A solemn exhortation was formerly given from the church-yard to the prisoners, appointed to die at Tyburn, in their way from Newgate. Mr. Robert Dow, merchant taylor, who died in 1612, left 26s. 8d. yearly for ever, that the bellman should deliver from the wall to the unhappy criminals, as they went by in the cart, a most pious and awful admonition; and also another, in the prison of Newgate, on the night before they suffered.

In this church was buried captain John Smith, one of the greatest adventurers of the age in which he lived. He was governor of Virginia, of which he wrote a very curious history. He died in

1631.

St. Bartholomew the Great.

At the

This church is situated on the east side of Smithfield. dissolution of monasteries, the old priory church was made parochial and given to the parishioners in lieu of their own church, as appears by the grant to sir Richard Riche, of the 19th May, 1544, from which the following is an extract: And whereas the great close of St. Bartholomew hath been before the memory of man used as a parish within itself, and distinct from other parishes; and the inhabitants thereof have had their parish church, and church-yard, within the church of the late monastery and priory, and to the same church annexed, and have had divine service performed by a curate from the appointment of the prior and con vent; and whereas a certain chapel, called The parish chapel,' with part of the great parish church, have been taken away, and the materials sold for our use; nevertheless, there still remains a part fit for erecting a parish church, and already raised and built: we do grant to the said Rich. Riche, knt. and to the present and future inhabitants within the great close, that part of the said church of the late said monastery or priory which remains raised and built, to be a parish church for ever, for the use of the said inhabitants; and to be called the parish church of St. Bartholomew, the Apostle the Great, in West Smithfield, in the suburbs of London, distinct and separate from other parishes; and that all the void ground, 87 feet in length and 60 feet in breadth, next adjoining to the west side of the church, shall be taken for a church-yard, &c. &c.' The next clause appoints Richard Riche patron, and John Deane clerk, rector; and places the church in the jurisdiction of the diocese of London, and fixes the first fruits at 87. per annum ; 11. per annum to the rector, and his successors, their salary arising from certain tenements.

In the 2d year of Elizabeth, another grant was made to the same sir Richard Riche, by the title of Richard lord Riche and to his heirs, afterwards earls of Warwick and Holland, from whom hath

* Printed at length in Pennant's London. This practice has been long discontinued; but the bellman of St.

Sepulchre's attends in Newgate to toll the bell on the morning of the execution.

descended the late possessor William Edwardes, of Johnstone-hall, in the county of Pembroke, South Wales, son of lady Elizabeth Rich, and created in 1776 baron Kensington of the kingdom of Ireland. His lordship died Dec. 13, 1801; and was succeeded by his only son William Edwardes, lord Kensington.

The exterior of this church is so greatly concealed by the adjacent houses, that with the exception of the west front, but little of the building meets public observation: the north side, however, may be seen from a narrow court behind the houses in Cloth-fair; the outer walls, including apartments over the aisles, now used as a school for the parish, were rebuilt in red brick, the work of prior Bolton; the windows introduced at that time into the aisle, have mullions worked in brick, and the whole of these particulars are in the domestic style of the 16th century; the east end has been rebuilt with brick in more modern times; this portion has two large round-headed windows. The south side is equally obscured with the northern, and a part of the ancient galleries of the church, which were situated above the aisles, are occupied by the Protestant dissenters school. The church in its ancient state was built in the form of a cross; the south transept still exists in ruins, and it had probably fallen to decay prior to the Reformation; the north transept and nave have left no trace behind ;* the choir and square of the tower at the intersection with the transept, still exist, and constitute the parish church; this portion then we proceed to describe. Entering from Smithfield, through a fragment of an elegant pointed arch of the early part of the 13th century, formed of receding arched ribs resting on corbels, and separated by hollows, enriched with diagonal leaved flowers, a church-yard is approached, which occupies the site of the nave; at the extremity is the west front of the church, built at the reformation, out of the ruins of the priory. It contains a low doorway, and over it an ugly window divided by mullions into compartments,

The annexed engraving is from an actual survey made in June 1828, and exhibits the extensive remains of this 'celebrated priory.

1. The present church; the choir of the ancient one.

2. South transept in ruins.

3. Chapter-house.

4. Site of the north transept.

5. Entrance to the present church.

6. Presumed entrance to the nave of the ancient church.

7. Remains of an ancient gateway. 8. Farrier's shop.

9. Site of the woodhouse.

10. Prior's house, containing on the attic the infirmary and dormitory.

1. Vestry, formerly the Virgins' chapel.

1. Tomb of Rahere the founder

13. Warwick house.

14. Hand and Shears public house. 15. East cloister, now a stable. 16. Site of the north cloister. 17. Site of the south cloister. 18. Site of the west cloister. 19. North entrance to the present church.

20. Saint Bartholomew's chapel. 21. Chapel vestry rooms, now a saw pit.

22. Site of the mulberry gardens belonging to the monastery.

23. Cloisters under the hall or refectory.

24. Site of the nave of the ancient church.

25. East entrance to the present church.

a poor attempt to imitate the ancient pointed style, which seemed to have fled with the unfortunate monks. The tower, which occupies the south-west angle of the building, is a clumsy fabric of brickwork, square in plan, and in elevation made by string courses into four stories; the basement contains a doorway, on which is the date 1628, partly concealed by a pentice. In the upper stories are pointed windows with mullions in an execrable taste. The eleva tion is finished with battlements, and crowned with an open turret of wood sustaining a vane; the angles are guarded with heavy buttresses. The interior is approached by the entrances just noticed, as well as by a door in the north side, made by enlarging one of the windows of the ancient edifice. Under the tower is a fragment of pointed architecture in the style of the great gate. The remainder of the building is the unaltered Norman architecture of Rahere, and although much mutilated, shows, in some portions, interesting specimens of the architecture of the twelfth century. In the south aisle is a low doorway leading into the ruinated south transept, which is now used as a burying ground. The side walls remain; the architecture of which is the same as the remaining portions of the church. The aisles are vaulted with arcs doubleaux in the plainest and simplest style; and in the portion which sweeps round the altar, (the eastern termination, as in most Norman churches, being semicircular) the architecture is in the most perfect state.

The bold and massive arches at the junction of the nave with the choir and transepts are still perfect. Those which stretch across the nave and choir are semicircular, and rest on corbels attached to the grand piers; the others, which bound the transepts, are pointed, and spring from columns formed in clusters. All the archivolts are richly ornamented with zigzags, hollows, and rounds, in succession; and in the spandrils are small circular and round-headed windows, now walled up. On each side of the choir are three semicircular arches dividing the body from the aisles; they rest partly upon massive piers and a circular pillar, 4 feet in diameter and 8 feet in height, including the capital; and all the parts are marked with an unusual degree of strength even for a Norman building; the arches show the billet moulding. The gallery story consists of a large arch, enclosing a smaller arcade, sustained on slender pillars, with square capitals. The whole of the openings are walled up, and in some parts the arches of this story are entirely destroyed. The third, or clerestory, has been rebuilt in more modern times with pointed arches; the sweeping mouldings rest upon brackets carved with animals and busts, the work, probably, of the fourteenth century. The roof is timber, and is sustained on massive beams crossing the church, resting on corbels attached to the side walls, and carved with cherubic heads. The east wall has been partially rebuilt; the remains of the ancient mouldings of the former windows are visible. The wall is occupied by a large altar-piece, which consists of a composition of columns and arches surmounted by entabla