole amounted to the enormous number of 202,891 persons. The great aggregate of West- minster is generally, but erroneously, termed a city ; in fact, that title applies only to the portion of it which forms the immediate environs of the church of St. Peter. The latitude of Westminster is 51° 29" 52' north, and the longitude 7' 32" west, from the meridian of the royal observatory in Greenwich park. The Abbey church is distant from that of St. Paul, in London, west- south-west 2900 yards, about one IfS- J'.V CHAFEL MJWT rr WESTSOKSTER ABiK i T 3JT 1 N S T IE M. FJR.{J M J. . I I ! T r. R EAST ClOISTER. i ., ■ OF LONDON. 91 mile and live furlongs ; and from Temple Bar, along the Strand, Par- liament Street, &c. about 2400 yards, one mile and three furlongs. The extent of ground occupied by the city and liberties is about 1000 acres, or one square mile and a half. Although Westminster is now closely united and connected with London, it was formerly distinct and distant from it. Even as late as the reign of Queen Elizabeth, nearly the whole space from Temple Bar to the western end of Parliament Street, also Covent Garden, Picca- dilly, and even Oxford Road, were fields. The first monastic institution by Sebert, was a priory ; but Offa changed it, in 785, to an abbey ; and the abbots arose in the course of a few years to distinction. That monarch deposited in the church his coronation robes and regalia, as an offering to its patron, St. Peter. From this circumstance, it was probably afterwards used for a place of inauguration of the English monarchs. William the Conqueror, in 1066, was the first sovereign on record who was crowned there. The abbey suffered severely by the ravages of the Danes, but was restored and repaired by Edgar, who began to reign in 957, at the instigation of Dunstan, who removed thither with twelve Benedictine monks, probably from Glastonbury. To Edward the Confessor this abbey is principally indebted for its celebrity and splendour. According to Sulcardus, that monarch had vowed to make a pilgrimage to Rome, in gratitude to Heaven for his unexpected establishment on the throne ; but relinquishing that journey, he made a vow to rebuild the church and monastry of St. Peter in a magnificent manner. The grants of land and of relics bestowed by the monarch on his new foundation, were ample beyond all precedent. He also invested it with peculiar privileges, and exempted it from all secular services and authority, even from episcopal jurisdiction. This last exemption, however, brought on each new abbot the trouble and expense of a journey to Rome, to be con- firmed by his holiness in person. Edward survived but a few days the ceremony of the consecration of the new church, and died on the 5th of January, 1066. From the privileges he granted, the present civil constitution of Westminster may in a great measure be traced. In the reign of Henry III., the greater part of the present edifice was rebuilt, in the lofty elegant style by which it is chiefly characterized ; a style which about that time began to be adopted in ecclesiastical buildings throughout Europe. In 1220, Henry, then only a youth, laid the first stone of the chapel of the Virgin, but it was not until 1215, that he caused die church to be enlarged, and the tower with the eastern part to be constructed anew. The building was open for divine service in 1269, and the body of the Confessor deposited in a splendid shrine, behind the high altar. In 1297, the roof and part of the abbey church 92 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS was destroyed by fire ; to the repairing of which King Edward I. is stated to have contributed largely. On the 20th of Marcb, 1413, Henry IV. was seized with a fit of apoplexy, while worshiping at the shrine of St. Edward. During the reign of Richard II., the rebuilding of the western part of the church was partially carried on, though not with any great assiduity, until the reign of Henry V., who granted 1000 marks annually, to be applied to this pious purpose. Edward IV. was also a contributor towards the rebuilding of the church ; and his queen erected a chapel dedicated to St. Erasmus, on the site of which the celebrated chapel of Henry VII. was founded, during the abbacy of Islip, in 1502 and 1503. That prince having obtained the crown, as heir to Henry VI., resolved to erect a sumptuous monument for his remains, in the expectation of his canonization. The court of Rome, however, requiring a greater sum for compliance with his solicitation, than the prudent monarch thought proper to bestow, the latter part of the project was relinquished. The abbey was now on the eve of ex- periencing a sad vicissitude of fortune. Henry VIII. had projected the dissolution of the monastic establishment; and on the 16th of January, 1539-40, a surrender of those of Westminster was made by Abbot Benson of Boston, and twenty-four of the monks. Prior to the dissolution of the monasteries, Henry had resolved to convert some of them into episcopal sees, for the endowment of