there was a Trinitarian Friary, founded for the redemption of captives, 3 Edw. I.; valued at 80l. 15s. 04d. yearly, now worth 1,6151. Os. 10d.; granted to Wil. liam Lord Windsor.

ICKENHAM, 2 miles N.E. from Uxbridge. Popula. 281.

ISLEWORTH, 14 mile S. from Brentford. Popula. 5,269.

ISLINGTON (St. Mary), 2 miles N. from

London. Popula. 22,417. KENSINGTON, 44 miles W. from London. Popula. 14,428. KINGSBURY, 8 miles N.W. from London. Popula. 360.

LALEHAM, 2 miles S. from Staines. Popula. 499.

LIMEHOUSE (St. Anne), 3 miles E. from

London. Popula. 9,805.

LITTELTON, 24 miles S.E. from Staines. Popula. 149.

LONDON, the metropolis of England, a bishop's see, and the seat of the government of the kingdom, comprises, the city and liberties of London, the city and liberties of Westminster, and the borough of Southwark. These, to the eye, form but one vast town, of which the cities of London and Westminster are in Middlesex, and the borough of Southwark is in Surrey. The whole town is situated on the banks of the river Thames, and at about 70 miles from its mouth. It stands in an extensive and rich valley, which is bounded, on the South, by the Surrey hills, and on the North, by Highgate and Hampstead hills. It is 7 miles long, from East to West, and about 5 miles in breadth, from North to South, covering a space of about 18 square miles. The population, including the out parishes, was reckoned, in 1821, to be 1,311,599 souls. Of the antiquity of London, and of its great consequence even in very remote times, there can be no doubt. Some antiquarians have affirmed it to have been a place of consideration even before Rome itself; but, discarding all such stuff as this, we have it named by Tacitus, in the fourteenth book of his annals of Roman History, section 23, as being in the year 59, when the Roman general Suetonius was here, a place of great resort for merchants. As to the origin of its name, some derive it from the British words Llong and Dinas, which mean, a city of ships. Others say, it comes from two other British words,

are the

Llawn, which means full, and Dyn, man ; or populous. The Government of the town of London is divided, and I shall take the city first. This is, in fact, a little republic of itself, having privileges to such an extent as almost to make it independent of the Government of the kingdom. Its chief civil officers are, the lord mayor, 2 sheriffs, 26 aldermen, 96 common-councilmen, a chamberlain, a recorder, and a common serjeant. These are all elected, and nearly all of them, by the citizens. The lord mayor is elected at the hustings in Guildhall on Michaelmas-day. He is chosen out of the aldermen, of whom the people elect two, and, out of the two, the mayor and aldermen appoint the one that is to fill the office. The two sheriffs are elected on Midsummer-day, and at the same place. The citizens electors, and any person is eligible; but it is usual to elect aldermen. The election is by show of hands, and the common serjeant declares who is elected. The aldermen are elected from amongst the citizens by the different wards of the city, every ward electing one alderman. This is at a wardmote; and the elected party is alderman for life; though, formerly, they were elected for the year only, as the lord mayor, sheriffs, and common-council, are. They are the magistrates of their wards, and hold their respective courts, in that capacity. The common-councilmen are ninety-six in number; they are elected by the wards, each ward sending a certain number, and the election takes place in wardmote on St. Thomas's day, the citizens being the voters. The chamberlain is elected at the same time with the sheriffs, and he generally continues in office during his life. The recorder is elected by the court of aldermen, and the common serjeant by the commoncouncil. The lord mayor is the chief magistrate; he sits as chief justice at the Old Bailey in the trials of prisoners, and he has besides a Court of Equity. The sheriff's are sheriffs of the city and of the county of Middlesex; and, other besides acting as sheriff's of counties, they have a court of their own in Guildhall for trying certain causes between man and man. The aldermen, as was said above, are magistrates of their particular wards; and they hold collectively what is called the Court of of Aldermen, in which, matters connected with the works of the city are regulated, the assize of bread, and also Q

