THE old church was built about the year 1437; when Sir John Michell, fishmonger, lord mayor, and the commonalty, granted to Mr. Down, then rector, a parcel of ground, containing in length twenty-eight, and in breadth twenty-four feet, to build their steeple on. It was repaired and beautified at the parish charge in the year 1623. And having had its unfortunate share of the calamitous conflagration in 1666, was rebuilt in 1684.

The roof of the church is camerated; the walls and pillars are of stone, of the Composite order; the floor of the church is raised about three feet above the street, and the plot of ground within the church is broader than long. The steeple consists of a handsome tower, cupola and spire, of the Tuscan order; above the cupola is a balcony.

The interior is adorned with four columns, near the four angles of the church; and an entablament consisting of four quadrangles, where the roof is lower than in the middle of church; and several pilasters.

It has a neat gallery of wainscot, on the south side of the church, and a gallery at the west end, in which is a good organ. It is also well pewed, and wainscoted with oak.

On the south side are two fine wainscot inner door cases, curiously carved.

The altar-piece is ornamental and spacious, with four pilasters and entablament. Above are two attic pilasters, entablature, and pediment, with the arms of England carved, gilt, and painted, standing between two carved lamps. The intercolumns are the Commandments, &c. Over these are a glory, painted on the figure of a holy lamb-skin, between two cherubims; and other enrichments of cartouches, palm branches, &c. The foot-pace under the communion table is black and white marble, inclosed with rail and banister.

The pulpit is veneered and enriched with cherubims, book displayed, &c. And the steeple is adorned with cartouches, pine-apples, festoons, and other ornaments.

The dimensions of the church are, length fifty-seven, breadth sixtysix, height fifty-nine feet, and the altitude of

the

the steeple, to the top of the spire, one hundred and sixtyeight feet, measured by a scale.

MONUMENTS noticed by Stow.

Sir William Sevenoke, mayor of London, 1418. Born at Sevenoke, in Kent, where he founded a free school and almshouses.

Sir Stephen Peacock, lord mayor in 1533, the year that queen Elizabeth was born.

RECTORS of eminence. THOMAS LUPSET, A. M. 1526; of whom we have inade mention under St. Paul's school. WILLIAM GLYN, D. D. 1549, bishop of Bangor. SAMUEL PURCHAS, S. T. B. author of The Pilgrimage, &c. MICHAEL GERMAN, D. D. a great sufferer during the civil wars.

THOMAS JACOMB, D. D. an eminent Non-conformist, for which he was ejected in 1662*.

* In digging a foundation at the back of the London coffee house, adjoining this church, by the remains of London Wall, a stone of the form of a sextagon was discovered in September 1806. The following inscription is cut on it;

D. O. M.

CL. MARTI
NAE AN. XI

ANONCLI
TUS
PROVINC

CONGRESSI

PIETISSIME

H. S. E.

DEO OPTIMO MAXIMQ
CLAVDIÆ MARTINE

ANNO VNDECIMO

ANONCLITVS PROVINCIALIS CONGRESSVs
PIETISSIME HOC SEPVLCHRVM EREXIT.

"To the All-glorious Deity
ANONCLITUS

In the eleventh year of his provincial government,
Has most piously erected this monument

To the Memory of his Wife,
CLAUDIA MARTINA."

LUDGATE HILL is a broad street of stately houses. A large inn, denominated the BELL SAVAGE, Stow says, it received its name from one Arabella Savage, who had given the house to the company of Cutlers. The painter gave it a diverting origin, deriving it from a Bell and a Wild Man; and so painted a bell, with a savage man standing by it. The Spectator alone gives the real derivation; which is from La Belle Sauvage, a beautiful woman, described in an old French romance as being found in a wilderness in a savage state.

The east side of NEW BRIDGE STREET is a pile of stately dwellings, with a crescent, which extend to CHATHAM SQUARE, and

PITT'S BRIDGE, VULGARLY BLACKFRIARS BRIDGE.

This beautiful structure was built to the honour of WILLIAM PITT, EARL of CHATHAM, as the names of the square and streets sufficiently testify.

