London in 1731 Part 8

But the house most admired for its situation is that of the Duke of Buckingham at the west end of the Park; in the front of which, towards the Mall and the grand ca.n.a.l, is a s.p.a.cious court, the offices on each side having a communication with the house by two little bending piazzas and galleries that form the wings. This front is adorned with two ranges of pilasters of the Corinthian and Tuscan orders, and over them is an acroteria of figures, representing Mercury, Secrecy, Equity, and Liberty, and under them this inscription in large golden characters, viz., SIC SITI LAETANTVR LARES (Thus situated, may the household G.o.ds rejoice).

Behind the house is a fine garden and terrace, from whence there is prospect adjacent on the house on that side, viz., RVS IN VRBE, intimating that it has the advantages both of city and country; above which are figures representing the four seasons: The hall is paved with marble, and adorned with pilasters, the intercolumns exquisite paintings in great variety; and on a pedestal, near the foot of the grand staircase, is a marble figure of Cain killing his brother Abel; the whole structure exceeding magnificent, rich, and beautiful, but especially in the finis.h.i.+ng and furniture.

Grosvenor or Gravenor Square is bounded on the north by Oxford Road, on the east by Hanover Square, by Mayfair on the south, and by Hyde Park on the west; the area whereof contains about five acres of ground, in which is a large garden laid out into walks, and adorned with an equestrian statue of King George I. gilded with gold, and standing on a pedestal, in the centre of the garden, the whole surrounded with palisades placed upon a dwarf wall. The buildings generally are the most magnificent we meet with in this great town; though the fronts of the houses are not all alike, for some of them are entirely of stone, others of brick and stone, and others of rubbed brick, with only their quoins, fascias, windows, and door- cases of stone; some of them are adorned with stone columns of the several orders, while others have only plain fronts; but they are so far uniform as to be all sashed, and of pretty near an equal height.

To the kitchens and offices, which have little paved yards with vaults before them, they descend by twelve or fifteen steps, and these yards are defended by a high palisade of iron. Every house has a garden behind it, and many of them coach-houses and stables adjoining; and others have stables near the square, in a place that has obtained the name of Grosvenor Mews. The finis.h.i.+ng of the houses within is equal to the figure they make without; the staircases of some of them I saw were inlaid, and perfect cabinet- work, and the paintings on the roof and sides by the best hands.

The apartments usually consist of a long range of fine rooms, equally commodious and beautiful; none of the houses are without two or three staircases for the convenience of the family. The grand staircase is generally in the hall or saloon at the entrance. In short, this square may well be looked upon as the beauty of the town, and those who have not seen it cannot have an adequate idea of the place.

The city of Westminster at this day consists of the parishes of St.

Margaret and St. John the Evangelist, and the liberties of Westminster, viz., St. Martin's-in-the-Fields; St. Mary le Savoy; St. Mary le Strand; St. Clement's Danes; St. Paul's, Covent Garden; St. James's, Westminster; St. George's, Hanover Square; and St.

Anne's, Westminster; all under the government of the dean and chapter of Westminster, and their subordinate officers; or rather, of a high steward, and such other officers as are appointed by them; for since the Reformation, the dean and chapter seem to have delegated their civil power to such officers as they elect for life, who are not accountable to, or liable to be displaced by them, nor are they liable to forfeit their offices, but for such offences as a private man may lose his estate, namely, for high treason, felony, &c., as happened in the case of their high steward, the Duke of Ormond, upon whose attainder the dean and chapter proceeded to a new election.

The next officer to the high steward is the deputy steward, appointed by the high steward, and confirmed by the dean and chapter, who is usually a gentleman learned in the law, being judge of their court for trial of civil actions between party and party, which is held usually on Wednesday every week. They have also a court-leet, held annually on St. Thomas's Day, for the choice of officers, and removal of nuisances. The deputy-steward supplies the place of sheriff of Westminster, except in the return of members of Parliament, which is done by the high bailiff, an officer nominated by the dean and chapter, and confirmed by the high steward. The high-bailiff also is ent.i.tled to all fines, forfeitures, waifs and strays in Westminster, which makes it a very profitable post.

The high constable, chosen by the burgesses at their court-leet, and approved by the steward or his deputy, is an officer of some consideration in this city also, to whom all the rest of the constables are subject.