which he intended to appropriate a portion of the monastic revenues. Of these projected sees, Westminster was to be one ; and on the 17th of December, 1540, the abbey church was by letters patent constituted a cathedral ; and thus Westminster was first raised to the dignity of a city. The new bishopric was, however, but of short duration ; for on the 29th of March, 1550, bishop Thirleby was required to surrender it to Edward VI. ; and it was afterwards re-united to that of London. In the edict for the suppression of the see of Westminster, no mention was made of the establishment of a dean and prebendaries, &c; it conse- quently became a question whether they were to be continued. To remove all doubts on this head, an act of parliament was passed, declar- ing the church still to remain a cathedral, with its former establish- ment, but to be within the diocese of London. On the accession of Queen Mary, the monastic officers, &c. were restored. John Faken- ham, the abbot, who survived Mary, was the only ecclesiastic of that rank who sat in the first parliament of Elizabeth in 1558, and he took the lowest place on the bishops' bench. On the 21st of May 1560, the monks were again displaced, and the church rendered collegiate, on a similar basis to that which had been established by Henry VIII. Since the restoration by Elizabeth, the collegiate church of Westminster has undergone no material alteration, if we except the disorganization of OF LONDON. 93 •similar institutions during the internal commotions which marked the reign of Charles I. Such is- a brief sketch of the history of the religious establishment to which modern Westminster is indebted for its origin, and which the engravings on this plate are intended to illustrate. The church still remains in a great measure entire ; the buildings appropriated for the abbots and the monks have undergone great alterations, but their general arrangement may still be traced, and they are now allotted for the residence of the persons attached to the service of the church, and the dependent school. For a fully detailed description of this cele- brated church, of its architectural beauties and defects, of the sepul- chral monuments it contains, of the ceremonies performed within its walls, and the important transactions connected with it, the reader is referred to Brayley and NeaPs History of Westminster Abbey, and Britton's Architectural Antiquities. The present abbey church consists of a nave and two side aisles, separated by ranges of lofty, slender, clustered columns, supporting the roof, which is raised to a great eleva- tion. The length of the whole edifice, within the walls, is 360 feet, the breadth of the nave and aisles 72 feet ; and the length of the cross or transept 195 feet. On entering the great western door, the body of the church presents an impressive appearance ; lightness, loftiness, and elegance, are its distinguished features, but they are much obscured by the numerous monuments which fill up the open spaces and cover the walls. The nave is separated from the choir by a screen ; and east of the choir is a chapel, elevated above the level of the pavement, appropriated to the shrine of Edward the Confessor, in which are also placed several monuments to royal and noble persons. At the east end of this chapel is a sumptuous architectural chantry to the memory of Henry V. ; and still farther eastward is the splendid chapel, called Henry the Seventh's, because began by him and founded for his mauso- leum. On the north and south sides of the choir are rails, and also some small chapels which are dedicated to different saints. ST. PAUL'S. The subject of our fourth plate is of a very interesting character. It represents a portion of the interior of one of the finest buildings in the world, and four monuments dedicated to the memory of the illus- trious dead which have been erected within its gig-antic enclosure. On entering the principal door of the cathedral, the mind is struck by the extent of the vista : an arcade, supported by lofty pillars on each hand, divide the church into the body and two aisles, and the view is termi- nated by the altar at the extremity of the choir, subject only to the intervention of the organ, which, standing across, forms a heavy obstruc- 94 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS tion, for which all its powers of harmony can hardly atone. The in- terior is adorned with columns and pilasters of the Corinthian and Composite orders, and the arches of the roof are enriched with shields, festoons, chaplets, and other ornaments. In the aisle, on one hand is the consistory, and opposite to it on the other, is the morning-prayer chapel, where divine service is performed : these have very beautiful screens of carved wainscot. Over the centre where the great aisles cross each other, is the grand cupola or dome, the vast concave of which produces a feeling nearly allied to awe. Under its centre is fixed in the floor a brass plate, round which the pavement is beautifully variegated ; but the figures into which it is formed can nowhere be so well seen as from the whispering gallery above. Here the spectator has a full view of the organ, richly ornamented with carved work, with the entrance to the choir directly under it. The two aisles on the sides of the choir, as well as the choir itself, are enclosed with iron rails and gates. The organ gallery is supported by eight Corinthian columns of blue and white marble ; though wooden columns would have been more suitable to the support of a wooden gallery ; the choir has on each side thirty stalls, besides the bishop's throne on the south side, and the Lord Mayor's on the north. The carving of the beautiful range of stalls, as well as that of the organ, is much admired. The reader's desk, which is at some distance from the pulpit, is an enclosure of very fine brass rails, in which is an eagle of brass gilt, that supports the book on his back and expanded wings. The altar-piece is adorned with four fluted pilasters, painted and veined with gold in imitation of lapis lazuli, and their capitals are gilt. In the intercolumniation below, are nine marble panels ; the table is covered with crimson velvet, and above are six windows, in two series. The floor of the choir, and indeed of the whole church, is paved with marble : but within the rails of the altar with porphyry, polished and laid in geometrical figures. On entering the south door, there is a pair of stairs within a small door on the right, leading up to the cupola, and visitors may gratify their curiosity with a prospect from the gilt-iron gallery round the foot of the lantern, over the dome, which, in a clear day, affords a fine view of the river, of the whole metropolis, and all the adjacent country. The ascent to this gallery is by 534 steps. On the visitor's descent he is invited to see the whispering gallery ; we mention this as he here sees to advantage the beautiful pavement of the church below, and from hence he has the most advantageous view of the fine paintings in the cupola over his head. Sounds are rever- berated here to an astonishing extent ; the least whisper against the wall on the opposite side seems as if it were close to the ear of the I -sSto ^ r ^ St : 1 m m < 1 *J f — 4- OF LONDON. 95 auditor, though the semi-circular distance between them is no less than 140 feet : and the shutting of the door resounds through the place like a clap of thunder, or as if the whole fabric was crushing to pieces. In the south-west turret is the clock, the great bell of which is said to weigh 84 cwt. The quarters are struck upon two smaller bells of different sizes, which hang under the great one. These bells are all fixed, and are struck by hammers ; the great one only has a clapper, and is tolled on the deaths of any of the royal family by means of a rope which is tied to the clapper on those occasions. The bell that rings to prayers is in the opposite turret. As St. Paul's cathedral is the only work of the same magnitude that ever was completed by one individual, it may call for a few particular remarks. The division of the building into two orders has been cen- sured as a great fault, as the effect would have been much more im- posing had only one been used. The lower part of the edifice is said not to harmonize with the upper ; and the church and dome appear to be the works of different masters. On a comparison with St. Peter's at Rome, St. Paul's is, in some respects, the superior : the west front is designed more in character as a building erected for public worship ; whereas that of St. Peter's has a royal appearance, while the pediment is mean and paltry. The dome of St. Paul's is more elegantly shaped, and there is no comparison between the lanterns on the top ; that of St. Peter's is heavy, clumsy, and produces an ill effect : but the body of the church being of one single order, is grand, though it suffers by an introduction of parts which are rather too minute. The interior of St. Peter's is extremely noble ; the high altar, which was designed and executed by the celebrated Bernini, is judiciously placed under the centre of the great dome, and produces the finest effect imaginable : the monuments and decorations are introduced with propriety, though some peculiar errors may be pointed out in the design. St. Paul's is much more correct, but suffers greatly for want of embellishments both in painting and sculpture. On the whole, however, we have every reason to be proud of our metropolitan cathedral. LONDON UNIVERSITY. This edifice is not yet completed, and we rather point to what it is to be, than what it now is. The building consists of a central portico, and two wino-s advancing at right angles, which will ultimately correspond. The central portico consists of ten columns of the Corinthian order, support- ing an enriched entablature and pediment, sculptured with ornaments emblematic of the objects of the institution. Over the whole, and springing from the vestibule, is an elevated dome surmounted by a Gre- cian temple of eight