Till we can learn with certainty, who was that John Chaucer, that accompanied Edward III. in his expedition to Flanders, in 1388, we must side with those who affirm that Richard Chaucer, wine merchant, was the father of Geoffry, who was ten years of age when the above John Chaucer was in the train of king Edward. Richard was buried in the church of St. Mary Aldermary, when his son was twenty years of age.

The street now called Pancras-lane, was formerly Needler's-lane; and Peneritch, or Penny-rich-street, now St. Osyth's, corruptly called Size-lane. For an account of St. Osyth church, see Cheap Ward.

Part of Basing-lane was called Turn-base-lane, but the whole has the name of Basing now.

The street of St. Thomas Apostle, took its name from the parish in which it is situated. The church which stood in Cloak-lane, and belonged to the canon of St. Paul's cathedral, (and of which we shall give an account in Vintry Ward,) being destroyed by the general conflagration in 1666, the parish was added to that of St. Mary Aldermary, in Bow-lane.

Great St. Thomas Apostle, is a street on the brow of Garlickhill, so called from a church which formerly stood at the east end, in Vintry Ward. At the corner of the street, the extreme boundary of the Ward, stood a large mansion, built of stone, called Ormond-place, the inn or house of the earls of Ormond, who were paternally descended from Hervey Walter, a great baron in the reign of Henry II., and grandson of Richard the Tonbridge, baron of Dunmow, and lord of Baynard's Castle. This baron had five sons. Theobald, his second son, was a person of great consideration in those days. His son of the same name, was in high favour with Richard I., who advanced him to the office of chief butler of Ireland; and such was the importance of the office, that the owner transferred the name as the surname of his family. His son, James Butler, married Elizabeth, daughter of Humphry de Bohun, earl of Hereford and Essex, &c., and was, by Edward III. created earl of Iraland; whence descended the noble family of Butler, dukes, and earls of Ormond, and other branches.

It does not appear on record, how Ormond House passed to the crown, but Edw.IV. in the fifth year of his reign, gave to Eli-zabeth his wife, the manor of Greenwich, and the tenement, called Ormond place, with all the appurtenances to the same, situate in the parish of the Holy Trinity, in Knight-rider-street, (Cloak-lane) in London. The mansion, which had been pulled down in Stowe's time, was afterwards converted to divers" fair tenements," the corner house of which was a tavern.

In the parish of St. Mary-le-Bow, was a grammar school, established by Henry VI., but it feel into decay; and the house was, in the reign of Henry VIII. let out at four shillings a year.

The houses were many of them only superior kinds of sheds, and Stow mentions three shops or sheds in Sopar-lane," pertaining to the prior of the Holy Trinity within Aldgate, the one was let out for twenty-eight shillings, one for twenty shillings, and a third for twelve shillings by the yeere, and one shed and chamber was let out in the parish of St. Mary to a person for 3s. 4d. by the yeare." Men, things, and places, have altered in our more expensive days, -The march of intellect perhaps !

(A List

A List of Aldermen of Cordwainers' Ward, from 1676, to the present time.

Sir R. Jefferey, knight, elected in 1676, served the office of sheriff in 1674, and that of lord-mayortin in 1686.

Sir C. Thorold, knight, elected in 1704, served the office of sheriff in 1706.

Sir G. Thorold, bart., elected in 1709, served the office of sheriff in 1711, and that of lord-mayor in 1720.

Sir W. Billers, knight, elected in 1722, served the office of sheriff in 1721, and that of lord-mayor in 1734.

Edward Ironside, esq. elected in 1745, served the office of sheriff in 1749, was chosen lord-mayor in 1753, but died in the office.

W. Alexander, esq., elected in 1753, served the office of sheriff in 1751.

Sir H. Banks. knight, elected in 1762, served the office of sheriff in 1763.

George Hayley, esq. elected in 1774, served the office of sheriff in 1775.

Sir B. Turner, knt. elected in 1781; served the office of sheriff in 1783.

Sir Brook Watson, bart.; elected in 1784; served the office of sherifi in 1785; and that of lord mayor in 1796.

Christopher Smith, esq.; elected in 1807; served the office of sheriff in the same year; and that of lord-mayor in 1817; is the present alderman of this Ward.

END OF CORDWAINERS WARD.

Cornhill Ward,

DIVIDED into four precincts, is governed by an alderman, with six common councilmen, and has four constables, sixteen inquest men, and a ward beadle.

In the days of Fitz-Stephen, each of the streets of London were occupied by a distinct class of tradesmen, who carried on then a distinct trade. This assembling together of particular trades gave the names to many streets, such as Cordwainers'-street, Hosier-lane, and many still remain, as Bread-street, Milk-street, Fish-streethill, the Poultry, Leather-lane, Shoe-lane, the Vintry, Coopers'row, Budge-row, &c.

Cornhill received its name from being the site of the principal market in the city for corn. It does not appear that the factors lived here, but that stalls were erected, at which they attended on market-days. The houses were then inhabited by drapers, who were so numerous and respectable, that they were formed into a distinct guild, called "the Drapers of Cornhill." On quitting the street, the drapers were succeeded by a less respectable class of dealers, similar we may believe to those living nuisances, the Jew clothes men, who infest Holywell, Monmouth, and other streets of that class. They were not very particular in what they bought or sold, and the comparison we have made is equally borne out in this respect. Stowe says, "I have read of a countryman, who, having lost his hood, in Westminster-hall, found the same in Cornhill, hanged out to be sold, which he challenged." In all probability Stow had heard of the old ballad, "the London Lyckpeny," by Dan John Lydgate, monk of Berry, given at length in

Candlewick Ward, to which we refer our readers for the rhymes at length; the stanza the historian alluded to, is,

"Then into Cornhill anon I yode,

There was much stolen gere amonge;

I saw where honge myne owne hoode,

That I had lost amonge the thronge:

To bye myne owne hoode, I thought it wronge,

I knew it as well as I dyd my crede,

But for lack of money could not spede."

The building of the Royal Mart or Exchange, restored Cornhill to its respectability, and it is now the principal thoroughfare of the city.

We cannot better define the limits of this Ward, than by giving Stowe's own words, as the boundaries are still the same.

This ward," beginning at the west end of Leaden-hall (street), stretching downe west, on both the sides, by tlie south end of Finkes (Finch) Lane, and by the north end of Birchovers (Birchin) Lane, on the left part of which lane, to wit to the middle of them, is in this Ward, and so downe to the Stocks Market, (where the Sun Fire Office stands), and this is the bounds."

There are two parish churches in this Ward, dedicated respectively to St. Michael the Archangel, and St. Peter.

:

The date of the foundation of St. Michael, Cornhill, is extremely remote. Alnothus, the monk, gave it to the abbot and convent, of Eovesham Reynold, the abbot, and the convent granted the same to Sparling, the priest, in all measures as he and his predecessors beforehand held it, to the which Sparling, also they granted all their lands which they there bad, except certain lands held of them by Orgar le Prowde, who paid them two shillings yearly. For the which grant, the said Sparling agreed to pay one mark of rent yearly to the abbot; and find him in lodging, salt, water and fire, when he came to London, this was granted in 1132.

Amongst the registers of the churches belonging to the abbey of Evesham, is the following note: In Londiniis ecclesia S. Mich.