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diff --git a/old/44683.txt b/old/44683.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b644e3e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44683.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10042 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of South London, by Sir Walter Besant + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: South London + +Author: Sir Walter Besant + +Illustrator: Francis S. Walker + +Release Date: January 16, 2014 [EBook #44683] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOUTH LONDON *** + + + + +Produced by Susan Skinner and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + + +SOUTH LONDON + + + + +WALTER BESANT'S LONDON BOOKS. + +UNIFORM EDITION. Demy 8vo. cloth, 5_s._ net each. + + +LONDON. + +With 125 Illustrations. + + 'What the late J. R. Green has done for England Sir Walter Besant + has here attempted, with conspicuous success, for Cockaigne. The + Author of "A Short History of the English People" and the historian + of the London citizen share together the true secret of popularity. + Both have placed before the people of to-day a series of vivid and + indelible pictures of the people of the past.... No one who loves + his London but will love it the better for reading this book. He who + loves it not has before him a clear duty and a manifest + pleasure.'--_Graphic._ + + 'Sir Walter Besant knows and loves his London thoroughly, and his + beautifully illustrated book will call up in the minds of those who + bow to the spell a thousand delights of memory and expectation. He + contrives not merely to call back the old London, but to make the + London of the present more living than before.'--_Spectator._ + + +WESTMINSTER. + +With 131 Illustrations. + + 'Sir Walter Besant has told the story of the old city (London) and + its corporate life in a way which has never been surpassed--not even + equalled. The past of the mother of municipal life he has made to + live and breathe in a manner which reduces all other records of + London to the mere dryasdust category. But we like his "Westminster" + even better.... There is nothing but admiration to be expressed as + well for the plan as for the execution.'--_Daily Chronicle._ + + 'Sir Walter Besant has here given us a worthy companion to his + charming book on "London."... From beginning to end the narrative + never flags, the illustrations never fail, and one rises from its + reading with fuller ideas of the historic interest of the place and + a greater veneration for the ancient Abbey and all its relics of the + past.'--_Guardian._ + + +SOUTH LONDON. + +With 120 Illustrations. + + 'To all Londoners who realise the absorbing fascination of the great + world they live in we cordially recommend it as a worthy sequel to + the author's previous volumes. It is written by an enthusiast who is + also an accomplished writer, by a student who is a close observer of + life; and it passes before the reader's imagination a series of + indelible pictures which clothe our prosaic and monotonous South + London with the romance which is its due.'--_Literature._ + + +EAST LONDON. + +With 55 Illustrations by PHIL MAY, RAVEN HILL, and JOSEPH PENNELL. + + 'Sir Walter Besant knows London as no one has known it since Charles + Dickens.... He has given a lifetime to the acquisition of his + knowledge of the great city. He was grey before he attempted to + write his monumental works on "London," "Westminster," and "South + London"--books which have earned him his title as the historian of + London--and he has postponed his book on "East London" until his + sixty-fifth year.... Crammed with antiquarian lore mingled with + human interest and saturated with genuine sympathy for the people is + this study of "East London."... A thoroughly masterly + book.'--_Literary World._ + +Crown 8vo. cloth, 3_s._ 6_d._ + + +FIFTY YEARS AGO. + +With 144 Plates and Woodcuts. + + 'A series of entertaining chapters, to which the droll illustrations + of George Cruikshank and the inimitable portraits by Daniel Maclise + lend additional effect.... The book is full of movement and colour, + and presents a vivid and interesting picture of the great reign of + Queen Victoria.'--_Speaker._ + +Small 8vo. cloth (in the ST. MARTIN'S LIBRARY), gilt top, 2_s._ net +each; feather, gilt edges, 3_s._ net each. + + LONDON. WESTMINSTER. + SIR RICHARD WHITTINGTON. JERUSALEM. + GASPARD DE COLIGNY. + +London: CHATTO & WINDUS, 111 St. Martin's Lane, W.C. + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: F. S. Walker, R.E. + +S^t. Saviour's, Southwark.] + + + + +SOUTH LONDON + +BY + +WALTER BESANT + +AUTHOR OF +'LONDON' 'WESTMINSTER' 'EAST LONDON' ETC. + +[Illustration] + +A NEW EDITION +WITH AN ETCHING BY FRANCIS S. WALKER, R.E. +AND 119 ILLUSTRATIONS + +LONDON +CHATTO & WINDUS +1912 + + + + +PREFACE + + +In sending forth this book on 'SOUTH LONDON,' the successor to my two +preceding books on 'LONDON' and 'WESTMINSTER,' I have to explain in this +case, as before, that it is not a history, or a chronicle, or a +consecutive account of the Borough and her suburbs that I offer, but, as +in the other two books, chapters taken here and there from the mass of +material which lies ready to hand, and especially chapters which +illustrate the most important part of History, namely, the condition, +the manners, the customs of the people dwelling in this place, now, like +Westminster, a part of London: yet, until two or three hundred years +ago, an ancient marsh kept from the overflowing tide by an Embankment, +joined to the Dover road by a Causeway, settled and inhabited by two or +three Houses of Religious: by half a dozen Palaces of Bishops, Abbots, +and great Lords: by a colony of fishermen living on the Embankment from +time immemorial, since the Embankment itself was built: and by a street +of Inns and shops. + +I hope that 'SOUTH LONDON' will be received with favour equal to that +bestowed upon its predecessors. The chief difficulty in writing it has +been that of selection from the great treasures which have accumulated +about this strange spot. The contents of this volume do not form a tenth +part of what might be written on the same plan, and still without +including the History Proper of the Borough. I am like the showman in +the 'Cries of London'--I pull the strings, and the children peep. Lo! +Allectus goes forth to fight and die on Clapham Common: William's men +burn the fishermen's cottages: little King Richard, that lovely boy, +rides out, all in white and gold, from his Palace at Kennington--saw one +ever so gallant a lad? The Bastard of Falconbridge bombards the city: +Sir John Fastolfe's man is pressed into Jack Cade's army: the Minters +make their last Sanctuary opposite St. George's: the Debtors languish in +the King's Bench. There are many pictures in the box--but how many more +there are for which no room could be found! + +I must acknowledge my obligations, first, to the Editor of the _Pall +Mall Magazine_, where half of these chapters first had the honour of +appearing, for the wealth of illustration of which he thought them +worthy: and next to the artist, Mr. Percy Wadham, who has so faithfully +and so cunningly carried out the task committed to him. + + WALTER BESANT. + + UNITED UNIVERSITY CLUB: + _September 1898_. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER PAGE + + I. THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS 1 + + II. EARLY HISTORY 25 + + III. A FORGOTTEN MONASTERY 47 + + IV. THE ROYAL HOUSES OF SOUTH LONDON 69 + + V. PAGEANTS AND RIDINGS 124 + + VI. A FORGOTTEN WORTHY 134 + + VII. THE BOMBARDMENT OF LONDON 153 + + VIII. THE PILGRIMS 157 + + IX. THE LADY FAIR 179 + + X. ST. MARY OVERIES 191 + + XI. THE SHOW FOLK 206 + + XII. BELOW BRIDGE 229 + + XIII. THE LATER SANCTUARY 241 + + XIV. IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 248 + + XV. THE DEBTORS' PRISON 272 + + XVI. THE PLEASURE GARDENS 282 + + XVII. SOUTH LONDON OF TO-DAY 301 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +ST. SAVIOUR'S, SOUTHWARK _Frontispiece_ +_Etched by F. S. Walker, R.E._ + + PAGE + +VIEW FROM SOUTHWARK MARSH IN PREHISTORIC TIMES 3 + +CAUSEWAY ACROSS SOUTHWARK MARSH 7 + +FISHERS' HUTS AT THE MOUTH OF THE FLEET 9 + +BARKING CREEK 11 + +RELICS OF THE STONE AGE 15 + +A RELIC OF THE STONE AGE 17 + +RELICS OF THE BRONZE AGE 19 + +MERCHANTS CROSSING SOUTHWARK MARSH 27 + +LONDON BRIDGE, A.D. 1000 29 + +A DANISH HOUSE 31 + +SHIPS, BAYEUX TAPESTRY 33 + +A VIKING SHIP 34 + +SKETCH MAP 37 + +DIAGRAM 40 + +THE GOKSTAD SHIP 41 + +SHIPS OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 43 + +BAYEUX TAPESTRY 45 + +THE MONASTERY OF BERMONDSEY 51 + +BERMONDSEY ABBEY 52 + +GATEWAY OF BERMONDSEY ABBEY 53 + +ST. OLAVE, SOUTHWARK 61 + +'LE LOKE' 63 + +REMAINS OF THE PALACE OF THE BISHOP OF WINCHESTER, FROM THE SOUTH 67 + +THE LONG BARN 70 + +SKETCH MAP 71 + +GATEWAY IN THE HALL, ELTHAM PALACE 75 + +THE ANCIENT ROYAL PALACE AT GREENWICH 77 + +SEAL OF THE BLACK PRINCE 83 +_From Allen's History of Lambeth_ + +THE HIGH STREET, SOUTHWARK, AS IT APPEARED MDXLIII 85 + +REMAINS OF ELTHAM PALACE, 1796 91 + +KING JOHN'S PALACE, KENT 93 +_From a Drawing by J. Hassell, 1804_ + +REMAINS OF ELTHAM PALACE 95 + +THE MOAT BRIDGE, ELTHAM PALACE 97 + +GREENWICH, 1662 99 +_From a Drawing by Jonas Moore_ + +GREENWICH HOSPITAL 101 +_From a Drawing by Schnebbelie_ + +LAMBETH PALACE 109 + +BONNER HALL, LAMBETH 111 + +RESIDENCE OF GUY FAWKES, LAMBETH 113 +_From 'La Belle Assemblee,' November 1822_ + +BISHOP'S WALK, LAMBETH 114 + +INTERIOR OF THE HALL, LAMBETH PALACE 115 +_From an Engraving dated 1804_ + +LAMBETH PALACE, FROM THE RIVER 116 + +LOLLARDS' TOWER, LAMBETH PALACE 117 + +DOORWAY IN THE LOLLARDS' TOWER 119 + +LOLLARDS' PRISON 121 + +WHITE HART INN, SOUTHWARK 137 + +SURREY END OF LONDON BRIDGE, FROM HIGH STREET, SOUTHWARK 139 + +THE SITE OF SIR JOHN FASTOLF'S HOUSE IN TOOLEY STREET 143 + +HOUSES IN HIGH STREET, SOUTHWARK, 1550 149 + +OLD HALL, KING'S HEAD, AYLESBURY 158 + +OLD HALL, AYLESBURY 159 + +CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 160 + +15TH CENTURY GOLDSMITH 165 + +RICH MERCHANT AND HIS WIFE, 14TH CENTURY 165 + +14TH CENTURY CRAFTSMAN 168 + +14TH CENTURY MERCHANT 168 + +14TH CENTURY CRAFTSMAN 168 + +PEDLAR 175 +_From the Stained Window in Lambeth Church_ + +MINSTRELS, A.D. 1480 177 + +BOOTH, SOUTHWARK FAIR 181 + +GREENWICH PARK ON WHITSUN MONDAY 187 +_From an Engraving by Rawle, 1802_ + +A SEAL OF ST. MARY OVERIES 192 + +SEALS OF ST. MARY OVERIES 193 + +NORTH-EAST VIEW OF ST. SAVIOUR'S, SOUTHWARK, 1800 194 + +CRYPT OF ST. MARY OVERIES 195 + +GATEWAY OF ST. MARY'S PRIORY, SOUTHWARK, 1811 197 +_From a Drawing by Whichelo_ + +REMAINS OF THE OLD PRIORY, ST. MARY OVERIES 199 + +TOMB OF BISHOP ANDREWS, ST. MARY OVERIES 201 + +A CORNER IN ST. SAVIOUR'S, SOUTHWARK 203 + +ST. SAVIOUR'S, SOUTHWARK, 1790 204 + +WINCHESTER PALACE 207 + +THE GLOBE THEATRE 209 +_From the Crace Collection_ + +BEAR GARDEN 213 + +THE BEAR GARDEN AND HOPE THEATRE, 1616 221 + +INTERIOR OF THE OLD SWAN THEATRE 223 + +A FETE AT HORSELYDOWN IN 1590 231 +_From the Painting by G. Hoffnagel, at Hatfield_ + +THE OLD ELEPHANT AND CASTLE, 1814 233 + +VIEW NEAR THE STORE-HOUSE, DEPTFORD 235 +_From an Engraving by John Boydell, 1750_ + +GEORGE HOTEL, BOROUGH 239 + +MINT STREET, BOROUGH 245 + +OLD HOUSE, STONEY STREET, SOUTHWARK 249 + +ST. THOMAS'S HOSPITAL 250 +_From an old Print_ + +SOME ANCIENT HOUSES IN THE LONG WALK, BERMONDSEY 251 + +JAMAICA HOUSE, BERMONDSEY 252 + +QUEEN ELIZABETH'S FREE GRAMMAR SCHOOL 253 + +ANCIENT BUILDINGS, HIGH STREET, BOROUGH 254 +_From a Drawing by T. Higham, 1820_ + +THE FALCON TAVERN, BANKSIDE 255 + +AN OLD MILL, BANKSIDE 256 + +JOHN BUNYAN'S MEETING HOUSE, BANKSIDE 257 + +THE OLD TOWN HALL, SOUTHWARK 258 + +OLD HOUSES IN EWER STREET 259 + +COURTYARD OF THE DOG AND BEAR INN 261 + +THE WHITE BEAR TAVERN, SOUTHWARK 263 + +ALLEN ROPEWALK, SOUTHWARK 265 + +A SOUTH LONDON SLUM 267 + +THE OLD TABARD INN, SOUTHWARK 268 + +ST. GEORGE, SOUTHWARK: NORTH-WEST VIEW 269 +_From an Engraving by B. Cole_ + +REMAINS OF THE MARSHALSEA: N.E. VIEW. A, CHAPEL; B, PALACE COURT 273 +_From 'The Gentleman's Magazine,' September 1803_ + +KING'S BENCH PRISON 275 + +ANOTHER VIEW OF THE KING'S BENCH PRISON 277 + +VAUXHALL GARDENS 283 +_From the Engraving by J. S. Mueller_ + +VAUXHALL JUBILEE ADMISSION TICKET 285 + +THE DOG AND DUCK, BETHLEM 289 + +A DOORWAY, CURLEW STREET, BERMONDSEY 301 + +IN SNOW'S FIELDS, BERMONDSEY 302 + +THE TEMPLE FROM THE SURREY BANK 303 + +HOLY TRINITY, ROTHERHITHE 305 + +CZAR PETER'S HOUSE, DEPTFORD 307 + +ALLEYN'S ALMSHOUSES, 1840 309 + +DULWICH COLLEGE, 1780 311 + +FROM THE TOWER OF ST. SAVIOUR'S 313 + +RED CROSS GARDENS, SOUTHWARK 315 + +ST. SAVIOUR'S DOCK 317 + +BELOW CHERRY GARDEN PIER 319 + +THE GEORGE INN 321 + +LITTLE DORRIT'S WINDOW IN THE MARSHALSEA 321 + +ALCOVE FROM OLD LONDON BRIDGE, NOW AT GUY'S 323 + +THE ENTRANCE GATES TO GUY'S 325 + +A FORMER ENTRANCE TO ST. THOMAS'S HOSPITAL 327 + + + + +SOUTH LONDON + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS + + +I propose to call the series of chapters which are to follow by the +general name of 'South London.' Like their predecessors on 'London' and +'Westminster,' they will not attempt, or pretend, to present a +continuous history of this region--or, indeed, a history at all: they +will endeavour to do for this part of London what their predecessors +have already attempted for the Cities of London and Westminster: that is +to say, they will present such episodes and incidents, with such +characters, as may serve to illustrate the life of the place; the +manners and customs of the people; the characteristics of the Borough +and its outlying suburbs. So far as history means the march of armies +and the clash of armour, we shall here find little history. So far, +also, as history means the growth of our liberties, the struggles by +which they were won; the apparent decay, or defeat, from time to time, +of the spirit of freedom, with its inevitable recovery: the reader and +the student may be referred to the pages of a Stubbs or a Freeman--not +to my humbler page. Great is the work, and worthy to be held in the +highest honour, of those who trace out the irresistible march of +national freedom: I cannot join their company; I must be contented with +the lowlier, yet somewhat useful, task of showing how the people, my +forefathers, lived, and what they thought, and how they sang and +feasted and made love and grew old and died. + +My South London extends from Battersea in the west to Greenwich in the +east, and from the river on the north to the first rising ground on the +south. This rising ground, a gentle ascent, the beginning of the Surrey +hills, can still be observed on the high roads of the south--Clapham, +Brixton, Camberwell. It now occupies the place of what was formerly a +low cliff, from ten to thirty or forty feet high, overhanging the broad +level, and corresponding to those cliffs on the other side of the river, +which closed in on either side of Walbrook and made the foundation of +London possible. If we draw a straight line from the mouth of the Wandle +on the west to the mouth of the Ravensbourne on the east, we shall, +roughly speaking, indicate the southern boundary of our district; +unless, as we may very well do, we include Greenwich as well. The whole +of this region constitutes the Great South Marsh: there is no rising +ground, or hillock, or encroaching cliff over the whole of this flat +expanse. Before the river was embanked it was one unbroken marsh: for +eight miles in length by a varying breadth of about two or two and a +half miles, the tidal stream twice in the twenty-four hours submerged +this space. Here and there lay islets or eyots, created, as the +centuries crept on, by the gradual accumulation of branches, roots, +reeds and rubbish, till they rose a few inches above high water; the +spring-tide covered them--sometimes swept them away--then others began +to form. In later times, after the work of embankment had been +commenced, these islets became permanent, and were afterwards known as +Battersea, Bermondsey, Rotherhithe, Lambhithe, Newington, Kennington. +Even then, for many a long year, they were but little areas rising a +foot or two above the level, covered with sedge, reeds, and tufts of +coarse grass, hardly distinguishable from the rest of the ground around +them. Before the construction of the river wall, no trees stood upon +this morass, no flowers of the field flourished there, no thorns and +bushes grew, no cattle pastured there; the wild deer were afraid of it: +there were no creatures of the land upon it. On the south side rose the +cliff of clay and sand, continually falling and continually receding +before the encroaching tide; on the north side ran the river; beyond the +river the cliff stood up above the water's edge, where the tiny stream, +afterwards named from the Wall, leaped bright and sparkling into the +rolling flood. No man could live upon that marsh: its breath after +sunset and in the night was pestilential. + +[Illustration: View from Southwark Marsh in Prehistoric Times.] + +Many streams poured into this marsh, and at low tide made their way +across it into the Thames: at high tide their beds were lost in the +shallows. Among them--to use names by which they were afterwards +distinguished--were the Wandle, the Falcon, the Effra, the Ravensbourne, +and others which have disappeared and left no name. And so for +unnumbered years the tide daily ebbed and flowed, and the reeds bent +beneath the breeze, and the clouds scudded overhead, and the wild birds +screamed, far away from the world of men and women, long after men and +women began to wander about this Island called Albion. No one took any +thought of this marsh, any more than they heeded the marshes all along +the lower reaches of the river; and these were surely the most desolate, +dreary stretches of water and mud anywhere in the world. Those who wish +to realise what manner of country it was which stretched away on the +north and south of the Thames may perhaps get some comprehension of it +if they stand on the point at Bradwell in Essex, beside the ruined +Chapel of St. Peter-on-the-Wall, and look out at low tide to east and +north. + +In a previous volume dealing with another part of the country called +London I showed to my own satisfaction, and, I believe, that of my +readers, that long before there existed any London at all, except +perhaps a village of a few fishermen with their coracles, Westminster or +Thorney was a busy and crowded place of resort, through which the whole +trade of the country north of the Thames passed on its way to Dover and +the southern ports. This position, new as it was, and opposed to the +general and traditional teaching--opposed, for instance, to the +traditional belief of Dean Stanley--has never been attacked, and may be +considered, therefore, as generally accepted. When or how the trade of +Thorney began, to what extent it developed, we need not here inquire. +Indeed, I know not that any fragments of fact or of tradition exist +which would enable us to inquire. The fact itself, as will be +immediately seen, is of the highest importance as regards the beginning +and early history of the Southern settlements. + +The ancient way of trade, then, ran across the island called afterwards +by the Saxons Thorney, the Isle of Bramble, now Westminster. All the +trade of the north passed over that little spot, on which arose a +considerable town for the reception of the caravans. After resting a +night or so at Thorney, the merchants went on their way. Those who +travelled south, making for Dover, crossed over the ford, where there +was afterwards a ferry. This ferry continued until the erection of +Westminster Bridge in the last century: the name still survives in +Horseferry Road. After the passage of the ford, the travellers found +themselves face to face with a mile of dangerous bog, marsh and swamp, +through which they had to plod and plough their way, sinking over their +knees, up to the middle, before they emerged upon the higher ground, now +called Clapham Rise. To the merchants driving their long chains of +slaves and heavily laden packhorses and mules from the north, this was +the worst bit of the whole journey. Every day there were rivers to be +forded, in which some of their slaves might get drowned or might escape; +there were dark woods, in which they might be attacked by hostile +tribes; there were hills to climb; but nowhere, in the whole of their +journey, was there a piece of country more difficult than this great +swamp beyond the Ford of Thorney. They splashed and floundered through +it, over ankles, over knees, up to the middle, up to the neck, in mud +and muddy water. The packhorses sank deep down with their loads; they +took off the loads and laid them on the shoulders of the slaves, who +threw them off into the mud, and let them stay there, while they made a +mad attempt to escape. Horse and mule; slave and slave-load; iron, lead, +and skins: the merchant paid heavy tribute while he crossed the marshes +and waded through the shallows of the broad tidal river. + +At some time or other, the idea occurred to an unknown person of +engineering genius in advance of his time, that it might not be +impossible to construct a causeway across this marsh; and that such a +causeway would be extremely useful and convenient for those who used the +Thorney Fords. Perhaps the causeway was his own invention; perhaps the +work was the first causeway ever constructed in this country; perhaps +the inventor began on the smallest possible scale, with a very narrow +way across the marsh to the nearest dry ground, which was, of course, +somewhere beyond Kennington; perhaps the work, colossal for the time, +carried the merchants and their caravans across the whole extent of the +marsh--five miles and more--to the rising ground of Deptford or +Greenwich, the nearest point to Dover. The causeway was not unlike those +which now run across the Hackney Marshes; that is to say, it was raised +so high as to be above the highest spring tide, about six feet above the +level of the marsh. It was constructed by driving piles into the mud at +regular intervals, forming a wall of timber within the piles, and +filling up the space with gravel and shingle, brought from +Chelsea--'Isle of Shingle'--or from the nearest high ground, where is +now Clapham Common. The breadth of the causeway, I take it, was about +ten or twelve feet. The construction of the work rendered the passage +across the marsh perfectly easy, and greatly facilitated that part of +the trade of the island which lay in the midland and on the north. + +When was this causeway, the first step in road-making, constructed? +Perhaps it was a Roman work. I think, however, that it is older than the +Roman occupation; and for these reasons. When London was first visited +by the Romans it was already a flourishing city with a '_copia +negotiatorum_;' in other words, it had already succeeded in attracting +the greater part of the trade which formerly passed through Thorney. Had +the Romans built the causeway, they would have constructed it along a +line drawn from one of the two old ferries to Deptford. The causeway, +therefore, must have existed when the Romans arrived upon the scene, +together with, as we shall see immediately, the second causeway +connecting the ferry with the first causeway. I dare say the Romans +strengthened the work: turned it from a gravelled way, soft in bad +weather, into one of their hard, firm Roman roads; faced it with stone, +and made it durable. If South London were to be stripped of all its +houses, the two causeways would be found still, hard and firm, beneath +the mass of accumulated soil and rubbish, as the Romans left them. + +If you draw a straight line from 'Stanegate,' close to the end of +Westminster Bridge, as far as the beginning of the Old Kent Road, you +will understand the lie of the causeway. And this causeway, understand, +was the very first interference of the hand of man with the marshes +south of the Thames. It was a way across the marsh: not an embankment +against the river, but a way. It did not keep out the tide which flowed +in on the other side--the Battersea side: it was simply a way across the +marsh. For a long time--we cannot tell how long--it remained the +principal way of communication for the trade of Britain between the +north and the south, the midland and the south, the eastern counties and +the south. + +[Illustration: Causeway across Southwark Marsh.] + +Consider, next, the site of London, as it appeared to the merchants +crossing the causeway. They saw, in the centuries of which no trace or +memory remains, when they turned their eyes northward, first a level of +mud, sprinkled with little eyots of reed and coarse grass, then the +broad river, and beyond the river two streams, one fuller than the +other, each in its own valley--that of the Walbrook was 132 feet wide at +the present site of the Mansion House--falling into the river; a low +cliff ran along the north bank, leaving stretches of marsh, as on the +south, but, where these streams ran into the Thames, approaching close +to the river, and actually overhanging it. On the river they saw +numerous coracles, with fishermen catching salmon and every kind of fish +in their nets. No river in the world was more plentifully stocked with +fish; overhead flew screaming innumerable birds--geese, ducks, +herne--which the trappers trapped, snared, shot with sling and stone by +the thousand. On those cliffs overhanging the river, the travellers by +the causeway saw the huts of the fisherfolk. Then, perhaps, they +remembered the plenty of the markets of Thorney; the abundance of birds, +the vast quantities of fish offered on those stalls. Those who were +curious connected the coracles on the river and the birds that flew up +from the lowlands with these markets; they saw that London--'the place +or fort over the Lake'--was the settlement which furnished Thorney with +a good part of her supplies. And this I verily believe to have been the +real origin and cause of London. It was first settled by the humble folk +who came here for the purpose of catching fish and trapping birds for +the market of Thorney. This is a suggestion only; it will be set aside, +most certainly, by those who are not pleased with the upsetting of old +theories. To those who are able to realise the ancient condition of +things and all it means, the suggestion will be received, I am +convinced, as more than a theory: it will be regarded and accepted as a +discovery. + +Let us put it in another way. Thorney was a place of great resort, as I +have shown in these pages already: every day passed into Thorney, and +out of Thorney, long processions or caravans of merchants with +merchandise carried by slaves--the most valuable part of their +merchandise--and by packhorses and mules; they waded through the +northern ford; they rested for a night in one of the inns of the place: +next day they waded through the southern ford, attained the causeway, +and went south. Or else it was the reverse way. The place required a +daily supply of food, and, as there were many travellers, a great +quantity of food. If you go down the river from Thorney, you will find +that the present site of London, on the two hillocks rising out of the +river, was the first and only place where men could put up huts in which +to live while they caught fish and trapped wild birds for Thorney. If, +therefore, the Isle of Bramble was a flourishing centre of trade long +before London was a place of trade at all, then the original London must +have been a settlement of fishermen and trappers who supplied the +markets of Thorney. + +[Illustration: Fishers' Huts at the mouth of the Fleet.] + +In course of time--we are still in prehistoric times--the site of +London was discovered by seamen and merchant adventurers exploring the +rivers in their ships. It was found cheaper and easier and safer to +carry goods to and from Thorney by way of sea than by land. To coast +along from Dover to the strait between Rum--the Isle of Thanet, and the +mainland--to pass through the strait and up the river, was found easier +and cheaper than to undertake the costly and dangerous march from Dover +to Thorney Ford. This way, then, was by many undertaken; and so a +certain part of the trade along the old causeway was diverted. + +The next step was the discovery of London as a port. There was no port +at Thorney: on the site of London were the two natural ports of Walbrook +and the mouth of the Fleet; there was a high ground safer and more +salubrious than that of Thorney; ships began to anchor there, quays were +erected, goods were landed; the high road which we call Oxford Street +was constructed to connect London with the highway of trade--afterwards +Watling Street; and the trade of London began. + +Now, if you look once more at the map of the south as it was, you will +observe that London at its first commencement had no communication with +any part of the world except by water. The first road opened was, as I +have said, the connection with Watling Street; what was the next? It was +a connection with the high road to Dover: that connection was the road +which we now call High Street, Borough. These two roads were the first +communication between London and any other place; all the other roads, +to the north and south and west and east, came afterwards. It was +necessary for London to have an open and direct connection, by land as +well as by sea, with the then principal port of the country. The High +Street formed that open communication; it began not far to the west of +St Saviour's Church, opposite the Roman Trajectus, the mediaeval ferry, +now St. Mary Overies Dock. + +Observe, however, that we are as yet very far from embanking the river, +or draining the marsh, or making it inhabitable. If you walk across +Hackney Marsh by one of its causeways any autumnal morning, especially +after rain, you will understand something of what Southwark looked like. +Two high causeways crossed the marsh, of which as yet not a square foot +had been drained or reclaimed; yet the place was not so wild as it had +been; the wild birds had been partly driven away by the noise and crowd +of London, and by the concourse of ships sailing continually up and +down. There was as yet no bridge. The ferry crossed the river backwards +and forwards all day long. The causeways were crowded with people; but +as yet nothing on the lowlands. Before the marshes could be drained the +river had to be embanked. + +[Illustration: Barking Creek] + +No one knows when that was done. It was done, however. At some time or +other a high earthwork was raised along the north and south banks of +the river, enclosing the marshes, converting them into pasture and +arable land, and keeping out the tides of Thames. It was a work of the +most signal benefit; it was also a colossal piece of work, measured by +hundreds of miles, for it was continued all round the islets and coast +of Essex. It was a work requiring constant repair, though most of it has +stood splendidly. The wall gave way, however, at Barking in the time of +Henry the Second; at Wapping in the time of Elizabeth; at Dagenham early +in the last century: at each of these places the repair of the wall was +costly and difficult. The embankment left behind it a low-lying ground, +rich and fertile; orchards and woods began to grow and to flourish upon +it; yet it was still swampy in parts, numerous ponds lay about on it, +streams wound their way confined in channels, and let out through the +embankment at low tide by culverts. + +Whether the bridge came before the embankment I cannot decide. Yet I +think that the embankment came first; for the existence of +Southwark--that of any part of South London--depended not on the bridge, +but on the embankment and the ferry. Given, however, the embankment; the +two causeways; the bridge; two ferries--one at St. Mary Overies and the +other lower down, opposite the Tower: given, also, direct communication +with Dover, with Thorney--thence with the midlands and the north: there +could not fail to arise a settlement or town of some kind on the south +of the Thames. + +Let us next consider the conditions under which the town of Southwark +began to exist and to continue for a great many years. + +(1) There was no wall or any means of defence, except the marsh which +surrounded it and prohibited the approach of an army except along the +causeway. + +(2) The ground lay low on either side the causeway, and south of the +embankment. Although the tide no longer ebbed and flowed among the reeds +and islets of the marsh, yet it was covered with small ponds, some of +them stagnant, others formed by the many streams which flowed towards +the culverts on the embankment, through which at low tide they escaped +into the Thames; until some kind of drainage was attempted, the place +caused agues and fevers for any who slept in its white miasma. In other +words, not an embankment only, but drainage of some kind, had to be +undertaken before life was possible on the marsh. + +(3) There were no quays, no shipping, no merchants, no trade, on the +south side. All merchandise coming up from the south for export at the +port of London, all merchandise landed at the port for the south, had to +be carried across the bridge. + +(4) The crowds of people connected with the trade of London--the +porters, carriers, drivers, grooms and stable-boys, stevedores, +lightermen, sailors foreign and native, the _employes_ of the merchants, +their wives, women and children--all these people lived in London +itself; they had their taverns and drinking shops; their sleeping places +and eating places, in London; all the people employed in providing food +and drink and sport, lived on the other side. South London had to be a +place without trade, without noise, without disturbance of workmen, +without broils among the sailors or fights among foreigners. + +(5) It stood on the south bank of a river swarming with fish. + +(6) The only parts on which houses could be built were along the line of +the causeways, or along the line of the embankment. + +These were the conditions. We should expect, therefore, to find the +place thinly inhabited; and to find that the houses were all built +beside or along the raised ways. We should next expect to find along +the causeways that the houses belonged to the wealthier class. + +We should expect, further, to find no sailors' or working men's +quarters. The former because there were no ships; the latter because +there were no markets. Lastly, we should not be surprised to find the +place very early occupied by inns and places of accommodation for those +who resorted to London. + +All this was, in fact, what did take place. The Roman remains are +numerous; they are all found along the causeways; the existence of a +Roman cemetery shows that it was a place of some importance. I say +_some_, because its very limited extent proves that it was never a large +place. I will return immediately to the Roman remains. + +There was, however, one trade, one class of working men which took up +its abode along the embankment of Southwark: it was that of the +fishermen, driven across the river by the growth of London. There was no +room for the fishermen with their coracles and nets along the line of +quays on the north side; they wanted a place to haul up their boats, and +a place to spread their nets,--they could not find either in the north; +nor would the fish be caught in waters troubled perpetually by oars and +keels. The fisherfolk, therefore, put up their huts along the +embankment; for long centuries afterwards the fisherfolk continued to +live in South London. The last remnant of Thames fishermen occupied, +well into the present century, a single court in Lambeth; it is +described as unpaved, unglazed, unlighted, dirty, and insanitary. But +the last salmon had been caught in the river; the Thames fishermen were +by that time almost starved out of existence. I am sure that the south +was always their place of residence; the foreshore offered them what +they could not find on the north bank. To him, however, who considers +the fisheries of the Thames, there are many points on which, for want of +exact information, he may speculate and theorise as much as he pleases. +For instance, later on, there were fishermen living at Limehouse. Some +of the Thames watermen lived here also--the legend of Awdry the ferryman +assigns to him a residence on the south; their favourite place of +residence, however, was St. Katherine's first, and Wapping afterwards. + +[Illustration: RELICS OF THE STONE AGE] + +The Roman remains found up and down the place prove my assertion that +the people who lived here were what we should call substantial. One need +not catalogue the long list of Roman _trouvailles_; but, to take the +more important, in the year 1819 there was discovered, in taking up the +foundations of some old houses belonging to St. Thomas's Hospital, in +St. Thomas's Street, a fine tesselated pavement, about ten feet below +the surface of the ground. In the following year, in the area facing St. +Saviour's Grammar School, seven or eight feet below the surface, there +was found another, of a more elaborate design. Only a part of this was +uncovered, as the Governors of the School forbade further investigation: +it remains to this day still to be examined and unearthed, under the +present potato and fruit market. At the entrance of King Street, at a +depth of fifteen or sixteen feet, were found a great many Roman lamps, a +vase, and other sepulchral deposits. And in tunnelling for a new sewer +through Blackman Street and Snow Fields, in 1818 and 1819, and again in +Union Street, in 1823, numerous Roman antiquities were discovered. In +Trinity Square was found a coin of Gordianus Africanus. In Deverill +Street, south of the Dover road, other coins were discovered; in St. +Saviour's churchyard, a coin of Antoninus Pius. It has also been proved +that an extensive Roman cemetery existed on the south of the ancient +settlement. In the year 1840, when excavations were going on for the +purpose of building a new wing to St. Thomas's Hospital, another +tesselated pavement was disclosed, with passages and walls of other +chambers, all built on piles, showing that the houses beside the +causeway were thus supported in the marshy ground; Roman coins and +pottery were also found here. Another pavement was discovered on the +opposite side, south of Winchester Palace. On the river bank, at the +corner of Clink Street, an ancient jetty was found; and in the new +Southwark Street, deep down, groups of piles, pointed below, on which +houses had been built. In many of the later buildings Roman tiles have +been found. These remains are quite sufficient to prove that many +wealthy people lived in Roman Southwark, and that they occupied villas +built on piles beside the causeway. + +Since, too, from the earliest times Southwark was famous for its inns, +and since the same conditions prevailed in the fourth as in the +fourteenth century, it is not unreasonable to suppose that the people +who drove those long lines of packhorses laden with goods from London +used Southwark as a place in which to deposit merchandise before taking +it across the bridge; they halted in Southwark; they lodged in one of +the inns: the place was most convenient for the City; storage was +cheaper than on the river wharves; for strangers, the place was +cheerful. In one respect, that of being a halting place and a lodging +for traders, Southwark was like Thorney in its palmy days--a place of +entertainment for man and beast. There was no forum here, as in Augusta; +no place of meeting for merchants, such as Thames Street in Plantagenet +times; there was no buying and selling, but there was continual coming +and going, which made the place lively and cheerful. + +Such were the origins of the settlements of South London. An embankment, +a causeway, a fishery for the wants of Thorney first and of London next; +then villas, put up by the better sort, attracted here, one believes, by +the fresh air coming up the river with every tide, and by the quiet of +the place. The settlement began quite early in the Roman occupation: +this seems to be proved by the extent of the cemetery. The draining and +drying of the low lands went on meanwhile gradually, gardens and +orchards taking the place of the former marsh. + +[Illustration: A RELIC OF THE STONE AGE] + +The place has always, save at rare intervals, been entirely defenceless. +The _Pax Romana_ protected it. Remember that London itself was not +walled till the latter part of the fourth century. Why should it be? For +more than three hundred years, for ten generations, the City knew no +wars and feared no invader. The 'Count of the Saxon Shore' beat back, +and kept back, the pirates of Norway and Denmark; the Legions beat back +the marauders of Scotland and Ireland. Southwark, like the City its +neighbour, needed no wall and asked for no defence. + +Twice, before the arrival of the East Saxons, we get a glimpse in +history of South London. The first is the rout of the usurper, the +Emperor Allectus, after the battle of Clapham Common. + +Towards the close of the third century the succession of usurpers who +sprang up everywhere in the outlying portions of the Empire contained +six who came from Britain. What effect these movements had upon the +security of South London we have no means of learning. The history, +however, of Carausius and his successor Allectus affords material for +reflection. The former, who was of Belgian origin, rose to be the Count +of the Saxon Shore--in other words, Admiral of the Roman Fleet. In this +capacity he kept the seas free from pirates; enriched himself, became +famous for his courage and his generosity; usurped the title of Caesar, +fought with and defeated the fleets of Maximian, and reigned in Britain +for seven years. His headquarters were Boulogne and Southampton; near +the latter place--at Bittern--is still seen the quay at which his ships +were moored. His rule, of which we know little, was certainly strong and +firm. Coins exist in great numbers of Carausius. They represent his +arrival: 'Expectate, veni'--'Come, thou long-expected!' Then his +triumph: 'Shout IO ten times.' He held gladiatorial sports at London; he +appointed a British senate. Then came the time when he must fight or +die. Like the King of the Grove, the Usurper held his throne on that +condition. Carausius, for some unknown reason, would not fight when the +chance was offered--therefore he died. Another King of the Grove, +Allectus by name, one of his officers, killed him and reigned in his +stead. Then he, too, had to fight for crown and life. He accepted the +challenge; he awaited with an army of Franks and Britons the arrival of +the Roman forces sent to quell him: he awaited them in London. When the +enemy drew near, he led out his men across the Bridge, and gave battle +to the Roman general, Asclepiodotus, on the wild heath south of London, +immediately beyond the rising ground--we now call the place Clapham +Common--and there he fell bravely fighting. He had enjoyed the purple +for three years. Perhaps, when he crossed the Bridge, conscious that he +was going to meet his fate--either to continue an Emperor for another +spell or to die--he reflected that for such a splendid three years' run +it was worth while to risk, and even to lose, his life at the end. + +[Illustration: RELICS OF THE BRONZE AGE] + +This is, I say, the first glimpse we get of South London in history. We +see the army marching across the Bridge and along the Causeway, shouting +and singing. We see them a few hours later, flying from the field, +rushing headlong over the Causeway, through the lines of villas to the +Bridge. The terrified people, those who lived in the villas, are +running over the Bridge after them. Once across the Bridge, the soldiers +found that there was left in the City neither order nor authority. They +therefore began to sack and pillage the rich houses, and to murder the +inhabitants. Remember that all over the Roman Empire none were permitted +to carry arms except the soldiers. Therefore there could be no defence. +The pillage went on until the victorious general had got his army--or +some of it--across the Bridge. How long it would take to bring up his +troops, whether the Bridge was held by the Franks, whether the defeated +army made any organised opposition, we know not. All we are told is that +the Roman soldiers fought hand to hand with those of the dead Usurper in +the streets of London, and that the latter were all massacred. + +In the year 457 we get a second glimpse of Southwark in the flight of +another defeated host. The Britons had gone forth to fight the Saxon +invaders; they met the enemy--Hengist and AEsc his son--at +'Creeganford'--Crayford: they were defeated; four thousand of them were +killed; they fled; they never stopped until they reached London Bridge; +we can see them flying bareheaded, without weapons, along the Causeway +and through the narrow gates of the Bridge. Alas! the old villas along +the Causeway are deserted and in ruins; the place has been desolate for +many years--since the Saxons began to swarm about the country; the +former residents, if they are living still, are behind the walls; and +their sons are carrying on the war which is to last two hundred long +years, and to leave its memories of hatred behind it for fifteen hundred +years at least. The gardens are grown over, the orchards are neglected, +the inns are empty and ruinous. + +Before long there falls the silence of death upon the walled City and +the Bridge and the settlements of the South. All alike are deserted: the +tide idly laps the piles of the rotting Bridge; it rolls along the empty +wharves, bearing no keel upon its bosom; there is no boat on the river, +there is no smoke from any house; there is no life, no sign of life, in +the place which had formerly been so crowded and so busy. The timbered +face of the embankment gave way and crumbled into the river; the +Causeway was eaten by the tides here and there; the low grounds once +more became a marsh, and the wild birds returned, undisturbed, to their +former haunts. + +I have elsewhere ('London,' ch. i.) described the natural reasons which +led to this desertion of the City. It appears to us strange and almost +impossible that a great city should be so utterly deserted. Where, +however, are the cities of Tadmor, of Tyre, of Carthage? Where are the +great cities of Asia Minor? The conqueror not only took the City and +killed some of the people; he cut off the supplies, and therefore forced +them to go. This was most certainly the case with London. Roger of +Wendover, it is true, tells us that in the year 462 the Saxons took +possession of London, and then successively of York, Lincoln, and +Winchester, committing great devastation. 