the care of orphans, &c. These are the principal courts of the city; excepting the Court of Orphans, which is, perhaps, the greatest of all; at any rate, with respect to its influence over the property of citizens. It is a court of the greatest antiquity, established in conformity with the most ancient and important customs of London respecting the disposing of personal property of the freemen of the city. All orphans of citizens are placed, if under age, under the tutelage of persons appointed by the court of aldermen ; their property is managed by persons who, according to the custom, are controlled by the court of aldermen. The chamberlain's court is principally for the management of the city's accounts, for the regulating of matters connected with apprentices, and also of orphans' moneys. The recorder is the judicial expounder of the city's laws. He is always with the lord mayor in his court, and pronounces the law, according to the custom of the city. The common serjeant is also a lawyer. He tries prisoners in the absence of the recorder; and he takes inventories and accounts of deceased freemen's estates, and, under the court of aldermen, takes the securities of guardians for the due performance of their trusts. There is also the Court of Common Council, which is something like the parliament. It consists of the representatives of the wards, the aldermen, and the lord mayor; and these, in a body, enact the by-laws by which the city is governed, and its trade regulated; they appoint committees annually for the dispatch of the city's affairs, and these make reports to the court, as occasion requires, of their proceedings. The wardmotes are summoned by the lord mayor; they are presided over by the alderman of the ward or his deputy, and the purpose of their assembling is, to correct abuses or annoyances in the particular ward. They are a good deal like the leet courts of counties. The court of conservancy for the river' Thames is presided over by the lord. mayor, in the counties adjacent to the cities of London and Westminster, and adjoining the Thames. He has a waterbailiff as deputy, whose duty it is to give him notice of all offences committed in the fishery of the river. court of requests is a court instituted for the recovery of debts under forty shillings. It is presided over by commissioners. How the city came to be

The

thus endowed with privileges so large, with a chief magistrate and a parliament, and with courts, all of such exclusive power, remains to be shown. It claims all these under its charters; and the first charter to which it points is, one of William the Norman; but, in that charter, it is clear, from the terms, that the privileges of London were not conferred by the Norman, but only confirmed; and indeed it is contended that they had their origin in the time of the Britons. (See Bohun's " Privilegia Londoni," preface, p. ix.). 1. William I. granted a charter by which he allows every man to be law worthy as he was in the days of King Edward the Confessor; and also that every child should be heir to his father. 2. Hen. I. granted a charter, by which the citizens have the right of electing their own sheriffs, and their own judges in criminal matters. It exempts the citizens from some taxes, from toll throughout the kingdom, and it provides for the enforcing of engage ments, the recovery of debts, and for the enjoyment of the chases of Chiltre, Middlesex, and Surrey, for hunting. 3. Hen. II. grants a confirmation of the preceding charters, and frees the city from some taxes; and confirms some of its peculiar laws. 4. Rich. I., in the fifth year of his reign, grants a confirmation of the last preceding. In the eighth of his reign, he grants the removal of all the wears in the Thames, and that the keepers of the Tower shall not in future let wears to their profit. 5. King John granted the city five charters. By the first, he confirmed those of Hen. II. and Rich. 1. By the second, he confirms to them the choosing of sheriffs of London and Middlesex, with all the customs of the sheriffwick by water as well as land; and by this charter he regulates the choosing and removing of sheriffs. By the third, he grants that all wears be removed out of the Thames and Medway, and he remits all penalties that the keepers of the Tower have exacted yearly on account of wears. In the fourth, he grants the barons (i.e. aldermen) of the city the privilege of choosing a mayor annually, to be presented to him or his justices for approval; and at the end of the year, to choose another, or to re-elect the same. He reserves the chamberlainship to himself. In the fifth, he grants that the guild of weavers shall not be in the city. 6. Hen. III. granted the city several charters. By the first, he confirmed the second charter