The burgesses are sixteen in number, seven for the city and nine for the liberties of Westminster, appointed by the high steward or his deputy, every one of whom has his a.s.sistant, and has particular wards or districts: out of these burgesses are chosen two chief burgesses, one for the city, the other for the liberties. The dean, high steward, or his deputy, the bailiffs and burgesses, or a quorum of them, are empowered to make bye-laws, and take cognisance of small offences, within the city and liberties of Westminster. But I look upon it that the justices of peace for Westminster have in a great measure superseded the authority of the burgesses (except as to weights, measures, and nuisances), by virtue of whose warrants all petty offenders almost are apprehended and sent to Tothill Fields Bridewell; and for higher offences, the same justices commit criminals to Newgate, or the Gatehouse, who receive their trials before commissioners of oyer and terminer at the Old Bailey, as notorious criminals in the City of London do; and so far the two united cities may be said to be under the same government.

The precinct of St. Martin's-le-Grand, in London, is deemed a part of the city of Westminster, and the inhabitants vote in the elections of members of Parliament for Westminster.

The ecclesiastical government of the city of Westminster is in the dean, and chapter, whose commissary has the jurisdiction in all ecclesiastical causes, and the probate of wills; from whom there lies no appeal to the Archbishop of Canterbury or other spiritual judge, but to the King in Chancery alone, who upon such appeal issues a commission under the Great Seal of England, const.i.tuting a court of delegates to determine the cause finally.

I next proceed to survey the out-parishes in the Counties of Middles.e.x and Surrey which are comprehended within the bills of mortality, and esteemed part of this great town. And first, St.

Giles's in the Fields contains these chief streets and places: Great Lincoln's Inn Fields, part of Lincoln's Inn Garden, Turnstile, Whetstone Park, part of High Holborn, part of Duke Street, Old and New Wild Street, Princes Street, Queen Street, part of Drury Lane, Brownlow Street, Bolton Street, Castle Street, King Street, the Seven Dials, or seven streets comprehending Earl Street, Queen Street, White Lion Street, and St. Andrew's Street, Monmouth Street, the east side of Hog Lane, Stedwell Street, and Staig Street.

Great Lincoln's Inn Fields or Square contains about ten acres of ground, and is something longer than it is broad, the longest sides extending from east to west. The buildings on the west and south generally make a grand figure.

In the parish of St. Sepulchre, which is without the liberties of the City of London, we meet with Hicks's Hall and the Charter House.

Hicks's Hall is situated in the middle of St. John's Street, towards the south end, and is the sessions house for the justices of peace of the County of Middles.e.x, having been erected for this end, anno 1612, by Sir Baptist Hicks, a mercer in Cheapside, then a justice of the peace. The justices before holding their sessions at the Castle Inn, near Smithfield Bars.

To the eastward of Hicks's Hall stood the late dissolved monastery of the Charter House, founded by Sir Walter Manny, a native of the Low Countries, knighted by King Edward III. for services done to this crown, probably in the wars against France.

Sir Walter Manny at first erected only a chapel, and a.s.signed it to be the burial-place of all strangers; but in the year 1371 Sir Walter founded a monastery of Carthusian monks here, transferring to these fathers thirteen acres and a rood of land with the said chapel: the revenues of which convent, on the dissolution of monasteries, 30 Henry VIII., amounted to 642 pounds 4d. 1ob. per annum.

Sir Thomas Audley soon after obtained a grant of this Carthusian monastery, together with Duke's Place, and gave the former in marriage with his daughter Margaret to Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, from whom it descended to the Earl of Suffolk, and was called Howard House, the surname of that n.o.ble family. By which name Thomas Sutton, Esq., purchased it of the Earl of Suffolk for 13,000 pounds, anno 1611, and converted it into a hospital by virtue of letters patent obtained from King James I., which were afterwards confirmed by Act of Parliament, 3 Charles I.

Pounds s. d.

The manors, lands, tenements, and hereditaments which the founder settled upon this hospital amounted to, per annum 4493 19 10 The revenues purchased by his executors, &c., after his death, to per annum 897 13 9 Total of the charity per annum 5391 13 7

But the revenues now amount to upwards of 6,000 pounds per annum by the improvement of the rents. This charity was given for the maintenance of fourscore old men, who were to be either gentlemen by descent reduced to poverty, soldiers by sea or land, merchants who had suffered by piracy or s.h.i.+pwreck, or servants of the King's household, and were to be fifty years of age and upwards at their admission, except maimed soldiers, who are capable of being admitted at forty years of age. Nor are any to be admitted who are afflicted with leprosy, or any unclean or infectious disease, or who shall be possessed of the value of 200 pounds, or 14 pounds per annum for life, or who are married men. No poor brother to go beyond sea without the licence of six of the governors, nor to go into the country for above two months without the master's leave, and during such absence shall be allowed but two-thirds of his commons in money besides his salary; and if a brother go out and is arrested he shall have no allowance during his absence, but his place to be reserved till the governors' pleasure be known.