'They fell on the natives in +every quarter, like wolves on sheep forsaken by their shepherds; the +churches and all the ecclesiastical buildings they levelled with the +ground; the priests they slew at the altars; the holy scriptures they +burned with fire; the tombs of the holy martyrs they covered with mounds +of earth; the clergy who escaped the slaughter fled with the relics of +the saints to the caves and recesses of the earth, to the woods and +deserts and the crags of the mountains.' + +I do not suppose that Roger of Wendover (he died in 1237) had access to +documents of the time. I would rather incline to the belief that, given +certain undoubted facts of battle, murder, and sacrilege, he presented +the world with a little embroidery of his own. An Assault on London is, +however, possible; in which case the desertion of the City would be only +hastened. With the ruin and desolation of Augusta came also the ruin of +the southern settlement. + +This silence--this desolation--lasted some hundred years. Then the men +of Essex--the East Saxons--came down, a few at a time, and took +possession of the deserted City; the merchants began timidly to bring +their ships again with goods for trade; the East Saxons learned the +meaning of bargains; Augusta was dead, but London revived. The City +preserved its ancient name, but the southern settlement lost its name. +We know not what the Romans or the Britons called it, but the Saxons +called it Southwark. And they repaired the embankment and restored the +ancient causeways, and cleared away the ruins. + +Another point of difference: in London the new streets, laid out without +rule or order, grew by degrees; they did not follow the old Roman +streets, which were quite obliterated and utterly forgotten--one cannot +imagine a more decisive proof of complete desertion and ruin. In +Southwark, on the other hand, the streets remained the same--they were +the two causeways and the embankment--because none others were then +possible. High Street, Borough, is still, as it always has been, the +ancient causeway connecting the new port of London with the Dover road. + +Between the years 600 and 1000 Southwark suffered the vicissitudes which +must happen in a period of continual warfare to an undefended suburb. In +times of peace, when trade was possible, the place was what the +Icelander Snorro Thirlesen calls an 'emporium.' All the merchandise +carried to London from the south for export lay there waiting to be +carried across the quays: the merchants themselves found accommodation +there. But we cannot believe that when the Danish fleets brought their +fierce warriors to the very walls of London, Southwark--or any other +settlement--would continue to exist unfortified. That the place remained +without a wall, except for certain temporary walls put up by the Danes, +proves that it was regarded by itself as of small importance. This is +also proved by another fact--namely, that the place was always occupied +without defence. When, for instance, the Danes held London for twelve +years, leaving it a wreck and a ruin, can we believe that any people +remained in Southwark? In times of peace the fishermen lived here for +greater convenience of their work; London by this time was impossible +for them, because it was walled all along the river side. If peace was +prolonged, inns were set up for the merchants: people built houses along +the causeway. When war began again, and the enemy once more appeared, +Southwark was again abandoned. This is the history of South London for a +thousand years--alternate occupation and abandonment. + +There exists a very singular heresy concerning Southwark. I would deal +with it tenderly, because one, if not more, of the heretics is a +personal friend of my own. It is that the site of the first or original +London was on the South; that Roman London stood on the site of +Southwark; and that, at some time or other, there was a transference of +sites, the whole of Roman London migrating to the other side. It is even +maintained that the name of Walworth proves that there was once a wall +round the city of the south. To me the name of Walworth indicates the +proximity of the high causeway running through its midst. The +consideration of the site--the marshy, wet, and unwholesome site--is +quite sufficient for me. At no time, not even in the time of the Lake +dwellers, have marshes been selected by choice for the building of +cities. Before the Embankment and the Causeway, the South of London was +impossible for the residence of man. + +The transference of sites is a theory often called in to account for, +and make possible, other theories. Thus, the late James Fergusson +invented the transference of sites in order to bolster up certain +theories of his own on the Holy Places of Jerusalem. Here, however, +there is no theory: only a statement by a geographer evidently ignorant +of the boundaries of an obscure province of a district in a distant +country which he had never seen. London, Ptolemy said, was in Kent. All +the Roman remains, as we have seen, are found by the Causeway and the +Embankment--there never could have been any wall; and, indeed, the only +answer that is required to such a theory is to point to the natural +conditions of the site. Is it conceivable that people would settle +themselves in a marsh when they had firm and dry ground across the +river? + + + + +CHAPTER II + +EARLY HISTORY + + +Southwark, then, had no reason for existence at all except for its +connection with London by bridge and ferry, and especially by bridge. +Before the Ferry and the Bridge there was no Southwark. The history of +Southwark is closely connected with the Bridge. It was on the south end +of the Bridge that all the fighting took place, London very generously +handing over her battles to her daughter of the south. I propose, in +this chapter, to discourse about the Bridge and one or two of its +earlier battles. + +It is sometimes stated, confidently, that before the Bridge there was +the Ferry. Why? To carry people across the river and 'dump' them down in +the marsh? But people had no business in the marsh. First came the +Bridge and the Causeway to connect it with the Dover road. Then traffic +began to cross the Bridge and to meet the Dover road. But as yet there +was no ferry. Then came the Embankment, and the appearance of houses +along the Causeway and on the Embankment. As the trade of London +increased, so Southwark--I would we had the Roman name--increased in +proportion. Inns were created for the convenience of merchants, trade +was drawn from Thorney on the south by the Bridge, just as it was +diverted on the north by the military way connecting the great high road +with London. When the Causeway was always filled with caravans and long +trains of heavily laden packhorses; when the inns were crowded with +merchants and their slaves; when the Bridge was all day covered with +passengers and carriers; then the Ferry was demanded as a quicker and an +easier way of getting across. Two Ferries, there were; perhaps more. One +of these ran from Dowgate Dock to St. Mary Overies; the other crossed +the river lower down, nearer the Tower. So things remained for nearly +two thousand years--say, from A.D. 100 to A.D. 1750. If a man wanted to +get across the river, he did not make his way to London Bridge, and +painfully walk across amid the carriers and the caravans, the plunging +horses and the droves of oxen; he stepped into the boat and was ferried +across. We must not look on the Bridge as a means of getting across the +river for the people: it was not; it was the means of conveying +merchandise to and fro; it was a construction most important for +military purposes; it was a barrier to prevent a hostile fleet from +getting higher up the river; but, for the ordinary passenger, the boat +was the quicker and the easier means of conveyance. + +When was the Bridge built? It is impossible to say. It was not there +A.D. 61, when Queen Boadicea's troops sacked the City and murdered the +people. It was there when Allectus led his troops out to fight the Roman +legions. It was there very early in the Roman occupation, as is proved +by the quantities of Roman coins of the four centuries of their tenure +found in the bed of the river on the site of the old Bridge. It is also +proved by the fact that Southwark was a settlement of the wealthier +class, who could not have lived in a place absolutely without supplies, +had there been no bridge. We may take any time we please for the +construction of the Bridge, so long as it is quite early--say, before +the second century. + +The building of the Bridge can be arrived at with such great certainty +that I have no hesitation in presenting a drawing of it. As this Bridge +has never before been figured by the pencil of any artist, it will be +well for me to indicate the steps by which its reconstruction has been +made possible. + +[Illustration: Merchants crossing Southwark Marsh] + +The Britons themselves were quite unable to construct a bridge of any +kind, unless in the primitive methods observed at Post Bridge and Two +Bridges, on Dartmoor, by a slab of stone laid across two boulders. The +work, therefore, was certainly undertaken by Roman engineers. We have, +in the next place, to inquire what kind of bridge was built at that time +by the Romans. They built bridges of wood and of stone; many of these +stone bridges still remain, in other cases the pieces of hewn stone +still remain. The Bridge over the Thames, however, was of wood. This is +proved by the fact that, had it been of the solid Roman construction in +stone, the piers would be still remaining; also by the fact that London +had to be contented with a wooden bridge till the year 1176, when the +first bridge of stone was commenced. Considerations as to the +comparative insignificance of London in the first century, as to the +absence of stone in the neighbourhood, and as to the plentiful supply of +the best wood in the world from the forests north of the City, confirm +the theory that the Bridge was built of wood. We have only, therefore, +to learn how Roman engineers built bridges of wood elsewhere, in order +to know how they built a bridge of wood over the Thames. And this we +know without any doubt. + +First: they drove piles into the bed of the river--not upright piles, +but inclined at an angle; they placed two piles side by side, and +opposite to these two more; they connected the two piles by ties and the +opposite piles with them by transverse girders. Across them they laid a +huge beam--a tree roughly hewn, and across these beams they laid the +floor of stout planks. The weight of beams and planks and the parapet +put up afterwards, with perhaps other planks for greater safety, pressed +down the piles and held them in place. To prevent the current from +carrying them away, each double pair of piles was protected by a +'starling,' formed by driving upright smaller piles in front at the +piers and enclosing a space, which was filled up with stones, so that +the force of the current was not felt by the great piles. + +In this way the Roman Bridge was built. You will understand it better +from the drawing, which shows the Bridge taken from the Embankment near +the present site of St. Mary Overies Church. The gate is the river-gate +in the long straight wall which ran along the bank of the river. The +wall, it is obvious, must have been pierced at several points for the +convenience of trade and the quays: one supposes that these posterns +could be easily closed and defended. This river-wall, we shall presently +see, was standing in the time of Cnut. Some parts of it stood until the +building of the stone Bridge in the last quarter of the twelfth century. +The Roman Bridge was also the Saxon Bridge, the Danish Bridge, and the +Norman Bridge. + +In course of time the river-wall was removed, bit by bit: its +foundations still lie under the pavement and the warehouses. The gate +was altered. I do not suppose there was much of the original structure +left when the East Saxons took possession of the City after a hundred +years of desertion and decay. But a gate of some kind there must always +have been. The breadth of the Bridge allowed, according to FitzStephen, +two carts to pass each other. That means about sixteen feet. Like the +very ancient stone bridges of Saintes and Avignon, the Bridge was from +sixteen to twenty feet broad. The river-gate stood at the south end of +Botolph Lane, some seventy feet east of the present Bridge: the second +Bridge--the first of stone--stood between the first and third, having +St. Magnus' Church on the north and St. Olave's on the south side; +together with its own chapel of St. Thomas on the Bridge itself, to +place it under the special protection of the saints most dear to London +hearts. + +[Illustration: London Bridge, A.D. 1000] + +The Bridge, and especially the south end of it, was a field of battle +whenever the way of war came near to London. The first glimpse, as we +have seen, which we catch of it is when Allectus and his forces crossed +the river by the Bridge to give battle to the legions of Asclepiodotus +on the Heath beyond the rising ground. A few hours later, on the same +day, their columns routed, their general dead, we see the defeated +troops once more flying across the narrow Bridge. There was no one to +lead them, or they could have held the Bridge against all comers; there +was no drawbridge to pull up, or they could have kept the Romans out by +that expedient. One wonders if all their officers were lying dead on +the field, with Allectus, for the troops, who were Franks for the most +part, seem to have left the Bridge without a guard, and the river-gate +wide open, while they melted into little companies, who ran about the +City pillaging the houses and murdering the unfortunate people. + +By the Roman law the people were unarmed: no one could carry arms except +the soldiers. The law was a safeguard against rebellion; but it opened +the door to military revolts, and it destroyed the military spirit among +the civil population--always a most dangerous thing for a State. The +Roman legions poured into the City; they found Allectus' Franks at their +murderous work, and they cut them down. If it is true, as stated by the +historians, that they were all cut off to a man, London must have been a +horrible shambles. + +The second glimpse of the Bridge is also that of a routed army flying +across the narrow way to seek shelter between the walls. It is in the +year 467. They are the Britons flying from their defeat in Kent. After +this there is silence--absolute silence, leaving not so much as a +whisper, a tradition, or a legend; the silence that can only mean +desertion--silence for a hundred and fifty years. + +[Illustration: A Danish House] + +When London reappears, it is in humble guise: the City has shrunk within +her ancient walls; and these have fallen into decay. Southwark no longer +exists. We learn that the Bridge has been repaired, because there is +easy communication with Canterbury. Yet in the Danish troubles there is +no fighting on or for the Bridge. Why? simply because there were no +defenders of the Bridge on the south. In 819 and in 857 the Danes +entered London and 'slaughtered numbers,' apparently without opposition. +In 872 they occupied London, apparently without opposition. We hear of +no siege, of no fighting on the Bridge; of no shelter behind the walls. +Yet there was a defence at York, at Reading, at Nottingham--behind the +walls. Why not in London? Because in London the walls, 5,500 yards in +length, had become too long to man, or to defend, or to repair. The +Danes ran into the City through the shattered gate; they leaped over the +broken wall. What happened to the people; what street fighting was +carried on, what slaughter, what plunder, what horrible treatment of +women--we may understand from the page of the historian Saxo relating +other sacks and sieges by the gentle Dane. As for the trade, the wealth, +the name and fame of London--they all perished together. It was a ruined +city, with a miserable population of craftsmen enslaved by the Dane, +that Alfred reconquered. The Bridge itself was broken down; the +settlements of the south were deserted: even the fishermen had left the +Thames above and below London, and sought for safety in the retired +creeks and safe backwaters along the coast of Essex. The London +fisherman sallied forth in his coracle from the marshes behind Canvey +Island, and from the slopes of Hadleigh. Alfred repaired the walls and +the Bridge and rebuilt the gates. Something like peace was restored to +the City and order to the country. Then trade, which welcomes the first +appearance of safety, began again. If the merchant feared the pirates of +the Foreland, he could march across the Bridge to Dover; or he could +land at Dover and march across Kent to the Bridge. Then the old +settlements on the south Causeway were rebuilt and new inns sprang up, +and Southwark began again. + +A hundred years of rest from the 'army,' as the 'Chronicle' calls the +Danes, gave Southwark time to grow. It is spoken of by the Danish +historian as an 'emporium.' I understand from the use of this word that +the trade of London was carried on principally by way of Dover, because +the seas were swarming with pirates. Southwark was a halting-place and a +resting-place, such as Thorney had been of old. + +The prosperity of the settlement, however, received another blow when +the Danes once more, mindful of their former victories, sailed up the +river with hope of again taking London. Southwark was defenceless. There +was never any wall about the place: its population was migratory. When +the enemy appeared the people of Southwark retreated across the Bridge. +The Danes landed, pillaged, and burned; they then went away. Some of the +people returned, especially the fishermen, whose huts were easily +repaired. When, however, the attacks became more frequent, and the Danes +appeared every year, Southwark was deserted. But in London itself they +were grievously disappointed; for their grandfathers had told them that +it was a feeble and a helpless place, perfectly incapable of resistance, +with walls through whose wide gaps a whole army could march; and they +fondly expected to find it in the same condition. But it had been +growing, unseen by them, in population and resource and power. + +In the year 992 the City showed its strength in a manner which was +extremely startling to the Danes; for it equipped a great fleet, manned +the ships with stout-hearted citizens, sent the ships down the river, +met the Danish fleet, engaged them, and routed them with great +slaughter. Two years later they returned, eager for revenge--the revenge +which they vainly sought in six successive sieges. The army on this +occasion consisted of Norsemen and Danes in alliance, under the two +kings, Olaf of Norway and Swegen of Denmark. They were firmly resolved +to take the City: with their warriors they would attack it by land, with +their ships by water. They had no ladders; they had no knowledge of +mining; they had no battering-rams; they could, and doubtless did, +endeavour to break down the gates with trunks of trees; but the gates +were well manned and well defended. On the river-side one half of the +town kept open their communications; the other half were exposed to the +arrows of the sailors, but had arrows of their own. How long the siege +lasted I know not; the 'Chronicle,' all too brief, tells us only that +the enemy discovered that they could not prevail, and that they +withdrew. + +[Illustration: SHIPS, BAYEUX TAPESTRY] + +The appearance of a Danish or Norwegian fleet, whose ships were models +to King Alfred when he founded the English Navy, must not be gathered +from the drawings of the Bayeux tapestry, where the ships are +conventional in treatment. We have, fortunately, one actual surviving +specimen of a ship of King Olaf's time. It is the famous ship of +Gokstad, in Norway. Look at the two pictures on this and following page. +One is taken from the tapestry, the other is the Gokstad vessel. The +former carries about a dozen men, rather high out of the water, with +straight sides, and would certainly capsize. The latter is a long, +light, swift vessel, built for speed, and able to sail over quite +shallow water; she is constructed on lines which, for beauty or for +usefulness, cannot be surpassed even at the present day: she rides +lightly, drawing very little water. She is clinker built; the planks +overlying each other are fastened with iron bolts, riveted and clinched +on the inside. She is built of oak; her length from stem to stern, over +all, is 78 feet; her keel is 66 feet; her breadth is 16-1/2 feet; her depth +is no more than 4 feet; the third plank from the top is twice as thick +as the others; she is pierced by portholes for as many oars. The ship is +pointed at both ends; she is steered by a rudder attached to the side of +the stern; on each side hang 16 shields; she carried 64 rowers, and +probably as many men besides. The decorations lavished on the ship were +profuse. The figure-head was gilt, the stern was gilt, the shields were +gilt; the ships were painted in long lines of bright colour--you can +see that in the ships of the Bayeux tapestry. The whole of the +vessel--bows, figure-head, gunwale, stern-post--were covered with +carvings; the sails were decorated with embroideries; the mast was gilt. +Verily the 'fleet shone as if it were on fire.' + +[Illustration: A Viking Ship] + +Such were the ships which came up, nearly a hundred in company, with +Olaf and Swegen. Low in the water they came, the oars sweeping in a +long, measured swish of the water: swiftly flying up the broad river, +the sunshine lighting up the colours and the gilding of the ships, and +the bright arms of the company on board. It was a company of tall and +strong men; young, every one, with long fair hair and blue eyes. From +the grey walls of the town, from the Bridge on the river, the citizens +saw the splendid array rushing up to destroy them if they could. At the +Bridge, the foremost stop: they go no farther; those behind cry +'Forward!' and those in front cry 'Back!' The Bridge would suffer none +to pass; and so, jammed together, perhaps lashed together, as when Olaf +was to meet his death five years later in his last splendid sea-fight, +they essayed to take the city by assault. They shot arrows with red-hot +heads over the walls, to strike and set light to the thatch; they shot +arrows at the citizens on the walls; they tried to scale the piles of +the Bridge. If they could get within the City, these splendid savages, +there would be slaughter and pillage, ravishing of women, firing of the +thatch, the roar of flames and the clashing of weapons, and next day +silence, long teams of slaves and of treasure lifted into the ships, +bows turned outward; and the fleet would leave behind it a London once +more desolate and naked and forlorn, as when the East Saxon entered +towards the end of the sixth century. It was a day of fate, and big with +destiny. Had the Danes succeeded, we know not what might have been the +history of London and of England. + +When they were beaten off, the people of Southwark went back to their +homes, and the daily business of life was carried on as usual. We may +observe that if there had been a permanent settlement here--a town of +any importance--they would have built a wall to protect it. But there +was never any wall; the place could be approached by the Causeway or by +the river; no one ever at any time thought of protecting Southwark. + +But now a worse time fell upon the place, as well as upon London. The +whole country, almost unresisting, was ravaged by the Danes: Swegen came +over and proved the English weakness, and saw that time would help him, +if he waited. Time did help him, and famine helped him as well. + +In 1009 occurred the second siege of London, this time by Thurkitel, who +afterwards entered into the service of Ethelred. He ravaged Kent and +Essex, took up his winter quarters on the Thames, apparently at +Greenwich, and laid siege to the City--but in vain. It is of course +obvious that without ladders, mines, battering-rams, or wooden towers, +the City could never be taken. The people beat him off at every assault +with great loss. It seems as if the whole valour in England was at the +moment concentrated in London. + +The third siege of London was in 1013, when Swegen returned. This time, +mindful of his former failure, and of Thurkitel's failure, he left his +ships at Southampton; he marched upon London by way of Winchester, which +he took on the way; but although he came up from the south, he did not +attack from the south, nor did he encamp on the south. The reason is +obvious: the Causeway was narrow; to fight on the Bridge was to engage a +mere handful of men; there was no place except that and the Causeway. +Swegen, therefore, passed over the ford of Westminster, and attacked the +walls on the north side. Within the City was Thurkitel, now in the +English service; by his help or counsel, the Londoners drove Swegen off +the field. He withdrew. But all England rapidly submitted to his arms; +therefore London, too, seeing that it was useless to hold out alone, +sent hostages and submitted. It is reported that they were terrified at +the threats of Swegen: he would cut off their hands and their feet; he +would tear out their eyes; he would burn and destroy--and so forth. But +these promises were the common garnish of besiegers; they no more +frightened the defenders of London at this time than they frightened the +defenders of any other city. + +The end of Swegen, as everybody knows, was that St. Edmund of Bury +killed him for doubting his saintliness. + +[Illustration: SKETCH MAP] + +We now come to the three successive sieges by King Cnut. The expedition +with which he proposed to reduce London was far finer and more powerful +than that of Olaf and Swegen. The poetic description of it says that the +ships were counted by hundreds; that they were manned by an army among +whom there was never a slave, or a freeman son of a slave, or one +unworthy man, or an old man. Freeman asks what nobility meant if all +were nobles? A strange question for one so learned! The nobles of +Denmark were simply the conquering race; nobility consisted in free +birth, and in descent from the conquering race, not the conquered: it +was not necessarily a small caste; it might possibly include the larger +part of the people. + +Cnut anchored off Greenwich and prepared for his siege. First of all, he +resolved that the Bridge should no longer bar the way. He therefore cut +a trench round the south of the Bridge, by means of which he drew some +of his ships to the other side of it. He then cut another trench round +the whole of the wall. In this way he hoped to shut in the City and cut +off all supplies: if he could not take the place by storm, he would +starve it out. There are no details of the siege, but as Cnut speedily +abandoned the hope of success and marched off to look after Edmund, his +investment of the City was certainly not a success. + +He met Edmund and fought two battles with him; with what result history +has made us acquainted. He then returned and resumed the siege of +London. Edmund fought him again, and made him once more raise the siege. +When Edmund went into Wessex to gather new forces, Cnut began a third +siege, in which, also, 'by God's help,' he made no progress. + +In twenty years, therefore, the City of London was besieged six times, +and not once taken. + +Antiquaries have written a good deal on the colossal nature of the canal +constructed by Cnut; they have looked for traces of it in the south of +London before it was covered over by houses; they have gone as far +afield as Deptford in search of these traces; they have even found them; +and to the present day every writer who has mentioned the canal speaks +of it and thinks of it with the respect due to a colossal work. Freeman +himself called it a 'deep ditch.' How deep it was, how long it was, how +broad it was, I am going to explain. + +It was in the year 1756 that the painstaking historian, William +Maitland, F.R.S., announced that he had been so fortunate as to light +upon the course of the long-lost trench of King Cnut. + +He had found certain evidence, he said, of its course, in a direction +nearly east and west from the then 'New Dock' of Rotherhithe to the +river at the end of Chelsea Reach, through Vauxhall Gardens. The proofs +were, first, certain depressions in the ground; next, the discovery of +oaken planks and piles driven into the ground for what he thought was +the northern fence of the canal, near the Old Kent Road; and next a +report that, in 1694, when the wet dock of Rotherhithe was constructed, +a quantity of hazel, willow, and other branches were found pointing +northward, with stakes to keep them in position, forming a kind of water +fence, such as, it is said, is still in use in Denmark. It will be seen +that Mr. Maitland's theory has but a small basis of evidence, yet it +seems to have been generally accepted--partly, I suppose, because it was +so colossal. + +The canal thus cut would actually be a little over four miles and a half +in length. Another writer, seeing the difficulties of so great a work, +suggests another course. He would start from the site of the New Dock, +Rotherhithe, and end on the other side of London Bridge, a course of +only three and three-quarter miles! + +Let us ask ourselves why it should be a 'deep' ditch; why it should be a +long ditch; why it should be a broad ditch. + +Wherever Cnut began his trench, whether at Rotherhithe or nearer the +Bridge, he would have the same preliminary difficulties to encounter: +that is to say, he would have to cut through the Embankment of the river +at either end, and he would have to cut through the Causeway in the +middle. In these cuttings he would perhaps have to take down two or +three houses, huts, or cabins, all deserted, because the people had all +run across the Bridge for safety at the first sight of the Danes, if +there were any people at the time living in Southwark--which I doubt. + +We may, further, take it for granted that Cnut had officers of sense and +experience on whom he could depend for carrying out his canal in a +workmanlike manner. A people who could build such perfect ships would +certainly not waste time and labour in constructing a trench which would +be any longer or deeper or wider than was absolutely necessary. + +[Illustration] + +Now the shortest canal possible would be that in which he was just able +to drag his vessels round without destroying the banks. In other words, +if a circular canal began at C B, and if we drew an imaginary circle +round the middle of the canal, what was required was that the chord D F, +forming a tangent to the middle circle, should be at least as long as +the longest vessel. Now (see diagram)-- + + AD squared - AE squared = DE squared. + +If _r_ is the radius, AD and 2_a_ the breadth BC, and 2_b_ the length of +the chord DF-- + + _r_ squared - (_r_ - _a_) squared = _b_ squared therefore _r_ = (_a_ squared + _b_ squared)/2_a_. + +This represents the length of the radius in terms of the length and +breadth of the largest vessel in the fleet, and is therefore the +smallest radius possible for getting the ships through. Now, the ship of +Gokstad, already described, was undoubtedly one of the finest of the +vessels used by Danes and Normans. The poets certainly speak of larger +ships, but as a marvel. Nothing is said about Cnut bringing over ships +of very great size. Now, that vessel was 66 feet in length, considering +the keel, which is all we need consider; 16-1/2 feet in breadth, and 4 feet +in depth. She drew very little water; therefore a breadth of canal less +than the breadth of the vessel was enough. Let us make the chord 70 feet +in length, so that _b_ = 35. Let us make the breadth of the canal 12 +feet. Therefore 2_a_ = 12 or _a_ = 6 and _r_ = 105 feet very nearly. +Measuring, therefore, 105 feet on either side of London Bridge, we +arrive at a possible commencement of Cnut's work. That is to say, if he +made a semicircular canal, in that case the length of the canal would be +320 yards, which is certainly an improvement on four miles and a half, +or even three miles and three-quarters. + +[Illustration: THE GOKSTAD SHIP] + +There is, however, more to consider. Why should Cnut make a semicircle +when an arc would serve his turn? All he had to do was to draw an arc of +a circle with the radius just found, to clear any obstacles in the way +of approach to the Bridge, and use that arc for his canal. This is most +certainly what he did: I am quite certain he adopted this method, +because it was the only sensible thing to do. He would thus get off with +a canal about fifty yards long, of which the only difficulty would be +the cutting through the Embankment and the Causeway. + +What would be the depth of the canal? Look at this section of the +Gokstad ship. With her breadth of sixteen feet, she had only four feet +in depth; without her company and crew, and their arms and provisions, +she would thus draw no more than a few inches--certainly not more than +eight inches or so. Freeman's deep canal therefore comes to eight inches +at the most. But there is still another consideration which lessened the +labour materially. The ground behind the Embankment was a little lower +than the river at high tide: the Danes, therefore, had only to construct +a low wooden containing-wall of timber on each side in order to make +their canal without excavating an inch. When that was done, the cutting +of the Embankment let in the tide and did the rest. In this simple +manner do we reduce Cnut's colossal work of a deep canal, four miles and +a half long, into a piece of construction and demolition which would +take a large body of men no more than a few hours. + +If, however, there actually was any digging to be done, we must remember +that the ground was a level; that there were no stones or rocks in the +way, and that it consisted of a soft black _humus_, the result of ages +of successive growths of sedge and coarse grass, formerly washed twice a +day by the brackish waters of a tidal river. The object of the canal +once attained, the ships drawn back again, Cnut, of course, left the +place to be repaired by any who pleased. The broken Embankment let in +the tide; the broken Causeway cut off any approach to the river; but +Southwark was deserted. When things settled down a little, workmen were +sent across from London, and the broken places were repaired. Then all +traces of the canal disappeared. + +Thirty-six years later, in 1052, Earl Godwine arrived at Southwark with +a fleet and an army. He had no difficulty in passing the Bridge; he +waited till flood-tide, and then sailed through 'on the south side.' It +is quite impossible to explain this statement, or to make it agree with +the difficulty felt by Cnut. The Bridge may have sustained some damage; +there may have been a drawbridge; or Godwine's ships may have been +smaller: one knows nothing. I merely state the fact as the Chronicler +gives it. + +One more glimpse of the Bridge from Southwark before we pass on to more +modern times. + +[Illustration: Ships of William the Conqueror] + +After Hastings, William marched northwards. Arrived near London, he +advanced to Southwark, where he found the Bridge closed to him--closed, +I believe, by knocking away some of the upper beams. This, of course, he +expected; his friends within the City, of whom he had many, kept him +acquainted with the changing currents of popular opinion. It is commonly +stated that the citizens were terrified by the sight of Southwark in +flames at his command. Southwark in flames! A few fishermen's huts were +all that remained of the suburb, whose population since the time of the +_Pax Romana_ had been so precarious and so changeful. Five hundred years +of battle, war between kings and tribes, invasion and ravage by Dane and +Norseman, had not left of Southwark, once so beautiful a suburb, +anything more than these poor huts and ruins of huts. William's soldiers +burned them, because wherever a soldier of that period appeared, the +thatch always caught fire spontaneously. William saw the flames, and +regarded them not, any more than he regarded the flames that followed in +his track all the way from Senlac. He gazed across the river, and +remembered that twice had London defied all the strength of Swegen; that +three times had London beaten off the great King Cnut when all England +had surrendered; that in six sieges London had always been victorious; +he knew, because his friends in the City would allow no mistake on that +point, that the spirit of the citizens was as high now as it had been +then; that they still remembered with pride the defeat of Cnut; and that +not a few were anxious to treat William the Norman as they had treated +Cnut the Dane. One knows not, exactly, what things went on within the +walls; what exhortations, what wild talk, what faction fight; how the +citizens rolled, and surged, a mass of wild faces, about their Folk-mote +by St. Paul's. But of one thing we may be quite certain: that William +did not expect the citizens to be afraid of him; and that, in fact, they +were not afraid of him, whether he set fire to the huts of Southwark or +not; they were not afraid of William, whatever the historians say. As +for the Bridge, the old Roman Bridge, by this time there could hardly +have been a single pile remaining of the original structure; yet it was +constantly repaired. + +We may restore to Norman London, therefore, not only the grey wall +rising out of the level ground, without any ditch or moat outside, but +also the Bridge of wooden piles with the transverse girders and beams +for additional security, so that the old Bridge contained a whole forest +of timbers like those which support the roof of an ancient hall. It was +continually receiving damage. In the year 1091, a mighty whirlwind blew +down a good part of London, houses and churches and all. It has been +assumed that the Bridge was also destroyed; but the 'Chronicle' is +silent on the subject. In 1092 there was a great fire in London; it is +again assumed that the Bridge was destroyed, but again the 'Chronicle' +is silent. In 1097, however, it is plainly stated that the Bridge had +been almost washed away, and that it was repaired. + +[Illustration: BAYEUX TAPESTRY] + +In 1136 the most destructive fire ever experienced by London, save that +of 1666, spread through the whole City, from London Bridge, which it +greatly damaged, all the way to St. Clement Danes on the west, and +Aldgate on the east. One wonders what ancient monuments--walls of Roman +churches, villas, and baths, still surviving halls and chambers of the +Forum--were destroyed in this fire; Saxon houses of the better sort, +with their great halls and courtyards; small Saxon churches of wood or +stone, with low towers and little windows. Possibly there was no great +loss: it was already seven hundred years since Augusta was deserted. +Roman remains must have been scanty; the City was chiefly built of wood, +with thatched roofs; the splendour of the latter centuries had not yet +commenced. The Bridge, however, was either wholly or in part destroyed. +It was repaired, because, fifty years later, FitzStephen, in his +description of the City, speaks of the citizens watching the water +sports from the Bridge. Indeed, the Bridge was now absolutely necessary +to the City. A hundred years of order in the City--with the seas cleared +of pirates, the Danes kept down, and merchants filling the river with +ships, and the quays with merchandise--crowded the Bridge all day long +with trains of packhorses, and the less frequent rude carts with broad +grunting wheels which would have quite taken the place of the horse but +for the bad roads. Southwark, during this period of rest, had become +once more a town, or at least a village. Still, along the Embankment +stood the thatched huts of the fisherfolk; but they were pushed farther +east and west every year, until Lambeth and Rotherhithe were their +quarters when the fish deserted the river and their occupation was gone. +The Roman inns were gone, but new ones were springing up in their +places. Bishops and abbots were looking on Southwark as a place of fine +air, open to every breeze and free from the noise and crowd of London; +ecclesiastical foundations were already springing into existence. In a +word, the settlements of the south, after four hundred years of ruin and +desertion, were once more beginning a new existence. The day when +William rode up to the south end of the Bridge, and looked across upon a +City that had not yet made up its mind about his reception, marked a new +birth for the long-suffering suburb of the Embankment and the Causeway. +A hundred years later still--in 1176--they began to build their Bridge +of Stone. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +A FORGOTTEN MONASTERY + + +The earliest maps of South London are those of the sixteenth century. +But it is perfectly easy from them and from the historical facts to draw +a map of all that country lying between Deptford and Battersea which we +have agreed to call South London. Thus, to put the map into words, there +were buildings all along both sides of the Causeway as far as St. +George's Church; in the middle of the Causeway stood St. Margaret's +Church, facing St. Margaret's Hill; on the right-hand side, just under +the Bridge, was St. Olave's Church. The Bridge was thus protected on the +north by St. Magnus, on the south by St. Olave--two Danish saints--and +in the middle by the patron saint of its chapel, St. Thomas a Becket. +There were houses along the Embankment on either side, but more on the +west of the Causeway than on the east. A few houses were built already +on the low-lying ground near the Causeway; for instance, on the south +and south-west of St. Mary Overies. On the east of St. Olave's a single +straight lane with no houses ran across country to Bermondsey Abbey; on +the west of the Causeway another lane led to Kennington Palace, from +which another lane led to the Causeway from Lambeth and Westminster to +the Dover Road. That was the whole extent of Southwark. + +The place was essentially a suburb. There were no trades or industries +in it, except that of fishing; the fishermen had their cottages dotted +about all along the Embankment; a few watermen lived here, but that was +perhaps later: other working men there were none, save the cooks and +varlets of the great houses, and the 'service' of the inns. Because the +air was fresh and pure, blown up daily with the tides; and because the +place was easy of access, by river, to Westminster and the Court, many +great men, ecclesiastics and nobles, had their town houses here: the +Bishop of Winchester, the Bishop of Rochester, the Prior of Lewes, the +Abbot of Hyde, the Abbot of Battle, the Earls of Surrey, Sir John +Fastolfe, also the Brandons. Also, because it was easy of access by +bridge and river to the City, the merchants brought their goods and +warehoused them here in the inns at which they stayed, while they went +across the river and transacted their business. It was a suburb which, +in modern times, would be described as needing no poor rate. Later on +there grew up, as we shall see, a class of the unclassed--a population +of rogues and vagabonds, thieves, and sanctuary birds. + +The government of the place as a whole was difficult, or rather +impossible. There were several 'Liberties;' the Liberty of Bermondsey; +that of the Bishop of Winchester; that of the King; that of the Mayor. +The last contained the part of the Borough lying between St. Saviour's +Dock on the west and Hay's Dock on the east, with a southern limit just +including St. Margaret's Church. This very small district was called the +Gildable Manor: it was conceded by the King to the City of London in the +thirteenth century in order to prevent the place from becoming the home +and refuge of criminals from the City. As the other liberties remained +outside the jurisdiction of the City, the alleviation gained was not +very great: criminals still dropped across the river, finding shelter on +the Lambeth Marsh or the marsh between Bermondsey and Rotherhithe. It +was from this unavoidable hospitality to persons escaping from justice +that Southwark received a character which has stuck to it till the +present day. In the centuries which include the twelfth to the +fifteenth, however, South London, so far as it was populated at all, +was the residence of great lords and the place of sojourn for merchants +from the country. As yet the reputation of Southwark was spotless and +its dignity enviable. London itself had no such collection of palaces +gathered together so closely. As for the land, that lay low, but was +protected by the Embankment from the river. Many rivulets flowed slowly +across the misty meadows; many ponds lay about the flats; there was an +abundant growth of trees everywhere, so that parts of the land were dark +at midday by reason of the trees growing so close together. The rivulets +were pretty little streams; willows grew over them; alders grew beside +them; they were coloured brown by the peaty soil; on their banks grew +wild flowers--the marsh mallow, the anemone, the hedgehog grass, the +frogbit, the crowfoot, and the bitter-wort; orchards flourished in the +fat and fertile soil. The people had almost forgotten the special need +of their Embankment. Yet when, in the year 1242, the Embankment at +Lambeth was broken down, the river rushed in and covered six square +miles of country, including all that part which is now called Battersea. + +Remember, however, that as yet there was not a single house upon the +whole of Lambeth Marsh, nor upon the whole of Bermondsey Marsh. The +houses began near what is now the south end of Blackfriars Bridge; they +faced the river, having gardens behind them. On the other side of the +Bridge the houses extended farther, going on nearly opposite to Wapping. + +The place was well provided with prisons; every Liberty had its own +prison. Thus there were the Clink of the Winchester Liberty, that of the +Bermondsey Liberty, the 'White Lion' of Surrey, the King's Bench, and +the Marshalsea, all in the narrow limits we have laid down. And there +were also, for the delectation of the righteous and the terror of +evil-doers, the visible instruments for correction. In every parish +there was the whipping post--one in St. Mary Overy's churchyard, put up +after the time of the monks; one at St. Thomas's Hospital; there was the +pillory for neck and hands, generally with somebody on it, but the +pillory was movable; there was the cage--one stood at the south end of +the Bridge--women had to stand in the cage; there were stocks for feet +wandering and trespassing; there were pounds for stray animals. + +Markets were held in the churchyard of St. Margaret's; in the precinct +of Bermondsey Abbey; and along the street called 'Long Southwark'--now +High Street--from the Bridge to St. Margaret's Hill. But we must not +suppose that the markets of Southwark presented the same crowded +appearance, and were carried on with the same noise and bustle, as those +of Chepe and Newgate on the other side. + +Everything, in those days, was quiet and dignified in Southwark. The +Princes of the Church arrived and departed, each with his retinue of +chaplains and secretaries, gentlemen and livery. Kings and ambassadors +rode up from Dover through Long Southwark and across the Bridge. The +mayor and aldermen in new cloaks of red murrey and gold chains sallied +forth to meet the King returning from abroad. Cavalcades of pilgrims for +Canterbury, Compostella, Seville, Rome, and Jerusalem rode out of +Southwark when the spring returned; and every day there arrived and +departed long lines of packhorses laden with the produce of the country +and with things imported for sale in London City. Pilgrims, merchants, +travellers, all put up at the Southwark inns. The place was nothing but +a collection of inns; the ecclesiastics stayed here for a few weeks and +then went away; the great lords came here when they had business at +Court and then went away again; the merchants came and went: by itself +the place had, as yet, no independent life or character of its own at +all. + +There were two Monastic Houses. Both were stately; both are full of +history. Let us consider the House of Bermondsey, because it is less +generally known than the other of St. Mary Overy or Overies. + +[Illustration: The Monastery of Bermondsey] + +The Abbey of St. Saviour, Bermondsey, was the Westminster of South +London. Like Westminster, Bermondsey stood upon a low islet in the midst +of a marsh; at the distance of half a mile on the north ran the river; +half a mile on the west was the Causeway; half a mile on the south was +the Dover road. It is significant of the seclusion in which the House +lay that the only road which connected it with the world was that lane +called Bermondsey or Barnsie or Barnabie Lane, which ran from the Abbey +to St. Olave's and so to London Bridge. It was not, like Westminster, a +place of traffic and resort. It lay alone and secluded, separated from +the noise and racket of life. When the marsh had been gradually drained +and the Embankment continued through Rotherhithe to Deptford and beyond +the Greenwich levels, the Abbey lands round the islet became extremely +fertile and wooded and covered with sheep and cattle. + +The House was founded in the year 1182 by one Ailwin Childe, a merchant +of the City, an Alderman also and one of the ruling families of London. +He was the son of an elder Ailwin, who was a member of that 'Knighten +Guild' which, with all its members and all its property--the land which +now forms the Ward of Portsoken--went over to the Priory of the Holy +Trinity. Religion of a practical and real kind was therefore hereditary +in the family. The elder Ailwin became a monk, the younger founded a +monastery; his son, the third of the family of whom we know anything, +became the first Mayor of London, and remained Mayor for twenty-four +years--the rest of his life. + +[Illustration: BERMONDSEY ABBEY] + +The whole of history from the ninth to the fifteenth century is full of +a pathetic longing after a religious Order, if that could be found, of +true and proved sanctity. One Order after the other arises; one after +the other challenges respect for reputed holiness of a new and hitherto +unknown kind: in fact, it commands the respect of the people who always +admire voluntary privation of what they value so much--food and drink; +it receives endowments, gifts, foundations of all kinds; it then departs +from the ancient rule, and quickly loses its hold upon the people. This +is the simple history of Benedictine, Franciscan, Cistercian, and all +the rest. However, at the close of the eleventh century the Cluniac was +in the highest repute for a rigid Rule, strictly kept: and for an +austerity strictly enforced. It was a Cluniac House which Ailwin Childe +set up in Bermondsey, and which Earl de Warren, who also founded the +Cluniac House of Lewes, enriched. + +[Illustration: GATEWAY OF BERMONDSEY ABBEY] + +This Priory, with thirty-seven other Houses, was an Alien owing +obedience to the Abbot of Cluny. A large part of its revenues, +therefore, was sent out of the country, and it received its Priors from +abroad. In the reign of Henry the Fifth the growing dissatisfaction on +account of the Alien Priories came to a head, and they were all +suppressed, or at least cut off from obedience to the Mother Convent. +The Priory of Bermondsey was therefore raised to the dignity of an +Abbey, with an English Abbot, and so continued until the Dissolution. + +The Abbey was one of the many places of pilgrimage dotted about round +London--places accessible in a single day's journey. Thus there were the +three shrines of Willesden, Muswell Hill, and Gospel Oak, each +possessing an image of the Virgin to which miraculous powers were +attributed. At Blackheath there was another holy shrine; at Bermondsey +there was a Holy Rood which was daily visited in the summer by pious +pilgrims from London. The Rood had been fished up from the Thames, and +no one knew its history; but the merit of a pilgrimage to the Abbey and +of prayers said before the shrine was considered very precious. It was, +moreover, an easy pilgrimage. A boat taken below the Bridge would take +the pilgrim over to the opposite shore in a few minutes, where a cross +standing before a lane leading out of 'Short Southwark' showed him the +way. It was but half a mile to the Abbey of St. Saviour and the Holy +Rood. + +'Go,' writes John Paston in 1465 to his mother, 'visit the Rood of +North door and St. Saviour in Bermondsey among while ye abide in London; +and let my sister Margery go with you to pray to them that she may have +a good husband or she come home again.' + +One can hardly expect that the Abbot of Cluny should resign this +valuable possession without a remonstrance. He made, in fact, the +strongest possible remonstrance. In 1457 he sent over three monks with +orders to lay the case before the King, and to invite his attention +especially to the papers showing the clear and indisputable right of the +Mother Convent to the House of Bermondsey. These monks, in fact, did +present their case to the King, with the documents. But no one heeded +them; they could hardly get a hearing; no one replied to their +arguments. This neglect was perhaps the cause why one of them died while +in this country. The other two went home again, having accomplished +nothing. One of them on the eve of their departure wrote a piteous +letter to the Abbot of St. Albans:-- + + For the rest, be it known to you, my Lord, that after having spent + four months and a half on our journey, and following our Right with + the most serene Lord the King and his Privy Council, we have + obtained nothing: nay, we are sent back very disconsolate, deprived + of our Manors, our Pensions alienated, and, what is still worse, we + are denied the obedience of all our Monasteries which are 38 in + number: nor did our Legal Deeds, nor the Testimonies of your + Chronicles avail us anything, and at length, after all our pleading + and expenses, we return home moneyless, for in truth, after paying + for what we have eaten and drunk, we have but five crowns left, to + go back about 260 leagues. But what then? We will sell what we have: + we will go on: and God will provide. Nothing else occurs to write to + your Paternity: but that as we entered England with joy, so we + depart thence with sorrow: having buried one of our Companions--viz. + the Archdeacon, the youngest of our company. May he rest in Peace! + Amen. + +There is not at the present moment a single stone of this stately House +visible, though there were many remains above ground one hundred years +ago. It is a pity, because there is the association of two Queens, not +to speak of many great Lords of state Functions, and of Parliaments, +connected with this House secluded in the Marsh. + +The first of the two Queens is Katharine of Valois, widow of Henry the +Fifth. The story is the most romantic, perhaps, of all the stories +connected with our line of sovereigns and Queens and Royal Princes. It +is not a new story, and yet it is not so well known that any apology is +needed for telling it once more. + +Henry died August 31, 1422. His widow, Katharine, began to live in the +seclusion fitted for her sorrow and her widowhood. Among her household, +the office of Clerk to the Wardrobe was filled by a young and handsome +Welshman named Owen Tudor, or Theodore. He was the son of a plain Welsh +gentleman of slender means, if any, who was in the service of the Bishop +of Chester. He distinguished himself at Agincourt in the following of +some nobleman unknown. It has been said, with singular ignorance of the +time, that he was a private soldier--that is, a man with a pike or a +bow, dressed in a leather jerkin which the men threw off when the battle +began. The opportunities for a common soldier to distinguish himself in +such an action were few, nor do we ever hear of a king raising a man +from the ranks, as Henry raised Owen Tudor, to the post of Esquire to +the Body. It is possible, but most improbable, that Owen Tudor was +regarded as a common soldier: since his father was a gentleman in the +service of the Bishop of Chester, he himself would go to war as a +gentleman in the service and wearing the livery of some noble lord. + +In this way, however, his promotion began. When the King married, Owen +Tudor was attached to the household of the Queen. After the death of +Henry he accompanied the Queen and remained in her service as Clerk to +the Wardrobe. In this office he had to buy whatever was wanted by the +Queen--her silk, her velvet, her cloth of gold. He was therefore brought +into much closer and more direct relation with the Queen than other +officers of the household. He pleased her by his appearance, his +accomplishments, and his manners. Tradition says that he danced very +well. There is no reason to inquire by what attractions or +accomplishments he pleased. The fact remains that he did please the +Queen, and that so much that she consented to a secret marriage with +him. It was a dangerous step for this Welsh adventurer to take: it was a +step which would cover the Queen with dishonour should it become known. +That the widow of the great and glorious Henry, chief captain of the +age, should be able to forget her husband at all; should be capable of +union with any lower man; should ally her royal line with that of a man +who could only call himself gentleman after the fashion of Wales: would +certainly be considered to bring dishonour on the King, the royal +family, and the country at large. + +The marriage was not found out for some years. The Queen must have been +most faithfully and loyally served, because children cannot be born +without observation. Owen Tudor must have conducted matters with a +discretion beyond all praise. No doubt the ordinary members of the +household knew nothing and suspected nothing, because several years +passed before any suspicion was awakened. Three sons and one daughter, +in all, were born. The eldest, Edmund of Hadham, was so called because +he was born there; the second, Jasper, was of Hatfield; the third, Owen, +of Westminster; the youngest, Margaret, died in infancy. + +Suspicions were aroused about the time of the birth of Owen, which took +place apparently before it was expected and without all the precautions +necessary, in the King's House at Westminster. The infant was taken as +soon as born to the monastery of St. Peter's, secretly. It is not likely +that the Abbot received the child without full knowledge of his +parents. He did take the child, however; and here the little Owen +remained, growing up in a monastery, and taking vows in due time. Here +he lived and here he died, a Benedictine of Westminster. + +It would seem as if Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, heard some whisper or +rumour concerning this birth, or was told something about the true +nature of the Queen's illness, for he issued a very singular +proclamation, warning the world, generally, against marrying Queen +dowagers, as if these ladies grew on every hedge. When, however, a year +or so afterwards, the fourth child, Margaret, was born, Humphrey learned +the whole truth: the degradation, as he thought it, of the Queen, who +had stooped to such an alliance, and the humble rank and the audacity of +the Welshman. He took steps promptly. He sent Katharine with some of her +ladies to Bermondsey Abbey, there to remain in honourable confinement: +he arrested Owen Tudor, a priest--probably the priest who had performed +the marriage--and his servant, and sent all three to Newgate. + +All three succeeded in breaking prison, and escaped. At this point the +story gets mixed. The King himself, we are told, then a lad of fifteen, +sent to Owen commanding his attendance before the Council. Why did they +not arrest him again? Owen, however, refused to trust himself to the +Council--was not Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, one of them? He asked for +a safe-conduct. They promised him one by a verbal message. Where was he, +then, that all these messages should be sent backwards and forwards? I +think he must have been in Sanctuary. He refused a verbal message, and +demanded a written safe-conduct. This was granted him, and he returned +to London. But he mistrusted even the written promise; he would not face +the Council: he took refuge in the Sanctuary of Westminster, where they +were afraid to seize him. And here for a while he remained. It is said +that they tried to draw him out by sending old friends who invited him +to the taverns outside the Abbey Precinct. But Owen would not be so +drawn. He knew that Duke Humphrey would make an end of him if he could. +He therefore remained where he was. I think that he must have had some +secret understanding with the King; for one day, learning that Henry +himself was with the Council, he suddenly presented himself and pleaded +his own cause. The mild young king, tender on account of his mother, +would not allow the case to be pursued, but bade him go free. + +He departed; he made all haste to get out of an unwholesome air: he made +for Wales. Here the hostility of Duke Humphrey pursued him still: he was +once more arrested, taken to Wallingford, and placed in the Castle there +a prisoner. From Wallingford he was transferred again to Newgate, he and +his priest and his servant. Once more they all three broke prison, +'foully' wounding a warder in the achievement of liberty, and got back +to Wales, choosing for their residence the mountainous parts into which +the English garrisons never penetrated. + +When the King came of age Owen Tudor was allowed to return, and was +presented with a pension of L40 a year. It is remarkable, however, that +he received no promotion, or rank; that he was never knighted; and that +the title of Esquire was the only one by which he was known. It +certainly seems as if the claim of Owen Tudor to be called a gentleman +was not recognised by the King or the heralds. Perhaps Welsh gentility +was as little understood by these Normans as Irish royalty--yet, so far +as length of pedigree goes, both Welsh and Irish were very superior to +Normans. + +The two sons, Edmund and Jasper, were placed under the charge of +Katharine de la Pole, Abbess of Barking, and sister of the Earl of +Suffolk. When the King came of age he remembered his half-brothers: +Edmund was made Earl of Richmond, Jasper Earl of Pembroke; both ranked +before all other English Earls. Edmund was afterwards married to +Margaret Beaufort, who as Countess of Richmond was the foundress of +Christ's and St. John's Colleges, Cambridge. Her son, as everybody +knows, was Henry VII. + +As for Owen Tudor, that gallant adventurer, who began so well on the +field of battle, ended as well, fighting, as he should, for his step-son +and King, under the badge of the Red Rose. When the Civil Wars began he +joined the King's forces, though he was then nearer seventy than sixty. +He fought at Wakefield; he pursued the Yorkists to Mortimer's Cross, +where another fight took place. The Lancastrians were defeated. Owen was +taken prisoner, and was cruelly beheaded on the field. It was right and +just that he should so fight and should so die. He survived his Queen +twenty-four years. + +The unfortunate Katharine, whose _mesalliance_ gave us the strongest +sovereigns we have ever had over us, did not long survive the disgrace +of discovery. As to public knowledge of the fact, one cannot learn how +widely it was extended. Probably it grew by degrees: chroniclers speak +of it without reserve, and when the sons grew up and were acknowledged +by the King there was no pretence at concealment. To be the son of a +French Princess and a Welsh gentleman was not, after all, a matter for +shame or concealment. Katharine carried down to the Abbey a disorder +which she calls of long standing and grievous. It killed her in less +than a year after her imprisonment among the orchards and meadows of the +Precinct. It is said that her remorse during her last days was very +deep; not for her second marriage, but for having allowed her +accouchement of the King to take place at Windsor, a place against which +she was warned by the astrologer. 'Henry of Windsor shall lose all that +Henry of Monmouth shall win.' Alas! had Henry of Windsor been Henry of +Monmouth himself, he would have lost all there was to lose. Could there +be a worse prospect, had Katharine understood the dangers, of +hereditary disease? On the one side the grandson of a leper and the son +of a consumptive; on the other side, the grandson of a madman and a +Messalina. + +[Illustration: ST. OLAVE, SOUTHWARK] + +Katharine dictated her will a few days before her death. She asks for +masses for her soul: for rewards for her servants: for her debts to be +paid. And she says not one word about her children by Owen Tudor. She +confesses by this silence that she is ashamed. She confesses by this +silence that, being a Queen, and of a Royal House, she ought not in her +widowhood to have been mated with any less than a King. + +'I trustfully,' she says in the preamble, addressing her son the King, +'and am right sure, that among all creatures earthly ye best may and +will best tender and favour my will, in ordaining for my soul and body, +in seeing that my debts be paid and my servants guerdoned, and in tender +and favourable fulfilment of mine intent.' The words are full of queenly +dignity; but--where is the mention of her children? Perhaps, however, +she knew that the King would provide for them. + +Another Queen died here: the Queen 'to whom all griefs were +known'--Elizabeth Woodville. It is not easy to feel much sympathy with +this unfortunate woman, yet there are few scenes of history more full of +pathos and of mournfulness than that in which her boy was torn from her +arms; and she knew--all knew--even the Archbishops, when they gave their +consent, knew--that the boy was to be done to death. When one talks of +Queens and their misfortunes, it may be remembered that few Queens have +suffered more than Elizabeth Woodville. In misfortune she sits apart +from other Queens, her only companions being Mary Queen of Scots and +Marie Antoinette. Her record is full of woe. But in that long war it +seems impossible to find one single character, man or woman--unless it +is King Henry--who is true and loyal. All--all--are perjured, +treacherous, cruel, self-seeking. All are as proud as Lucifer. Murder is +the friend and companion of the noblest lord; perjury walks on the other +side of him; treachery stalks behind him: all are his henchmen. +Elizabeth met perjury and treachery with intrigue and plot and +counter-plot: she was the daughter of her time. She was accused of being +privy to the plots of Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck: she was more +Yorkist than her husband; she hated the Red Rose long after the Red and +the White were united by her daughter and Henry the Seventh. That she +was suspected of these intrigues shows the character she bore. We must +make allowance: she was always in a false position; Edward ought not to +have married her; she was hated by her own party; she was compelled in +the interests of her children to be always on the defensive; and in her +conduct of defence she was the daughter of her age. These things, +however, deprive her, somewhat, of the pity which we ought to feel for +so many misfortunes. + +[Illustration: 'LE LOKE'] + +She, too, had to retire to the seclusion of Bermondsey, where she could +sit and watch the ships go up and down, and so feel that the world, with +which she had no more concern, still continued. It has been suggested +that she retired voluntarily to the Abbey. Such a retreat was not in +the character of Elizabeth Woodville, so long as there was a daughter +or a kinsman left to fight for. Like Katharine of Valois, she made an +end not without dignity. Witness the following clause in her will:-- + + _Item._ Whereas I have no worldly goods with which to do the Queen's + Grace, my dearest daughter, a pleasure, neither to reward any of my + children, according to my heart and mind, I beseech God Almighty to + bless her Grace with all her noble Issue, and, with as good a heart + and mind as may be, I give her Grace aforesaid my blessing and all + the aforesaid my children. + +In this chapter it has been my endeavour to restore an ecclesiastical +foundation which has somehow dropped out of history and become no more +than a name. If this were a history of South London it would be +necessary to devote an equal space to other houses; to the churches and +to the two ancient hospitals 'Le Loke' and St. Thomas's. It is +impossible, even in these narrow limits, to speak of the religious +foundations of South London without mention of the other great House, +more ancient than that of Bermondsey. Few Americans who visit London +leave it without paying a pilgrimage to the venerable and beautiful +church which glorifies Southwark. There were great marriages and great +functions held in the Church of St. Mary Overy: Gower, that excellent +poet whom the professors of literature praise and nobody reads, died and +lies buried in this church; it was the church of the playerfolk: here +lie buried Edmund Shakespeare, John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, and +Philip Henslow. Here lie buried, in that 'sure and certain hope' which +the Church allows even to them, the rufflers, 'roreres' and sinners of +Bank Side and Maiden Lane; the brawlers and the topers and the strikers +of the Bear Garden and the Bull Baiting. Here were tried notable +heretics: Hooper and Rogers, and many more, while Gardiner and Bonner +thundered and bullied. From this church the martyrs went forth to meet +the flames. The people of Southwark needed not to cross the river in +order to learn such lessons as the martyrdoms had to teach them. The +stake was set up in St. George's Fields, where they could read, mark, +learn, and inwardly digest the undesigned teaching of Bonner and his +friends. + +It is the custom of historians to point to the martyrdom of Cranmer and +the Bishops as the chief cause of the overwhelming Protestant reaction. +So great was the horror, they say, of the people at the death of the +Archbishop, that the whole nation was roused--and so on. For myself I +like to think that, as the people would feel now, so, _mutatis +mutandis_, they felt then. Was there any such mighty horror felt in +London when Cranmer died in Oxford? Not so much horror, I believe, as +when from their own ranks, from their own houses, from their own +families, men and women and boys were taken out and led to execution. +Violent deaths--by beheading, by hanging, by the flames--were witnessed +every day. How many were hanged by Henry VIII.? The deaths of nobles did +not touch the people; they looked on unmoved while the most innocent and +most holy men in the country--the blameless Carthusians--suffered death +as traitors; they looked on at the death of Sir Thomas More; when +witches were burned they looked on. It was when they saw their own +brothers, sisters, cousins, dragged out and put to death without a +cause, that they began to doubt and to question. Nay, I think it was not +the manner of death that affected them, because burning was a thing so +common: it was the sentence itself passed on honest and godly folk, and +the behaviour of the people at their death. Tender women chained to the +stake suffered without a groan, only praying loudly till death came; +people remembered, they recalled with tears afterwards, how the martyr +and his wife and his children knelt on the ground for one last prayer +before the stake; they remembered how the sufferer stepped into his +place with a smiling face and welcomed the fiery lane that led him to +the place where he longed to be: was this, they asked, the courage +inspired of God, or of the devil? They remembered how another washed +his hands in the mounting and roaring flames; how the clouds parted at +the prayer of another, and the smiling sun of heaven shone upon him; and +it was even like unto the countenance of the Blessed Lord. The sight and +the remembrance of the sufferings of their own folk, not the execution +at a distance of an Archbishop and a few Bishops, moved the people and +remained with them, and enveloped the Church of Rome with a hatred from +which it has not wholly recovered even in these latter days. + +The foundation of St. Thomas's Hospital belongs to both the great Houses +of Southwark. + +It was the general Rule in all religious Houses that there should be a +provision for the poor, the sick, and those who were orphans. St. Mary +Overy had a hospital adjoining the priory which was an almshouse +certainly, and probably an orphanage as well. It was under the care of +the Archdeacon of Surrey. Attached to St. Saviour's was an almonry +intended for the same purpose. But the Abbey was entirely secluded: it +lay far from any highway; there were no houses, except farm buildings +for the monastery's labourers; there were no poor, no sick, and no +orphans. So that, when the great fire of 1213 destroyed Southwark and +crossed the river by the Bridge into London, the monks of St. Saviour's +bethought them that to make their almonry useful it would be well to +rebuild it half a mile to the west, on the Southwark Causeway. This was +done, and the Hospital of St. Mary was united with it, and the new +foundation which Bishop Peter de Rupibus most liberally endowed was +named after St. Thomas. At first it was not a hospital especially for +the sick, as St. Bartholomew's and St. Mary of Spittal. It was a +fraternity like St. Catherine's by the Tower, for brethren and sisters +under a master, with bedesmen and women, and a school, and an infirmary; +but not, as St. Bartholomew's was from the beginning altogether, only a +hospital for the sick. + +[Illustration: REMAINS OF THE PALACE OF THE BISHOP OF WINCHESTER, FROM +THE SOUTH] + +As for the religious life of the place, it was in most respects like +that of London. There were no houses for Friars, but the Friars came +across the river _en quete_, 'mumping,' on their begging rounds; and in +the taverns were put up boxes for the contributions of the faithful +(towards the end these contributions fell off sadly). There was plenty +of life and colour in the streets: serving men in bright liveries of the +great Houses--the Bishops of Winchester and Rochester, the Abbots of +Lewes, Hyde, and Battle--went about their errands; there were Gilds, +notably that of St. George, which had their processions and their days: +there were crosses and images of saints, at which the passer-by doffed +his hat--in the wall of Lambeth Palace was an image of St. Thomas a +Becket overlooking the river, to which every waterman and bargee paid +reverence. + +Some of the punishments of the time were ordered by the Church. There +was whipping, but not the terrible murderous flogging of the eighteenth +century; there were hangings, but not for everything. Mostly to the +credit of the Church, punishment was designed not to crush a man, but to +shame him into repentance, and to give him a chance of retrieving his +character. A man might be set in the stocks, or put in pillory, and so +made to feel the heinousness of his offence. This punishment was like +that which is inflicted on a schoolboy: the thing done, the boy is taken +back to favour. The eighteenth century branded him, imprisoned him, +transported him, made a brute of him, and then hanged him. Did a woman +speak despitefully of authority? Presumptuous quean! Set her up in the +cage besides the stoulpes of London Bridge, that everyone should see her +there and should ask what she had done. After an hour or two take her +down; bid her go home and keep henceforth a quiet tongue in her head. +This leniency was only for offences moral and against the law. For +freedom of thought or doctrine there was Bishop Bonner's better way. And +it was a way inhuman, inflexible, unable to forgive. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE ROYAL HOUSES OF SOUTH LONDON + + +All round London, like beads upon a string, were dotted Royal Houses, +Palaces, and Hunting Places. On the north side were Westminster, +Whitehall, St. James's, Kensington, Shene, Theobald's, Hatfield, +Cheshunt, King's Langley, Hunsdon, Havering-atte-Bower, Stepney, the +Tower; on the south side were Kennington, Eltham, Greenwich, Kew, +Hampton, Windsor, a tradition attaching to Streatham, and the House of +Nonesuch, built by Henry VIII. at Cheam. Most of these royal houses are +now clean forgotten. Eltham preserves some ruins left of Edward IV.'s +buildings; it still shows the moat and the old bridge, and the line of +its former wall; but tradition, which has quite forgotten its memories +of the Edwards and the Tudors, describes it as the Palace of King John. +The sailors--now, alas! also gone--have deprived Greenwich of Edward VI. +and Elizabeth. Theobald's is gone altogether, Nonesuch is wholly cleared +away. Of Kennington, of which I have to speak in this place, not one +stone remains upon another; not a vestige is above ground; the people on +the spot know of no remains underground; its very memory is gone and +forgotten: there is not even a tradition left, although part of the +ruins were still standing only a hundred years ago. + +The reason for this oblivion is not far to seek. The palace was +deserted; it was pulled down before 1607--Camden says that even then +there was not a stone remaining--there was not a single house within +half a mile in every direction. There was no one, when the last stones +had been carted away, left to remember or to remind his children that +there had been a palace on this spot. Another house was built here, but +no tradition attached to it. Two hundred years passed, and then came the +destruction of the second house; in 1745 there was not even a cottage +near the spot. This being so, it is not difficult to understand why the +site was forgotten. + +[Illustration: THE LONG BARN] + +The moat remained, however, and apparently some of the substructures; a +building of stone and thatch, part of the offices of the palace, also +stood. They called it the 'Long Barn,' and when the distressed +Protestants were brought over here in 1700 as many as the place would +hold were crammed into the Long Barn. Market gardens lay all over the +country between Kennington Road and Lambeth, and on the site of the +palace there was not a single person left who could carry on the +tradition of the king's house that once stood here. Roque, the map-maker +of 1745, knew nothing about it. In 1795 the Long Barn was taken down. At +the beginning of the century houses began to rise here and there; +streets began to be formed: at least three streets cross the gardens and +the site of the palace; but there is not one tradition of a place which, +as we shall see, was full of history for six hundred years. 'Is this +fame?' might ask the king who crowned himself here, the king who died +here, the king who was brought up here, the kings who kept their +Christmas feast here, the kings who here received their brides, held +Parliament, and went out a-hunting. + +The king who crowned himself here was Harold Harefoot, son of Cnut--that +is to say, it was at 'Lambeth,' and there was no other house at Lambeth. + +[Illustration: SKETCH MAP] + +The king who died in this house was that young Dane who appears to have +been an incarnation of the ideal Danish brutality. He dragged his +brother's body out of its grave and flung it into the Thames; he +massacred the people of Worcester and ravaged the shire; and he did +these brave deeds and many others all in two short years. Then he went +to his own place. His departure was both fitting and dramatic. For one +so young it showed with what a yearning and madness he had been +drinking. He went across the river--there was, I repeat, no other house +in Lambeth except this, so that it must have been here--to attend the +wedding of his standard-bearer, Tostig the Proud, with Goda, daughter of +the Thane Osgod Clapa, whose name survives in his former estate of +Clapham. A Danish wedding was always an occasion for hard drinking, +while the minstrels played and sang and the mummers tumbled. When men +were well drunken the pleasing sport of bone throwing began: they threw +the beef bones at each other. The fun of the game consisted in the +accident of a man not being able to dodge the bone which struck him, and +probably killed him. Archbishop Alphege was thus killed. The soldiers +had no special desire to kill the old man: why couldn't he enter into +the spirit of the game and dodge the bones? As he did not, of course he +was hit, and as the bone was a big and a heavy bone, hurled by a +powerful hand, of course it split open his skull. One may be permitted +to think that perhaps King Hardacnut, who is said to have fallen down +suddenly when he 'stood up to drink,' did actually intercept a big beef +bone which knocked him down; and as he remained comatose until he died, +the proud Tostig, unwilling to have it said that even in sport his king +had been killed at his wedding, gave out that the king fell down in a +fit. This, however, is speculation. + +Forty years after this event, when Domesday Book was compiled, the place +was in the possession of a London citizen, Theodric by name and a +goldsmith by trade. It was still a royal manor, because the goldsmith +held it of Edward the Confessor. It was then valued at three pounds a +year. It is impossible to arrive at the meaning of this valuation. We +may compare it with that of other estates, with the rental and price of +other lands, with the cost of provisions, and with the wages and pay of +servants and officers; and when we have done all, we are still very far +from understanding the value of money then or at any subsequent time. +There are, you see, so many points which the writers on the value of +money do not take into consideration. There is the price of bread; but +then there were so many kinds of bread--wheaten bread, barley bread, oat +bread, rye bread; and how much bread did a family of the working class +consume? Flesh, fish, fowl, but how much of either did the working +classes enjoy? Rent? But on the farms the "villains" paid no rent. +There is, in a word, not only the market prices that have to be +considered, but the standard of comfort--always a little higher than the +practice--and the daily relations of the demand to the supply. So that +when we read that this manor of Kennington was worth three pounds a year +we are not advanced in the least. As most of the land was still marshy +and useless, we may understand that the value was low. + +We next hear of Kennington in 1189, when King Richard granted it on +lease, or for life, to Sir Robert Percy with the title of Lord of the +Manor. Henry III. came here on several occasions; here he held his +Lambeth Parliament. He kept his Christmas here in 1231. Great was the +feasting and boundless the hospitality of this Christmas, at which this +king lavished the treasures of the State. + +The site of the palace is indicated in the accompanying map. If you walk +along the Kennington Road from Bridge Street, Westminster, you presently +come to a place where four roads meet, Upper Kennington Lane on the +left, and Lower Kennington Lane on the right; the road goes on to the +Horns Tavern and Kennington Park. On the right-hand side stood the +palace. In the year 1636 a plan of the house and grounds was executed; +but by that time the mediaeval character of the place was quite +forgotten. It was a square house, probably Elizabethan; the home of King +Henry III. at some time or other had been completely taken away. The +site of the moat, however, was left, and there was still standing the +'Long Barn.' The only way to find out what the palace really was in the +thirteenth or fourteenth century is to compare it with another palace +built under much the same conditions, and intended to serve the same +purpose. Fortunately there still stand, some miles to the east of +Kennington, at Eltham, important remains of such a contemporary palace, +with a description of the place as it was before it was allowed to fall +into ruins. + +We are not at this moment concerned with the history of Eltham. +Sufficient to note that it was a great and stately place for five +hundred years and more; that it passed through the hands of Bishop Odo; +of the Mandevilles; of the De Vescis; of Bishop Anthony Bec; and of +Geoffrey le Scrope of Masham. As a royal residence its history begins +with Henry III., who kept his Christmas here in 1270, and ends with +Elizabeth, who came over here occasionally from Greenwich. Here +Isabella, wife of Edward II., gave birth to a son, John of Eltham. The +greatest builder at Eltham was Edward IV. + +The house in 1649, fifty years after Elizabeth had visited it, is said +to have contained a chapel, a banqueting-hall, rooms on the ground floor +and first floor called the King's side and the Queen's side. There were +buildings and rooms of all kinds round the courtyard. The number of +chambers in all was very great, and it is said, further, that the large +courtyard covered a whole acre in extent. Such an area would give about +two hundred and ten feet to each side of a square. This would be large +for a college at Oxford or Cambridge. It would cover about the same area +as that of New Palace Yard. There were, however, other courts; four +courts in all are spoken of. The lesser courts were used for the +'service,' the kitchens, butteries, pantries, stables, rooms for the +servants, the barracks for the men-at-arms who accompanied the king, the +grooms, armourers, makers and menders, bakers and brewers, cooks and +scullions, and the women servants, and the wives and the children. A +strong stone wall, battlemented, with loopholed turrets, surrounded the +palace; a broad and deep moat defended the wall; the bridge which +crossed the moat had a drawbridge; the gate had its portcullis. The +palace, in a word, was a fortress, for there was never a king in England +who would have dared to keep his court, or to sleep, in an unfortified +manor house, or outside a fortress--certainly not Henry III. or Edward +IV.