of John without alteration. By the second, he confirmed the fourth of John. By the third, he confirmed the second of Richard I., and the third of John. By the fourth, be granted it a confirmation of its former charters. By the fifth, he granted the inhabitants of the county of Middlesex the warren of Staines, and gave leave that it be diswarrened and disforested. By the sixth charter, he granted Queenhithe to the city for a yearly sum of 501. In the seventh, he confirmed the charter of Henry II., and granted them 71. per annum on account of the liberty of St. Paul's. In his eighth charter, he granted to the citizens of London liberty to traffic with their merchandise where they please, and without paying toll. Soon after this, the city forfeited its charters, by joining in Leicester's re bellion, but, in two years afterwards, they were restored by Henry's ninth charter, in which he granted an addition of privileges. 7. Edw. I. granted the city a charter, by which he secured to it all the privileges that it enjoyed before, and freed it from certain taxes. 8. Edw. II., having received aid of men from the city, granted, that that be not drawn into a precedent. 9. Edw. III. granted it a very important charter, confirming all its privileges, and granting, moreover, that the mayor be one of the judges of jail delivery; that merchant strangers be compelled to sell their goods in 40 days, and not keep houses in the city, but only lodge there; that neither the king's marshal nor his steward of the household should exercise their power in the city; that the lord mayor be 'his escheator in it; and that the citizens be not obliged to go or send to war. He also grants that the citizens of London be not taxed any more than other commons of the kingdom; that they be quit of tallage; that the liberties of the city be not taken into the hands of the king for any "personal trespass," or judgment of any minister of the city." It grants also, that the purveyor of the household should not make prize of goods belonging to citizens without their consent; that there be no market within seven miles of London; that all inquisitions be taken by the justices of London in St. Martin's-le-Grand, and no-where else, except inquisitions for the town of London, andthe jail delivery of Newgate; and that none of the freemen of the city be impleaded or troubled at the Exchequer, or elsewhere, by bill, excepting in matters concerning the

king himself or his heirs. In a second charter, the same king granted the city the village of Southwark, on a yearly payment being made at the Exchequer of the yearly farms thereof. In a third charter, he grants that merchant strangers be allowed to sell in London only according to Magna Charta. In a fourth he grants liberty for serjeants of the city to bear maces within the city. In a fifth, he grants that merchant strangers coming into the city shall board with a free host of the city, and keep houses; and that there be no brokers henceforth but what are chosen by the merchants which belong to the mystery in which they exercise office. In the same charter he grants that no stranger shall sell goods by retail, or keep any house, or be a broker in the city or suburbs. 10. Hen. IV. granted the city the custody of the gates called Newgate and Ludgate, and all other gates and posterns, with the liberty of collecting certain tolls and customs. 11. Edward IV., by his first charter, confirmed all the privileges of the city, and granted that the mayor, recorder, and such aldermen as have been mayors, shall be justices of the peace for the city and liberties, as well over land as over water; that they shall be justices of oyer and terminer; that the customs of the city shall be certified by word of mouth; that all inhabitants shall con. tribute towards the taxes. Southwark is, by this king, granted to the city in a complete manner, with all waifs, estrays, treasure trove, &c.; he also grants liberty to hold a fair three days in the year; namely, the 7th, 8th, and 9th of September. In another charter, he grants the city tonnage and the profits of weighing all wool brought into London from wheresoever. In a third charter he grants the city leave to purchase land in mortmain to a certain extent annually, in lieu of a debt which he owed to it. By a fourth, he granted (or rather sold, in consideration of 70,000l.) the city the offices of packing, portage, gauging, wine-drawing, &c., and also (for 7,000l.) the office of coroner, the mayor and citizens to grant the office to whomsoever they please. 12. Hen. VII. grants, that if any strangers buy wares of any one likewise a stranger, the merchandise so bought to be forfeited; that any stranger may buy goods