No brother to pa.s.s the gates of the hospital in his livery gown, or to lie out of the house, or solicit causes, or molest any of the King's subjects, under a certain pecuniary pain; and all other duties, such as frequenting chapel, decent clothing and behaviour, to be regulated by the governors.

This munificent benefactor also founded a grammar school in the Charter House, to consist of a master, usher, and forty scholars.

No scholars to be admitted at above fourteen or under ten years of age.

The scholars are habited in black gowns, and when any of them are fit for the university, and are elected, each of them receives 20 pounds per annum for eight years out of the revenues of the house.

And such boys who are found more fit for trades are bound out, and a considerable sum of money given with them.

When any of the forty boys are disposed of, or any of the old men die, others are placed in their rooms by the governors in their turns.

The master is to be an unmarried man, aged about forty; one that hath no preferment in Church or State which may draw him from his residence and care of the hospital.

The preacher must be a Master of Arts, of seven years' standing in one of the universities of England, and one who has preached four years.

The governors meet in December, to take the year's accounts, view the state of the hospital, and to determine other affairs; and again in June or July, to dispose of the scholars to the university or trades, make elections, &c. And a committee of five at the least is appointed at the a.s.sembly in December yearly, to visit the school between Easter and Midsummer, &c.

The buildings of the Charter House take up a great deal of ground, and are commodious enough, but have no great share of beauty. This house has pretty much the air of a college or monastery, of which the princ.i.p.al rooms are the chapel and the hall; and the old men who are members of the society have their several cells, as the monks have in Portugal.

The chapel is built of brick and boulder, and is about sixty-three feet in length, thirty-eight in breadth, and twenty-four in height.

Here Sir William Manny, founder of the Carthusian monastery, was buried; and here was interred Mr. Sutton, the founder of the hospital, whose monument is at the north-east angle of the chapel, being of black and white marble, adorned with four columns, with pedestals and entablature of the Corinthian order, between which lies his effigy at length in a fur gown, his face upwards and the palms of his hands joined over his breast; and on the tomb is the following inscription:-

"Sacred to the glory of G.o.d, in grateful memory of Thomas Sutton, Esq. Here lieth buried the body of Thomas Sutton, late of Castle Camps, in the County of Cambridge, Esq., at whose only cost and charges this Hospital was founded and endowed with large possessions, for the relief of poor men and children. He was a gentleman born at Knayth, in the County of Lincoln, of worthy and honest parentage. He lived to the age of seventy-nine years, and deceased the 12th day of December, 1611."

The Charter House gardens are exceeding pleasant, and of a very great extent, considering they stand so far within this great town.

I shall, in the next place, survey the free schools and charity schools.

Anciently I have read that there were three princ.i.p.al churches in London that had each of them a famous school belonging to it; and these three churches are supposed to be--(1) The Cathedral Church of St. Paul, because, at a general council holden at Rome, anno 1176, it was decreed, "That every cathedral church should have its schoolmaster, to teach poor scholars and others as had been accustomed, and that no man should take any reward for licence to teach." (2) The Abbey Church of St Peter at Westminster; for of the school here Ingulphus, Abbot of Croyland, in the reign of William the Conqueror, writes as follows: "I, Ingulphus, a humble servant of G.o.d, born of English parents, in the most beautiful city of London, for attaining to learning was first put to Westminster, and after to study at Oxford," &c. (3) The Abbey Church of St. Saviour, at Bermondsey, in Southwark; for this is supposed to be the most ancient and most considerable monastery about the city at that time, next to that of St. Peter at Westminster, though there is no doubt but the convents of St. John by Clerkenwell, St. Bartholomew in Smithfield, St. Mary Overy in Southwark, that of the Holy Trinity by Aldgate, and other monasteries about the city, had their respective schools, though not in such reputation as the three first. Of these none are now existing but St. Paul's and Westminster, though perhaps on different and later foundations. Yet other schools have been erected in this metropolis from time to time, amongst which I find that called Merchant Taylors' to be the most considerable.

St. Paul's School is situated on the east side of St. Paul's Churchyard, being a handsome fabric built with brick and stone, founded by John Collet, D.D. and Dean of St. Paul's, anno 1512, who appointed a high-master, sur-master, a chaplain or under-master, and 153 scholars, to be taught by them gratis, of any nation or country.