--unless, of course, it was on the tented field in the midst of his +army. + +The existing remains of the palace correspond to this description. There +is the moat, deep and broad; there is the bridge, the drawbridge gone. +Within, the most important ruin is that of Edward IV.'s banqueting hall. +This is a most noble chamber, with a roof of oak as perfect as when it +was built; the two magnificent bays remain, with the double row of +windows. It would be difficult to find a finer banqueting hall in the +whole country than that of Eltham. In the grounds, the traces of the +wall and those of other buildings ought to make it possible, with a very +little excavation, to trace a plan of the whole house. + +[Illustration: Gateway in the Hall, Eltham Palace] + +As was Eltham, so was Kennington. Both places were built for the same +purpose about the same time. Both were castles erected on a plain +without the aid of hillock, mound or running stream--unless the moat at +Kennington was fed by one of the many streams of South London. The plan +of 1636 shows approximately the line of the wall; the stream or the +ditch marks the course of the moat; the 'Long Barn' on the east side of +the palace belonged to the 'service'--it was kitchens, stables, armoury, +brewery, or granary. The house itself had its principal entrance on the +north. This is certain, because all the supplies were brought by what +is now Kennington Road either from Westminster Ferry or from Southwark. +A gate on this side simplified the transference which took place when +the court moved from one place to another; when everything--bedding, +blankets, utensils of all kinds, plate, _batterie de cuisine_, the +workmen with their tools, the wardrobe of king and queen--was packed up +and carried from Westminster over the ferry to Kennington, or from +Kennington to Woolwich. Provisions and goods sent up from the City were +also landed at Stangate, Lambeth, so as to get as short a land journey +as possible. For these reasons I place the principal gate at the north. + +I have seen it stated--I know not with what truth--that the people of +the streets now on the site have found substructures beneath their +houses. If so, one would expect, what one cannot find, some tradition to +account for the existence of these stone vaults. + +Such was the vanished Palace of Kennington: a fortress of the Lambeth +Marsh, a place for keeping Christmas, a royal residence; now completely +vanished. + +Two other royal houses there were in South London, neither of which can +be compared with Kennington. Greenwich, for instance, which appears in +history from the time of King Alfred. Edward I., Henry IV., Henry V., +Edward IV., Henry VII., Henry VIII., Edward VI., and Elizabeth--all had +more or less to do with Greenwich. When Henry VIII. completed his +buildings here he deserted Eltham; he left, that is, the mediaeval +fortress for the modern house. His Greenwich was not fortified. The +accompanying view of it shows that it possessed none of the +characteristics of the ancient residence, half castle, half manor house. +Greenwich, however, before Henry rebuilt it, was a fortified castle. Had +we a plan of Greenwich of the fourteenth century it would most certainly +resemble those of Eltham and of Kennington, with certain small +differences, just as one Benedictine monastery resembles in its general +disposition another Benedictine monastery, and one Norman castle in +general terms, and allowing for the site, resembles another. + +The other house of which I have spoken is that of Nonesuch. This house +was not a reconstruction and an adaptation with much of the ancient +work: it was newly built and furnished entirely by Henry VIII. There was +no suspicion of battlements, no pretence at a fortification; the house +stood open and unprotected save by the order maintained by the strong +king. It was not beautiful according to our ideas; nor was it what we +now call a Tudor house; it bears upon it every mark of the builder's +interference with the architect. The outside walls of Nonesuch were +decorated by certain bas-reliefs representing subjects from the heathen +mythology. The house was pulled down by the Duchess of Cleveland, to +whom Charles II. gave it. Nonesuch, however, has nothing to do with +Kennington, and must not detain us. + +[Illustration: The Ancient Royal Palace at Greenwich] + +Let us next consider what it means when the king is said to have kept +his Christmas at a place. + +During the festival--for twenty days--he kept open house, nominally. +That is to say, all comers received food and drink: his guests, one +supposes, were bidden. Every day during the festival the king sat at the +feast wearing his crown and his robes of royal state. Richard II., the +most prodigal of all princes that ever lived, entertained every day no +fewer than ten thousand persons at his palace. What the number was at +Christmas no one knows. In addition to the ordinary following of the +court--a huge army of chaplains, canons, scribes, secretaries, gentlemen +archers, and servants--there were the bishops and abbots, the peers and +barons, who came to the Christmas feast, each attended by his own +following of knights and esquires and men in livery. For the +entertainment of this enormous company what a huge establishment would +be needed! The organisation was complete; everything was in departments, +each under the yeomen: the chambers, the wardrobe, the kitchens, the +stables, the cellars. Yet what an army in each department! Then, since +at Christmas time we look for amusement, there was the Master of the +Revels, and with him an extensive and variegated following; among them +were all those who played on the different instruments of music, those +who sang, the buffoons, tumblers, and mummers, the dancing girls. It was +in the time of Henry III. that these performances were brought over for +the delectation of the English court--perhaps with the pious intention +of showing what joys and attractions awaited the Crusaders in the Holy +Land itself. + +Hall's account of the festivities of a Christmas a hundred and fifty +years later than the time of Richard II. is as follows:-- + +'The Kyng this yere kept the feast of Christmas at Grenewiche, wher was +suche abundance of viands served to all comers of any honest behaviour, +as hath been few times seen; and against New Yeres night was made, in +the Hall, a castle, gates, towers, and dungion, garnished with +artilerie, and weapon after the most warlike fashion: and on the frount +of the castle was written, Le Fortresse Dangerus, and within the castle +were six ladies clothed in russet satin laide all over with leves of +golde, and every owde knit with laces of blewe silke and golde; on ther +heddes, coyfes and cappes all of golde. After this castle had been +carried about the hal, and the Quene had behelde it, in came the Kyng +with five other appareled in coates, the one half of russet satyn, +spangled with spangles of fine golde, the other halfe riche cloth of +gold; on their heddes cappes of russet satin embroudered with workes of +fine gold bullion. These six assaulted the castle: the ladies seyng them +so lustie and coragious were content to solace with them, and upon +farther communication to yeld the castle, and so thei came down and +daunced a long space. And after the ladies led the knightes into the +castle, and then the castle sodainly vanished out of their sight. + +'On the daie of the Epiphanie at night, the Kyng with XI other were +disguised after the manner of Italie, called a maske, a thing not seen +afore in Englande; they were apparelled in garments long and brode, +wrought all with gold, with visers and cappes of gold; and after the +banket doen, these maskers came in with six gentlemen disguised in +silke, bearing staffe torches, and desired the ladies to daunce; some +were content, and some that knew the fashion of it refused, because it +was not a thing commonly seen. And after they daunced and commoned +together as the fashion of the maske is, thei tooke their leave and +departed. And so did the Quene and all the ladies.' + +When the Christmas festivities ceased, the servants packed up the gear: +the napery, plate, gold and silver cups, dishes, pillows, curtains, +tapestry and carpets. They were all laid upon waggons, the broad-wheeled +creaking waggons which were dragged slowly over the uneven and heavy +lanes by teams of horses or by bullocks. The queen and her ladies were +carried in chairs or carriages, or went on horseback; the king and his +followers rode; and so they went back to Westminster. The ferry carried +over the heavy goods and the horses: the royal barges received the +court. After them marched the whole rout--the two thousand archers +without whom Richard never moved; the armies of servants; lastly, when +the last procurable cup had been drained, the musicians and the mummers +and the singers marched off sadly. A whole twelvemonth before another +Christmas! They marched in the direction of the City, and that night, as +they report, there was strange revelry in the inns of Southwark. The +house was left in charge of a warden, who had with him the principal +officers of the palace, the yeomen of the wardrobe, of the cellars, of +the kitchens, and so forth; the organisation being kept up in readiness, +though the king might not come back for years. This fact was illustrated +a short time ago, when I was interested in watching the progress of a +certain genealogy. About the year 1540 a certain younger son left his +house; it was necessary to connect him with his own descendants. The +link was found in the fact that this younger son had been received by +Carey, warden of Hunsdon House, who made him one of his yeomen; a +cheerless appointment, like a college in perpetual vacation, the warden +and yeomen, representing the Master and Fellows, dining every day in the +dismantled hall, and wandering about the empty courts and silent +gardens. Palaces, like theatres, have their times of emptiness, during +which it is best to keep out of them. For my own part, I think the true +way of enjoying a palace is to frequent it as Froissart did: to hear all +that was said and to put down all that was done, but not to be an actor +in a drama which reeks of blood; not even the splendid mounting can +destroy that dreadful reek. How many people are murdered about the court +of England from Richard II. to Henry VII.? Richard murders his uncle, +Henry IV. murders his cousin, Henry V. murders his uncle; Henry VI., it +is true, murders no one, but then he lives in a time when there is a +perpetual series of murders. What an awful time! Froissart, who looked +on at part of the drama, achieved deathless renown for his history, +while in the whole of that court there was no one whose head was safe on +his shoulders except Froissart. Unfortunately, he says little about this +palace which we are considering. + +There are many names of kings and princes connected with this house of +Kennington. Edward I. was here occasionally. During his reign it was the +residence of John Earl of Surrey, and of his son, John Plantagenet Earl +of Warren and Surrey. Plenty of histories could be made out of these and +other names, had the writer time or the reader patience. In truth, the +reader's patience is more to be considered than the writer's time, for +the writer, at least, has the joy of hunting up names and notes and +allusions, and of piecing together what, after all, his reader may not +find of interest enough to carry him through. Edward III. made the manor +part of the Duchy of Cornwall. After the death of the Black Prince the +princess lived here with the young Prince Richard. I do not find that +Henry IV. was fond of a house which would certainly be haunted--especially +the room in which he was to sleep--by the sorrowful shade of his +murdered cousin. Nor did Henry V. come here during his short reign. +Henry VI., however, made use of Kennington Palace; so did Henry VII.; +and the last of the queens whose name can be connected with the palace +was Catherine of Arragon. + +I do not know when the palace was destroyed. You have seen the place as +it was figured in 1636, when it was only an ordinary square house. The +plan was drawn when Charles I. leased it to Sir Francis Cottington. The +destruction of the old house and the building of the new must have taken +place during the hundred years between 1530 and 1630. When the new house +was taken down I do not know. + +The name that we especially associate with Kennington Palace is that of +Richard II. When the Black Prince died, in 1376, Richard remained at +Kennington under the care of his mother and the tutorship of Sir +Guiscard d'Angle, 'that accomplished knight.' The young prince started +with the finest possible chances of popularity. His father was not only +the greatest captain of his age, but he was also, in the latter years of +his life, on the popular side against the old King and his supporters; +the boy was endowed with a singular beauty of person, and, when he +pleased, with a sweetness of manner most unusual even among princes, +with whom affability is the first essential in princely manners. In +addition to this he was destined to show on two occasions courage which +almost amounted to insensibility--first, when he dispersed Wat Tyler's +mob, and next, when he seized the reins of government. History shows how +he threw away all his chances in reckless extravagance. + +[Illustration: SEAL OF THE BLACK PRINCE + +(_From Allen's History of Lambeth_)] + +After the death of the Black Prince it was resolved by the Lord Mayor to +pay a visit to Prince Richard at Kennington, with a riding worthy of the +City. The day chosen was the Sunday before Candlemas (February 2). One +has frequent occasion to remark generally upon City pageants, that the +people in these processions and their pageants were entirely regardless +of winter cold or summer heat; they rode forth upon a pageant as +cheerfully in the cold of February as in the sunshine of August. On this +occasion, one hundred and thirty-two citizens on horseback, with +trumpets and other musical instruments, and a vast number of +_flambeaux_, assembled at Newgate in the afternoon, and marched through +the City and over the bridge to Kennington Palace beyond the Borough. +First rode eight-and-forty men in the habits of esquires--with red +coats, say gowns, and vizards. Then followed the same number apparelled +as knights in the same livery. Then rode one singly, a very majestic +figure, who represented the Pope, followed by his four-and-twenty +cardinals. They were followed by ten men dressed in black, with black +vizards, representing legates from the Pope of Hell. This accounts for +one hundred and thirty-two out of the whole number. The last man is not +described. To them must be added pages and henchmen and whifflers, with +men carrying the presents. This cavalcade, which gave the greatest joy +to the citizens, all the way was followed by an enormous company of +'prentices and craftsmen and children, crowding after it and shouting. +When it arrived at Kennington Palace they all dismounted and entered the +hall, where they found the Princess of Wales, the young Prince, and +their attendants, together with the Duke of Lancaster and other great +lords. The court was first solemnly saluted by the masquers, who then +produced dice and invited the Prince to play with them. Would you +believe it?--every time the Prince threw, he won, which was in itself a +remarkable circumstance. He carried off his winnings: a bowl of pure +gold, chased and decorated; a drinking cup also of gold, and a gold +ring. They then invited the Princess and the Duke of Lancaster and +other nobles present, each of whom also won and carried off a gold +ring. This done, the music played, and they were all invited to supper +in the hall with the Prince and the Princess his mother. After supper, +the tables were taken away--they were only planks laid on trestles and +covered with white cloths--and the floor being cleared, the masquers had +the honour of dancing with the royal party. Finally, at a late hour, the +_flambeaux_ were lighted, and the masquers rode home, well pleased with +the reception they had met and the courtesy of the best behaved boy in +the world. + +In the same year occurred the great riot of London, which arose out of +Wyclyf's trial in St. Paul's and the quarrel between the Bishop of +London and John of Gaunt. The latter, after the dismissal of Wyclyf, +repaired to the house of John de Ypres, close beside the river, where he +was sitting at dinner when one of his following ran hastily to warn him +that the people were flocking together with intent to murder him if they +could. The Duke therefore hastily ran down to the nearest stairs, took a +boat across the river, and fled as quickly as possible to Kennington +Palace, where he took shelter with the young Prince Richard and his +guardians. The mob, finding that the Duke was gone, made their way to +the Savoy, his palace, threatening to burn and destroy all: they did +actually murder one poor priest because he resembled the Duke in +countenance; they were then persuaded by the Bishop of London to go home +without doing any more mischief. What would have happened one knows not, +but the death of the old King gave an opportunity of patching up the +peace between the Duke of Lancaster and the citizens. Hearing that +Edward was _in extremis_, the Mayor and Aldermen waited on the Princess +of Wales and Prince Richard informing them of the King's critical +situation, and beseeching the Prince's favour to the City; they also +begged him to interfere for the better accommodation of the Duke's +differences with them. It is pleasing to find that John of Gaunt +freely forgave the City and became reconciled to the citizens; a +reconciliation which paved the way to the subsequent popularity of his +son Henry. + +[Illustration: The High Street Southwark as it appeared MDXLIII] + +It might be argued that the various impressions as regards London +produced on the mind of this prince explain his conduct towards the +citizens when he grew older. The first experiment he had of the citizens +was when they rode over in a goodly company clad in red cloaks with gold +chains and finely appointed horses to visit him at Kennington: he +remembered that their appearance betokened great wealth; that they +tossed about gold cups as if they were of wood. This is a kind of +impression which does not easily die away. + +His second impression of the City was when his uncle, John of Gaunt, +came flying from the City, having barely escaped with his life, the +people having gone on to wreck, if they could, his palace of the Savoy. +A turbulent and dangerous people, then, as well as rich; a people to be +kept down. + +He next saw the City when he rode through it on his way to be crowned at +Westminster. All the way there was nothing but rich tapestry, carpets, +scarlet, cloth, masquers clad in velvet, pageants with cloth of gold, +and the streets filled with men and women dressed in rich furs and +silks, such as only great barons could afford. This third impression +confirmed the first. + +His next impression was that of the City lying prostrate at the mercy of +a large mob, unable to move or to help itself. He went into the City +almost alone; he, by one single act of splendid courage, put an end to +the insurrection. A City cowardly, therefore, and unable to act +together. It was his City, moreover--the _Camera Regis_. Should not a +prince do what he pleases with his own? + +When we read of his subsequent treatment of the City: how he believed +its treasures to be inexhaustible; how he believed that it had no power +to resist; how he made the way easy for his cousin to supplant him, let +us bear in mind the lessons which the Londoners themselves provided for +him in his youth. + +This King seizes on the imagination of all who think about him. His is +one of the strangest of all the strange figures which crowd the National +Portrait Gallery. Richly endowed with artistic instincts; a lover of +music and all the fine arts; of singularly winning manners; the +comeliest man in his whole kingdom; splendid in raiment, magnificent in +his court, colossal in his personal pride, prodigal and extravagant +beyond compare; the King whom those who knew him in his youth never +ceased to love; for whose soul--not for the soul of Henry +IV.--Whittington, for instance, left money for masses--this is a figure +among our English kings which has no parallel. + +One more reminiscence of Kennington Palace. The last occasion on which +Richard lodged there was when he brought home his little bride Isabel, +the queen of eight years. They brought her from Dover, resting on the +way at Canterbury and Rochester. At Blackheath they were met by the +Mayor and Aldermen, attired with great magnificence of costume to do +honour to the bride. After reverences due, they fell into their place +and rode on with the procession. When they arrived at Newington, the +King thanked the Mayor and permitted him to leave the procession and +return home. He himself, with his company, rode by the cross-country +lane from Newington to Kennington Palace. I observe that this proves the +existence of a path or lane where is now Upper Kennington Lane. At this +palace the little queen rested a night, and next day was carried in +another procession to the Tower. The knights rode before, and the French +ladies came after. It is pretty to read how Isabel, with her long fair +hair falling over her shoulders, and her sweet childish face, sat up and +smiled upon the people, playing and pretending to be queen, which she +had been practising ever since her betrothal. Needless to say that all +hearts were ravished. The good people of London were ever ready to +welcome one princess after another, and to lose their hearts to them, +whether it was Isabel of France, or Katharine her sister, or Anne +Boleyn, or Queen Charlotte, or the fair Princess of Denmark. So great a +press was there that many were actually squeezed to death on London +Bridge, where the houses only left twelve feet in breadth. Isabel's +queenship proved a pretence: before she was old enough to be queen, +indeed, her husband was in confinement; before she understood that he +was a captive, he was murdered, and the splendid extravagant reign was +over. The son of the usurper, young Harry of Monmouth himself, desired +to take the place of Richard; his father also desired the match, for the +sake of the dowry. Isabel, child as she was still, had the heart of a +woman; she had learned to love her handsome, courteous, accomplished +lord, who died before he could claim her; she refused absolutely to +marry the son of his murderer. They tried to move her resolution by +persuasion; they did not dare to force her: let us believe that Harry of +Monmouth would not stoop to force the girl to marry him. There was +nothing therefore left to do, but to send her home to what was certainly +the most miserable court or palace in the world--that of her mad father. +In the end, she married her cousin, the poet Charles of Orleans. You may +read the verses which he made upon her death. Isabel died in childbirth +in her twenty-second year. As for Harry of Monmouth, as all the world +knows, he was obliged to content himself with Isabel's younger sister, +Katharine; we have just read about that queen, and how she stooped to a +suitor below her own degree. I think she was made of clay not so fine as +that of Isabel, her sister. + + +2. ELTHAM PALACE + +The second in our chain of suburban Palaces was the Royal House of +Eltham, already mentioned in connection with Kennington. The place +itself seems to have been a settlement of some kind, a town or village, +in very ancient times. In the thirteenth century it was considered of +importance enough to receive the grant of a market day every Tuesday, +and a Fair for three days every year, namely, the day before the Feast +of the Trinity, the Feast itself, and the day after. In the fourteenth +century the market day was altered to Monday, but the Fair remained; in +the fifteenth century the market day returned to Tuesday and the Fair +was changed to three days on the Eve of St. Peter and St. Paul, on the +Feast itself, and on the day after. The market and the Fair have long +since been discontinued. The importance of both depended on the +occasional presence of the Court, and when that was removed altogether +from the place there was no longer any necessity for either market or +Fair Day. Eltham then became a small agricultural village lying in the +midst of woods, with nothing but scattered villages for many miles +round. So long as it contained one of the recognised Palaces, even +though years might pass by without a visit from the sovereign, there +was, attached to the house, the permanent staff to a Governor or warder, +with chiefs of the various departments and the men or assistants under +them. The occupation of the Palace by such a staff gave the place a kind +of garrison, and created a demand for provisions and for all sorts of +things. On those rare occasions when the Court was actually in Residence +at Eltham, the market had to furnish supplies, to which all the country +round had to contribute; nothing short of provisions for the maintenance +of thousands of people daily. At Eltham the difficulty may have been +very great; no doubt word would be sent long beforehand if the King +proposed to keep Christmas there. The yeomen of the kitchen had the beef +put in the pickling tubs in November--vast quantities of beef, for, +Christmas or not, the staple food of everybody in the winter was salt +beef. At the Palace of Kennington things were easier. It lay within easy +reach of the London market; so was Westminster. Greenwich was accessible +by ships from the lower reaches of the Thames as well as from London. +Eltham, no doubt, depended upon the rich and fruitful country in which +it stood. At eight miles from London, the markets there were of very +little use. The annals of the Palace are simple, rather than scanty; in +fact, there is plenty of mention made of the Palace, yet very little of +importance is recorded concerning it. All that is recorded of it belongs +to peace and festivity and the season of Christmas. Eltham was given by +William the Conqueror to his half-brother Odo, Bishop of Bayeux and Earl +of Kent. After the disgrace of Odo, and the confiscation of his estates, +the manor belonged partly to the Queen and partly to the Mandevilles. +Thence it passed into the hands of the De Vesci family. From them it +went to the Scropes, and from them to various holders in succession. + +There was a Palace, or House, here of some kind in very ancient times. +The historian says that he cannot ascertain when the Palace was built +(see p. 74). Since the origin of the House is unknown, he argues that it +must have been ancient. Now, concerning its connections with our Kings +and Queens, there is quite a long list. All these lists would have to be +catalogued, and even then be forgotten. For instance, the following list +of visits I borrow from Lysons. But I cannot pretend that it is of much +interest. + +[Illustration: REMAINS OF ELTHAM PALACE, 1796] + +In the year 1270 Henry III. kept Christmas at his Palace of Eltham with +the Queen and his nobles. After this the name of Anthony Bec, Bishop of +Durham and Patriarch of Jerusalem, is connected with the place. He built +a great deal, but I know not if any ruins of his yet remain. He died at +Eltham in 1311, presumably in the Palace, for there seem to have been no +other buildings. Now we come back to the kings, and we find historical +associations in plenty, though not of a kind which is moving or +interesting. It does not excite our curiosity much to learn that this +king or that king kept Christmas here, and yet that is the kind of +association which I have to offer. Edward the Second was often here: +perhaps the seclusion of the place enabled him to play his favourite +games with his followers without being overseen. One of his sons, John +of Eltham, was born here. Edward III., when still under age, had a +Parliament at Eltham in 1329. In 1347 his son Lionel kept Christmas for +him at Eltham. In 1364 he entertained here the French king John, his +prisoner. In 1375 he held another Parliament here, when the Commons +petitioned him to make Richard, his grandson, Prince of Wales. Richard +the Second, as we should expect, regarded Eltham with a peculiar +affection; it was beautiful; the buildings were splendid. It was a long +way from the City which took upon itself to remonstrate with his +extravagance. Three times at least he kept Christmas here: on the last +he entertained Leo, King of Armenia, with great splendour and profusion. +Henry the Fourth kept Christmas four times in the Palace. On the first, +the Aldermen of London and their children went down from the City to +perform a masque before the King, who received it well. At that moment +he was certain to receive everything well that came from the City. On +his last visit the disease broke out which killed him. Henry the Fifth +was here once, in 1414: Henry the Sixth once, in 1429. Edward the Fourth +was a second Founder, so much did he add to the buildings. Among other +things, he built a new front to the Palace and is said to have built the +Banqueting Hall itself. His festivities rivalled those of Richard the +Second. Here his daughter Bridget, afterwards a nun of Dartford, was +born. Henry the Seventh was another builder: he stayed at Eltham often. +Henry the Eighth came here once at least, but he preferred Greenwich as +a residence as soon as that house was built. Elizabeth also came here +only once or twice, preferring Greenwich, and James the First is only +recorded to have visited Eltham once. After this time Eltham ceased to +be a Palace. In 1646 Robert Earl of Essex died here[1]; the Manor was +sold after Charles's death. After the Restoration it reverted to the +Crown; the rest of the history concerns its occupancy by private +families. On the death of Charles the Palace was surveyed; it is +described as being built of brick, stone, and timber; it contained (see +p. 74) one chapel, a hall, 36 rooms and offices below stairs, with two +large cellars; and above stairs 17 lodging houses on the King's side, 12 +on the Queen's side, and 9 on the Prince's side; and 78 rooms in the +offices round the courtyard, which contained one acre of ground: the +house was out of repair and uninhabitable. There were gardens attached +to the house. A moat surrounded the house, of width 60 feet, except in +the forest, where it was 115 feet. The moat still exists on the north +side, and can be traced all round. Of the buildings little remains +except the old Banqueting Hall, a truly beautiful ruin; the roof, with +its fine woodwork, is happily still standing, but shored up and +supported. The windows are mostly blocked up; fragments only remain of +the other buildings; but it is said to be possible, in the gardens at +the back, to trace out the courts and the foundations of the chapel and +offices. The Palace is approached by a bridge of about the same date as +the Palace, viz. the fourteenth century. It crosses the moat, and with +its picturesque ivy-clad arches and the Banqueting Hall on one side, and +the Court House on the other, it is as lovely an approach to the ruin as +could well be imagined or created. + +[Illustration: KING JOHN'S PALACE, KENT + +(_From a Drawing by J. Hassell, 1804_)] + +One of the last visits of the King to Eltham was in the year 1575, when +Henry held one of the tournaments in which in his early manhood he so +much delighted. This is Holinshed's account of it:-- + +'After the parlement was ended, the king kept a solemne Christmasse at +his manor of Eltham; and on the Twelfe night in the hall was made a +goodlie castell, woonderouslie set out, and in it certeine ladies and +knights; and when the king and queene were set, in came other knights +and assailed the castell, where manie a good stripe was giuen; and at +the last the assailants were beaten awaie. And then issued out knights +and ladies out of the castell, which ladies were rich and strangelie +disguised; for all their apparell was in braids of gold, fret with +moouing spangls of siluer and gilt, set on crimson sattin, loose and not +fastned: the mens apparell of the same sute made like Iulis of +Hungarie; and the ladies heads and bodies were after the fashion of +Amsterdam. And when the dansing was doone, the banket was serued in of +two hundred dishes, with great plentie to euerie bodie.' + +[Illustration: Remains of Eltham Palace] + +There is little more to be said about Eltham, which is a place so +beautiful that it ought to have a more interesting history. Kings and +Courts delight me not, nor do I take pleasure in reading about +tournaments and masques. + +There is no figure in the history of Eltham so pleasant to think upon as +that of little Prince Richard, the lovely boy who was going to become +such an extravagant King. One would like to have seen Edward +entertaining his prisoner, King John of France; and one wonders what +sort of figure was played by the Armenian Leo in the presence of +Richard's splendour: but perhaps he knew the Court of Constantinople, +and smiled at the splendour of the barbaric north. + +Once more, how did they provide for the maintenance of so many guests? +To feed two thousand every day is a great undertaking. We are accustomed +to believe that the roads in winter were so bad as to be impassable. +Now, everything had to be brought there, whatever the condition of the +roads. And they were bye-roads, not high roads. The guests, too, and the +nobles and their retainers, had to arrive by those roads. As was stated +above, due notice was certainly given: a vast quantity of salt +provisions was laid down in readiness: for the rest, the country was +fertile and well cultivated. The Park contained deer--but they could not +kill all; the Thames, only three miles away--but then, the roads!--was +full of salmon and every kind of fish: the banks of the lower reaches +and those of the Ravensbourne--again, those roads!--were the homes of +myriads of wild birds. Still, one feels that the inland communications +of the fourteenth century must have been a great deal better than those +of the seventeenth century in order to allow of Christmas being kept in +magnificence and profusion by two thousand people in a country village. + +[Illustration: The Moat Bridge Eltham Palace] + +The views which accompany this account are taken from Lysons: they were +engraved in the year 1796. There is not much difference in the present +aspect: the moat has been opened again: the buildings represented on the +south side of the Hall have vanished: and the place itself which had +been used as a barn is now empty, and is only thrown open for visitors +or the drilling of Volunteers. + + +3. GREENWICH PALACE + +The Green Village lying on the slope of a gentle hill, with marshes on +either side of it--the marsh of the Ravensbourne on one side, and the +Woolwich or the Greenwich marsh on the other side of it--is as old as +history itself. Its position as the landing-place, or point of approach, +to the lands of Kent, a place where ships might lie, pirates and +invaders might seize and hold as a base of operations, very early called +attention to its natural advantages. Here the Danes encamped in 1011; +here they brought the venerable Alphege and murdered him, throwing beef +bones at his head. As the throwing of bones was a favourite evening +pastime with the Danes, they probably meant little at first beyond a +friendly reminder or an invitation to take part in the game: as the +Archbishop made no response they threw the bones in earnest (see p. 72). +The people of Greenwich have long since forgotten that the place was +once a Royal Residence, and that there are historical memories connected +with Greenwich of interest almost equal to those of Westminster, and far +more important and interesting than those of Eltham. + +Let us perform the perfunctory task of cataloguing some of these +memories. + +In the year 1408, Henry IV. dates his will from Greenwich. + +In 1417 Henry V. granted the manor for life to Thomas Beaufort, Duke of +Exeter, who afterwards died here. + +In 1443 it was granted to Humphrey Duke of Gloucester, with permission +to fortify and embattle the manor house, and to enclose a park of 200 +acres. This was the true beginning of Greenwich Palace. Humphrey rebuilt +the house, which he called Placentia, the House of Pleasance: he +enclosed the Park and he built a Tower on the spot where the Royal +Observatory now stands. On his death, in 1447, the place reverted to the +Crown. Edward the Fourth took great pleasure in the place and beautified +it at much cost. In 1466 he granted the Manor, Palace, and Park, to the +Queen, Elizabeth Woodville, for life. The marriage of Richard Duke of +York and Anne Mowbray was here solemnised with the usual rejoicings. + +[Illustration: GREENWICH, 1662 + +(_From a Drawing by Jonas Moore_)] + +With Henry VII. also Greenwich was a favourite place of residence. He +added a brick front on the riverside (see p. 77). Here Henry the Eighth +was born on June 28, 1491. He was baptised in the Parish Church, the +predecessor of the present church. He, too, loved Greenwich above all +other Palaces, and made it during the early years of his reign the scene +of the festivities and entertainments which he loved so much. Here he +married Katharine of Arragon on June 3, 1510. Here he held the great +tournament in which he himself, Sir Edward Howard, Charles Brandon, and +Edward Neville challenged all comers. In 1512 and in 1513 he kept +Christmas here 'with great solemnity, dancing, disguisings, and mummers +in a most princely manner.' Holinshed gives an account of two +entertainments held by the King at Greenwich--one a tournament in June, +the other at Christmas:-- + +'This yeare also in Iune, the king kept a solemne iustes at Greenewich, +the king & sir Charles Brandon taking vpon them to abide all commers. +First came the ladies all in white and red silke, set vpon coursers +trapped in the same sute, freated ouer with gold; after whom followed a +founteine curiouslie made of russet sattin, with eight gargils spowting +water: within the founteine sat a knight armed at all peeces. After +this founteine followed a ladie all in blacke silke dropped with fine +siluer, on a courser trapped in the same. Then followed a knight in a +horsselitter, the coursers & litter apparelled in blacke with siluer +drops. When the fountein came to the tilt, the ladies rode round about, +and so did the founteine, and the knight within the litter. And after +them were brought twi goodlie coursers apparelled for the iusts: and +when they came to the tilts end, the two knights mounted on the two +courses abiding all commers. The king was in the founteine, and sir +Charles Brandon was in the litter. Then suddenlie with great noise of +trumpets entred sir Thomas Kneuet in a castell of cole blacke, and ouer +the castell was written "The Dolorous Castell," and so he and the earle +of Essex, the lord Howard, and other ran their courses with the king and +sir Charles Brandon, and euer the king brake most speares, and likelie +was so to doo yer he began, as in former time; the prise fell to his +lot; so luckie was he and fortunat in the proofe of his prowes in +martiall actiuitie, whereto from his yong yeers he was giuen.... + +'After this parlement was ended, the king kept a solemne Christmasse at +Greenwich, with danses and mummeries in most princelie maner. And on the +Twelfe daie at night came into the hall a mount, called the rich mount. +The mount was set full of rich flowers of silke, and especiallie full of +broome slips full of cods, and branches were greene sattin, and the +flowers flat gold of damaske, which signified Plantagenet. On the top +stood a goodlie beacon giuing light, round about the beacon sat the king +and fiue other, all in cotes and caps of right crimson veluet, +embrodered with flat gold of damaske, their cotes set full of spangles +of gold. And foure woodhouses drew the mount till it came before the +queene, and then the king and his companie descended and dansed. Then +suddenlie the mount opened, and out came six ladies all in crimsin +sattin and plunket, embrodered with gold and pearle, with French hoods +on their heads, and they dansed alone. Then the lords of the mount +tooke the ladies and dansed togither: and the ladies reentered, and the +mount closed, and so was conueied out of the hall. Then the king shifted +him, and came to the queene, and sat at the banket, which was verie +sumptuous.' + +[Illustration: GREENWICH HOSPITAL + +(_From a Drawing by Schnebbelie_)] + +Other tournaments were held here in 1517, 1526, and 1536. + +Here Charles Brandon married Mary, Dowager Queen of France. Six or seven +times more Henry kept Christmas at Greenwich. In 1543, the last +occasion, he entertained twenty-one Scottish gentlemen, taken prisoners, +and released them without a ransom, being to the end, whatever else he +was, a Prince of most Princely gifts and graces. + +Queen Mary was born at Greenwich in 1515. Cardinal Wolsey was her +godfather. + +King Edward the Sixth died here. + +Queen Elizabeth was born here on September 7, 1533. She, too, spent much +of her time at Greenwich. + +King James also much delighted in this place: he added to the brickwork +by the riverside: he also walled the park and laid the foundations of +the house afterwards called the House of Delight. The Queen, who +received the Palace in jointure, carried on this House, which was +afterwards completed by Inigo Jones for Henrietta Maria. It was called +the King's House, the Queen's House, or the Ranger's Lodge. It was not +until 1807 that the house was granted to the Commissioners of the Royal +Naval Asylum. + +Separated from town by five miles of road, and four of river, it was +thus easily accessible in all weathers and independent of the condition +of the roads. In other respects the position of the place was +unrivalled: it was on a slope rising from the river in front, and from +lowlands on either side; it was swept night and day by the sharp fresh +breeze that came up with the tide from the sea; behind it, on a high +level, lay an expanse of heath, dry and wholesome; there was no better +air to be got than the air of Greenwich; that of Eltham, with its +stagnant marsh and thick woods, was close and aguish in comparison: for +view, the broad river rolled along the Palace front and bent round to +east and west, so that one could see all the shipping in front; all in +Limehouse Reach; and all in Blackwall Reach. As the tide ebbed and +flowed, the navies and the trade of London passed up and down, outward +bound or homeward bound. Sitting at her window, or walking on her +terrace, Queen Elizabeth could for herself learn what was meant by the +foreign trade of London: what was meant by the exports and imports: she +could see every kind of ship that floats come sailing up the river, +streamers flying, dipping the peak in salute: she could understand the +coasting trade and the Flemish trade: she could ask what the hoys and +ketches, the lighters, and the barges carried up to the Port of London +in such numbers: she could herself, and often did, embark upon the +stream in summer, when the sun was sinking in the west, to see the ships +more closely and to enjoy the fresh, cool air of the river. Witness the +sad history of Thomas Appletree. + +It was on the 17th day of July in the year 1579, about nine o'clock of +the evening, that an accident happened which might have had fatal +consequences. The Queen was taking the air in her private barge, between +Greenwich and Deptford. With her were the French Ambassador, the Earl of +Lincoln, and other great persons, discoursing affairs of state. +Unfortunately for themselves, four young fellows were out in a small +boat at the same time, and on the same part of the river. They were +Thomas Appletree, a young servant of Francis Carey, two singing boys of +the Queen's choir, and another. Thomas Appletree had possessed himself +of a 'caliver' or arquebus, which he was so ill advised as to load with +ball and then fire it at random up and down the river. One of these +haphazard discharges carried the bullet straight to the Queen's barge, +where it passed through both arms of the oarsman nearest Her Majesty. +The man thus unexpectedly wounded, finding himself bleeding like a +pig--for it was a flesh wound--threw himself down, bawling and roaring +out that he was murdered. The Queen comforted him with the assurance +that he should be properly cared for, and ordered the barge to be taken +back to the shore at once. The man, being treated, speedily recovered. +Meantime, who had dared to fire a gun at the Queen's barge? The question +was very quickly answered, and the Lords in Council had the four lads +brought up before them. It appearing that the only guilty person was +Thomas Appletree, the other three were suffered to depart, and Thomas +was tried. It was ascertained that there could be no question as to the +loyalty of Thomas's master, Francis Carey, therefore the whole guilt +rested on the shoulders of the unlucky serving man, whose only fault had +been foolhardiness in firing his gun at random. He was therefore +sentenced to be hanged, with the usual accompaniments, for treason. +Accordingly, on the 20th day of July he was taken from Newgate and +conducted on a hurdle with great ceremony to Tower Hill, and so through +the postern to Ratcliff, where, opposite the place where the offence was +committed, they had put up a gibbet on which the unhappy Thomas +Appletree was to be hanged. He had made a dolorous journey on his +hurdle, weeping copiously all the way, and many of the people weeping +with him. Arrived at the gallows, he mounted the ladder, and, if the +chronicler repeats faithfully, he made a most admirable use of the last +moments which remained to him. It is, indeed, truly remarkable to +observe how admirably all those who were taken out to die acquitted +themselves, whether it was a peer to be beheaded for treason, or a +Catholic priest to be hanged, drawn, and quartered for being a priest. +Appletree, for his part, spoke so movingly that the people all wept with +him. Then the hangman put the rope round the condemned man's neck, and +the bitterness of death entered into his soul. But the people cried, +'Stay! Stay!' and at that moment there came riding up the Queen's +Vice-Chamberlain, Sir Christopher Hatton. But think not that the +Vice-Chamberlain hastily proclaimed the royal pardon. Not at all. He +left Thomas on the ladder for a while; he made an oration on the +heinousness of the offence: he made everybody kneel while he prayed for +the safety of the Queen: and then, when all hearts were softened and all +eyes bedewed, he pronounced the Queen's pardon, which the prisoner +acknowledged in suitable language. Thomas Appletree was then taken back +to the Marshalsea, where he remained, one hopes, a very short time after +this. We may be quite sure that whatever destiny was in store for this +young man, shooting at random with a caliver or arquebus would have +nothing to do with it. + +Another association of Greenwich is that of Sir John Willoughby's +departure for the Arctic seas. He was going to endeavour to open a new +way for trade round the N.E. Arctic sea along the north coast of Asia. +He embarked at Ratcliff Stairs: you may take boat there to this day. As +he passed down the river, with flags and streamers flying, they brought +out the little King Edward, who was dying, to see the sailing of the +stout old sailor. So with firing of guns the ships passed on their way, +and they carried the dying King back to his bed. In a day or two Edward +was dead. In six months, or it might be less, Willoughby was dead too, +frozen to death in his cabin, where the Russians found him, his dead +hand on his papers. + +If you wish to know what state was kept by Queen Elizabeth at Greenwich, +you will find an account of it in Hentzner, that excellent traveller who +remarked so much, and put all down on paper. + +'We arrived at the Royal Palace of Greenwich, reported to have been +originally built by Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, and to have received +very magnificent additions from Henry VII. It was here Elizabeth, the +present Queen, was born, and here she generally resides; particularly +in Summer, for the Delightfulness of its Situation. We were admitted by +an Order Mr. Rogers had procured from the Lord Chamberlain, into the +Presence-Chamber, hung with rich Tapestry, and the Floor, after the +English fashion, strewed with Hay,[2] through which the Queen commonly +passes in her way to chapel: At the Door stood a Gentleman dressed in +Velvet, with a Gold Chain, whose Office was to introduce to the Queen +any Person of Distinction, that came to wait on her: It was Sunday, when +there is usually the greatest Attendance of Nobility. In the same Hall +were the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of London, a great Number +of Counsellors of State, Officers of the Crown, and Gentlemen, who +waited the Queen's coming out; which she did from her own Apartment, +when it was Time to go to Prayers, attended in the following Manner: + +'First went Gentlemen, Barons, Earls, Knights of the Garter, all richly +dressed and bare-headed; next came the Chancellor, bearing the Seals in +a red-silk Purse, between Two: One of which carried the Royal Scepter, +the other the Sword of State, in a red Scabbard, studded with golden +Fleurs de Lis, the Point upwards: Next came the Queen, in the +Sixty-fifth Year of her Age, as we were told, very majestic; her Face +oblong, fair, but wrinkled; her Eyes small, yet black and pleasant; her +Nose a little hooked; her Lips narrow, and her Teeth black (a Defect the +English seem subject to, from their too great Use of Sugar): she had in +her Ears two Pearls, with very rich Drops; she wore false Hair, and that +red; upon her Head she had a small Crown, reported to be made of some of +the Gold of the celebrated Lunebourg Table:[3] Her Bosom was uncovered, +as all the English Ladies have it, till they marry; and she had on a +Necklace of exceeding fine Jewels; her Hands were small, her Fingers +long, and her Stature neither tall nor low; her Air was stately, her +Manner of Speaking mild and obliging. That Day she was dressed in white +Silk, bordered with Pearls of the Size of Beans, and over it a Mantle of +black Silk, shot with Silver Threads; her Train was very long, the End +of it borne by a Marchioness; instead of a Chain, she had an oblong +Collar of Gold and Jewels. As she went along in all this State and +Magnificence, she spoke very graciously, first to one, then to another, +whether foreign Ministers, or those who attended for different Reasons, +in English, French and Italian; for, besides being well skilled in +Greek, Latin, and the Languages I have mentioned, she is mistress of +Spanish, Scotch, and Dutch: Whoever speaks to her, it is kneeling; now +and then she raises some with her Hand. While we were there, W. Slawata, +a Bohemian Baron, had Letters to present to her; and she, after pulling +off her Glove, gave him her right Hand to kiss, sparkling with Rings and +Jewels, a Mark of particular Favour: Where-ever she turned her Face, as +she was going along, everybody fell down on their Knees.