* That is to say, by the Recorder.

in the gross, but not to sell again. He confirms to the city the office of gauger. 13. Hen. VIII., in his first charter, grants that inquisitions be taken in London, and not, as heretofore, at St. Martin's-lane; and, in the second, he declares the keeping of the great beam and weights to belong to the city by prescription. 14. Edward VI. granted the mayor of London several pieces of landed property in Southwark, with the manor, and he also granted them the monastery of Bermondsey; he confirms the grant of the fair to be held in Southwark; and he grants leave for pleas to be holden in London of matters in Southwark; also that the mayor and citizens shall choose two coroners for Southwark, and he makes the mayor escheator and clerk of the market there. He also grants that the lord mayor, recorder, and aldermen of London, be justices of the peace in Southwark; and he gives them just the same jurisdiction there that they have in London. He guarantees the city against all exactions on account of the premises, saving the services reserved in the charter, and a fee-farm of 10l. per annum. 15. James 1. granted the city a charter, by which he constituted the mayor and corporation chief bailiff of the river Thames, and fixed the limits of their jurisdiction to be westward as far as Staines-bridge, and eastward as far as Yeen-Leet; he also granted them the offices of measuring all coals and grain, of salt, apples, &c., and to take the profits to their sole use. In a second charter, he granted them a full confirmation of all former charters; and he likewise determined the liberties of the city; granted the mayor and corporation leave to exact certain taxes, and that treasures found within the city, waifs, estrays, &c., should belong to it. By a third charter, he confirms the grant of weighing of all coals that come to London, and settles that it shall be done at 8d. per ton; and, by the same charter, forestalling coals and retailing in lighters are forbidden. 16. Charles I. granted a charter to the city, confirming all its former charters. He granted that the lord mayor, aldermen, and recorder, be justices, with power to commit offenders to Newgate; and moreover, that four justices, the lord mayor or recorder being always one, hold sessions to inquire into several offences against statutes, and to try indictments, according to the laws of the kingdom. He granted them

the forfeitures of recognizances within the city; and also fines to the lord mayor, as chief magistrate, or as conservator of the river Thames. He granted the city Moorfields and West-Smithfield, with liberty to hold fairs and markets in those fields, with tolls and other profits. He granted it the profits of the offices of gauging and weighing within the city; and also that freemen's widows should follow their husband's occupations so long as they continued widows; that there be no market within seven miles of the city; that the customs of the city be recorded by the mouth of the recorder; that the sons of freemen be compelled to take up their freedom, and that apprentices be apprenticed for no shorter time than seven years; also that the city have a Court of Requests for the recovery of small debts, and that the officers of this court be appointed by the lord mayor and commonalty. In the same charter he grants leave to the lord mayor and commonalty to become brokers of pawns, and he fixes the fees; be also allows them to hang out signs of their respective trades; grants them the custody of Bethlehem Hospital, and he gives them leave to buy a quantity of land in mortmain. In another charter King Charles grants the mayor and commonalty the offices of package and portage, and that of scavage, in consideration of a sum of 4,2001. All that I have given above is a mere sketch of an abstract of the Great Charter of Confirmation," which was granted in the 15th Charles II., and which embodies the whole of the charters from William I. In reading them all through, one is struck by the frequency with which the same king grants the same privilege; even, in one or two instances, over and over again; but this is accounted for by the charters having been frequently withdrawn by the king when the city had opposed him, or (more frequently) by the king's demanding sums of money, which, when given, he repaid by a confirmation of privileges, or a grant of fresh ones. Hen. III., for instance, granted the city no less than nine charters; but the chief of them were merely confirmations of former charters, and at every grant he exacted a large sum of money. At the revolution of 1688, William and Mary granted a full confirmation of all the city's rights, and this is its last charter.