pilasters. Over each wing corresponding domes 96 ' HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS of a smaller size are to be erected. Extending from the back of the central part, there is a range of building which corresponds in length with the two wings ; the upper floor is intended as a grand hall on public occasions. The two wings receding backwards have a semi- circular termination, and consist of theatres for public lectures, one of which is on each floor. To return to the principal facade, the two ranges between the centre and wings of the building, called the north and south ranges, consist of two divisions ; those of the upper story are separated by pilasters with foliated capitals. Between each pilaster is a handsome window adapted with a square cornice- The upper floor of the north range was built for the museum of natural history, and the same floor of the south range, for the grand library. The elevation of the building consists of a basement, and two stories called the ground floor and upper floor. The stories are divided by a cornice and frieze ; the latter being orna- mented with wreaths. The upper story is terminated with a plain dentillated cornice, which forms the parapet ; the whole displaying an air of chaste simplicity. We may now furnish a description of the interior. On entering the door of the north range, there is a room on each side of the passage used as lecture rooms. They are each 46 feet by 24, with four win- dows : having six rows of seats, rising nine inches above each other ; each seat here, as in the other lecture rooms, having a back and book board for the accommodation of the students, with a raised platform for the professor in front. The room on the right of the passage, or as it is called, the south room of the north range, is for the Italian, French, Spanish, and English languages, and jurisprudence. The north room of the north range is for anatomy, medicine, and surgery. This centre passage leads into a paved cloister, 107 feet by 23, appropriated for exercise in the intervals between one lecture and another. Proceeding through the folding-doors on the left, leading out of the cloister, there is a lobby, and following the wall on the left hand, there are, 1st. the door by which the professor enters the north lecture room in this range ; 2d. a private room for the professor of chemistry, fitted ;tp with shelves and cases for the reception of his more delicate appa- ratus, and where he may conduct experiments of research ; 3d. the professors' common room, 29 feet by 19, where they may meet pre- viously to going into their lecture rooms, and where they may have periodical works, newspapers, &c, for their common use; 4th. a small room where the professors may see persons who call upon them. Passing down the steps from the lobby, the first door on the right hand is that of the chemical laboratory, 26 feet by 20, where the ex- periments for the lectures are prepared, and where students are OF LONDON. 97 received who are to follow a course of practical chemistry. One door leads from the Laboratory to a vault in the basement, where the pro- fessor's assistant cleans the apparatus, and which contains the galvanic battery. Another door leads from the Laboratory into the lower north Theatre, a semi-circular room 65 feet by 50, lighted by six windows in the circumference. Ten rows of concentric seats rise with a gradual increase, the second seat being nine inches above the floor, the last sixteen inches above that immediately before it. The table of the lecturer, 20 feet long, contains a pneumatic trough, and other accom- modations ; and there are furnaces behind the lecturer, to be used oc- casionally in experiments during the lecture. The students enter by a door, which opens on the platform on which the highest row of seats stands, and go out by another, both placed in the higher part of the theatre. This theatre is used for the materia medica and chemistry. On the landing immediately over that which leads to the museum of Anatomy, are two rooms, 26 feet by 19 ; that on the left is appro- priated to the professor of Surgery, that on the right to the professor of Midwifery. The door to the gallery of the museum of Anatomy is on this landing. The great door opposite to the window in the museum of Anatomy leads to the museum of Natural History, 120 feet by 50, with a gallery round. It is the whole of the upper story of the north range, previously described. Next to the museum of Natural History is the vestibule under the dome, which forms the chief entrance, the great door of the portico leading into it. From the centre of this vestibule, the whole extent of the building is seen ; the museum of Natural History being on one side, and the great Library on the other. Extending backwards in a direct line from the central portico, and parallel with the two wings, is the grand Hall previously mentioned, which is 90 feet by 45, and 25^ high. At the south end of the building, and leading from the great Library, is the small Library, 41 