[4] The Ladies +of the Court followed next to her, very handsome and well-shaped, and +for the most Part dressed in white; she was guarded on each Side by the +Gentlemen Pensioners, fifty in Number, with gilt Battleaxes. In the +Antichapel next the Hall where we were, Petitions were presented to her, +and she received them most graciously, which occasioned the Acclamation +of, Long live Queen ELIZABETH! She answered with, I thank you, my good +PEOPLE. In the Chapel was excellent Music; as soon as it and the Service +was over, which scarce exceeded half an hour, the Queen returned in the +same State and Order, and prepared to go to Dinner. But while she was +still at Prayers, we saw her Table set out with the following Solemnity. + +'A Gentleman entered the Room bearing a Rod, and along with him another +who had a Table-cloth, which, after they had both kneeled three Times +with the utmost Veneration, he spread upon the Table, and after kneeling +again they both retired. Then came two others, one with the Rod again, +the other with a Salt-seller, a Plate and Bread; when they had kneeled, +as the others had done, and placed what was brought upon the Table, they +too retired with the same Ceremonies performed by the first. At last +came an unmarried Lady (we were told she was a Countess), and along with +her a married one, bearing a Tasting-knife; the former was dressed in +white Silk, who, when she had prostrated herself three Times, in the +most graceful Manner, approached the Table, and rubbed the Plates with +Bread and Salt with as much Awe as if the Queen had been present: When +they had waited there a little while, the Yeomen of the Guard entered, +bare-headed, cloathed in Scarlet, with a golden Rose upon their Backs, +bringing in at each Turn a Course of twenty-four Dishes, served in +plate, most of it Gilt; these Dishes were received by a Gentleman in the +same Order they were brought, and placed upon the Table, while the +Lady-taster gave to each of the Guards a mouthful to eat, of the +particular dish he had brought, for Fear of any Poison. During the Time +that this Guard, which consists of the tallest and stoutest Men that can +be found in all England, being carefully selected for this Service, were +bringing Dinner, twelve Trumpets and two Kettle-drums made the Hall ring +for Half an Hour together. At the end of this Ceremonial a Number of +unmarried Ladies appeared, who, with particular solemnity, lifted the +Meat off the Table, and conveyed it into the Queen's inner and more +private Chamber, where, after she had chosen for herself, the rest goes +to the Ladies of the Court. + +'The Queen dines and sups alone, with very few Attendants; and it is +very seldom that any Body, Foreigner or Native, is admitted at that +Time, and then only at the Intercession of somebody in Power.' + +On the Restoration, Charles at first resolved to pull down the Palace +and build it anew. For this purpose he consulted various persons, and +after many delays began the building. He only succeeded, however, in +erecting what is now the west wing of the Hospital. But it never again +became a Royal Residence. In 1694, the Palace was converted into a +Hospital for the Royal Navy. This splendid institution, one of the +glories of Great Britain, and a standing monument of the nation's +gratitude to her sailors, and an ever present invitation to enter the +navy, was closed, with that stupid indifference to sentiment which so +often distinguishes the acts of our Government, in the year 1870. + + +4. LAMBETH PALACE + +[Illustration: Lambeth Palace] + +The now huge town of Lambeth presents few points of interest either to +the visitor or to the historian. There are no buildings of any antiquity +except the Palace and the Church. There are no modern buildings at all +worth notice. There have been two or three memorable houses which we +shall do well to touch upon: but they are not so memorable as to deserve +long description. The Bishops of Rochester had a house in the Marsh--the +site is in Carlisle Place, Westminster Road, at the back of St. Thomas's +Hospital, close to Lambeth Palace. It was in this house that, in 1531, a +wretched man named Robert Roose, in the Bishop's service as cook, +wilfully, as was alleged, poisoned a large number of people, and was +boiled to death in oil--the only instance, I believe, of this dreadful +punishment. The wretched man was tied naked to a post and slowly lowered +into the boiling fluid. Fisher was the last Bishop of Rochester who +lived in this house. The buildings, with losses and additions, existed +in some form or other till 1827. The house, indeed, had a strangely +chequered history. The Bishop of Rochester exchanged it with the Crown +for a house thought more convenient in Southwark, close to Winchester +House. The Crown gave it to the Bishop of Carlisle, who seems to have +let it on lease: thus it lost its ecclesiastical character altogether +and became given over to entirely secular uses. It was at one time a +pottery: then a tavern, and even a notorious and disorderly house: then +a dancing master taught his accomplishments in the house: then it became +a school. Finally, the gardens were built over, the operations +disclosing many interesting gates and 'bits.' + +Another house was that belonging to the Duke of Norfolk: it was called +Norfolk House, and it stood on the other side of the Palace, on the site +now marked by Paradise Street. Here lived the old Duke whose life was +saved by the death of Henry the Eighth; here was brought up the +accomplished Earl of Surrey whose life would have been saved had Henry +died a few days earlier. Leland, the antiquary and scholar, was the +Earl's tutor. The widow of Dr. Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury, +obtained the house. Her heirs ceased to live in it; the house was +neglected, probably because no tenant could be found for it. Finally, it +was pulled down. It is interesting to note the town houses which stood +upon the Bank from Rotherhithe to Battersea: that of the Prior of Lewes; +of Sir John Fastolfe; of the Augustines; the House of St. Mary Overies; +Winchester House; Rochester House; Norfolk House; and later, the house +of the St. Johns at Battersea. There are none between Bankside and +Lambeth; that part of the Embankment which lies between Blackfriars and +Westminster Bridge has no history and no associations. + +[Illustration: BONNER HALL, LAMBETH] + +Another noteworthy Lambeth house was that called Copt Hall, afterwards +Vauxhall, situated opposite to the gardens afterwards called Vauxhall. +In this house the unfortunate Arabella Stuart lived for a time. A good +deal might be written about Copt Hall, but not in this place. + +The houses of the Archbishop, the Bishop of Rochester, and the Duke of +Norfolk stood close together and clustered round the church. The reason +was the necessity of building on or near to the Embankment. Exactly +opposite the south porch of the church may be observed a small and +somewhat decayed street grandly called the High. The name and the +situation close to the church indicate an individual and separate +existence of the town or village of Lambeth, of which this was the +principal street and the centre. The village, in fact, did exist from +very early times; its population for the most part earned their +livelihood as Thames fishermen. They were the lineal successors of that +fortunate Edric to whom St. Peter appeared when he consecrated the +Abbey. There was another colony of Thames fishermen lower down the river +on Bermondsey Wall. When William the Conqueror is said to have burned +Southwark it was the fishermen's cottages which he destroyed. None of +these lived between Bankside and Westminster, which is proved by the +fact that there is no church near the river wall at that place. The +Thames fishermen lingered on, though the fishery grew poorer, until +about 1820, when they were reduced to a single court in Lambeth. The +place is described as mean and rickety, with neither paving nor lamps; +the woodwork of the cottages broken; the roofs burst and tottering; the +windows stuffed with rags or mended with paper; the children in rags; +the court a receptacle for everything. + +Lambeth as it is has mostly sprung into existence in the nineteenth +century, during which its population has been actually multiplied by +ten, and more than ten, rising from 27,000 in 1801 to 295,000 in 1891, +an enormous increase. The principal reason of this development is the +introduction of a great many industries--potteries, vinegar factories, +distilleries, salt warehouses, bottle factories, and so forth. + +Lambeth certainly cannot be called a beautiful town nor a desirable +place of residence. The perambulator looks about in vain for streets +noble, striking or picturesque; he looks in vain for houses beautiful or +ancient; there is nothing to reward him. Old houses there were before +the great increase began, but they exist no more; the place is dull; in +parts it is dirty; everywhere it is without character or distinction. +It has, however, a pretty park called after the famous Vauxhall Gardens, +on whose site it stands. The park is new, but it is well laid out and +planted; already it is a pretty piece of greenery, and, with Kennington +and Battersea Parks, offers a much wanted breathing place for the +multitudes of that quarter. It is adorned, or enriched, or ennobled, by +a statue of Henry Fawcett, who died in a house on this spot. The +statesman, attired in a costume strictly of the period, is sitting in a +chair, pretending not to be aware that behind him stands an angel with +outstretched wings, crowning him with laurel. He is obviously +embarrassed by the situation. He feels that he ought to be dressed in +some kind of Court costume--if he knew what--in order to receive the +angel; or the angel might have assumed a frock coat in compliment to the +statesman. The wings were probably in the way. + +[Illustration: RESIDENCE OF GUY FAWKES, LAMBETH + +(_From 'La Belle Assemblee,' Nov. 1822_)] + +Lambeth Palace, whose history I am not going to narrate, plays a very +considerable part in the History of England. In 1232 and in 1234, +Parliament was held here. In 1261 and 1280 Councils were held here. In +1412 Archbishop Arundell, the kindly Christian who was so anxious to +burn heretics, issued from this Palace a condemnation as heretical of a +great many opinions, insomuch that it became obviously dangerous to have +any opinions at all. This, however, was the condition of mind most +desired by the Church of Arundell's time and of his views. It is +needless to recount the many occasions when Kings and Queens were +entertained at Lambeth Palace. Cardinal Pole died here. It was sometimes +a prison. Queen Elizabeth entrusted to the care of the Archbishop at +Lambeth, Bishops Tonstal and Thirlby, the Earl of Essex, the Earl of +Southampton, Lord Stourton, and many others, who were kept in honourable +confinement, not in dungeons or cells, but each in his own chamber. + +[Illustration: BISHOP'S WALK, LAMBETH] + +[Illustration: INTERIOR OF THE HALL, LAMBETH PALACE + +(_From an Engraving dated 1804_)] + +That there were prisons in every Episcopal Palace was necessary at a +time when the clergy could only be tried in Ecclesiastical Courts, so +that the Bishops could not send their criminous clerks to an ordinary +prison. Hence it is that we frequently read of a priest brought before +an Ecclesiastical Court, but we do not learn what became of him. He was +consigned to the prison of the House. When the Lollards inveighed +against the corruption of ecclesiastics they accused the Bishops of too +great leniency towards their delinquents and prisoners. In some cases, +no doubt, the ecclesiastical prison was used to save a prisoner from the +worst consequences of his offence. For instance, a heretic handed over +to the secular arm had by law to be burned. Let us endeavour to believe +that in the Archbishop's prison cells of Lambeth there were many who +might have been burned but for the humanity which sometimes overrode +even Ecclesiastical ruthlessness. + +[Illustration: LAMBETH PALACE, FROM THE RIVER] + +It is recorded in Archbishop Arundell's Register (Cave-Browne, 'Lambeth +Palace,' p. 710) that he sent for a Chaplain out of his prisons below +his manor house at Lambeth. The Chaplain was a preacher licensed by the +Archbishop who yet carried about with him a concubine. No doubt the poor +man regarded her as his wife, and so called her, as thousands of the +clergy did, and were held blameless by the people for so doing. + +The Palace either contains, or has at some time contained, the work of +nearly every Archbishop in succession. For a full and complete history +of the buildings, which would be outside the limits of the present +chapter, the reader is referred to the pleasant pages of the Rev. J. +Cave-Browne, called 'Lambeth and its Associations.' + +[Illustration: LOLLARDS' TOWER, LAMBETH PALACE] + +It is impossible to determine when the building of Lambeth Palace began. +One thing is certain, that it has always been an Ecclesiastical Palace. +The manor of Lambeth belonged to the Lady Guda, sister of Edward the +Confessor. In Domesday Book the manor contained thirty-nine men, who +with their families probably represented a population of about 200. They +had a church, which stood on the site of the present church. Observe how +all the old churches belonging to the Marsh stand on the +Embankment--Rotherhithe; St. Olave's; Lambeth; Battersea. Guda, wife of +Eustace, Count of Boulogne, gave the manor to the Bishop and convent of +Rochester, reserving the church. Harold, it is said, took it from the +Bishop; it was seized by William the Conqueror. William Rufus restored +it to Rochester and added the patronage of the Church. In 1197 Hubert, +Archbishop of Canterbury, gave the manor of Dartford to the Bishop and +convent of Rochester, in exchange for Lambeth. Having got possession of +the place, Hubert set to work to improve it. He obtained a weekly market +and an annual fair; the latter continued till the year 1757. + +What Hubert built here is uncertain, but it is certain that he did build +some kind of residence. Stephen Langton added other buildings; Boniface, +A.D. 1260, found the buildings in great need of repair or insufficient. +He was the first considerable builder of Lambeth. One may make a fair +guess at the work of Boniface. We may consider it by the light afforded +by the monastic Houses--this was not a monastery, but there was +certainly something of the monastic spirit about the House. We may also +take it for granted that certain essential parts of the building, though +they might be rebuilt with greater splendour, would not change their +position. For instance, when in after years we find a chapel, a +cloister, a water-tower, or entrance from the river, and a gate-tower, +or entrance from the land--then these things existed from the first. +Boniface, therefore, found a chapel in the north-west corner of the +Palace, where it still stands; on the west side of the chapel he found a +water-tower with a gate opening upon a creek of the river by which +everything was received into the House, the door of communication with +the outer world, while the Archbishop's barges and boats lay moored up +the creek. South of the chapel Boniface either built or rebuilt the +cloisters; south of the cloisters he built or rebuilt his Hall. A Hall +was absolutely necessary for a great house, and for an Archbishop's +Palace it must be a splendid Hall. What is now called the Guard Room was +probably at first part of the Archbishop's private apartments. + +[Illustration: Doorway in the Lollard's Tower] + +A list of the rooms then in the Palace was made in 1321. At that time +there was the Archbishop's private Chapel, his Chamber, his Hall, the +Chancellor's Chambers, the Great Chapel, the Great Gate, and certain +minor apartments--a modest list, but the dormitories and principal +bedchambers are not enumerated, nor is any mention made of the Library, +the offices, the cells, or the Main Gate, all of which must have been +there. + +Then we come to the later works, of which there are more than we need +set down--are they not written in Ducarel the Laborious and in +Cave-Browne the Life-giver to the dust and ashes of ancient facts? The +principal gateway as we now see it is the fifteenth century work of +Cardinal Morton; it is built in the same style as the gateway of St. +John's College, Cambridge, but is much larger and finer; with the +Church, it forms a most effective group of buildings. The present Water +Tower was built by Archbishop Chicheley, but on the site of an older +tower; it contained, as I have said, the water gate--that is to say, the +real gate of communication with the world. To this gate came all the +visitors--Kings and Cardinals, Legates, Bishops and Ambassadors; and to +this gate came the barges with supplies for my Lord's table. Cranmer is +said to have built the small tower at the north-east of the Chapel. +Cardinal Pole, who died here, built the Long Gallery, and probably the +piazza that supported it. Laud built the smaller tower on the south face +of the Chicheley Tower. Let us remark here that the Tower never had any +connection with Lollards, and that all the talk about the unhappy +Lollard prisoners is without foundation. + +[Illustration: LOLLARDS' PRISON] + +Juxon, who found the Palace a 'heap of ruins,' spent his three years of +occupancy and 15,000_l._ of his own money in restoring the place for the +honour and splendour of the Church. As for what has been done since that +time, especially by Archbishop Howley, it all belongs to the detailed +history of the Palace. It is sufficient here to note that the Palace is +a worthy House to-day, as it was five hundred years ago, for the +residence of the Primate. He belongs still, as his Roman Catholic +predecessors, to a Church whose members love some splendour in their +ecclesiastical Princes, just as they love splendour in their churches +and stateliness in their ritual. They do not desire to make a Bishop +rich: they do desire that a Bishop should not be hampered by narrow +circumstances: they desire that he should be able to take the lead in +all good works. In ancient times, the Bishop rode or sat in splendid +state: he sat every day at a table loaded with costly and luxurious +food: outwardly he was clothed with silken robes. But he touched nothing +that was set before him: he lived hardly and abstemiously: and he wore +next his skin a hair shirt: and for greater self-denial he suffered his +hair shirt to be full of vermin. That was the ideal Bishop of mediaeval +times. Our own is much the same: a simple life: a splendid house: modest +wants: a large income: for himself no luxuries: and an open hand. Such a +house: such an income: we have always given to an Archbishop, whether of +the old or of the Reformed Faith. + +The Chapel has at least one memory which will always cling to it. Within +its dark and gloomy crypt Anne Boleyn, brought from the Tower, stood to +hear her sentence. She was to be burned to death as an adulteress. I am +not qualified by study of the case or by education in the weighing of +evidence to pronounce an opinion as to her innocence. I believe that +those who have examined into the case are of opinion that Anne Boleyn +fell a victim to the King's jealousy: to his change of mind towards her: +and to her own foolish frivolity. However, in the crypt she was +persuaded into making some sort of avowal of a previous betrothal, in +return for which she was spared the agonies of the stake. I have +sometimes thought that the King must have thought her guilty, otherwise +he would have divorced her on a charge of adultery, and suffered her to +live. If he did not believe her guilty, how could he, being, above all +things, a man of human passions, have sentenced the woman whom he had +once loved to so horrible a death? + +Let us note, however, that our ancestors did not regard death by burning +with quite the same horror as is now common. There is a story of +Rogers--or Bradford--the martyr. Some one once begged his intercession +to save a woman from burning. 'It is a gentle mode of death,' he +replied. 'Then,' said the other, 'I hope that you yourself will some day +have your hands full of this gentle death.' Punishment was meant to be +painful: the least painful form of death was that accorded to the +noble--to be beheaded. If a man died by the executioner, it was expected +that he should suffer. Death, in all forms, meant suffering. In disease +and in old age men suffered torture as bad as any inflicted by the +executioner. + +I am not excusing Henry. I am only pleading that he must have believed +in Anne's guilt or he could not possibly have allowed such a sentence; +and that cruel as it seems to us, it did not seem so cruel at that time. +There is, however, no more sorrowful story in the whole long History of +England, which is, alas! so full of sorrow and of tragedy, than that of +Anne Boleyn. + +Lambeth Palace, the only palace in the whole of South London, is a +monument of English History from the twelfth century downwards. +Kennington appears at intervals; Eltham is a holiday house; Greenwich +practically begins with the Tudors. Lambeth, like Westminster or St. +Paul's, belongs to the long history of the English people. It is a place +little known: of the millions now, in the circle of the Greater London, +how many, I should like to ask, have ever seen the interior? Of the vast +population of Lambeth, Battersea, and Kennington, of which it is the +centre, how many, I wonder, know anything at all about its history or +its buildings? + +Of those who daily go up and down the river, who come and go across the +Bridge, and suffer their careless and unobservant eyes to rest for a +moment on the grey walls and Tower of the Palace, how many are there who +know, or inquire, or care for the wealth of history that clings to every +stone? + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] At Eltham House, the lodge in the Great Park. + +[2] He probably means rushes. + +[3] At this distance of time, it is difficult to say what this was. + +[4] Her Father had been treated with the same Deference. It is mentioned +by Fox in his 'Acts and Monuments,' that when the Lord Chancellor went +to apprehend Queen Catherine Parr, he spoke to the King on his Knees. +King James I. suffered his Courtiers to omit it. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +PAGEANTS AND RIDINGS + + +The part which Processions of all kinds played in the mediaeval life is +so great that one must inquire how Southwark fared in this respect. +Where Bishops, Abbots, and great Lords lived there were Processions +whenever one arrived or one departed. If the Bishop of Winchester went +to the King's House at Winchester, it was with a great Procession of +followers, chaplains, priests, secretaries, and gentlemen. If the Earl +of Suffolk arrived at his town house, it was with a gallant company of +gentlemen wearing his livery. If the King kept his Christmas at Eltham, +he would be preceded by an endless train of carts groaning and grumbling +along the road, filled with household gear and followed by the troops of +scullions, cooks, grooms and lavenders whose duty was in the kitchens, +stables, laundries, and pantries. He himself rode with a royal regiment, +sometimes 4,000 strong, of archers for his bodyguard, besides the +nobles, Bishops and Abbots who were with him for the Christmas +festivities. The town itself had its Processions: the annual march of +the Fraternity to church: the departure and the arrival of the pilgrims; +the Ecclesiastical Functions of Church and Monastic House. As for the +royal pageants and the Lord Mayor's Ridings, it must be confessed that +Southwark got but the beginning: that part of the pageant which began at +London Bridge: and that the place itself was quite passed by and +unconsidered. + +Since, however, Southwark did witness that part, I have drawn up a short +series of notes on the sights of which the Borough took a share. + +Thus, when Richard the Second restored the City privileges in 1392, he +was met by four hundred of the citizens, all mounted and clad in the +same livery: they invited him to ride to Westminster through London. + +'The request having been granted, he pursued his journey to Southwark, +where, at St. George's Church, he was met by a procession of the Bishop +of London and all the religious of every degree and both sexes, and +about five hundred boys in surplices. At London Bridge a beautiful white +steed and a milk-white palfrey, both saddled, bridled, and caparisoned +in cloth of gold, were presented to the King and Queen. The citizens +received them, standing in their liveries on each side the street, +crying, "King Richard, King Richard!"' + +The rest of the pageant belongs to the City and to North London. Again, +on the return of the victorious Henry the Fifth from France there was a +splendid Pageant, of which the South got some part, namely, the +following: + +'On the King's return after the glorious field of Agincourt, the Mayor +of London and the Aldermen, apparelled in orient grained scarlet, and +four hundred commoners clad in beautiful murrey, well mounted and trimly +horsed, with rich collars and great chains, met the King at Blackheath; +and the clergy of London in solemn procession, with rich crosses, +sumptuous copes, and massy censers, received him at St. Thomas of +Waterings. The King, like a grave and sober personage, and as one who +remembered from Whom all victories are sent, seemed little to regard the +vain pomp and shows, insomuch that he would not suffer his helmet to be +carried with him, whereby the blows and dents upon it might have been +seen by the people, nor would he suffer any ditties to be made and sung +by minstrels of his glorious victory, because he would the praise and +thanks should be altogether given to God. + +'At the entrance of London Bridge, on the top of the tower, stood a +gigantic figure, bearing in his right hand an axe, and in his left the +keys of the City hanging to a staff, as if he had been the porter. By +his side stood a female of scarcely less stature, intended for his wife. +Around them were a band of trumpets and other wind instruments. The +towers were adorned with banners of the royal arms, and in the front of +them was inscribed CIVITAS REGIS JUSTICIE (the City of the King of +Righteousness). + +'At the drawbridge on each side was erected a lofty column like a little +tower, built of wood and covered with linen; one painted like white +marble, and the other like green jasper. They were surmounted by figures +of the King's beasts--an antelope, having a shield of the royal arms +suspended from his neck, and a sceptre in his right foot; and a lion, +bearing in his right claw the royal standard unfurled. + +'At the foot of the bridge next the city was raised a tower, formed and +painted like the columns before mentioned, in the middle of which, under +a splendid pavilion, stood a most beautiful image of St. George, armed, +excepting his head, which was adorned with a laurel crown studded with +gems and precious stones. Behind him was a crimson tapestry, with his +arms (a red cross) glittering on a multitude of shields. On his right +hung his triumphal helmet, and on his left a shield of his arms of +suitable size. In his right hand he held the hilt of the sword with +which he was girt, and in his left a scroll, which, extending along the +turrets, contained these words, SOLI DEO HONOR ET GLORIA. In a +contiguous house were innumerable boys representing the angelic host, +arrayed in white, with glittering wings, and their hair set with sprigs +of laurel; who, on the King's approach, sang, accompanied by organs, an +anthem, supposed to be that beginning "Our King went forth to Normandy;" +and whose burthen is "Deo gratias, Anglia, redde pro victoria."' + +When Henry VI. returned after his coronation in 1432-- + +'On returning from his Coronation in France King Henry the Sixth was met +at Blackheath by the Mayor and citizens of London, on Feb. 21, 1431-2; +the latter being dressed in white, with the cognizances of their +mysteries or crafts embroidered on their sleeves; and the Mayor and his +brethren in scarlet. + +'When the King came to London Bridge, there was devised a mighty giant, +standing with a sword drawn, and having this poetical speech inscribed +by his side: + + 'All those that be enemies to the King, + I shall them clothe with confusion, + Make him mighty by virtuous living, + His mortal foes to oppress and bear them down: + And him to increase as Christ's champion. + All mischiefs from him to abridge, + With grace of God, at the entry of this Bridge. + +'When the King had passed the first gate, and was arrived at the +drawbridge, he found a goodly tower hung with silk and cloth of arras, +out of which suddenly appeared three ladies, clad in gold and silk, with +coronets upon their heads; of which the first was dame Nature, the +second dame Grace, and the third dame Fortune. They each addressed the +King in verses similar to those already quoted, and which, together with +those which followed, the curious will find in their place. On each side +of them were ranged seven virgins, all clothed in white; those on the +right hand had baudricks of sapphire colour or blue, and the others had +their garments powdered with golden stars. The first seven presented the +King with the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost--sapience, intelligence, +good counsel, strength, cunning, pity, and dread of God: and the others +with the seven gifts of grace, in these verses: + + 'God thee endow with a crown of glory, + And with the sceptre of clemency and pity, + And with a sword of might and victory, + And with a mantle of prudence clad thou be, + A shield of faith for to defend thee, + A helm of health wrought to thine increase, + Girt with a girdle of love and perfect peace. + +'After which they sang a roundel, the burthen of which was "Welcome out +of France."' + +The Pageant which welcomed Queen Margaret of Anjou on her Coronation +presented, first, at the Bridge Foot at Southwark, 'Peace and plenty,' +with the motto 'Ingredimini et replete terram,'--Enter ye and replenish +the earth--and the following verses were recited: + + Most Christian Princesse, by influence of grace, + Doughter of Jherusalem, owr pleasaunce + And joie, welcome as ever Princess was, + With hert entier, and hoole affiaunce: + Cawser of welthe, ioye, and abundaunce, + Youre Citee, yowr people, your subgets all, + With hert, with worde, with dede, your highnesse to avaunce, + Welcome! Welcome! Welcome! vnto you call. + . . . . . . . + +Upon the Bridge itself appeared Noah's Ark, with the words, 'Jam non +ultra irascar super terram' (Genesis viii. 21), and the following verses +were addressed to the Queen: + + So trustethe your people, with assurance + Throwghe yowr grace, and highe benignitie. + 'Twixt the Realms two, England and Fraunce, + Pees shall approche, rest and vnite: + Mars set asyde with all his crueltye, + Whiche too longe hathe trowbled the Realmes twayne; + Byndynge yowr comfortem in this adversite, + Most Christian Princesse owr Lady Soverayne. + Right as whilom, by God's myght and grace, + Noe this arke dyd forge and ordayne; + Wherein he and his might escape and passe + The flood of vengeance caused by trespasse: + Conveyed aboute as God list him to gye, + By meane of mercy found a restinge place + After the flud, vpon this Armonie. + Vnto the Dove that browght the braunche of peas, + Resemblinge yowr symplenesse columbyne, + Token and signe that the flood shuld cesse, + Conducte by grace and power devyne; + Sonne of comfort 'gynneth faire to shine + By yowr presence whereto we synge and seyne. + Welcome of ioye right extendet lyne + Moste Christian Princesse, owr Lady Sovereyne. + +On the marriage of Katharine of Aragon with Prince Arthur there was a +great Pageant. The part at the south entrance of the Bridge is thus +described: + +'It consisted of a tabernacle of two floors, resembling two roodlofts; +in the lower of which sat a fair young lady with a wheel in her hand, in +likeness of Saint Katherine, with many virgins on every side of her; and +in the higher story was another lady, in likeness of Saint Ursula, also +with a great multitude of virgins right goodly dressed and arrayed. +Above all was a representation of the Trinity. On each side of both +stories was one small square tabernacle, with proper vanes, and in every +square was a garter with this poesy in French, _Onye soit que male +pens_, inclosing a red rose. On the tops of these tabernacles were six +angels, casting incense on the Trinity, and the two Saints. The outer +walls were painted with hanging curtains of cloth of tissue, blue and +red; and at some distance before the pageant were set two great posts, +painted with the three ostrich feathers, red roses, and portcullisses, +and surmounted by a lion rampant, holding a vane painted with the arms +of England. The whole work was carved with timber, and was gilt and +painted with biss and azure.' + +The next Pageant that passed through Southwark was that of Charles the +Second at his Restoration: + +'On the 29th of May, 1660, the Lord Mayor and Aldermen met the King at +St. George's Fields in Southwark, and the former, having delivered the +City sword to his Majesty, had the same returned with the honour of +knighthood. A very magnificent tent was erected in the Fields, provided +with a sumptuous collation, of which the King participated. He then +proceeded towards London, which was pompously adorned with the richest +silks and tapestry, and the streets lined with the City Corporations and +trained bands; while the conduits flowed with a variety of delicious +wines, and the windows, balconies, and scaffolds were crowded with such +an infinite number of spectators, as if the whole collective body of the +people had been assembled to grace the Royal Entry. + +'The procession was chiefly composed of the military. First marched a +gallant troop of gentlemen in cloth of silver, brandishing their swords, +and led by Major-General Brown; then another troop of two hundred in +velvet coats, with footmen and liveries attending them, in purple; a +third led by Alderman Robinson, in buff coats with cloth of silver +sleeves and very rich green scarfs; a troop of about two hundred, with +blue liveries laid with silver, with six trumpeters, and several +footmen, in sea-green and silver; another of two hundred and twenty, +with thirty footmen in grey and silver liveries, and four trumpeters +richly habited; another of an hundred and five, with grey liveries, and +six trumpets; and another of seventy, with five trumpets; and then three +troops more, two of three hundred and one of one hundred, all gloriously +habited, and gallantly mounted. After these came two trumpets with his +Majesty's arms; the Sheriffs' men, in number fourscore, in red cloaks, +richly laced with silver, with half-pikes in their hands. Then followed +six hundred of the several Companies of London on horseback, in black +velvet coats, with gold chains, each Company having footmen in different +liveries, with streamers, &c.; after whom came kettle-drums and +trumpets, with streamers, and after them twelve ministers (clergymen) at +the head of his Majesty's life-guard of horse, commanded by Lord +Gerrard. Next the City Marshal, with eight footmen in various colours, +with the City Waits and Officers in order; then the two Sheriffs with +all the Aldermen in their scarlet gowns and rich trappings, with footmen +in liveries, red coats laid with silver, and cloth of gold; the heralds +and maces in rich coats; the Lord Mayor bare-headed, carrying the +sword, with his Excellency the General (Monk) and the Duke of +Buckingham, also uncovered; and then, as the lustre to all this splendid +triumph, rode the King himself between his Royal brothers the Dukes of +York and Gloucester. Then followed a troop of horse with white colours; +the General's life-guard, led by Sir Philip Howard, and another troop of +gentry; and, last of all, five regiments of horse belonging to the army, +with back, breast, and head-pieces: which, it is remarked, "diversified +the show with delight and terror."' + +On November 26, 1697, after the Peace of Ryswick, William the Third made +a triumphant entry into London: + +'He came from Greenwich about ten o'clock, in his coach, with Prince +George and the Earl of Scarbrough, attended by four score other coaches, +each drawn by six horses. The Archbishop of Canterbury came next to the +King, the Lord Chancellor after him, then the Dukes of Norfolk, Devon, +Southampton, Grafton, Shrewsbury, and all the principal noblemen. Some +companies of Foot Grenadiers went before, the Horse Grenadiers followed, +as did the Horse Life-Guards and some of the Earl of Oxford's Horse; the +Gentlemen of the Band of Pensioners were in Southwark, but did not march +on foot; the Yeomen of the Guard were about the King's coach. + +'On St. Margaret's Hill in Southwark the Lord Mayor met his Majesty, +where, on his knees, he delivered the sword, which his Majesty returned, +ordering him to carry it before him. Then Mr. Recorder made a speech +suitable to the occasion, after which the cavalcade commenced. + +'A detachment of about one hundred of the City Trained Bands, in buff +coats and red feathers in their hats, preceded; then followed two of the +King's coaches, and one of Prince George's; then two City Marshals on +horseback, with their six men on foot in new liveries; the six City +Trumpets on horseback; the Sheriff's Officers on foot with their +halberds and javelins in their hands; the Lord Mayor's Officers in +black gowns; the City Officers on horseback, each attended by a servant +on foot, viz.: the four Attorneys, the Solicitor and Remembrancer, the +two Secondaries, the Comptroller, the Common Pleaders, the two Judges, +the Town Clerk, the Common Serjeant, and the Chamberlain. Then came the +Water Bailiff on horseback, carrying the City banner; the Common Crier +and the Sword-bearer, the last in his gown of black damask and gold +chain; each with a servant; then those who had fined for Sheriffs or +Aldermen, or had served as such, according to their seniority, in +scarlet, two and two, on horseback; the two Sheriffs on horseback, with +their gold chains and white staffs, with two servants apiece; the +Aldermen below the chair on horseback, in scarlet, each attended by his +Beadle and two servants; the Recorder, in scarlet, on horseback, with +two servants; and the Aldermen above the chair, in scarlet, on +horseback, wearing their gold chains, each attended by his Beadle and +four servants. Then followed the State all on horseback, uncovered, +viz.: the Knight Marshall with a footman on each side; then the +kettle-drums, the Drum-Major, the King's Trumpets, the Serjeant Trumpet +with his mace; after followed the Pursuivants at Arms, Heralds of Arms, +Kings of Arms, with the Serjeants at Arms on each side, bearing their +maces, all bare-headed, and each attended with a servant. Then the Lord +Mayor of London on horseback, in a crimson velvet gown, with a collar +and jewel, bearing the City sword by his Majesty's permission, with four +footmen in liveries; Clarenceux King at Arms supplying the place of +Garter King at Arms on his right hand, and one of the Gentleman Ushers +supplying the place of the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod on his left +hand, each with two servants. Then came his Majesty in a rich coach, +followed by a strong party of Horseguards; and the Nobility, Judges, +&c., according to their ranks and qualities, there being between two +and three hundred coaches, each with six horses.' + +On September 20, 1714, George the First was received by the Mayor and +Corporation at St. Margaret's Hill, Southwark, with much the same state +as that of William III. seventeen years before. + +The Lord Mayor's Pageants, of which there were so many, had nothing to +do with Southwark at all, except when they were water processions, in +which case they could be seen as well from the South as from the North. +But, in fact, Southwark was wholly disregarded in all these Pageants. +The sovereign rode through the City, not through Southwark. Why should +the place be regarded at all? Practically, as has been shown over and +over again, it consisted of nothing at all but a causeway and an +embankment, and what was once a broad Marsh drained and divided into +fields and gardens and woods. + +I have set down what royal processions Southwark was permitted to see, +but I do not suppose that among the four hundred citizens who went out +in one livery to meet King Richard there was one man from Southwark, nor +do I suppose that when nine hundred and sixty citizens, each man +carrying a silver cup, rode through London with the Coronation +procession, there was a single man from the quarter south of London +Bridge. In other words, although in course of time there was +appointed--never elected--an Alderman of the Bridge Without, at no time +in these Pageants or in these functions was Southwark ever regarded as +part of the City, nor were her wishes consulted or her interests +considered. + +One Pageant alone--that of our own time--the splendid Pageant of 1897, +reversed this position. As is well known, the Procession which +celebrated the Sixty Years' Reign passed through the Borough as well as +the City. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A FORGOTTEN WORTHY + + +I have to speak of a 'worthy' of Southwark who is only now remembered by +the curious as the alleged original of Sir John Falstaff. If Shakespeare +drew his incomparable knight from a portrait of Sir John Fastolf, then +one can only say that the portrait in no single particular resembled the +original. Sir John Fastolf was a great and, on the whole, a successful +soldier who spent forty years fighting and commanding in France. +Shakespeare's knight was unwarlike, even cowardly; fat: a frequenter of +taverns and of low company, with no dignity and no authority. The only +point that may lend colour to the theory that Fastolf was Falstaff lies +in the fact that Fastolf was accused of cowardice at a certain battle, +one of the many which he fought: and that on his return from France, the +English, exasperated at their losses, laid the blame as they always do +upon their most distinguished soldiers. Fastolf was as unpopular in his +old age as any defeated general: there is no unpopularity so great: yet +Fastolf was never a defeated general. + +Shakespeare knew no more about Fastolf than the traditional charge of +cowardice. In the First Part of 'Henry VI.' he presents him running +away: + + _Captain._ Whither away, Sir John Fastolfe, in haste? + + _Fast._ Whither away? To save myself by flight. + We are like to have the overthrow again. + + _Captain._ What? Will you fly and leave Lord Talbot? + + _Fast._ Ay, + All Talbots in the world to save my life. + +And again in Act IV. Talbot denounces Fastolf: + + This dastard, at the Battle of Patay, + When but in all I was six thousand strong, + And that the French were almost ten to one, + Before we met, or that a stroke was given, + Like to a trusty knight, did run away. + +And he tears off the Garter which Sir John was wearing. + +Sir John Fastolf came of a Norfolk family; his people held the manors of +Caister and Rudham. He was born in the year 1378, and became, after the +fashion of the times, first a page to the Duke of Norfolk and next to +Thomas of Lancaster, Henry the Fourth's second son. + +Caxton says that he 'exercised the wars in the royaume of France and +other countries by forty yeares enduring.' If so he must have been +fighting in France or elsewhere across the seas as early as 1400. +Perhaps he went over earlier. He was, at least, successful in getting +promotion, and promotion in a time of continuous war cannot be bestowed +on a soldier incapable or cowardly. He became Governor of Veires in +Germany and of Harfleur. He fought with distinction at Agincourt: at the +taking of Caen and at the siege of Rouen: he was Governor of +Conde-sur-Noireau and of other places, as they were taken. We find him, +for instance, the Governor of the Bastille in Paris. When Henry V. died, +in 1422, he became Master of the Household to the Duke of Bedford, +Regent of France. He was Lieutenant-Governor of Normandy and Governor of +Anjou and Maine. It is remarkable to observe that in spite of his great +services he was not knighted until 1417, when he was already forty years +of age. In 1426, he was made a Knight of the Garter. In 1429, he won the +day at the 'Battle of the Herrings,' when with a small company of +archers he put to flight an army. + +His record does not lead one to expect a charge of cowardice. Yet the +charge was brought. It was after the Battle of Patay, in which Talbot +was taken prisoner and the English totally defeated. The reverse was +attributed by Talbot to the cowardly defection of Fastolf, rather than +to his own incompetence. Fastolf demanded an investigation, which was +made, with the result of his acquittal. Probably Lord Talbot persisted +in his explanation of defeat. The age, it must be confessed, was not +exactly chivalrous. The Wars of the Roses, which were about to begin, +brought to light gallant knights without truth or fidelity: perjured +princes as well as perjured barons: accusations and recriminations: +shameless desertions and changes of front. An evil time. If Lord Talbot +simply tried to shift the blame of his own defeat upon Fastolf, it would +be what other noble lords were perfectly ready to do in their anxiety to +escape responsibility in the loss of France: a disaster, as it was then +thought, which brought the greatest humiliation on the people. As for +Fastolf, he continued to receive posts of honour and distinction. Yet +the common people heard the reports brought home by the soldiers: +nothing is more easy than a charge of treachery and cowardice: they knew +nothing of the acquittal. To them Fastolf became in common talk the +coward who single-handed lost France by always running away. + +After the Battle of Patay, Fastolfe became Governor of Caen: he raised +the siege of Vaudmont: took prisoner the Duc de Bar: he was twice +appointed ambassador: he fought in the army of the Duc de Bretagne +against the Duc d'Alencon: and he was ordered to draw up a report of the +war. All this does not show much confidence in Lord Talbot's accusation. + +In 1440, then sixty-two years of age, he sheathed his sword, put off his +armour and returned to England. Few men could show a longer, or a finer, +record of war. In 1441 he received from the Duke of York an annuity of +L20 a year, 'pro notabili et laudabili servicio ac bono consilio.' He +spent the rest of his life partly in his house at Southwark and partly +in his castle of Caister, which he built himself: we may very well +understand that he was a man of great wealth when we read that the +castle covered five acres of land. + +[Illustration: WHITE HART INN, SOUTHWARK] + +These are the achievements of the man. About his private life and +character we have a great fund of information in the 'Paston Letters.' +His latest biographer ('S. L. L.' in the 'Dictionary of National +Biography') concludes from these letters that Fastolf was a 'grasping +man of business:' that he spent his old age in 'amassing wealth:' that +he was a testy neighbour: that his dependents had much to endure at his +hands. All these things may certainly be inferred from the letters. At +the same time we must consider, apart from the letters, the manners of +the age and the conditions of the age. + +Let us take the charges one by one. + +First, that his dependents had much to endure from him. + +It was not a time when dependents spent their time as they pleased. In a +well-ordered household every man had his post and his work. An old +Knight who had fought for forty years and commanded armies was not at +all likely to be a master of a soft and indulgent kind. There is no +greater disciplinarian than the old soldier: no household is more +sternly ruled than his. This man had not only commanded armies, he had +governed provinces, cities, castles: he had wielded despotic authority: +he had found it necessary to master every branch of human activity, +including the law and the chicanery of lawyers: as the general in +command or the Governor of the Province considered the interests of his +master the King before everything, so Fastolf expected his dependents to +consider his interests as before everything else. The stern old Captain, +I can very well believe, looked to every one of his dependents for his +share of work, and I can also very well believe that they feared him as +the masterful man is always feared. + +One of these dependents calls him 'cruel and vengeful.' But he gives no +reasons. + +[Illustration: SURREY END OF LONDON BRIDGE, FROM HIGH STREET, SOUTHWARK] + +One does not carry on war for forty years in the midst of spies, +traitors, robbers, and all the villainy of a camp without becoming stern +and hard. As a soldier he had to harden himself: as a governor he had to +observe justice rather than pity: as a judge it was his duty to punish +criminals. I picture a stern, determined man, grey and worn, with hard +eyes and strong mouth, one who looked for a thing to be done as soon as +he commanded it, at the coming of whom his servants became instantly +absorbed in work, at whose footstep his secretaries dared not lift their +heads. + +Next we are told that he was a 'testy neighbour.' The letters are full +of complaints about trespass, invasion of his rights, and attempts to +over-reach him. How could a man choose but prove a 'testy neighbour' at +a time when the law was powerless and every man was trying to enlarge +his boundaries at the expense of his next neighbour? The land robber was +everywhere moving landmarks and claiming what was not his own. Private +persons, simple esquires, had to fortify their houses against their +neighbours and to prepare for a siege. 'I pray you,' says Margaret +Paston, 'to get some crossebows and wyndace to bind them with, and +quarrel'--_i.e._ bolts--'for your house is so low that ther may no man +shoot with no long bow though he had never so much mind.' And she goes +on to enumerate the warlike preparations made by her neighbour. + +Sir John Fastolf himself orders five dozen long bows, and quarrels for +his own house in Norfolk. John Paston complains how Robert Hungerford, +Knight, and Lord Moleyne and Alianor his wife, entered forcibly upon his +house and manor of Gresham with a thousand people at their heels, and +robbed and pillaged, turning his wife and servants into the road. + +These are things which do sometimes make neighbours testy. + +But he is a 'grasping man of business.' + +Hear, then, this story. The Duke of Suffolk seizes upon property +belonging to Fastolf. The judges are bribed and justice cannot be had. +Sir John and his friend, Mr. Justice Yelverton, resolve to address the +Duke of Norfolk, and to let him know that the counties of Norfolk and +Suffolk 'do stand right wildly. Without a mun may be that justice be +hadde.' Is it a surprising thing that an old soldier should resolve to +get justice if possible? Is it right to call a man 'grasping' because he +stands up in his own defence? Read again the following. 'I pray you +sende me worde who darre be so hardy to kick agen you in my ryght. And +sey hem on my half that they shall be givyt as ferre as law and reson +wolle. And yff they wolle not dredde, ne obey that, then they shall be +quyt by Blackberd or Whiteberd: that ys to say by God or the Devyll. And +therefor I charge you, send me word whethyr such as hafe be myne +adversaries before thys tyme, contynew still yn their wylfullnesse.' I +see nothing unworthy or grasping in this letter: only a plain soldier's +resolve to get justice or he would know the reason why. + +It is further objected that he had long-standing claims against the +Crown, and was always setting them forth and pressing them. If his +claims were just, why should he not press them? If a man makes a claim +and does not press it, what does it mean except that he is afraid of +pressing it or that it is an unjust claim? + +The estates which he owned, apart from the claims which were never +settled, amounted altogether to a very considerable property well worth +defending. He had no fewer than ninety-four manors: there were four +residences--Caister: Southwark: Castle Scrope, and another: there was a +sum of money in the treasure chest of 2,643_l._ 10_s._, equivalent to +about 50,000_l._ of our money. There were no banks in those days and no +investments: a gentleman bought lands and plate and armour and weapons: +he spent, as a rule, the greater part of his income, showing his wealth +and his rank by the splendid manner of living. Sir John Fastolf, for +instance, had 3,400 oz. of silver plate; and besides, a wardrobe full of +costly robes. + +His house stood on the banks of the river in Stoney Lane, which now +leads from Tooley Street to Pickleherring Street. The Knight had good +neighbours. On the east of St. Olave's Church was the ancient house +built in the 12th century for the Earl of Warren and Surrey, and given +by his successor to the Abbot of St. Augustine's, Canterbury. Next to +the Abbot's Inn came, with the Bridge House between, the Abbot of +Battle's Inn, a great building on the river bank, with gardens lying on +the other side of what is now Tooley Street. The site was long marked by +'The Maze' and 'Maze Pond.' Then came Fastolf's House. There are no +means of ascertaining the appearance or the size of the place. It was +certainly a building round a quadrangle capable of housing many +followers, because he proposed to fill it with a garrison and so to meet +Cade's insurgents. Moreover, a man of such great authority and wealth +would not be contented with a small house. On the south side of St. +Olave's Church, nearly opposite Fastolf's house, was the Inn or House of +the Abbot of Lewes. And half a mile across the fields and gardens rose +the towers and walls of St. Saviour's Abbey, Bermondsey. Perhaps there +were other great houses east of Sir John Fastolf's, but I think not, +because as late as 1720 fields begin a little to the east of Stoney +Lane. Now, though fields precede houses, houses seldom precede fields. A +house often degenerates, but is rarely converted into a meadow. This, +however, did happen with Kennington Palace. We know, for example, that +the house called Augustin's Inn came to the Sellinger family, and being +deserted by them was presently let out in tenements till it was pulled +down and replaced by other buildings. According to these indications, +then, Fastolf's house was the last of the great houses on the east side +of London Bridge. There is another proof that it was a large house. +Fastolf kept a fleet of coasting vessels which continually sailed from +Caister or Yarmouth to London bringing provisions and supplies of all +kinds for his house at Southwark. This fact not only proves that his +household was very large, but it illustrates one way in which the great +houses, the ecclesiastical houses and the nobles' houses were +victualled. If those whose manors lay within easy reach of a port kept +ships for the conveyance of provisions from the country to London it is +certain that those who lived inland sent up caravans of pack-horses +laden with the produce of their estates and sent up to town flocks of +cattle and sheep and droves of pigs. + +[Illustration: The Site of Sir John Fastolf's House in Tooley Street] + +I have spoken of Sir John's intention to make a stand at Southwark +against the rebels under Cade. Fortunately for himself and for everybody +with him, he was persuaded to retire across the river to the Tower +before the rebels reached the gates. The story is one of the most +interesting in the whole of the 'Paston Letters,' which, to tell the +truth, unless one looks into them for persons we already know, are +somewhat dull in the reading. + +When the Commons of Kent were reported to be approaching London in the +year 1450, Sir John Fastolf filled his house in Southwark with old +soldiers from Normandy and 'abyllyments' of war. This rumour reached the +rebels and naturally caused them considerable anxiety. So when they +caught a spy among them in the shape of one John Payn, a servant of Sir +John, they were disposed to make an example of him. And now you shall +hear what happened to John Payn in his own words, the spelling being +only partly modernised. + +'Pleasyth it your gode and gracios maistershipp tendyrly to consedir the +grate losses and hurts that your por peticioner haeth, and haeth had +evyr seth the comons of Kent come to the Blakheth,[5] and that is at XV. +yer passed whereas my maister Syr John Fastolf, Knyght, that is youre +testator,[6] commandyt your besecher to take a man, and ij. of the beste +orsse that wer in his stabyll, with hym to ryde to the comens of Kent, +to gete the articles that they come for. And so I dyd: and al so sone as +I come to the Blakheth, the capteyn[7] made the comens to take me. And +for the savacion of my maisters horse, I made my fellowe to ryde a way +with the ij. horses; and I was brought forth with befor the Capteyn of +Kent. And the capteyn demaundit me what was my cause of comyng thedyr, +and why that I made my fellowe to stele a wey with the horse. And I seyd +that I come thedyr to chere with my wyves brethren, and other that were +my alys and gossipps of myn that were present there. And than was there +oone there, and seid to the capteyn that I was one of Syr John Fastolfes +men, and the ij. horse were Syr John Fastolfes; and then the capteyn +lete cry treson upon me thorough all the felde, and brought me at iiij. +partes of the feld with a harrawd of the Duke of Exeter[8] before me in +the dukes cote of armes, makyng iiij. _Oyes_ at iiij. partes of the +feld; proclaymyng opynly by the seid harrawd that I was sent thedyr for +to espy theyre pusaunce, and theyre abyllyments of werr, fro the +grettyst traytor that was in Yngelond or in Fraunce, as the seyd capteyn +made proclaymacion at that tyme, fro oone Syr John Fastolf, Knyght, the +whech mynnysshed all the garrisons of Normaundy, and Manns, and Mayn, +the whech was the cause of the lesyng of all the Kyngs tytyll and ryght +of an herytaunce that he had by yonde see. And morovyr he seid that the +seid Sir John Fastolf had furnysshyd his plase with the olde sawdyors of +Normaundy and abyllyments of werr, to destroy the comens of Kent whan +that they come to Southwerk; and therfor he seyd playnly that I shulde +lese my hede. + +'And so furthewith I was taken, and led to the capteyns tent, and j. ax +and j. blok was brought forth to have smetyn of myn hede; and than my +maister Ponyngs, your brodyr,[9] with other of my frendes, come and +lettyd the capteyn, and seyd pleynly that there shulde dye a C. or ij. +(a hundred or two), that in case be that I dyed; and so by that meane my +lyf was savyd at that tyme. And than I was sworen to the capteyn, and to +the comens, that I shulde go to Southwerk, and aray me in the best wyse +that I coude, and come ageyn to hem to helpe hem; and so I gote th' +articles, and brought hem to my maister, and that cost me more emongs +the comens that day than xxvijs. + +'Wherupon I come to my maister Fastolf, and brought hym th' articles, +and enformed hym of all the mater, and counseyled hym to put a wey all +his abyllyments of werr and the olde sawdiors; and so he dyd, and went +hymself to the Tour, and all his meyny with hym but betts and j. +(_i.e._ one) Mathew Brayn; and had not I ben, the comens wolde have +brennyd his plase and all his tennuryes, wher thorough it coste me of my +noune propr godes at that tyme more than vj. merks in mate and drynke; +and nought withstondyng the capteyn that same tyme lete take me atte +Whyte Harte in Suthewerk, and there comandyt Lovelase to dispoyle me +oute of myn aray, and so he dyd. And there he toke a fyn gowne of muster +dewyllers[10] furryd with fyn bevers, and j. peyr of Bregandyrns[11] +kevert with blew fellewet (velvet) and gylt naile, with leg-harneyse, +the vallew of the gown and the bregardyns viijli. + +'Item, the capteyn sent certeyn of his meyny to my chamber in your +rents, and there breke up my chest, and toke awey j. obligacion of myn +that was due unto me of xxxvjli. by a prest of Poules, and j. nother +obligacion of j. knyght of xli., and my purse with v. ryngs of golde, +and xvijs. vjd. of golde and sylver; and j. herneyse (harness) complete +of the touche of Milleyn;[12] and j. gowne of fyn perse[13] blewe furryd +with martens; and ij. gounes, one furreyd with bogey,[14] and j. nother +lyned with fryse;[15] and ther wolde have smetyn of myn hede, whan that +they had dyspoyled me atte White Hart. And there my Maister Ponyngs and +my frends savyd me, and so I was put up tyll at nyght that the batayle +was at London Brygge;[16] and than atte nyght the captyn put me oute into +the batayle atte Brygge, and there I was woundyt, and hurt nere hand to +deth; and there I was vj. oures in the batayle, and myght nevyr come +oute therof; and iiij. tymes before that tyme I was caryd abought +thorough Kent and Sousex, and ther they wolde have smetyn of my hede. + +'And in Kent there as my wyfe dwellyd, they toke awey all oure godes +movabyll that we had, and there wolde have hongyd my wyfe and v. of my +chyldren, and lefte her no more gode but her kyrtyll and her smook. And +a none aftye that hurlyng, the Bysshop Roffe,[17] apechyd me to the +Quene, and so I was arestyd by the Quenes commaundment in to the +Marchalsy, and there was in rygt grete durasse, and fere of myn lyf, and +was thretenyd to have ben hongyd, drawen, and quarteryd; and so wold +have made me to have pechyd my Maister Fastolf of treson. And by cause +that I wolde not, they had me up to Westminster, and there wolde have +sent me to the gole house at Wyndsor; but my wyves and j. coseyn of myn +noune that were yomen of the Croune, they went to the Kyng, and got +grase and j. chartyr of pardon.' + +Here we see the popular opinion of Fastolf 'the greatest traitor in +England or in France:' he who 'mynnyshed all the garrisons of Normandy, +and Manns, and Mayn:' he who was the cause of the 'lesyng of all the +Kyng's tytyll and rights of an heritaunce that he had by yonde see.' + +The whole story is in the highest degree dramatic. Sir John wants to +know what the rebellion means. Let one of his men go and find out. Let +him take two horses in case of having to run for it: the rebels will +most probably kill him if they catch him. Well: it is all in the day's +work: what can a man expect? Would the fellow live for ever? What can he +look for except to be killed some time or other? So John Payn takes two +horses and sets off. As we expected, he does get caught: he is brought +before Mortimer as a spy. At this point we are reminded of the false +herald in 'Quentin Durward,' but in this case it is a real herald +pressed into the service of Mortimer, _alias_ Jack Cade. Now the +Captain is by way of being a gentleman: very likely he was: the story +about him, that he had been a common soldier, is improbable and +supported by no kind of evidence. However, he conducts the affair in a +courteous fashion. No moblike running to the nearest tree: no beating +along the prisoner to be hanged upon a branch: not at all: the prisoner +is conducted with much ceremony to the four quarters of the camp and at +each is proclaimed by the herald a spy. Then the axe and the block are +brought out. The prisoner feels already the bitterness of death. But his +friends interfere: he must be spared or a hundred heads shall fall. He +is spared: on condition that he goes back, arrays himself in his best +harness and returns to fight on the side of the rebels. + +Observe that this faithful person gets the 'articles' that his master +wants: he also reports on the strength of the rebellion in-so-much that +Sir John breaks up his garrison and retreats across the river to the +Tower. But before going he tells the man that he must keep his parole +and go back to the rebels to be killed by them or among them. So the +poor man puts on his best harness and goes back. + +They spoil him of every thing: and then, they put him in the crowd of +those who fight on London Bridge. + +It was a very fine battle. Jack Cade had already entered London when he +murdered Lord Saye, and Sir James Cromer, Sheriff of Kent, and plundered +and fined certain merchants. He kept up, however, the appearance of a +friend of the people and permitted no plundering of the lower sort. So +that one is led to believe that in the fight the merchants, themselves, +and the better class held the bridge. + +The following account comes from Holinshed. It must be remembered that +the battle was fought on the night of Sunday the 5th of July, in +midsummer, when there is no night, but a clear soft twilight, and when +the sun rises by four in the morning. It was a wild sight that the sun +rose upon that morning. The Londoners and the Kentish men, with shouts +and cries, alternately beat each other back upon the narrow bridge, +attack and defence growing feebler as the night wore on. And all night +long the bells rang to call the citizens to arms in readiness to take +their place on the bridge. And all night the old and the young and the +women lay trembling in their beds lest the men of London should be +beaten back by the men of Kent, and these should come in with fire and +sword to pillage and destroy. All night long without stopping: the dead +were thrown over the bridge: the wounded fell and were trampled upon +until they were dead: and beneath their feet the quiet tide ebbed and +flowed through the arches. + +[Illustration: HOUSES IN HIGH STREET, SOUTHWARK, 1550] + +'The maior and other magistrates of London, perceiving themselves +neither to be sure of goods nor of life well warranted determined to +repell and keepe out of their citie such a mischievous caitife and his +wicked companie. And to be the better able so to doo, they made the lord +Scales, and that renowned Capteine Matthew Gough privie both of their +intent and enterprise, beseeching them of their helpe and furtherance +therein. The lord Scales promised them his aid, with shooting off the +artillerie in the Tower; and Matthew Gough was by him appointed to +assist the maior and Londoners in all that he might, and so he and other +capteins, appointed for defense of the citie, tooke upon them in the +night to keepe the bridge, and would not suffer the Kentish men once to +approach. The rebels, who never soundlie slept for feare of sudden +assaults, hearing that the bridge was thus kept, ran with great hast to +open that passage where between both parties was a fierce and cruell +fight. + +'Matthew Gough perceiving the rebels to stand to their tackling more +manfullie than he thought they would have done, advised his companie not +to advance anie further toward Southwarke, till the daie appeared; that +they might see where the place of jeopardie rested, and so to provide +for the same; but this little availed. For the rebels with their +multitude drave back the citizens from the stoops at the bridge foot to +the draw bridge, and began to set fire to diverse houses. Great ruth it +was to behold the miserable state, wherein some desiring to eschew the +fire died upon their enimies weapon; women with children in their armes +lept for feare into the river, other in a deadlie care how to save +themselves, betweene fire, water, and sword, were in their houses choked +and smothered. Yet the capteins not sparing, fought on the bridge all +the night valiantlie, but in conclusion the rebels gat the draw bridge, +and drowned manie, and slue John Sutton, alderman, and Robert Heisand, a +hardie citizen, with manie other, beside Matthew Gough, a man of great +wit and much experience in feats of chivalrie, the which in continuall +warres had spent his time in service of the king and his father. + +'This sore conflict indured in doubtfull wise on the bridge, till nine +of the clocke in the morning; for somtime, the Londoners were beaten +backe to saint Magnus corner; and suddenlie againe, the rebels were +repelled to the stoops in Southwarke, so that both parts being faint and +wearie, agreed to leave off from fighting till the next daie; upon +condition that neither Londoners should passe into Southwarke, nor +Kentish men into London. Upon this abstinence, this rake-hell capteine +for making him more friends, brake up the gaites of the kings Bench and +Marshalsie and so were manie mates set at libertie verie meet for his +matters in hand.' (Holinshed, iii. p. 226.) + +When the rebellion was over they clapped the unlucky Payn into prison +and tried to get out of him some admission that might enable them to +impeach Sir John of treason. This old soldier was not without some love +of letters. One of his household, William Worcester, wrote for him +Cicero 'De Senectute,' printed by Caxton a few years later. A MS. also +exists in the British Museum called 'The Dictes and Sayings of the +Philosophers,' said to have been translated for him by Stephen Perope +his stepson. + +After the Cade rebellion he returned to his house in Southwark but +seldom. He went down into Norfolk, employed his ships in carrying stone +and built his great castle of Caistor, which covered five acres. He +purposed founding a College at Caistor for seven priests and seven poor +folk. He assisted the building of philosophy schools at Cambridge: he +made gifts to Magdalen College, Oxford. His intentions as to the College +were never carried out, the bequest being transferred to Magdalen +College, Oxford, for the support of seven poor priests and seven poor +scholars. He died at the age of eighty. It was the misfortune of this +stout old warrior that the latter half of his fighting career was in a +losing cause: it was also his misfortune to incur a great part of the +odium that falls upon a general who is on the losing side: at the same +time, in his own actions he was, almost without exception, victorious: +and there does not seem any reason why he more than any other should +bear the blame of the English reverses. It was probably in deference to +popular opinion that no honours were paid to the veteran of so many +fights. Perhaps he was not a _persona grata_ at Court. Certainly the +story of Payn's imprisonment indicates some enemy in high quarters. Why +should the Government desire to charge him with treason? + +FOOTNOTES: + +[5] Jack Cade and his followers encamped on Blackheath on June 11, 1450, +and again from June 29 to July 1. Payn refers to the latter occasion. + +[6] Sir John Fastolf (who is dead at the date of this letter) left +Paston his executor, as will be seen hereafter. + +[7] Jack Cade. + +[8] Henry Holland, Duke of Exeter. During the civil war which followed, +he adhered to the House of Lancaster, though he married Edward IV.'s +sister. His herald had probably been seized by Cade's followers, and +pressed into their service. + +[9] Robert Poynings, who, some years before this letter was written, had +married Elizabeth, the sister of John Paston, was sword-bearer and +carver to Cade, and was accused of creating disturbances on more than +one occasion afterwards. + +[10] 'A kind of mixed grey woollen cloth, which continued in use to +Elizabeth's reign.'--Halliwell. + +[11] A brigandine was a coat of leather or quilted linen, with small +iron plates sewed on.--_See_ Grose's _Antient Armour_. The back and +breast of this coat were sometimes made separately, and called a +pair.--Meyrick. + +[12] Milan was famous for its manufacture of arms and armour. + +[13] 'Skye or bluish grey. There was a kind of cloth so +called.'--Halliwell. + +[14] Budge fur. + +[15] Frieze. A coarse narrow cloth, formerly much in use. + +[16] The battle on London Bridge was on the 5th of July. + +[17] Fenn gives this name 'Rosse' with two long s's, but translates it +Rochester, from which it is presumed that it was written 'Roffe' for +_Roffensis_. The Bishop of Rochester's name was John Lowe. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE BOMBARDMENT OF LONDON + + +The Bombardment of London, now almost as much forgotten as the all-night +battle of London Bridge, took place also on a Sunday, twenty years +afterwards. It was the concluding scene, and a very fit end--to the long +wars of the Roses. + +There was a certain Thomas, a natural son of William Nevill, Lord +Fauconberg, Earl of Kent, generally called the Bastard of Fauconberg, or +Falconbridge. This man was a sailor. In the year 1454 he had received +the freedom of the City of London and the thanks of the Corporation for +his services in putting down the pirates of the North Sea and the +Channel. It is suggestive of the way in which the Civil War divided +families, that though the Earl of Kent did so much to put Edward on the +throne, his son did his best to put up Henry. + +He was appointed by Warwick Vice-Admiral of the Fleet, and in that +capacity he held Calais and prevented the despatch of Burgundians to the +help of Edward. He seems to have crossed and recrossed continually. + +A reference to the dates shows how slowly news travelled across country. +On April the 14th the Battle of Barnet was fought. At this battle +Warwick fell. On May the 4th the Battle of Tewkesbury finished the hopes +of the Lancastrians. Yet on May the 12th the Bastard of Fauconberg +presented himself at the head of 17,000 Kentish men at the gates of +London Bridge, and stated that he was come to dethrone the usurper +Edward, and to restore King Henry. He asked permission to march through +the town, promising that his men should commit no disturbance or +pillage. Of course they knew who he was, but he assured them that he +held a commission from the Earl of Warwick as Vice-Admiral. + +In reply, the Mayor and Corporation sent him a letter, pointing out that +his commission was no longer in force because Warwick was dead nearly +three weeks before, and that his body had been exposed for two days in +St. Paul's; they informed him that the Battle of Barnet had been +disastrous to the Lancastrians, and that runners had informed them of a +great Lancastrian disaster at Tewkesbury, where Prince Edward was slain +with many noble lords of his following. + +All this Fauconberg either disbelieved or affected to disbelieve. I +think that he really did disbelieve the story: he could not understand +how this great Earl of Warwick could be killed. He persisted in his +demand for the right of passage. The persistence makes one doubt the +sincerity of his assurances. Why did he want to pass through London? If +he merely wanted to get across he had his ships with him--they had come +up the river and now lay off Ratcliffe. He could have carried his army +across in less time than he took to fight his way. Did he propose to +hold London against Edward, and to keep it while the Lancastrians were +gathering strength? There was still one Lancastrian heir to the throne +at least. + +However, the City still refused. They sent him a letter urging him to +lay down his arms and acknowledge Edward, who was now firmly +established. + +Seeing that he was not to be moved, the citizens began to look to their +fortifications: on the river side the river wall had long since gone, +but the houses themselves formed a wall, with narrow lanes leading to +the water's edge. These lanes they easily stopped with stones: they +looked to their wall and to their gates. + +The Bastard therefore resolved upon an assault on the City. Like a +skilful commander he attacked it at three points. First, however, he +brought in the cannon from his ships, laying them along the shore: he +then sent 3,000 men across the river with orders to divide into two +companies, one for an attack on Aldgate, the other for an attack on +Bishopsgate. He himself undertook the assault on London Bridge. His +cannonade of the City was answered by the artillery of the Tower. We +should like to know more of this bombardment. Did they still use round +stones for shot? Was much mischief done by the cannon? Probably little +that was not easily repaired: the shot either struck the houses on the +river's edge or it went clean over the City and fell in the fields +beyond. Holinshed says that 'the Citizens lodged their great artillerie +against their adversaries, and with violent shot thereof so galled them +that they durst not abide in anie place alongst the water side but were +driven even from their own Ordnance.' Did they, then, take the great +guns from the Tower and place them all along the river? I think not: the +guns could not be moved from the Tower: then the 'heavie artillerie' +could only damage the enemy on the shore opposite--not above the bridge. + +The three thousand men told off for the attack on the gates valiantly +assailed them. But they met with a stout resistance. Some of them +actually got into the City at Aldgate, but the gate was closed behind +them, and they were all killed. Robert Basset, Alderman of Aldgate, +performed prodigies of valour. At Bishopsgate they did no good at all. +In the end they fell back. Then the citizens threw open the gates and +sallied forth. The Earl of Kent brought out 500 men by the Tower Postern +and chased the rebels as far as Stepney. Some seven hundred of them were +killed. Many hundreds were taken prisoners and held to ransom, 'as if +they had been Frenchmen,' says the Chronicler. + +The attack on the bridge also completely failed. The gate on the south +was fired and destroyed: three score of the houses on the bridge were +fired and destroyed: the north gate was also fired, but at the bridge +end there were planted half a dozen small pieces of cannon, and behind +them waited the army of the citizens. It is a pity that we have not +another Battle of the Bridge to relate. + +The captain, seeing that he had no hopes of getting possession of +London, resolved to march westward and meet Edward. By this time, it is +probable that he understood what had happened. He therefore ordered his +fleet to await him in the Mersey, and marched as far as +Kingston-upon-Thames. It is a strange, incongruous story. All his +friends were dead: their cause was hopeless: why should he attempt a +thing impossible? Because it was Warwick's order? Perhaps, however, he +did not think it impossible. + +At Kingston he was met by Lord Scales and Nicolas Fanute, Mayor of +Canterbury, who persuaded him 'by fair words' to return. Accordingly, he +marched back to Blackheath, where he dismissed his men, ordering them to +go home peaceably. As for himself, with a company of 600--his sailors, +one supposes--he rejoined his fleet at Chatham, and took his ships round +the coast to Sandwich. + +Here he waited till Edward came there. He handed over to the King +fifty-six ships great and small. The King pardoned him, knighted him, +and made him Vice-Admiral of the Fleet. This was in May. Alas! in +September we hear that he was taken prisoner at Southampton, carried to +Middleham, in Yorkshire, and beheaded, and his head put upon London +Bridge. + +Why? nobody knows. Holinshed suggests that he had been 'roving,' _i.e._ +practising as a pirate. But would the Vice-Admiral of the English fleet +go off 'roving'? Surely not. I take it as only one more of the thousand +murders, perjuries, and treacheries of the worst fifty years that ever +stained the history of the country. There was but one complete way of +safety for Edward--the death of every man, noble or simple, who might +take up arms against him. So the Bastard--this fool who had trusted the +King and given him a fleet--was beheaded like all the rest. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE PILGRIMS + + +The town was full of those who carried in their hats the pilgrim's +signs. Besides the ordinary insignia of pilgrimage, every shrine had its +special signs, which the pilgrim on his return bore conspicuously upon +his hat or scrip or hanging round his neck (see Skeat, _Notes to Piers +Plowman_) in token that he had accomplished that particular pilgrimage. +Thus the ampullae were the signs of Canterbury; the scallop shell that of +St. James of Compostella; the cross keys and the vernicle of Rome--the +vernicle was a copy of the handkerchief of St. Veronica, which was +miraculously impressed with the face of our Lord. These shrines were +cast in lead in the most part. Thus in the supplement to the _Canterbury +Tales_, + + Then as manere and custom is, signes there they bought, + For men of contre should know whom they had sought; + Eche man set his silver in such thing as they liked, + And in the meanwhile the miller had y-piked + His barns full of signes of Canterbury brought. + +Erasmus makes Menedemus ask, 'What kind of attire is this that thou +wearest? It is all set over with shells scolloped, full of images of +lead and tin, and charms of straw work, and the cuffs are adorned with +snakes' eggs instead of bracelets.' To which the reply is that he has +been to certain shrines on pilgrimage. The late Dr. Hugo communicated to +the Society of Antiquaries a paper in which he enumerated and figured a +great many of these signs found in different places, but especially in +the river when Old London Bridge was removed. Bells--_Campana +Thomae_--Canterbury Bells--were also hung from the bridles, ringing +merrily all the way by way of a charm to keep off evil. + +[Illustration: OLD HALL, KING'S HEAD, AYLESBURY] + +Every day in the summer parties of pilgrims started from one or other of +the Inns of Southwark: there was the short pilgrimage and the long +pilgrimage: the pilgrimage of a day: the pilgrimage of a month: and the +pilgrimage beyond the seas. From Southampton and at Dartmouth sailed the +ships of those who were licensed to carry pilgrims to Compostella, which +was the shrine of St. Iago: or to Rome: or to Rocamadom in Gascony: or +to Jaffa for the Holy Places. The pilgrimage _outremer_ is undoubtedly +that which conferred the longest indulgences, the greatest benefits upon +the soul, and the highest sanctity upon the pilgrim. + +In the matter of short pilgrimages, the South Londoner had a +considerable choice. He might simply go to the shrine of St. Erkenwald +at Paul's, or to that of Edward the Confessor at Westminster, he might +even confine his devotions to the Holy Rood of Bermondsey. If he wished +to go a little further afield, there were the shrines of Our Lady of the +Oak; of Muswell Hill; or of Willesden. But these were all on the north +side of London and belonged to the City rather than to Southwark. For +him of the Borough there was the shrine of Crome's Hill, Greenwich, +which provided a pleasant outing for the day: it might be prolonged with +feasting and drinking to fill up the whole day, so that the whole family +could get a holiday combined with religious exercises in good company +and return home at night, each happy in the consciousness that so many +years were knocked off purgatory. + +[Illustration: OLD HALL, AYLESBURY] + +For the longer pilgrimages there were of course the far distant journeys +to Jerusalem, generally over land as far as Venice, and then by a +'personally conducted' voyage, the captain providing escort to and from +the Holy Places. There were also pilgrimages to Compostella: to Rome: to +Cologne: and other places. + +For pilgrimage within the four seas, the pious citizen of South London +had surely no choice. For him St. Thomas of Canterbury was the only +Saint. There were other Saints, of course, but St. Thomas was his +special Saint. No other shrine was possible for him save that of St. +Thomas. Not Glastonbury: nor Walsingham: nor Beverley: but Canterbury +contained the relics the sight and adoration of which would more +effectively assist his soul. + +[Illustration: CANTERBURY PILGRIMS] + +In Erasmus's Dialogue of the Pilgrimage we have an account of what was +done and what was shown at the shrines of Our Lady of Walsingham and St. +Thomas of Canterbury. + +'The church that is dedicated to St. Thomas raises itself up towards +heaven with that majesty that it strikes those that behold it at a great +distance with an awe of religion, and now with its splendour makes the +light of the neighbouring palaces look dim, and as it were obscures the +place that was anciently the most celebrated for religion. There are +two lofty turrets which stand as it were bidding visitants welcome from +afar off, and a ring of bells that make the adjacent country echo far +and wide with their rolling sound. In the south porch of the church +stand three stone statues of men in armour, who with wicked hands +murdered the holy man, with the names of their countries--Tusci, Fusci, +and Betri.... + +'_Og._ When you are entered in, a certain spacious majesty of place +opens itself to you, which is free to every one. _Me._ Is there nothing +to be seen there? _Og._ Nothing but the bulk of the structure, and some +books chained to the pillars, containing the gospel of Nicodemus and the +sepulchre of I cannot tell who. _Me._ And what else? _Og._ Iron grates +enclose the place called the choir, so that there is no entrance, but so +that the view is still open from one end of the church to the other. You +ascend to this by a great many steps, under which there is a certain +vault that opens a passage to the north side. There they show a wooden +altar consecrated to the Holy Virgin; it is a very small one, and +remarkable for nothing except as a monument of antiquity, reproaching +the luxury of the present times. In that place the good man is reported +to have taken his last leave of the Virgin, when he was at the point of +death. Upon the altar is the point of the sword with which the top of +the head of that good prelate was wounded, and some of his brains that +were beaten out, to make sure work of it. We most religiously kissed the +sacred rust of this weapon out of love to the martyr. + +'Leaving this place, we went down into a vault underground; to that +there belong two showmen of the relics. The first thing they show you is +the skull of the martyr, as it was bored through; the upper part is left +open to be kissed, all the rest is covered over with silver. There is +also shown you a leaden plate with this inscription, Thomas Acrensis. +And there hang up in a great place the shirts of hair-cloth, the +girdles, and breeches with which this prelate used to mortify his +flesh.... + +'_Og._ From hence we return to the choir. On the north side they open a +private place. It is incredible what a world of bones they brought out +of it, skulls, chins, teeth, hands, fingers, whole arms, all which we +having first adored, kissed; nor had there been any end of it had it not +been for one of my fellow-travellers, who indiscreetly interrupted the +officer that was showing them.... + +'After this we viewed the table of the altar, and the ornaments; and +after that those things that were laid up under the altar; all was very +rich, you would have said Midas and Croesus were beggars compared to +them, if you beheld the great quantities of gold and silver.... + +'After this we were carried into the vestry. Good God! what a pomp of +silk vestments was there, of golden candlesticks! There we saw also St. +Thomas's foot. It looked like a reed painted over with silver; it hath +but little of weight, and nothing of workmanship, and was longer than up +to one's girdle. _Me._ Was there never a cross? _Og._ I saw none. There +was a gown shown; it was silk, indeed, but coarse and without embroidery +or jewels, and a handkerchief, still having plain marks of sweat and +blood from the saint's neck. We readily kissed these monuments of +ancient frugality.... + +'From hence we were conducted up higher; for behind the high altar there +is another ascent as into another church. In a certain new chapel there +was shewn to us the whole face of the good man set in gold, and adorned +with jewels.... + +'Upon this, out comes the head of the college. _Me._ Who was he, the +abbot of the place? _Og._ He wears a mitre, and has the revenue of an +abbot--he wants nothing but the name; he is called the prior because the +archbishop is in the place of an abbot; for in old time every one that +was an archbishop of that diocese was a monk. _Me._ I should not mind if +I was called a camel, if I had but the revenue of an abbot. _Og._ He +seemed to me to be a godly and prudent man, and not unacquainted with +the Scotch divinity. He opened us the box in which the remainder of the +holy man's body is said to rest. _Me._ Did you see the bones? _Og._ That +is not permitted, nor can it be done without a ladder. But a wooden box +covers a golden one, and that being craned up with ropes, discovers an +inestimable treasure. _Me._ What say you? _Og._ Gold was the basest +part. Everything sparkled and shined with very large and scarce jewels, +some of them bigger than a goose's egg. There some monks stood about +with the greatest veneration. The cover being taken off, we all +worshipped. The prior, with a white wand, touched every stone one by +one, telling us the name in French, the value of it, and who was the +donor of it. The principal of them were the presents of kings.... + +'Hence he carried us back into a vault. There the Virgin Mary has her +residence; it is something dark; it is doubly railed in and encompassed +about with iron bars. _Me._ What is she afraid of? _Og._ Nothing, I +suppose, but thieves. And I never in my life saw anything more laden +with riches. _Me._ You tell me of riches in the dark. _Og._ Candles +being brought in we saw more than a royal sight. _Me._ What, does it go +beyond the Parathalassian virgin in wealth? _Og._ It goes far beyond in +appearance. What is concealed she knows best. These things are shewn to +none but great persons or peculiar friends. In the end we were carried +back into the vestry. There was pulled out a chest covered with black +leather; it was set upon the table and opened. They all fell down on +their knees and worshipped. _Me._ What was in it? _Og._ Pieces of linen +rags.' + +At Canterbury, as at Walsingham, the object of the pilgrim was to see +the relics, kiss them, saying certain prayers prescribed, and to make +offerings at every exhibition of relics. Thus on beholding the precious +place containing the milk of the Virgin, the pilgrim recited the +following prayer:-- + +'Virgin Mother, who hast merited to give suck to the Lord of heaven and +earth, thy Son Jesus, from thy virgin breasts, we desire that, being +purified by His blood, we may arrive at that happy infant state of +dovelike innocence in which, being void of malice, fraud, and deceit, we +may continually desire the milk of the evangelical doctrine, until we +grow up to a perfect man, and to the measure of the fulness of Christ, +whose blessed society thou wilt enjoy for evermore, with the Father and +the Holy Spirit. Amen.' + +On being shown the little chapel which was the actual dwelling-place of +the Virgin like the Casa Sancta of Loreto, the pilgrim prostrated +himself and recited as follows:-- + +'O thou who only of all women art a mother and a virgin, the most happy +of mothers and the purest of virgins, we that are impure do now come to +visit and address ourselves to thee that art pure, and reverence thee +with our poor offerings, such as they are. Oh that thy Son would enable +us to imitate thy most holy life, that we may deserve, by the grace of +the Holy Spirit, to conceive the Lord Jesus in the most inward bowels of +our minds, and having once conceived Him, never to lose Him. Amen.' + +As regards the offerings, it was found necessary to station a priest at +each place in order to encourage the pilgrims to give openly in the +sight of all, otherwise they would give nothing at all, so great was +their piety. Nay, even with this stimulus, there were found some who, +while they laid their offering on the altar, by sleight of hand would +steal what another had laid down. Since pilgrimage was reduced to the +easy performance of a journey with recitals and repetitions of set +prayers, one easily imagines that the pilgrims would no more hesitate to +steal from the altar than to commit any other offence against morality. + +On returning from Canterbury to London the pilgrims were waylaid by +roadside beggars who came out and sprinkled them with holy water, and +showed them St. Thomas's shoe to kiss. In fact, what with the treasures +brought home by pilgrims, presented to archbishops and kings, and sold +by pardoners and friars, the whole country was crammed with relics; at +the great shrines as shown by Erasmus, there were cupboards filled with +holy bones and precious rags; but there were too many: the credulity of +the people had been tried too much and too long. Erasmus shows the +profound disbelief that he himself, if no other, entertained for the +sanctity of the relics. + +[Illustration: 15TH CENTURY GOLDSMITH] + +[Illustration: RICH MERCHANT AND HIS WIFE, 14TH CENTURY] + +Thomas a Becket was canonised in 1173. Fifty years afterwards his +remains were transferred from their original resting-place by Stephen +Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, to the shrine prepared for them +behind the high altar. + +Erasmus, whose contempt for pilgrimage is sufficiently indicated by the +extracts quoted above, was not alone in his opinions. Indeed, it +required no great wisdom to perceive that a religious pilgrimage +conducted without the least attention to the religious life was a +mockery. + +Nor was Erasmus the first to make this discovery. Piers Plowman, long +before, had expressed the same contempt for pilgrims: + + Pilgrims and Palmers plihten hem togederes + For to seche Seint Jeme and seintes at Rome; + Wenten forth in heore wey with mony wyse tales, + And hedden leve to lye al heore lyf aftir. + Ermytes on a hep with hokide staves + Wenten to Walsingham, and here wenches aftir. + +But there is a more serious indictment still. + +In the year 1407, a certain priest named Thorpe, a prisoner for +heretical opinions, was allowed to state these opinions to Archbishop +Arundel. An account remains, written by the priest himself, of his +arguments and of the Archbishop's replies. On the subject of pilgrimage +he is very strong. + +'Wherefore, Syr, I have prechid and taucht openlie, and so I purpose all +my lyfe tyme to do with God's helpe saying that suche fonde people wast +blamefully God's goods in ther veyne pilgrimagis, spending their goodes +upon vicious hostelers, which ar ofte unclene women of their bodies: and +at the leste those goodes with the which thei should doo werkis of +mercie after Goddis bidding to pore nedy men and women. Thes poor mennis +goodes and their lyvelode thes runners aboute offer to rich priestis, +which have mekill more lyvelode than they need: and thus those goodes +they waste wilfully and spende them unjustely against Goddis bidding +upon straungers, with which they shoulde helpe and releve after Goddis +will their poor nedy neighbours at home: ye, and over this foly, ofte +tymes diverse men and women of thes runners thus madly hither and +thither in to pilgrimage borowe hereto other mennis goodes, ye and +sometymes they stele mennis goodes hereto, and they pay them never +again. Also, Syr, I know well that when diverse men and women will go +thus often after their own willes, and finding out one pilgrimage, they +will order with them before to have with them both men and women that +can well syng countre songes and some other pilgremis will have with +them baggepipes; so that every timme they come to rome, what with the +noyse of their synging and with the sounde of their piping and with the +jangeling of their Canterbury bellis, and with the barking out of doggis +after them, that they make more noise than if the King came there away +with all his clarions, and many other minstrellis. And if these men and +women be a moneth in their pilgrimage, many of them shall be an half +year after great jangelers, tale tellers, and lyers.' + +'And the Archbishop said to me, "Leude Losell, Thou seest not ferre +ynough in this matter, for thou considerest not the great trauel of +pilgremys, therefore thou blamest the thing that is praisable. I say to +the that it is right well done that pilgremys have with them both +singers and also pypers, that whan one of them that goeth barfoote +striketh his toe upon a stone and hurteth hym sore, and makyth him to +blede: it is well done that he or his felow begyn then a songe, or else +take out of his bosom a baggepipe for to drive away with suche myrthe +the hurt of his felow. For with soche solace the trauel and weeriness of +pilgremys is lightely and merily broughte forth."' + +From the immortal company of pilgrims which left the Tabard Inn, High +Street, Southwark, on the 2nd day of April in, or about, the year 1380, +it remains for me to show what pilgrims and pilgrimage meant in the +fourteenth century. This company met by appointment the night before the +day of departure. They did not agree with each other, but they met by +chance. At present, when a party starts for Palestine or for a voyage +round the Mediterranean, the members do not agree to meet: they find out +that a party will start on such a date from such a place, and they join +it. Part of the business of the Tabard, and of other inns of Southwark, +was to organise and to conduct such a party to Canterbury and back. As +the ships licensed to carry pilgrims charged so much for the voyage +there and back, including the visit to the shrine, so the Host of the +Tabard charged so much for conducting and entertaining the party there +and back again. That the company was collected in this manner and not by +personal agreement, is shown by their mixed character; and the ready way +in which they all journeyed together, travelled together, and talked +together shows that society of the fourteenth century was no respecter +of persons, or that pilgrimage was a great leveller of rank. + +The following is a list of the company:-- + +1.--A Knight, his Son, and an attendant Yeoman. 2.--A Prioress: an +attendant Nun: and three Priests. 3.--A Monk and a Friar. 4.--A +Merchant. 5.--A Clerk of Oxford. 6.--A Serjeant at Law. 7.--A Franklin. +8.--A Haberdasher, a Carpenter, a Weaver, a Dyer, and a Tapestry Maker, +all clad in the livery of a Fraternity. 9.--A Sailor and a Cook. 10.--A +Physician, 11.--The Wife of Bath. 12.--A Town Parson and a Ploughman. +13.--A Reeve, a Miller, a Sompnour, a Pardoner, a Maunciple, and the +Poet himself. + +[Illustration: 14TH CENTURY CRAFTSMAN] + +[Illustration: 14TH CENTURY MERCHANT] + +[Illustration: 14TH CENTURY CRAFTSMAN] + +With them all went the Host of the Tabard. It is generally supposed +that they rode the whole way to Canterbury, which is sixty-six miles, in +a single day. Their resting places have, however, been found by +Professor Skeat. Allow them sixteen hours for the journey. This means +more than four miles an hour without any halt. But so large a company +must needs go slowly and stop often. We cannot believe that in the +fourteenth century such a company would travel sixty-six miles a day +over such roads as then existed, and at a time of year when the winter +mud had not yet had time to dry. + +It is not without significance that out of the whole number a third +should belong to the Church. Among them the Prioress Madame Eglantine is +a gentlewoman who might belong to any age: tenderhearted: delicate and +dainty: fond of creatures: courteous in her manner: careful in her +eating: wearing a brooch, + + On whiche was first i-writen a crowned A, + And aftir, _Amor vincit omnia_. + +The Monk was a mighty hunter: a big burly man who kept many horses and +hounds and loved to hunt the hare. + +The Friar was a Limitour, one licensed to hear confessions: a wanton man +who married many women 'at his own cost:' he heard confessions, sweetly +imposing light penance: he knew all the taverns: he could play and sing: +he knew all the rich people in his district: he carried knives and pins +as gifts for the women:--a wholly worldly loose living Limitour. + +The character of the Town Parson, brother of the Ploughman, is perhaps +the most charming of all this wonderful group of portraits. + + A good man was ther of religioun, + And was a povre PERSOUN of a toun; + But riche he was of holy thoght and werk. + He was also a lerned man, a clerk, + That Cristes gospel trewely wolde preche; + His parisshens devoutly wolde he teche. + Benigne he was, and wonder diligent, + And in adversitee ful pacient; + And swich he was y-preved ofte sythes. + Ful looth were him to cursen for his tythes, + But rather wolde he yeven, out of doute, + Un-to his povre parisshens aboute + Of his offring, and eek of his substaunce. + He coude in litel thing han suffisaunce. + Wyd was his parisshe, and houses fer a-sonder, + But he ne lafte nat, for reyn ne thonder, + In siknes nor in meschief, to visyte + The ferreste in his parisshe, muche and lyte, + Up-on his feet, and in his hand a staf. + This noble ensample to his sheep he yaf, + That first he wroghte, and afterward he taughte; + Out of the gospel he tho wordes caughte; + And this figure he added eek ther-to, + That if gold ruste, what shal iren do? + For if a preest be foul, on whom we truste, + No wonder is a lewed man to ruste; + And shame it is, if a preest take keep, + A dirty shepherde and a clene sheep. + Wel oghte a preest ensample for to yive, + By his clennesse, how that his sheep shold live. + He sette nat his benefice to hyre, + And leet his sheep encombred in the myre, + And ran to London, un-to seynt Poules, + To seken him a chauntrie for soules, + Or with a bretherhed to been withholde; + But dwelte at hoom, and kepte wel his folde, + So that the wolf ne made it nat miscarie; + He was a shepherde and no mercenarie. + And thouth he holy were, and vertuous, + He was to sinful man nat despitous, + Ne of his speche daunderous ne digne, + But in his teching discreet and benigne. + To drawen folk to heven by fairnesse, + By good ensample, was his bisinesse: + But it were any persone obstinat, + What-so he were, of heigh or lowe estat, + Him wolde he snibben sharply for the nones. + A bettre preest, I trowe that nowher noon is. + He wayted after no pompe and reverence, + Ne maked him a spyced conscience, + But Cristes lore, and his apostles twelve, + He taughte, and first he folwed it him-selve. + +The Sompnour, _i.e._ Summoner of the Ecclesiastical Courts, was a +scorbutic person with an inflamed face: children were afraid of him: he +loved strong meat and strong drink. If he found a good fellow anywhere +he bade him have no fear of the archdeacon's curse unless his soul were +in his purse. + +Lastly, there was the Pardoner. He, too, was as jolly as the Monk, the +Friar, and the Sompnour. He carried in his wallet pardons from Rome; and +relics without end: all the imagination in the nature of certain classes +was lavished upon the invention of relics. Thus it required a fine power +of imagination to show a bit of canvas as a piece of the sail of St. +Peter's boat when Christ called him. This, however, the Pardoner did. +Chaucer makes him reveal his own character. + + Of avarice and of swiche cursednesse + Is al my preching, for to make hem free + To yeve hir pense and namely unto me. + +It is not without meaning that the poet shows a Monk, a Limitour, and a +Pardoner absolutely without the least tinge of religion: the first a man +who dresses like a layman and thinks of nothing but of hunting--what, +then, of the Rule? The second, and the third, are both corrupt and +rotten to the very core. If any proof were wanting that the spiritual +life had gone out of the regular orders, these characters of Chaucer +supply the proof. The figures in this company have been described, +figured, illustrated, annotated a hundred times. They form the most +trustworthy presentation of the time which we possess. The Knight is +full of chivalry, truth, honour, and courtesy: his son is well bred and +lusty, is a lover and a bachelor. The Merchant talks eagerly and much of +his profits: the Clerk, a poor scholar, would rather have books than +rich robes or musical instruments: the Craftsmen were all well-to-do, in +easy circumstances: the Physician was an astrologer, who understood +natural magic, _i.e._ the influence of the stars; and made for his +patients images: he knew the cause of every malady and how it was +engendered--the profession are still liable to confuse this knowledge +with the power of healing the malady: he was dressed in crimson and +blue, lined with taffeta and silk--it would be interesting to know when +physicians assumed the black dress of the last century. Lastly, his +study was but little in the Bible. + +The Clerk of Oxford is a portrait finished to the life. + + A CLERK ther was of Oxenford also, + That un-to logik hadde longe y-go. + As lene was his hors as is a rake, + And he nas nat right fat, I undertake; + But loked holwe, and ther-to soberly. + Ful thredbar was his overest courtepy; + For he had geten him yet no benefyce, + Ne was so worldly for to have offyce. + For him was lever have at his beddes heed + Twenty bokes, clad in blak or reed, + Of Aristotle and his philosophye, + Than robes riche, or fithele, or gay sautrye. + But al be that he was a philosophre, + Yet hadde he but litel gold in cofre; + But al that he mighte of his freendes hente, + On bokes and on lerninge he it spente, + And bisily gan for the soules preye + Of hem that yaf him wher-with to scoleye. + Of studie took he most cure and most hede. + Noght o word spak he more than was nede, + And that was seyd in forme and reverence, + And short and quik, and ful of hy sentence. + Souninge in moral vertu was his speche, + And gladly wolde he lerne, and gladly teche. + +Would it be possible to find a clearer picture of what in those days we +should perhaps call a 'lower middle class' woman than that of the Wyf of +Bath? She is dressed in all the splendour that she can afford: she +frankly loves fine dress. + + A good WYF was ther of bisyde BATHE, + But she was som-del deef, and that was scathe. + Of clooth-making she hadde swiche an haunt, + She passed hem of Ypres and of Gaunt. + In al the parisshe wyf ne was ther noon + That to the offring bifore hir sholde goon; + And if ther dide, certeyn, so wrooth was she, + That she was out of alle charitee. + Hir coverchiefs ful fyne were of ground; + I dorste swere they weyeden ten pound + That on a Sonday were upon hir heed. + Hir hosen weren of fyn scarlet reed, + Ful streite y-teyd, and shoos ful moiste and newe. + Bold was hir face, and fair, and reed of hewe. + She was a worthy womman all hir lyve, + Housbondes at chirche-dore she hadde fyve, + Withouten other companye in youthe; + But thereof nedeth nat to speke as nouthe. + And thryes hadde she been at Ierusalem; + She hadde passed many a straunge streem; + At Rome she hadde been, and at Boloigne + In Galice at seint Iame, and at Coloigne. + She coude muche of wandring by the weye. + Gat-tothed was she, soothly for to seye. + Up-on an amblere esily she sat, + Y-wimpled wel, and on hir heed an hat + As brood as is a bokeler or a targe; + A foot-mantel aboute hir hipes large, + And on hir feet a paire of spores sharpe. + In felawschip wel coude she laughe and carpe. + Of remedyes of love she knew per-chaunce, + For she coude of that art the olde daunce. + . . . . . . . + +She is frankly sensual and self-indulgent: she likes everything that is +pleasant: food, drink, love. Observe also the restlessness of the +woman: she can never have enough of pilgrimage: she loves the company: +the change: the things that one sees: the people that one meets. She has +journeyed three times to Jerusalem and back: once to Rome: once to +Bologna: once to St. Iago of Compostella: once to Cologne: apart from +the English shrines. We may be quite sure that so good an Englishwoman +would not neglect the saints of her own country: after Canterbury she +would pilgrimise to Beverley and to Walsingham, and to Glastonbury, and +many a local saint's shrine. She had a ready wit and could give reasons +for everything, especially for her five marriages and her avowed +intentions to take a sixth husband when her fifth should die. Yet, she +declared, she honoured holy virgins. + + Let them be bred of pured whete seed + And let us wyves eten barley brede: + And yet with barley bred men telle can + Our Lord Ihesu refreisshed many man. + +Many of this company play and sing. The Prioress herself sings the +divine service, intoning it full sweetly by her nose: the Limitour plays +on the rote: the Miller plays the bagpipe: the Pardoner could sing 'full +loud:' the Knight's son could both sing and play. Music, in fact, as an +accomplishment was far more common in the fourteenth than in the +nineteenth century. + +Chaucer seems to speak of palmers as if they were the same as pilgrims. +The latter, however, simply journeyed from home to the shrine and back +again: the former was under vows of poverty, and continually travelled +from shrine to shrine. The Canterbury Pilgrims were not, therefore, +palmers. The first meaning of a palmer was that he could carry a palm in +token of having visited the Holy Land. + +When the Prioress spoke the French of Stratford le Bow it is not +intended that she spoke bad French, but the Anglo-French which was +spoken at Court, in the Law Courts, and by English ecclesiastics of +higher rank. But why of Stratford le Bow? Because here was a +Benedictine nunnery dating from the eleventh century. The beautiful +little Parish Church of Bow was formerly the chapel of the nunnery. The +Wyf of Bath is 'gat toothed,' _i.e._ her teeth are wide apart: Professor +Skeat has discovered that an old superstition attaches to such teeth, +that, like the Wyf of Bath, those who have such teeth will travel far +and be lucky. Popular superstitions are so long lived that one has +little doubt about Chaucer's meaning. Certainly his Wyf of Bath had +travelled far. + +[Illustration: PEDLAR + +_From the Stained Window in Lambeth Church_] + +Let us return to the assumption that Chaucer intended the pilgrimage +from Southwark to Canterbury should take but one day. Is not this +conclusion based upon the fact that the last tale ends a day and the +journey at the same time? Is there anything to prove that the +pilgrimage could have been concluded in a day there and a day back? Why, +I have said that it was sixty-six miles, and the roads were none of the +best: the party jogged on, I am sure, picking their way over the rough +places and avoiding the quagmires at a steady pace of about three miles +an hour, with many stoppages for rest and for refreshment. When Cardinal +Morton journeyed from Lambeth to Canterbury for his enthronisation, he +took a whole week over the journey, resting for the night at Croydon, +Knole, Maidstone, Charing, and Chartham. Surely, if a company of +pilgrims could accomplish the distance in a day, the Archbishop would +not take so much as six days? Add to these considerations that Chaucer +is a perfectly 'sane' writer: his work hangs together: it would have +been impossible to get through all those stories with the intervals +between and the times for rest in a single day. + +Another point occurs. There was at one time--I think--in the early days +of pilgrimage--a special service appointed for the departure of +pilgrims--a kind of consecration of the pilgrimage. There is no hint of +such a service in Chaucer or in any other writer of the time, so far as +I know. There is none in the Pilgrimage of Felix Fabri of the sixteenth +century. One may suppose, therefore, that the service had been allowed +to drop out of use. Indeed, the original character of the pilgrimage as +a thing to be approached in an altogether reverential and religious +spirit had quite gone out of it even when Chaucer wrote, not to speak of +Erasmus. + +The Canterbury Tales, if they are supposed to represent the manner of +talk among the better class of people at that time, are curiously +modern. Witness the description of the Parson and the Parson's Tale, +which is a sermon: witness also the contempt and hatred of the poet for +the shrines of religion: the impostor with his relics: the Sompnour and +the Friar. Chaucer makes the two latter tell stories reflecting on each +other, such great love had these ecclesiastics between themselves. The +poet through his Parson preaches a noble form of religion without worry +over doctrine. The Parson promises, when he begins: + + I wol yow telle a mery tale in prose + To knitte up al this feeste, and make an ende. + And Iesu, for His grace, wit me sende + To shewe yow the wey, in this viage, + Of thilke parfit glorious pilgrimage + That highte Ierusalem celestial-- + +and preaches a sermon on man's heavenward pilgrimage, taking for his +text the passage of Jeremiah, vi. 16: 'Stand ye in the ways, and see, +and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and +ye shall find rest for your souls.' + +[Illustration: MINSTRELS A.D. 1480] + +The priest Thorpe was too hard upon pilgrims. So was Erasmus. The riding +all together: the festive meals at the inn: the mixture of men and women +of all conditions: the change of thought and scene--could not but be +useful and beneficial in the monotonous life of the time. That there +were scandals: that on the way there were drinking and revelry, with the +'wanton songs' of which Thorpe complains: that there was an idle parade +of pretended relics, and an assumption of virtues and miracles for these +relics: we can also very well believe: but on the whole it seems a pity +that, when all the relics, with as much wood of the True Cross as would +load a big ship, were gathered together and burned, something was not +introduced to take the place of pilgrimages and make the people move +about and get acquainted with each other. + +What, to repeat, said Archbishop Arundel to Thorpe the heretic? + +'Leude losell, thou seest not ferre ynough in this matter, for thou +considerest not the great trauell of pilgremys, therefore thou blamest +that thing that is praisable. I say to the that it is right well done, +that pilgremys have with them both syngers and also pypers, that whan +one of them that goeth barfoote striketh his toe upon a stone and +hurteth hym sore, and maketh hym to blede: it is well done that he or +his felow begyn then a songe or else take out of his bosom a baggepipe +for to drive away with soche myrthe the hurt of his felow. For with +soche solace the trauell and werinesse of pilgremys is lightely and +merily broughte forth.' + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE LADY FAIR + + +The fairs of London were at one time many in number. The most ancient +was that of St. Bartholomew, held in August, and annexed to the Priory +by Henry I. St. James's Fair was held for the benefit of St. James's +Lazar House: there was a Fair on Tower Hill, granted by Edward III. to +St. Katherine's Hospital: there was the Fair at Tothill Fields, founded +by Henry III.: on the South side there were Fairs at Charlton--the Horse +Fair: at Greenwich: at Camberwell: at Peckham: at Lambeth. The Lady +Fair, or the Southwark Fair, was of comparatively late foundation, +having been established in the year 1462 by a Charter of Edward IV. +empowering the City of London to hold a Fair in Southwark every year on +the 7th, 8th, and 9th days of September, with 'all the liberties to such +fairs appertaining,' together with a Court of Pie Powder. Some of the +mediaeval fairs were held for the sale of special goods: that of Cloth +Fair, Bartholomew's, for instance: that of Croydon Cherry Fair: that of +Maidstone for hops: that of Royston for cheese. Most of them, however, +were general Fairs held for the sale of all kinds of goods: the shops +were booths arranged in order side by side, and in streets. One street +was for wool and woollen goods: another for hardware: another for +spices: another for silks, and so forth. The Fair did no harm to the +trade of the nearest town, for the simple reason that most towns had no +trade except in provisions and drink. To the Fair people came from all +quarters to buy or to sell: the country housewife laid in her stores of +spices, sugar, wine, furs, silks, ribbons, gloves, and everything that +she could not make at home, in these fairs. The Lady Fair of Southwark, +for instance, drew the people from all parts of the country within +reach, but mostly from Clapham, Wandsworth, Streatham, and Tooting, to +buy their stores for the coming year. There was always, from the +beginning, something of a festive nature about a Fair: the merry crowd +suggested feasting and good company: the drinking tempted one on every +side: there were eating booths as well, and gambling booths, and dancing +booths; and in every one there was music and singing. + +When internal communications were improved, and people could easily ride +or drive to the neighbouring town, the permanent shop replaced the +temporary booth, and the original purpose of the Fair was lost. Then it +became, and continued until the end, merely a place of amusement, and, +until it became riotous, a place of excellent amusement. Nothing is more +ancient or more permanent than the arts and tricks and clevernesses of +the show folk. I have elsewhere remarked on the singular fact that the +comic actor never ceases out of the land: I do not mean the man who can +play a comic part to the admiration of beholders, but the man who has a +genius for bringing out the comic character in every part and in every +situation. It is the same thing with the juggler, the tumbler, the +posturer, the dancer on the rope and wire, the trainer and teacher of +animals. Dogs, monkeys, bears, horses, were all trained to perform +tricks: women danced on the tight rope: jugglers tossed knives and +balls: men fought with quarterstaff, single-sticks, rapier, or fist: +there were exhibitions of strange monsters: there were strange +creatures. The nature of the show was proclaimed by a large painted +canvas hung outside the booth. + +[Illustration: BOOTH, SOUTHWARK FAIR] + +Evelyn, writing on the 13th of September, 1660, says: 'I saw in +Southwark at St. Margaret's Faire, monkies and asses dance and do other +feates of activity on ye tight rope; they were gallantly clad _a la +mode_, went upright, saluted the company, bowing and pulling off their +hats; they saluted one another with as good a grace as if instructed by +a dancing-master. They turn'd heels over head with a basket having eggs +in it without breaking any; also with lighted candles in their hands and +on their heads without extinguishing them, and with vessels of water +without spilling a drop. I also saw an Italian wench daunce and performe +all the tricks of ye tight rope to admiration; all the Court went to see +her. Likewise here was a man who tooke up a piece of iron cannon of +about 400 lb. weight with the haire of his head onely.' + +Pepys twice mentions Southwark Fair. The first occasion was on September +11, 1660. He only says: 'Landing at the Bear at the Bridge Foot, we saw +Southwark Fair.' Eight years later he pays the Fair a second visit, of +which he gives the following account: + +'21 September, 1668. To Southwark Fair, very dirty, and there saw the +puppet-show of Whittington, which is pretty to see; and how that idle +thing do work upon people that see it, and even myself too! And thence +to Jacob Hall's dancing on the ropes, where I saw such action as I never +saw before, and mightily worth seeing; and here took acquaintance with a +fellow who carried me to a tavern, whither came the music of this booth, +and by and by Jacob Hall himself, with whom I had a mind to speak, +whether he ever had any mischief by falls in his time. He told me, "Yes, +many, but never to the breaking of a limb." He seems a mighty strong +man. So giving them a bottle or two of wine, I away.' + +Hogarth has preserved for us and for our posterity a faithful picture of +Lady Fair as it was in the year 1733. As it was in the daytime, +remember, not the evening. Hogarth did not shrink from depicting scenes +because they were brutal, or debauched--the pen that drew the Rake's +midnight orgies could not plead that anything was too coarse or violent +or abandoned for representation. Had Hogarth drawn a picture of the Fair +in the evening as well as the afternoon we should have known why the +City grew more and more disgusted at the orgies of the Lady Fair until +it became impossible to tolerate it any longer. + +The Fair was held in the open street, between St. Margaret's Hill and +St. George's Church. Beyond St. George's Church was open country, with a +few houses, &c., as shown in Hogarth's picture which appeared in 1733. +That part of the Fair which is shown contains two theatrical booths, +Punch's opera, and a waxwork. At one of the theatres, that of Lee and +Harper, is about to be performed Elkanah Settle's Droll of 'The Siege of +Troy.' At the other Theatre, there is a great show cloth called the +Stage Mutiny, referring to a recent dispute at Drury Lane, and the piece +promised is the 'Fall of Bajazet.' The youngest and most beautiful of +the actresses is out before the Booth with a drum, a black boy playing a +cornet, and an actor dressed for the principal part with a magnificent +wig and a towering plumed helmet. Alas! the great man is arrested at the +moment of taking the picture: at the same moment the stage outside the +booth gives way, and actors and actresses are precipitated headlong: +there will be no performance this day of 'The Fall of Bajazet.' There is +a peep show in the picture: Figg the Prizefighter rides across the +stage, his wig off, so as to show the wounds he has received: the dwarf +Savoyard plays his bagpipe and makes his dolls jump: there is the cook's +shop under the falling stage: the rope dancer Violante tumbles on the +slack rope: Cardman the aerial performer descends from the tower of St. +George's: a quack eats lighted tow: the conjurer shows some of his +tricks outside, but promises marvels inside the booth; the rustics gaze +in speechless admiration in the face of the drummer-actress: beyond, we +see the beginning of the line of booths, where everything was sold that +was of no value--toys, chapbooks, gingerbread, ribbons, cakes, whips, +canes, snuff-boxes, tobacco-boxes, worthless rings, cloth slippers, +night-caps, shoe laces, buckles, soap by the yard, singing birds and +cages for them, tinder-boxes, pewter platters and mugs. All day long the +noise went on: it began at noon: the people came from the country and +from the city: they dined in one of the booths, off roast sucking pig, +for choice, a diet consecrated to all the Fairs from time immemorial: +the children were brought and treated to a fairing, the peep-show, and +the play, and some gingerbread. In the afternoon the country lads +wrestled for a hat--you can see the hat in the picture; and the girls +ran a race for a smock--you can see the smock in the picture. When the +sun grew low the children were taken home, and the real fun of the fair +began. Then all the quiet people within hearing stopped their ears: and +all the decent people ran away: and the prentices, the rustics, the +roughs of the Mint with their correspondencies of the other sex, had +their own way until the weary players put out their footlights and lay +down to sleep as they could among the properties and scenes of their +theatre, and the people of the booths put their wares under the counters +and lay down to sleep upon them like the grocers' assistants. And then, +one supposes, the prentices, the rustics, and the rogues went home +again. And in the morning repentance and an aching head, and an empty +purse. + +We may take it that all the amusements and shows which were brought out +for Bartholomew Fair, and for May Fair while it lasted, were also +exhibited at Southwark. + +The 'droll,' which was a kind of acting in dumbshow to music and with +singing, was popular; dancing of all kinds formed a large part of the +Fair. In Frost's 'Old Showman,' there is an advertisement of dancing in +a booth: + +'THOMAS DALE, Drawer at the Crown Tavern at Aldgate, keepeth the TURK'S +HEAD Musick Booth, in Smithfield Rounds, over against the Greyhound Inn, +during the time of Bartholomew Fair, Where is a Glass of good Wine, Mum, +Syder, Beer, Ale, and all other Sorts of Liquors, to be Sold; and where +you will likewise be entertained with good Musick, Singing and Dancing. +You will see a Scaramouch Dance, the Italian Punch's Dance, the Quarter +Staff, the Antick, the Countryman and Countrywoman's Dance, and the +Merry Cuckolds of Hogsden. + +'Also a young Man that dances an Entry, Salabrand, and Jigg, and a Woman +that dances with Six Naked Rapiers, that we Challenge the whole Fair to +do the like. There is likewise a Young Woman that Dances with Fourteen +Glasses on the Backs and Palms of her Hands, and turns round with them +above an Hundred Times as fast as a Windmill turns; and another Young +Man that Dances a Jigg incomparably well to the Admiration of all +Spectators! _Vivat Rex!!