When the Romans came to England, they found London the principal town

of the nation, called Trinobantes, and, after driving out these, they made it the capital of their prefecture. They called it Londinum; and there seems but little doubt that they fortified it strongly; but, quitting England about the beginning of the fifth century, London again fell into the hands of the Britons, who retained possession of it, more or less, till the year 530, when a Saxon leader, Erkenwin, assumed the sovereignty of what is now Essex, Middlesex, and a part of Hertfordshire, as king of the East-Saxons, or king of Essex. In the year 596, Pope Gregory sent St. Augustine to convert the AngloSaxons to Christianity, and he, having succeeded in the kingdom of Kent, easily persuaded the king, Ethelbert, to suffer him to send a missionary into the territory of the king of Essex, for that kingdom was now governed by Saberct, the son of Erkenwin, and nephew of Ethelbert. Accordingly, Mellitus the abbot was sent, and soon succeeded in his mission: the king received the sacrament of baptism, and caused Mellitus to be consecrated a bishop. He also made London a bishop's see, and Mellitus the bishop. This was about the year 604, and in 610, a cathedral church was built on the site of the present St. Paul's. In the reign of Egbert, year 833, a wittengemot, or Saxon parliament, was assembled at London, to take into consideration the means of expelling the Danes, who had harassed the kingdom in several descents upon it. In 851 these Danes, in the reign of Ethelwulf, reduced and sacked the town of London amongst others. It must have been the capital of the kingdom in the reign of Alfred; for we find in the Mirror of Justices, a book written during the reign of Edw. I., that "for the estate of the realm, ALFRED caused the earls to meet, and ordained for a perpetual usage, that twice in the year, or oftener, if need were, in time of peace, they should assemble together at London, to speak their minds for the guiding of the people of God," &c. Chapter I. Section 3. This was about 890. In 1052, Edward the Confessor assembled a great council at London, to judge of the rebellion of Earl Godwin and his sons. In 1067 William the Norman came over to England, and having come to London, he began a fortress on the site of the present Tower of London, and from this time London was no doubt the metropolis of the kingdom. William Rufus

augmented the fortress of his father, and is said to have built the White Tower which now stands. In 1258 a famine occurred, of which no less than 20,000 persons died; and in 1348, not less than 50,000 are said to have died in London from a pestilence which prevailed over Europe. In 1381, in the reign of Richard II., the famous rebellion of Wat Tyler and Jack Straw broke out, and was quelled in London; and in 1450, in Henry VI.'s reign, the Londoners opened the gates of the town to Jack Cade and his followers from Kent. In 1563, the plague appeared again in London, committing great havoc, but in 1665 came what goes by the name of the "great plague," in which no fewer than 100,000 persons died; and, in the very next year, broke out the fire of London, which, beginning in a baker's shop near London-bridge, raged with unabating fury for three days and nights, chasing the inhabitants from street to street, and being stopped at last by the blowing up of houses with gunpowder, but not until four hundred streets, containing in all thirteen thousand houses, were reduced to ruins, which were calculated to cover an area of about four hundred acres of ground. It burned the Guildhall, eighty-nine churches (one of which was the original St. Paul's), and four of the principal city-gates, besides hospitals and schools. So much for the city of London only. WESTMINSTER was, for many ages, entirely distinct from the city of London, and the Strand was the road leading from one to the other, having the Thames on one side and fields on the other. It was then wholly under the government, both in civil and ecclesiastical affairs, of the dean and chapter of Westminster; but, since the reformation, the civil part has been in the hands of laymen, though these are not uninfluenced by the clergy; for they elect and confirm the magistrates. The principal is the high steward, who is usually a nobleman. The next is a deputy steward. This is a kind of sheriff; for he holds the court-leet with other magistrates, and is chairman of the quarter sessions. The next is the high bailiff, who has the chief management of elections for members of parliament, and of public meetings. These are elected or confirmed by the dean and chapter, and they hold their offices for life. There is a high constable, who has the control of all the constables;