feet by 22, with a gallery round. The arrange- ment of the other rooms in the south range is similar to that in the north one. FOUNDLING HOSPITAL. Establishments of this description are found in most of the large European cities, and without entering into minute political calculations as to their effects on population, it will be obvious that we are but giving effect to the precept of the great head of the Christian religion, in giving food and shelter to the deserted heirs of their parents' mis- conduct. The Foundling Hospital consists of two large wings, con- nected by a chapel in the centre ; one wing being for the boys, and the H 98 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS other for the girls. They are directly opposite to each other, and are built in a plain, but regular, substantial, and convenient manner, of brick, with handsome piazzas. It is well suited to the purpose, and as much embellished as hospitals should be. The chapel is joined to the wings by an arch on each side, and is very elegantly fitted up. Before the hospital, is a large piece of ground, on each side of which is a colonnade of great length, which extends towards the gates, that are double, with a pier between, so that coaches may pass and repass at the same time. These colonnades are now inclosed, and certain ranges of workshops where the children are taught to spin, weave, and exercise other trades. The large area between the gates and the hospital is adorned with grass-plats, gravel walks, and lamps erected upon hand- some posts ; beside which, there are two convenient gardens. The altar-piece in the chapel has a painting over it, finely executed by an Italian artist, representing the wise men making their offerings to the infant Jesus. The organ, originally presented by Handel, was rendered subservient to the institution by. his performing a sacred ora- torio on it, at certain times for the benefit of tfie charity. A new oro-an has been substituted for the old one ; and the music, both vocai and instrumental, is a great feature of attraction to those who visit the chapel for temporary purposes. From three years old to six, the boys are taught to read ; and, at proper intervals, employed in such a manner as may contribute to their health, and induce a habit of activity, hardiness, and labour; and from that time their work is to be " such bodily labour as is most suitable to their age and strength, and is most likely to fit them for agriculture, or the sea service." From six years of age, the girls are employed in common needle- work, knitting, and spinning, and in the kitchen, laundry, and house- hold work, in order to make them useful domestic servants. RUSSELL INSTITUTION. This institution was founded about the year 1807, by an association of gentlemen residing in Russell Square and the immediate vicinity, among whom was the late Sir S. Romilly. They purchased for this purpose the edifice in Great Coram Street, which had been erected for the Russell Assembly Rooms, on the failure of that speculation. There are here a library, extending nearly the entire length of the building, and containing about 8,000 volumes, reading and conversation rooms, and a theatre for lectures, which have been delivered by various emi- nent persons, on subjects of literature as well as science. The proprie- tors and subscribers are permitted, under suitable regulations, to borrow books from the library. The a (fairs of the institution are managed by .STAruJK OF THE BTTKE 4>F BEJDFOB. STATTTE Cy FOI.BLOOMSBmtT SQ. . | . I , L^uhm.lhhh-,- ■ OF LONDON. 99 a committee of the proprietors «; and administered by the secretary and librarian, which offices are at present filled by E. Wedlake Brayley, Esq., F. S. A., M. R. S. L. The building is a handsome edifice, fronted with stone, and entered through a Doric portico, which leads into a hall, communicating at one end with the lecture theatre, and at the other with the reading-rooms and library. In the list of lecturers who have distin- guished themselves by scientific courses in this institution, we may espe- cially enumerate Brande, Millington, and Mr. Brayley, the son of the grentleman who is at the head of the establishment. STATUES OF FOX AND BEDFORD. The first of these statues is placed in Bloomsbury Square, and was erect- ed in 1816. It is of colossal dimensions, and executed in bronze : the whole is about 17 feet in height. Dignity and repose appear to have been the leading objects of the artist's ideas: he has adopted a sitting position, and habited the statue in the consular robe, the ample folds of which, passing over the body, and falling from the seat, give breadth and effect lo the whole ; the likeness of Mr. Fox is perfect and striking. The inscription, which is in letters of bronze, is " Charles James Fox, erected mdcccxvi.'' This statue, and that of the Duke of Bedford, by the same artist (Westmacott), at the other extremity of Bedford Place, form two grand and beautiful ornaments of the metropolis. ST. JAMES'S PARK. The metropolitan