It was constructed during the reign of George III. by the architectural ingenuity of ROBERT MYLNE, Esq. and is a most majestic fabric, consisting of nine arches, which being elliptical, the apertures for navigation are large, whilst the bridge itself is low: when a person is under one of these arches the extent of the vault overhead cannot be viewed without awe! The dimensions of the whole, are:

Length from wharf to wharf

Width of the central arch

Width of the arches on each side, reckoning from the central one towards the shores

Width of the carriage way

Width of the raised foot ways on each side 7
Total width of the passage over

Height of the balustrade on the inside

42

4

10

The upper surface of the bridge is a portion of a very

large circle; so that the whole forms one arch, and appears

a gently

a gently swelling ground under foot all the way. Over each pier is a recess or balcony, supported below by two Ionic pillars, and two pilasters; which stand upon a semicircular projection of the pier, above high-water mark: these pillars give an agreeable lightness to the appearance of the bridge on either side. At each extremity the bridge spreads open, the footways rounding off to the right and left a quadrant of a circle; by which an open access is formed to the bridge, no less agreeable than useful on the approach. There are two flights of stone steps at each end, defended by iron rails, for the conveniency of taking water. These stairs, however, by conforming to the curvatures at the ends of the bridge, are more elegant than convenient a flight of fifty narrow stone steps must be very irksome to porters going up and down with loads; and no less dangerous in frosty weather, when if a person slips down near the top, there is nothing to check the fall till the reaching of the water at the flood, or the bottom, at the ebb of the tide. This inconvenience has in some degree been remedied at the north-east end; a place for landing goods has been formed at the half-way, which is of very es

sential service to the water craft.

Beside the intrinsic merit of Blackfriars Bridge, it has been observed that from its situation it enjoys the concurrent advantage of affording the best, if not the only true. point of view for the magnificent cathedral of St. Paul; with the various churches in the amphitheatre, extending from Westminster to the Tower*.

Rooker has engraved a very capital representation of the wooden frames on which the arches of this bridge were turned, which were very judiciously contrived by the architect, for strength and lightness, and allowing a free passage for boats under them whilst they were standing. A curious model of one of the arches of the bridge, in mahogany, shewing the construction of the wood work under it, the foundations of the pier below, with the road and foot

* Critical Observations on the Buildings and Improvements of London, 4to. 1771. p. 33.

passages

passages over it, and two patterns for the rails on each side, is preserved in the British Museum.

The history of the foundation of Blackfriars Bridge, has already engaged several pages in our First Volume.

Returning to Chatham Square, and New Bridge Street, we arrive at FLEET MARKET, which extends from the east end of Fleet Street to the west end or bottom of Snow Hill. This market consists of two rows of shops, with a handsome walk paved with rag stones between, almost the whole length; into which there is light conveyed by windows from the roof. In the centre is a neat turret, with a clock. At the south end the fruiterers have stands on each side, under a kind of piazzas, under which are convenient cells to deposit their stock. At the north end is a large area for kitchen garden stuff, &c.

On the east side of this market is situated The FLEET PRISON, SO called from its situation. This was a prison in the reign of Richard I. and is a general place of safety for debtors, and such as are in contempt of the courts of Chancery, Common Pleas, and Exchequer. Any prisoner for debt may be removed by Habeas Corpus from any prison in England to the Fleet; and enjoy the rules, or liberty to walk abroad, and to keep a house within the liberties of the prison, provided he can give security to the warden for his forthcoming. The rules or liberties comprehend all Ludgate Hill, from the Ditch to the Old Bailey, on the north side of the hill, and to Cock Alley on the south side of the hill: both sides of the Old Bailey, from Ludgate Hill eastward to Fleet Lane, all Fleet Lane, and the east side of the ditch or market, from Fleet Lane to Ludgate Hill.

The body of this prison is an handsome, lofty, brick building, of a considerable length, with galleries in every story, which reach from one end of the house to the other: on the sides of which galleries are rooms for the prisoners. All manner of provisions are brought into this prison every day, and cried as in the public streets. Here also is kept a coffee-house, and an ordinary: with a large open`area for exercise, enclosed with a high wall.