He also left some exhibitions to such scholars as are sent to the universities and have continued at this school three years. The masters are elected by the wardens and a.s.sistants of the Mercers'

Company, and the scholars are admitted by the master upon a warrant directed to him by the surveyor. The elections for the university are in March, before Lady Day, and they are allowed their exhibitions for seven years. To this school belongs a library, consisting chiefly of cla.s.sic authors. The frontispiece is adorned with busts, entablature, pediments, festoons, s.h.i.+elds, vases, and the Mercers' arms cut in stone, with this inscription over the door: INGREDERE UT PROFICIAS. Upon every window of the school was written, by the founder's direction: AUT DOCE, AUT DISCE, AUT DISCEDE--i.e., Either teach, learn, or begone.

The founder, in the ordinances to be observed in this school, says he founded it to the honour of the Child Jesus, and of His blessed mother Mary; and directs that the master be of a healthful const.i.tution, honest, virtuous, and learned in Greek and Latin; that he be a married or single man, or a priest that hath no cure; that his wages should be a mark a week, and a livery gown of four n.o.bles, with a house in town, and another at Stebonheath (Stepney); that there should be no play-days granted but to the King, or some bishop in person: that the scholars every Childermas Day should go to St.

Paul's Church, and hear the child-bishop sermon, and afterwards at high ma.s.s each of them offer a penny to the child-bishop: and committed the care of the school to the Company of Mercers; the stipends to the masters, the officers' salaries, &c., belonging to the school, amounting at first to 118 pounds 14s. 7d. 1ob. per annum; but the rents and revenues of the school being of late years considerably advanced, the salaries of the masters have been more than doubled, and many exhibitions granted to those who go to the university, of 10 pounds and 6 pounds odd money per annum. The second master hath a handsome house near the school, as well as the first master.

The school at Mercers' Chapel, in Cheapside, hath the same patrons and governors as that of St. Paul's, viz., the Mercers, who allow the master a salary of 40 pounds per annum, and a house, for teaching twenty-five scholars gratis.

Merchant Taylors' School is situated near Cannon Street, on St.

Lawrence Poultney (or Pountney) Hill. This school, I am told, consists of six forms, in which are three hundred lads, one hundred of whom are taught gratis, another hundred pay two s.h.i.+llings and sixpence per quarter, and the third hundred five s.h.i.+llings a quarter; for instructing of whom there is a master and three ushers: and out of these scholars some are annually, on St. Barnabas' Day, the 11th of June, elected to St. John's College, in Oxford, where there are forty-six fellows.h.i.+ps belonging to the school.

As to the charity schools: there are in all 131, some for boys, others for girls; where the children are taught, if boys, to read, write, and account; if girls, to read, sew, and knit; who are all clothed and fitted for service or trades gratis.

I proceed in the next place to show how well London is supplied with water, firing, bread-corn, flesh, fish, beer, wine, and other provisions.

And as to water, no city was ever better furnished with it, for every man has a pipe or fountain of good fresh water brought into his house, for less than twenty s.h.i.+llings a year, unless brewhouses, and some other great houses and places that require more water than an ordinary family consumes, and these pay in proportion to the quant.i.ty they spend; many houses have several pipes laid in, and may have one in every room, if they think fit, which is a much greater convenience than two or three fountains in a street, for which some towns in other countries are so much admired.

These pipes of water are chiefly supplied from the waterworks at London Bridge, Westminster, Chelsea, and the New River.

Besides the water brought from the Thames and the New River, there are a great many good springs, pumps, and conduits about the town, which afford excellent water for drinking. There are also mineral waters on the side of Islington and Pancras.

This capital also is well supplied with firing, particularly coals from Newcastle, and pit-coals from Scotland, and other parts; but wood is excessively dear, and used by n.o.body for firing, unless bakers, and some few persons of quality in their chambers and drawing-rooms.

As for bread-corn, it is for the most part brought to London after it is converted into flour, and both bread and flour are extremely reasonable: we here buy as much good white bread for three- halfpence or twopence, as will serve an Englishman a whole day, and flour in proportion. Good strong beer also may be had of the brewer, for about twopence a quart, and of the alehouses that retail it for threepence a quart. Bear Quay, below bridge, is a great market for malt, wheat, and horse-corn; and Queenhithe, above the bridge, for malt, wheat, flour, and other grain.

The butchers here compute that there are about one thousand oxen sold in Smithfield Market one week with another the year round; besides many thousand sheep, hogs, calves, pigs, and lambs, in this and other parts of the town; and a great variety of venison, game, and poultry. Fruit, roots, herbs, and other garden stuff are very cheap and good.