parks, or as Mr. Windham called them, " the lungs of the metropolis," constitute a grand feature of the immediate environs of London. Our first plate is devoted entirely to one of these — the park of St. James — which is both the oldest and the most remarkable, from the buildings which surround it, and the associations connected with it. Previous to the reign of Henry VIII. it wasscarecly any thing but a marsh. When that monarch built the palace of St. James on the site of a suppressed hospital dedicated to the saint of that name, he drained and enclosed a spot of ground extending as far as Whitehall, which he designed to serve as a park for the accommodation of the two palaces. It was afterwards much improved by Charles II., who added thirty-six acres, and employed the celebrated French landscape-gar- dener, Andre Le Nostre, to plant the avenues, and to make the canal, as well as the aviary adjoining the Bird-cage Walk, which thus acquired its name. The walk which runs along the northern side of the Park, also was laid out by Charles. It was then, as now, called the Mall, from the circumstance of its being the scene of a very favourite amusement of that period, which consisted in striking a wooden ball with a kind of club or mallet, so as to make it pass through a circular hoop placed at a certain distance. Subsequent monarchs allowed the people the privi- h 2 100 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS lege of walking in this park; and William III., in 1699, granted for the convenience of the neighbouring inhabitants, a passage into it from Spring Gardens. The present appearance of St. James's Park is considerably different from that which it presented in the days of Charles. It is of an oblong form, and nearly two miles in the circuit ; the whole northern and southern sides are planted with rows of trees, which in summer afford an agreeable shade to the spacious walks beneath. Ite chief beauty, however, lies in the central plot of ground which is railed off from the surrounding gravel walks, and planted with a variety of trees and shrubs This enclosure is traversed throughout its whole length by a winding sheet of water, which the improved taste of modern days has substituted for the straight, old-fashioned canal of Le Nostre and his merry patron. Several buildings of importance border this Park. The eastern ex- tremity is occupied by the Horse Guards, Admiralty, Treasury, and other edifices ; and the western, or Pimlico end, by the new Palace, erected by Mr. Nash on the site of Buckingham House. On the north side, and facing the Mall, is the royal palace of St. James ; Stafford House, originally erected for the late Duke of York, and purchased of his Royal Highness' executors by the noble marquess who at present owns it ; Marlborough House, and an elegant line of residences built on the ground formerly occupied by the gardens of Carlton House. We must not omit here to notice, the beautiful column that is now raised to the memory of the late Duke of York, at the new entrance into this park from Pall Mall, winch his present Majesty graciously ordered to be made opposite to Waterloo Place. The south side is principally occupied by rows of capacious private houses, with some detached mansions (including that of the late Jeremy Bentham), and military bar- racks and guard-houses, situated in that part, which is denominated the Bird-cage Walk. The entrances into this Park are numerous and commodious. Pro- ceeding round from that of the Horse Guards, towards the north, we come successively to those leading from Spring Gardens, — from Pall Mall over the site of Carlton Gardens, — from St. James's Street through the palace of that name, — from the road extending along Constitution Hill to Piccadilly, — from Pimlico, — from Queen Square, — from Queen Street, — from Great George Street, and from Downing Street, through the vaults under the Treasury. The extensive open space included between the railed enclosure and the Horse Guards is called the Parade. It is used daily between the hours often and eleven, as a parade ground by his Majesty's foot guards ; and the fine band of music, which on this occasion accompanies the regiment, renders the scene very attrac- tive to strangers. During the winter the canal in the middle of the OF LONDON. 101 Park, affords in a severe frost, an excellent place for the enjoyment of the healthful exercise of skating 1 . The Park of St. James has been at various times the scene of festi- vals and rejoicings. The occasion, however, on which it presented the grandest spectacle, is that of the celebrated Jubilee, held on the first of August, 1814, to commemorate the restoration of peace consecpient upon the triumphs of the Allies and the captivity of Napoleon. It was then the place of chief resort, both from the beauty and splendour of the exhibitions which it offered, and from the circumstance of seats having been erected around it, which afforded the means of accommodation to those who were unwilling to expose themselves to the dangers of a crowd. Early in the day the whole of these were occupied, and the Park filled with persons of all classes. Over the canal was erected a bridge of timber, elegantly ornamented with temples and pillars, and surmounted by a lofty Chinese pagoda. Tents were pitched in rows along the sides of the water; and at regular intervals national flags were hoisted. A number of Thames watermen had permission to ply on the canal, and several boat-races took place before dusk. A bal- loon was sent up in the afternoon, and about nine o'clock in the evening the bridge and pagoda were illuminated. The lawn was lighted up on each side of the canal by a row of lamps, consisting of stars and crescents placed alternately. The Mall, Bird-cage Walk, &c, were illuminated by circles of lamps, embracing the trunks of most of the trees. About ten o'clock, the bridge with its temples and pillars, and its towering superstructure, became an object of singular beauty and mag- nificence; it presented the appearance of a blazing edifice of golden fire. A display of fire-works took place, which continued till about twelve, when the pleasure of the spectators was in some degree damped by the discovery that the pagoda was on fire. A number of engines speedily arrived ; but notwithstanding the plentiful supply of water de- rived on the spot, the temple was consumed. This accident was accom- panied by the loss of two lives and several casualties. The wooden bridge remained until 1820, when becoming unsafe, it was taken down, to the great inconvenience of the inhabitants of Westminster, to whom the communication which it afforded across the Park was very useful. The first three views in our plate are from different parts of the en- closed plot of ground. The first is taken near its eastern extremity, and shows the Horse Guards as it appears when seen from the farther side of the canal. The second view is from the opposite side of the water, looking towards the south-east. In this the placid still lake, its surface here and there darkened by the overhanging willows, with the beautiful Campanelli towers of Westminster Abbey rising in the distance above the lofty trees, forms an exquisite picture. But by far the most beautiful 102 HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS scene is that represented in the third view. The spectator is supposed to be placed near the western end ; before him is the same calm lake, with its banks now sloping- gently, now rising abruptly, and crowned at in- * tervals by overhanging trees, through an opening in which, a portion of the Horse Guards is seen in the distance. The imitation of nature is indeed almost perfect. THE TURKISH GUN. At the north-west corner of the parade, in a position corresponding to that of the Cadiz Mortar there formerly stood a cannon, called emphatically the Gun. It was cast in the year 1638, and bore the inscription Carolus Edgari sceptrum Stabilivit aquarum ; evidently alluding to the Mare Clausum of Selden, a work which that learned individual had published three years before, in answer to the Mare Liberum of Grotius, and in which he maintained the entire supre- macy of the kings of England over the narrow seas which bounded their dominions. The place of this gun is now occupied by a piece of Turkish ordnance of uncommon length, which was captured from the army of the Sultan, by the French at Alexandria, and by them surrendered to the British, together with the splendid collection of Egyptian antiquities which now adorns our national museum. When brought to this country, it was mounted on a carriage of English construction, and placed by order of the srovernment, where it now stands, in commemoration of the noble and successful efforts of our gallant countrymen in Egypt. The gun is ornamented with several Turkish devices, and supported at the breech by a sphynx ; and the carriage bears on each side a representation in relief of a crocodile, with the royal arms and a star. A chevaux de frise surrounds the whole, as in our view. THE CADIZ MORTAR. On the southern side of the parade is placed the Cadiz Mortar — one of those powerful instruments of destruction employed by the French to throw shells into Cadiz during the late war. The blockade (by land) of this city is memorable : it was commenced early in the year 1810, and notwithstanding the utmost efforts on the part of the French army, directed as they were by the consummate skill of their best engineers, the city successfully resisted. The complete change of affairs which suc- ceeded the battle of Salamanca, in 1812, and the victorious progress of Lord Wellington, in the centre of Spain, rendered it necessary for the French to withdraw from Andalusia; and so rapid was the retreat of the blockading army, that a large portion of their artillery was left behind. As a mark of gratitude and respect, one of the captured mortars was presented to the Prince Regent, who ordered it to be mounted and 33 34SJE 'SUARIiS 132T "VIEW FSOM "WE STEMS" EH IB O? TBJS 1A2S fAMZ MOBTAB TTITlRISiSjIL