_' + +And in the following lines we have a scene at a Fair which we may very +well believe to be Lady Fair. They tell us + + How pedlars' stalls with glittering toys are laid, + The various fairings of the country maid. + Long silken laces hang upon the twine, + And rows of pins and amber bracelets shine; + How the neat lass knives, combs, and scissors spies, + And looks on thimbles with desiring eyes. + Of lotteries next with tuneful note he told, + Where silver spoons are won, and rings of gold. + The lads and lasses trudge the street along, + And all the fair is crowded in his song. + The mountebank now treads the stage, and sells + His pills, his balsams, and his ague-spells; + Now o'er and o'er the nimble tumbler springs, + And on the rope the venturous maiden swings; + Jack Pudding, in his party-coloured jacket, + Tosses the glove, and jokes at every packet. + Of raree-shows he sung, and Punch's feats, + Of pockets picked in crowds, and various cheats. + +The introduction of the theatre with dramas played by the King's +servants should have raised the character of the Fair. Perhaps it did. +In any case, the Theatre of the Fair was not an unpromising place for a +young actor to begin. The audience wanted nothing but the presentation +of a story, and that a strong and moving story. If an actor failed in +the fire and passion of his part, he was pelted off the stage. He was +therefore compelled to pay attention to the very essentials of his +profession, the presentation visibly and unmistakably of the emotions. A +stagey manner would be the result of too long continuance on these +boards, but at the outset no kind of practice could be more useful. +This was proved by the lovely Mrs. Horton, who was discovered by the +manager of Drury Lane playing at the Lady Fair in the play of 'Cupid and +Psyche.' He took her away and placed her on his own stage, where she +played for many years, leaving behind her a reputation of the finest +actress and the most beautiful woman known up to that time. + +The Theatre of the Fair is, I think, quite gone. I rejoice in being able +to remember one of these delightful shows. There was a great booth with +a platform in front and canvas pictures hung up behind the platform. The +orchestra occupied one end of the platform, playing with zeal between +the performances. The company in their lovely dresses stood on the +platform and danced a kind of quadrille from time to time: the clown and +the pantaloon, when they were not tumbling, stood at the head of the +broad stairs clanging cymbals and bawling that the play was just about +to begin. The price of a seat was threepence, with a few rows at +sixpence: the play lasted twenty minutes: it was always a melodrama of +persecuted and virginal innocence--in white. The joy of the whole +performance was to children beyond all power of words: the play: the +music: the ethereal beauty of the actresses: the rollicking fun of the +clown: the sense of fleeting pleasure conveyed by the roughness of the +benches and the grass under our feet: and the general festivity of the +noise, the music, the bawling outside make me remember Richardson's +Theatre and Messrs. Doggett's and Penkethman's, with the greatest +pleasure and the most poignant regret. + +I fear, then, that Lady Fair became, in the evening especially, a place +in which everybody went 'as he pleased,' and that with so much dancing, +drinking, love-making, singing, playing on the flowery slope that the +authorities had to interfere. It is, indeed, a most melancholy +circumstance that the people cannot be allowed to amuse themselves in +the way they would choose. May Fair first, Lady Fair next, one after +the other the Fairs of London have been suppressed. Lady Fair +succumbed in 1760, when it was finally abolished. + +[Illustration: GREENWICH PARK ON WHITSUN MONDAY + +(_From an Engraving by Rawle, 1802_)] + +May one say a word of two other fairs even more disreputable--those of +Charlton and of Greenwich? Charlton Fair was founded in the year 1268, +so that it was a very ancient institution, to be held on three days in +the year--'the Eve, the day, and the morrow of the Trinity.' The time of +the Fair was, however, changed at some time to the day of St. Luke, on +October 18. It was one of those Fairs which acquired a distinctive +character. Just as Barnet Fair became a Horse Fair, Charlton became a +Horn Fair. The obvious--and therefore popular--kind of fooling to be +made out of horns and their associations--which are now quite lost and +forgotten--as well as the day, which was also connected with those +associations--made this Fair extremely popular. The people from London +went down to Deptford by boat, joined the people from Greenwich and +Deptford, and formed a burlesque procession, everyone wearing horns on +his head, or carrying horns to affix to some other person's head. At the +fair itself there was exhibited a great quantity of vessels and utensils +made of horn: every booth had horns put up in the front: rams' horns +were exhibited and sold in quantities; even the gingerbread was stamped +with horns. The reason of this display was one quite forgotten by the +people: viz. that a horned ox is the recognised symbol of St. Luke. It +was customary for men to dress up, for the burlesque procession, in +women's clothes; they also amused themselves (see Chambers's 'Book of +Days') in lashing the women with furze: probably in pretence only. The +procession was discontinued in 1768, the Fair went on until 1871. + +We must not forget Greenwich Fair, which was held on Whit Monday. Long +after Bartholomew Fair decayed and fell, Greenwich Fair remained. It was +one of the greatest holidays of the year for the London folk of the +lower class. The amusements consisted of two parts, the first playing +in the Park, where there were races and sports: the second the fun of +the booths and the shows. + +The former began early in the forenoon and went on until the evening. +The people came down from London in boats for the most part, and by the +Old Kent Road in vehicles of every description, or even on foot for the +whole five miles. If it was a fine morning the park was filled with the +working classes and the young men and maidens belonging to the working +classes. The sports were primitive: the favourite amusement was for a +line of youths and girls to run down hill hand in hand. The slope was +steep, the pace was rapid: before long half of them were sprawling +headlong or rolling over and over, with such displays and derangements +as may be imagined. Or there were games of kiss in the ring and +thread-my-needle: or there were sailors showing the Cockneys how to +dance the hornpipe; men with telescopes through which could be seen the +men hanging in chains on the Isle of Dogs, or St. Paul's Cathedral: or +there were the old pensioners telling yarns of the battles they had +fought, especially the Battle of Trafalgar, when to every man, as it +seemed, Fortune had caused the hero Nelson to fall into his arms. +Outside the Park the street was filled with booths where everything +could be bought, as at Lady Fair, which was worthless, including +gingerbread. There were theatrical booths, shows of pictures, +pantomimes, Punch and Judy, exhibitions of monsters, dwarfs, giants, +bearded ladies, mermaids, menageries of wild beasts, feats of +legerdemain, fire-eaters, boxers and quarterstaff players, cock +fighting, and every other conceivable amusement. In the evening, beside +the Theatre, there were the dancing booths. The same cause which led to +the suppression of the Lady Fair brought about that of Greenwich Fair. +It was suppressed, I think, about the year 1855. I myself saw it in +1851, but only in the afternoon, when it was already, I remember, a +good-natured crowd playing horse tricks upon each other, and making a +noise, which, with the bellowing of the show folk, the blaring of the +bands, the cries of the boys and girls on the merry-go-rounds, and the +roar of the crowd, one will never forget. For my own part I am of +opinion that the noise was the worst part of the fair: that what went on +in the evening would have gone on just as much outside the Fair as in +it: and that it did very little harm to let the people enjoy themselves +in their own way, which was a coarse, somewhat drunken and somewhat +indecent way. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +ST. MARY OVERIES + + +London possesses two churches at least of surpassing beauty. One of +them, in the North, is the Church of St. Bartholomew the Great; the +other, in the south, is the church of St. Mary Overy or Overies, now +called St. Saviour's. This church, for some unknown reason, does not +attract many English visitors. Americans go there in great numbers. It +is so beautiful: it has so many historical associations: that I hope to +interest more of our own people, and, if it may be, to increase the +attractions of the place to the Americans, by a few pages on its +history. These pages are but a sketch, and that a slight sketch, of this +history. I have already in another volume ('London,' p. 47) given the +legend of the foundation of St. Mary Overies. Two Norman knights, Pont +de l'Arche and d'Aunsey, early in the twelfth century, found here a +small Religious House, called the House of Our Lady of the Canons, which +had been created by Mary the daughter of one Awdry, ferryman. Mary +herself was buried in the chapel of her own House, where is now the Lady +Chapel of St. Saviour's. The name, St. Mary Overies, which ought to be +restored to the Church, seems to mean, not St. Mary of the Ferry, or St. +Mary over the River, but St. Mary 'Ofers,' or St. Mary of the Bank or +Shore. These two knights founded a new and larger House on the site of +Mary Awdry's modest foundation. For reasons now difficult to discover, +if they matter to anybody, the monks of the Norman House fell into +poverty. In the year 1212, again, they had the additional misfortune to +lose these buildings and their Church, which were in great part, if not +altogether, destroyed by the great fire of that year. A hundred years +later the monks submitted to Edward I. a pitiful statement that the +whole of their possessions was insufficient so much as to provide the +bare necessities of life without the gifts of the faithful: that their +Church was lying in ruins, and had been in that condition for thirty +years; that they had been unable to rebuild any of it except the +campanile; and that they lived in constant terror of being inundated by +the Thames. This shows that they had suffered the Embankment to fall +into a neglected state. At the beginning of the fifteenth century, +Cardinal Beaufort--Shakespeare's Cardinal Beaufort--contributed largely +to the rebuilding of the Church. Another benefactor was Gower the poet, +who spent in the Priory the last years of his life, died here, and was +buried in the Church. The monument of John Gower stands in the north +aisle of the newly built nave. The Religious of the House showed their +gratitude to him by promising a Pardon of 1,500 days to anyone who would +say a prayer for the soul of the poet. + +[Illustration: A SEAL OF ST. MARY OVERIES] + +[Illustration: SEALS OF ST. MARY OVERIES] + +The position of the Priory, close to the Palace of the Bishop of +Winchester, led to the Church becoming the scene of many important +historical events. Just as Blackfriars was used for political Functions; +just as Wyclyf was tried in St. Paul's Cathedral, so St. Mary Overies +was used on occasions when the Bishop of Winchester had to do with the +matter in hand. Thus, two great marriages were solemnised in this +Church. One was that of Edmund Holland, Earl of Kent, in 1406, with +Lucia, daughter of the Lord of Milan. The bride was given away by Henry +IV., and her dowry was 100,000 ducats. At her death she left the canons +6,000 crowns for the good of her soul and that of her husband. The other +marriage was one of far greater importance. It was that of James the +First, King of Scotland, the most pleasing figure in Scottish history, a +poet and a scholar, of whom Drummond of Hawthornden wrote that 'of +former Kings it might be said that the nation made the Kings, but of +this King, that he made the people a nation.' He married in 1424, being +then thirty years of age, after a captivity of nineteen years, Joan, or +Johanna, daughter of the Earl of Somerset, and niece of Cardinal +Beaufort. She was a cousin, therefore, of King Henry IV. The royal pair +rode forth to Scotland laden with such gifts of plate and cloth of gold +as Scotland had never before seen. They were accompanied by the Cardinal +and his brother, the Duke of Exeter. Twelve years later, the King was +murdered in the presence of his wife, who was wounded in trying to save +him, a sad ending to a marriage of love, and a tragic widowhood to the +woman whom her poet had called + + The fairest and the freshest younge flower + That e'er I saw, methought, before that hour. + +[Illustration: NORTH-EAST VIEW OF ST. SAVIOUR'S, SOUTHWARK, 1800] + +In 1539 the House was suppressed, the canons were put out, and the +place was given to Sir Anthony Brown, whose son became Viscount Montague +and gave his new name to the ancient close of the Monastery. In the +following year the Church was made a Parish Church, including the church +of Mary Magdalene, which stood beside the Priory Church, as St. +Peter-le-Poor stood beside St. Austin, St. Gregory beside St. Paul's, +and St. Margaret beside Westminster Abbey Church together with the +Parish Church of St. Margaret in the High Street. The nave gradually +became ruinous and was taken down in 1838, when a new nave, the memory +of which makes the whole Borough shudder when it is mentioned, was put +up. Its floor was raised above that of the transepts, and it was treated +as a separate building, divided from the transepts by a brick wall. This +terrible building has now been taken down and a nave rebuilt after the +pattern of the original structure of the fourteenth century. Thus +reconstructed, the church will soon, it is hoped, become the Cathedral +Church of the Diocese of Southwark. At present it has not the Cathedral +organisation, being without a Dean, or Canons, or a Chapter. The Church +can boast of more monuments and of a more distinguished company of the +dead than can be found in most London churches. Here are buried, +probably, Mary herself, the original founder, if she is not a legendary +person: Pont de l'Arche and d'Auncey, the founders: a long line of +unknown and forgotten Priors and Canons of the Augustinian House: John +Gower, on whose monument can still be read the prayers he wrote for his +own soul: + + En toy qui es Filz de Dieu le Pere + Sauve soit qui gist sous cest pierre. + +[Illustration: CRYPT OF ST. MARY OVERIES] + +The monument was repaired and painted in 1832 by the first Duke of +Sutherland. Lancelot Andrewes, Bishop of Winchester, is buried in the +Lady Chapel, where his monument can be seen in black and white marble; +Dyer the poet, who died 1607; Edmund Shakespeare, 'player,' poet and +writer, buried somewhere in the Church, 1607; Laurence Fletcher, one of +the shareholders in the Globe, also buried in the Church, 1608; Philip +Henslow, the manager, buried in the chancel, 1616; John Fletcher, buried +in the Church, 1625; Philip Massinger, a 'stranger,' _i.e._ belonging to +some other parish, buried in the Church, 1639. There are three stones in +the chancel, inscribed with the names of John Fletcher, Edmund +Shakespeare, and Philip Massinger, but merely to record that they are +buried somewhere in the Church. + +[Illustration: GATEWAY OF ST. MARY'S PRIORY, SOUTHWARK, 1811 + +(_From a Drawing by Whichelo_)] + +Other monuments and tombs there are: one a figure, commonly found in +mediaeval churches, of a body wasted by death: a wooden effigy of a +knight: a monument to a quack of Charles the Second's time, and +monuments to certain persons now forgotten; on one some lines in +imitation of Herrick: + + Like to the damask rose you see + Or like the blossom on the tree, + Or like the dainty flower of May, + Or like the morning of the day, + Or like the sun, or like the shade, + Or like the gourd which Jonas had, + Even so is Man; Man's thread is spun, + Drawn out, and cut, and so is done. + The rose withers, the blossom blasteth, + The flower fades, the morning hasteth, + The sun sets, the shadow flies, + The gourd consumes, and Man he dies. + +The Ladye Chapel, one of the few beautiful things surviving of mediaeval +London, was very nearly destroyed by the ignorant Vandalism of about the +year 1835. It was necessary in rebuilding London Bridge a few feet west +of the old Bridge to prepare new approaches on the south as well as on +the north. What follows is told by Knight: + +'The Committee agreed to grant a space of sixty feet for the better +display of St. Mary Overies, on the condition that the Lady Chapel was +swept away. The matter appeared in a fair way for being thus settled, +when Mr. Taylor sounded the alarm in one of the daily papers. Thomas +Saunders, Esq., and Messrs. Cottinggam and Savage, the architects, +actively interfered. A large majority of the parishioners, however, +decided to accept the proposals of the Committee. In the meantime, the +gentlemen we have named were indefatigable in their exertions; and they +were effectively seconded by the press. At a subsequent meeting there +was a majority of three only for pulling down the chapel; and on a poll +being demanded and obtained, there ultimately appeared the large +majority of 240 for its preservation. The excitement of the hour was +prudently used to obtain funds to restore it, which has been most +successfully accomplished.' + +I have mentioned Winchester House, the Palace of the Bishop, as being +close to the Priory. On any map may be traced the extent of the Palace. +On the north is Clink Street, the Clink Prison being at the west end of +the street; on the west is now Park Street, formerly Deadman's Place; on +the south is a continuation of Park Street; and on the east is a street +running south from St. Mary Overies Church. Winchester House, which thus +covered a large piece of ground, was, with its grounds, enclosed by a +wall. Many of the buildings, especially the great gate, remained +standing almost within the memory of man. The state and ceremony of a +Bishop demanded a large retinue, and the Bishop's house must therefore +be provided with a sufficient number of rooms for their accommodation. +The map must not be accepted as laying down the exact site, the +distances or the scale, or the arrangement of the courts and buildings. + +We have now to speak, but briefly, of the Marian Persecutions and of the +Martyrs. With these the Church of St. Mary and Winchester House had a +good deal to do. + +[Illustration: REMAINS OF THE OLD PRIORY, ST. MARY OVERIES] + +On Monday, January 28, 1555, was seen the first of many melancholy +sights. On that day Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, presided at a Court +held in St. Mary Overies Church for the trial of heretics. The court was +actually held in the Ladye Chapel. Hither were brought Bishop Hooper and +John Rogers: they were heard: they argued their case: they were found +obstinate: they were committed to the Clink Prison hard by: on the next +day, with Bradford, Dr. Crome, Dr. Saunders, Dr. Ferrar, Dr. Taylor, and +several others, they were sentenced to be burned. Bradford wrote to +Cranmer after the trial: 'This day, I think, or to-morrow at the +uttermost, hearty Hooper, sincere Saunders, and trusty Taylor, end their +course and receive their crowne. The next am I, which hourly looke for +the Porter to open me the gates after them, to enter into the desired +rest.' + +So began those fires from which the cause of Roman Catholicism long +suffered, and is even now still suffering. For the popular judgment does +not discern and separate. The burnings under Henry and Edward are lumped +together in the mind of the people, and all set down to Mary. The names, +places, and times of the martyrs and their martyrdoms as given by +Machyn, not by Fox, show that if the Queen's advisers had deliberately +done their best to make their form of Faith odious and hateful, they +could not have devised a better plan than the burning of the people for +religion's sake. It is generally thought and believed that the +indignation of the people was aroused by seeing the Bishops and +preachers burned. That I do not believe. The executions of great men do +not affect the populace; they witness the passage of a Thomas More on +his way to the block: or of a Cromwell: with equal indifference: these +statesmen do not belong to the life of the people. In the Marian +persecution they heard that Archbishop Cranmer had been burned at +Oxford, but they offered little outward show of emotion: they heard that +Ridley and Latimer had been burned: their constancy, no doubt, touched +the crowd: but still, these martyrs were not of themselves. When, +however, they found that not only Bishops and great people, but also +their own brothers, cousins, fathers, were taken out from their +workshops and tied three or four together to the stake, where they +suffered the agonies of the fire and still continued to pray aloud with +firmness: then the lesson went straight home to them; and for many a +generation to come the people learned to loathe the very name of the +religion which could thus burn innocent people by the hundred for +believing, as they were told, what the Bible taught. + +It is a mistake, again, to suppose that the lessons of persecution were +taught at Smithfield alone. They were industriously taught from many +centres. There were burnings at Stratford-le-Bow: at Stepney: at +Westminster: beyond St. George's, Southwark, at Newington; while the +vast crowds which attended a burning and imbibed these lessons of fear +and hatred are shown by two entries alone in Machyn's Diary, 1556. 'The +xxvij day of June rod from Newgate unto Stratford-a-bow, in iii cares +xiij, xj men and ij women, and there bornyd (burned) to iiij postes, and +there where a xx M pepull.' + +[Illustration: TOMB OF BISHOP ANDREWS, ST. MARY OVERIES] + +And again, 1556. 'The xxij day of January whent in to Smythfield to +berne between vii and viij in the morning v men and ij women: on of the +men was a gentyllman of the endor tempull, ys nam Master Gren; and they +were all bornyd by ix at iij postes. And ther wher a commonment +throughe London over nyght that no young folke shuld come ther, for +ther the grettest number was as has byne sene at swyche a tyme.' + +Therefore it is evident, first, that enormous crowds gathered together +to witness the sufferings of the victims, and to note their constancy in +the hour of agony; secondly, that the authorities were becoming alarmed +at the effect which these examples might have upon the young. No young +people were permitted to be present. We may be sure that the prohibition +was openly defied. + +As for Gardiner, he died soon after the martyr fires began, stricken, +said his enemies, by the hand of God in punishment for his cruelties. +His physicians, I believe, called it gout in the stomach, a reading +which one prefers, because Gardiner was no worse than the rest of them, +and after his death there was no abatement, but rather an increase, in +the burnings. He had, however, a very fine funeral, which began at the +church of St. Mary Overies, and was continued all the way to Winchester, +where the place of his burial and his Chantry Chapel may still be seen. + +Of this function, Machyn gives a short account, but it shall suffice. It +must be remembered that Gardiner was not only a very great person, but +that he was also believed to be the natural son of Bishop Woodville, +and, if the belief was well founded, he was therefore a cousin of the +Queen. But this may be scandal. Machyn, the chronicler of funerals, thus +describes Gardiner's funeral. + +[Illustration: A CORNER IN ST. SAVIOUR'S, SOUTHWARK] + +'The xxiiij day of Feybruary was the obsequies of the most reverentt +father in God, Sthevyn Gardener, docthur and bysshope of Wynchastur, +prelett of the gartter, and latte chansseler of England, and on of the +preve consell unto Kyng Henry the viij and unto quen Mare, tyll he ded; +and so the after-none be-gane the knyll at sant Mare Overes with +ryngyng, and after be-gane the durge; with a palle of cloth of gold, and +with ij whytt branchys, and ij dosen of stayffe-torchys bornyng, and +iiij grett tapurs; and my lord Montyguw the cheyffe mornar, and my lord +bysshope of Lynkolne and ser Robart Rochaster, comtroller, and with +dyvers odur in blake, and mony blake gownes and cotes; and the morow +masse of requeem and offeryng done, be-gane the sarmon; and so masse +done, and so to dener to my lord Montyguw ('s); and at ys gatt the corse +was putt in-to a wagon with iiij welles all covered with blake, and ower +the corsse ys pyctur mad with ys myter on ys hed, with ys armes, and v +gentyll men bayryng ys v banars in gownes and hods, then ij harolds in +ther cote armur, master Garter and Ruge-crosse; then cam the men rydyng, +carehyng of torchys a lx bornyng, at bowt the corsse all the way; and +then cam the mornars in gownes and cotes, to the nombur unto ij C. a-for +and be-hynd, and so at sant Gorges cam prestes and clarkes with crosse +and sensyng, and ther thay had a grett torche gyffyn them, and so to +ever parryche tyll they cam to Wynchaster, and had money as many as cam +to mett them, and durge and masse at evere logyng.' + +[Illustration: ST. SAVIOUR'S, SOUTHWARK, 1790] + +The Church, when the Priory was dissolved, stood on the south side of +the monastic buildings: the Cloister occupied that part of the ground on +the north of the nave: the refectory, chapter house and dormitories, and +other buildings stood about the Cloister: an embankment kept off the +Thames at high tide: on the west side was St. Mary Overies Dock, which +was also the south end of the ferry. The dock is there still, but where +the wall of the Monastery stood, round the Garden, and one could see the +orchards beyond, are now huge warehouses. Some remains of the Cloister +stood until recently, and one gateway of the precinct--there was +certainly another on the side of the High Street--stood close to the +west front of the Church. The Cloister received the name of Montagu +Close, after the son of Sir Thomas Brown who became Viscount Montagu. If +you pass round to the north of the Church you will now find a few +fragments piled up, the indication of an ancient door in the wall of the +Church; but all traces of the monastic buildings are entirely swept +away. + +The ground in front of the Church is also changed. In post-Reformation +times there was a school here--St. Saviour's school; there were also +almshouses; there was a peaceful quiet kind of close, in which was heard +the buzz of the boys in school; one saw the bedesmen creeping along in +the sun; one watched the crumbling ruins falling fast into decay: one +wondered where in the narrow churchyard or in the Church lay the bones +of Massinger and Fletcher: one seemed to see Bishop Hooper and John +Rogers stepping forth into the sunlight, their trial over, their +sentence passed: their cheeks, perhaps, somewhat flushed, their eyes +somewhat brightened, because, even with such a faith as theirs, all a +man's courage must be wanted to face the agony of the flames, through +which for half an hour they would have to wade, as Christian waded +through the river, before they reached the shore beyond. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE SHOW FOLK + + +Southwark was a city of a various population. It had great Houses for +nobles and for Ecclesiastics: it had fair inns for the reception of +merchants, coming up from Kent and the south country: it had a riverside +people of fishermen and watermen living up stream on the Lambeth bank or +down stream at Bermondsey or Rotherhithe: it had a great number of +residents who worked in the orchards and the gardens which spread over +the whole of the rich low-lying land now embanked, secure from floods +and the highest tides. It contained, besides, a large number of rogues +and vagabonds, fugitives from justice, lying here in so-called +sanctuary, where the officers of the law did not dare to present +themselves. In spite of the powers granted to the City over Southwark, +the place remained a receptacle and a refuge 'down to the end of the +last century, when the so-called Liberties of the Mint'--the last place +of sanctuary--were finally abolished and only a slum remained to mark +the site of a sanctuary. + +[Illustration: WINCHESTER PALACE] + +Beside all these people Southwark contained the Show Folk of Bankside. +When the Show Folk began to live in Bankside I know not: their +settlement originally was in Westminster outside the King's Palace, +where there was always a great demand for music, dancing, tumbling, +mumming and such recreative performances; they were also, however, in +great request in London by City Church, city company, and city tavern. +Now there was no place for them within the walls: they had no company: +there was neither a Musicians'; nor a Dancers'; nor a Singers'; nor a +Mummers'; nor a Tumblers' Company. There was no company which would +admit them; there was no ward where they could get a street for +themselves: they were gently but firmly pushed out. And not only were +they a class apart but they were a class in contempt. It was always held +contemptible to provide amusement. No one, as yet, had made of music or +of acting a fine art; no gentleman, as yet, and for a long time after, +would take part in the buffoonery which the actor had then to exhibit: +an atmosphere of disrepute attached to the calling, to those who +followed the calling, and to the place where they lived: in the City, +Aldermen had a way of connecting nocturnal disorders with these children +of melody: where they resorted the taverns would carry on their +revelries after curfew, even to midnight: if the street was alarmed by +nocturnal ramblers it would prove to be after an evening with the +dancers and the tumblers: the Church, especially the Church Puritanic, +set her face against those who devised entertainments, on the ground +that the devisers were an ungodly and dissolute crew. Therefore they +crossed the river. On Bankside, in the Liberty of the Clink, where the +City could not interfere, they 'went as they pleased.' They were +dissolute, if they chose--Heaven knows whether they did choose--without +reproach: their taverns kept open house as long as they would stop to +drink: there was singing every day without interference: there was +merriment without the rebuke of the sour face: there was no fear of +being haled before the Lord Mayor, for making people laugh: there was no +terror of pillory, and no man on their side of the river was 'put in +stocks o' Monday, for kissing of his wife o' Sunday.' It was the Bishop +of Winchester's Liberty, but he was content, on the whole, to leave the +residents unmolested and in the possession of their guitars, their +fiddles, their songs and their plays. + +[Illustration: THE GLOBE THEATRE + +(_From the Crace Collection_)] + +When the Show Folk were wanted in the City it was easy for them to go +across: they were ready at a moment's notice to arrange a pageant, or to +take part in one: they could provide the beauteous maidens in white with +long fair tresses who stood on platforms in Chepe and scattered gold +rose nobles made of paste on the heads of the crowd: they found hermits, +and constructed caves for those godly men in the midst of Gracious +Street: they found the music for the dragging of the traitor on a +hurdle: for the march of the rogue to the pillory: for the riding of the +Lord Mayor: for the procession of the Company on its feast day. For a +miracle play they presented the parish church with the Fall of Man: the +Raising of Lazarus: the Pilgrims of Emmaus: David and Goliath: or any +other episode from the Bible--how many excellent players there were +among them whose names have long since been forgotten! They knew how to +present a Masque--not, perhaps, with the same splendour as one by Ben +Jonson and Inigo Jones--who commanded the King's purse--but a neat and +creditable affair, with dresses appropriate, full of surprises, and +furnished with mythological characters, for the Hall of a City Company +on the day of the Annual Feast. For young gentlemen of the more +debauched kind they had another kind of entertainment, with singing, +dancing girls, tumbling and posturing; with rare jests--pity they were +not rarer--and excellent fooling by their clowns. The modern art of +acting did not begin at the Globe Theatre: there has never been any time +when the actor was unknown: the only difference is that he was not +formerly allowed to be anything but a buffoon: that he had little but +buffoonery in his _repertoire_: and now he is an artist and scorns the +tricks of the buffoon. Nor is the art of entertainment of modern +invention. The Company of Parish Clerks, for instance, were great +promoters of sacred plays. Their poets--whose names are entirely +lost--provided the words and arranged the scenes; the members of the +company played the parts: the Show Folk 'mounted' the piece: they +provided the monsters; the red flames for the mouth of Hell; the troops +of angels or of devils, the stage business and the music. Many of the +Parish Churches had their annual play on their Saint's Day. Thus the +Parish Church of St. Margaret, which was taken down when St. Mary +Overies' became St. Saviour's, had its play on St. Margaret's Day (July +20), and often another on the Day of St. Lucy (December 13) as well. We +have already observed that the Londoner of old never made any difference +in the matter of Play or Pageant whether the time was summer or winter. +He was like the Scythian, face all over: he felt no cold: he held his +Riding, or his Coronation Procession, quite as readily in December as in +July. + +Another kind of Show Folk, but rougher and more brutal, were the people +who looked after the bears and the dogs. Bull baiting, bear baiting, +sometimes horse baiting, together with badger baiting, duck hunting, +cock throwing, dog fighting and cock fighting, were the chosen and +common sports of the people. Baiting of every kind there was wherever +there were dogs and bulls and badgers, but the centre and headquarters +of the sport was South London, in the place called Paris Gardens. The +popularity of the sport is shown by the simple facts that there was not +only bull and bear baiting in Paris Gardens, but also two rings or +amphitheatres for bull and bear baiting outside the gardens behind +Bankside, and that in the High Street itself, nearly opposite St. +George's Church, there was permanently established the bull ring to +which an animal could be tied whenever one was found fit for the purpose +of affording an hour's sport by the madness of his rage or the agonies +of his death. + +The present Blackfriars Bridge Road cuts through the site of Paris +Gardens, leaving a portion on either side. They extended to the distance +of about a quarter of a mile south of the river: sluggish streams and +ditches ran across and round the gardens, which were so thickly planted +with trees as to be dark in the summer. Both in summer and winter the +place was noisome with exhalations from the marshy soil. These gardens +were the chief home of the rough and cruel sports already mentioned: +here were kept under the King's bearward the King's dogs; the Mayor's +dogs; and the bears whom they baited. It does not appear that bulls were +also kept here: for baiting purposes it was generally a young bull that +was chosen, and he was baited to death. The bears were not killed, they +were all known to the people by name, such as Harry Hunks and Sackerson, +and were valued in proportion to the sport they afforded. The dogs, who +with the bears were fed upon the offal and refuse brought over every day +from the Shambles of Newgate, were incredibly fierce and savage. In +these days we hardly know what a savage dog is, even the bull dog has +become peaceful: formerly, the best defender of the house was the dog +who was unloosed at night: they fed him chiefly on meat: he was trained +to fly at the throat of a stranger: he was a terror to wayfarers--remember +the dog in the second part of the 'Pilgrim's Progress:' he was always +biting and rending some one: he had the ferocity of the wolf redeemed +only by affection for his master: we have no such dogs in these days. +Accompanied by one or two such fierce mastiffs or bull dogs who feared +no one but their master, a man might journey from end to end of the +country armed with nothing but a club. Such a dog would fight and would +overcome a man. Kept in the kennels, with insufficient exercise, with +stimulating food, the creatures became fiercer than wolves and stronger +than tigers. The bull they loved to bait: he had horns and hoofs to +dodge: but the bear afforded the best sport both for man and dog: he +presented a nose and ears and a thick fur on which to spring, and to +fasten the canine teeth upon. What joy to hang on to those ears, torn +and bleeding, the whole dog quivering with rapture even though in the +end one stroke of the bear's hind paw dragged out the inside of the dog, +with the heart and the breath of life! + +It was a Royal sport, a sport offered to ambassadors. In a contemporary +Diary it is related that the French Ambassadors, on May 25, 1559, were +entertained at Court with a dinner, and after dinner with a bull and +bear baiting, the Queen herself looking on from a gallery: the next day +they were taken down the river to see the bull and bear baiting at Paris +Gardens. Forty years later James the First entertained the Spanish +Ambassador after dinner with the bears fighting with greyhounds and with +a bull baiting. About the same time the Duke of Wirtemberg paid a visit +to London and saw the baiting at Paris Gardens: + +'On the 1st of September his Highness was shown in London the English +dogs, of which there were about 120, all kept in the same enclosure, but +each in a separate kennel. + +'In order to gratify his Highness, and at his desire, two bears and a +bull were baited; at such times you can perceive the breed and mettle of +the dogs, for although they receive serious injuries from the bears, +are caught by the horns of the bull, and tossed into the air so as +frequently to fall down again upon the horns, they do not give in, [but +fasten on the bull so firmly] that one is obliged to pull them back by +the tails, and force open their jaws. Four dogs at once were set on the +bull; they, however, could not gain any advantage over him, for he so +artfully contrived to ward off their attacks that they could not well +get at him; on the contrary, the bull served them very scurvily by +striking and butting at them.' + +[Illustration: BEAR GARDEN] + +And another contemporary account of a bear baiting is furnished by +Hentzner in 1598: + +'There is still another place, built in the form of a Theatre, which +serves for the baiting of bears and bulls: they are fastened behind, and +then worried by those great English dogs (_quos lingua vernacula +"Docken" appellant_), and mastiffs, but not without great risks to the +dogs from the teeth of the one and the horns of the other, and it +sometimes happens they are killed on the spot: fresh ones are +immediately supplied in the places of those that are wounded or tired. +To this entertainment there often follows that of whipping a blinded +bear, which is performed by five or six men, standing in a circle with +whips, which they exercise upon him without any mercy; although he +cannot escape from them because of his chain, he nevertheless defends +himself vigorously, throwing down all who come within his reach and are +not active enough to get out of it, tearing the whips out of their hands +and breaking them. At these spectacles, and everywhere else, the English +are constantly smoking the Nicotian weed, which in America is called +_Tobaca_--others call it _P[oe]tum_--[i.e. _Petun_, the Brazilian name for +Tobacco, from which the allied beautiful plant 'Petunia' derives its +appellation,] and generally in this manner: they have pipes on purpose +made of clay, into the farther end of which they put the herb, so dry +that it may be rubbed into powder, and lighting it, they draw the smoke +into their mouths, which they puff out again through their nostrils like +funnels, along with it plenty of phlegm and defluxion from the head. In +these Theatres, fruits, such as apples, pears and nuts, according to the +season, are carried about to be sold, as well as wine and ale.' + +Bear baiting was so popular that fellows roamed about the country +leading a bear which they offered to be baited for so much an hour at +the inns which they passed. The master of the 'King's Game' had power to +seize upon any mastiff dogs, bears, or bulls for the King's service and +to bait in any place within his dominions. Henslow and Alleyn, both +actors, were also masters of the King's Game: they had licence to +apprehend all vagrants travelling with bears and bulls. + +There was another place where the refining influence of the bear baiting +might be enjoyed. Its site is still preserved in the lane called Bear +Garden Alley. In Agas's map of 1560 an amphitheatre is shown called the +'Bear Baiting:' a little to the west another amphitheatre is seen called +the 'Bull Baiting.' Whether these places were the only buildings +erected for this amusement or whether they were put up in addition to +the place in Paris Gardens is a point for the antiquary. It is learnedly +discussed by Mr. Ordish ('Early London Theatres'). The Spanish +Ambassador in 1544 describes a bear baiting--but he does not say exactly +where he saw it. 'On the other side of the town' is vague. I think, +however, that he must mean Paris Gardens: + +'On the other side of the town we have seen seven bears, some of them +very large; they are driven into a circus, where they are confined by a +long rope, while large and courageous dogs are let loose upon them as if +to be devoured, and a fight takes place. It is not bad sport to witness +the conflict. The large bears contend with three or four dogs, and +sometimes one is victorious and sometimes the other; the bears are +ferocious and of great strength, and not only defend themselves with +their teeth, but hug the dogs so closely with their forelegs, that, if +they were not rescued by their masters, they would be suffocated. At the +same place a pony is baited, with a monkey on its back, defending itself +against the dogs by kicking them; and the shrieks of the monkey, when he +sees the dogs hanging from the ears and neck of the pony, render the +scene very laughable.' + +In the year 1550 Crowley, the author of certain 'Epigrams' against +abuses, mentions Paris Gardens (see Stow and Strype, 1758, vol. ii. p. +8). + + Every Sunday they will spend + One penny or two, the bearward's living to mend. + At Paris Gardens each Sunday, a man shall not fail + To find two or three hundred for the bearward's vale. + +Later on there was certainly an amphitheatre in Paris Gardens, because +an accident happened there. + +'The same 13th day of Januarie, being Sunday about foure of the clock in +the afternoon, the old and under-propped scaffolds round about the Beare +Garden, commonly called Paris Garden, on the south side of the great +river Thames over against the citie of London, over-deluged with people, +fell suddenly downe, whereby to number of eight persons, men and women, +were slaine and many others sore hurt and bruised to the shortening of +their lives. A friendly warning to all that delight themselves in the +cruelties of beastes than in the workes of mercy, the fruits of a true, +professed faith, which ought to be the Sabbath dayes exercise.' (Stow's +'Annals,' continued by Hawes.) + +The amphitheatre would hold a thousand people. + +The sport had other dangers: the bear, for instance, might get loose. +Once the blind bear got loose: it was on December 9, 1554, and on the +Bankside, probably at the amphitheatre outside Paris Gardens. He caught +a serving man by the leg 'and bytt a grate pesse away, and after by the +hokyll bone, that within iii days after he ded' (Machyn). + +Wherever such sports were carried on there must needs spring up a rabble +rout who made their living by them: the bearward, the serving man who +kept the kennels, fed the dogs, exercised the dogs, fed the bears, +looked after the amphitheatre, took the money, and above all provided +the drink. In the little lane now called the Bear Garden, there is a +small square place which I take to be the survival of an open court in +front of the circus. There is here a small tavern: the house itself is +not ancient, but I believe that it stands on the site of the house which +provided wine and beer for the spectators of the bear baiting. These +sports, with others such as wrestling and fighting: these great crowds +of people gathering together: the music which accompanied everything: +caused the creation of taverns and drinking-places. Another attraction +to the place may be only hinted at in these pages. Suffice it to say +that all the profligate, all the debauched, all the rowdy, all the +lovers of sport among the citizens of London crossed over to Bankside +every evening in the summer and every Sunday in the winter, and there +they frolicked, drank, sang, quarrelled, fought, and tortured animals to +their hearts' content. + +It is pleasant to think of Bankside and the fields beyond it--the +pleasure garden of London. It was easy to get into the open country on +every side of the City walls, but there was no place so pleasant as the +Lambeth Marsh and the Bankside: none that offered so many and such +various attractions. The flag flying over the Theatre proclaimed that a +play was forward: the number of those who loved the play more than the +baiting increased daily: there was never a time when the citizens did +not love the green fields and the woods: and these lay behind Paris +Gardens and the Bank, beyond the barking of the dogs and the roar of the +crowd and the blare of the music and the stink of the kennels. Every +summer evening the river was crowded with the boats taking the people +across to the stairs upon the Bank between St. Mary Overies and Old +Barge House Stairs: innumerable were the boats. As for the watermen, +John Taylor, the water poet, says that there were 40,000 of them plying +between Windsor and Gravesend, while the number of people who were +carried over every day to the plays on Bankside was three or four +thousand. Forty thousand seems an enormous number, but we must remember +that there were no docks: that ships were laden and unladen in mid +stream by barges and boats: that the Thames was the highway between +London and all riverside places; between London and Westminster; between +London and Southwark, because even if one lived close to the bridge it +was easier and quicker to be taken across by a boat than to walk over +the bridge. The conveyance of three or four thousand people across the +river every day would not want more than a thousand boats or two +thousand watermen: at the same time the loss of their custom, which +happened when the people went to Blackfriars instead of the Bank for +their play, would be felt by the whole fraternity of watermen. + +We have arrived at the time when the bear baiting attracted less than +the play acting: when the amphitheatres were turned into theatres: and +when Bankside became the residence of the poets and the players. They +came; unfortunately the other people did not go away. There remained the +tribe of them who made the music and found the dancers and the tumblers, +the mummers and the conjurers: there remained the men--a rough and +brutal lot--who looked after the bears and the dogs: the men who wielded +quarterstaff and showed sword play, a swaggering and bullying company: +there remained the young bloods who came over from their peaceful shops +and warehouses to enjoy the sport and the conversation and talk of the +place: there remained the ribald crew of men and women who naturally +belong to such gatherings. There was another population at Westminster +outside the King's House like unto this at Southwark: these, too, +existed for the amusement of the King's courtiers and men-at-arms. The +Southwark folk existed for the amusements of not the highest class of +London City. The poets came, therefore, to this place in order to be +near these theatres: they brought no improvement in example, in morals, +or in manners: they lived among the people, and their lives were mostly +as disorderly and their morals as loose as the company among whom they +walked and talked. + +Southwark in the early sixteenth century, it may be noted, consisted of +two parts, the one wholly distinct from the other. The first part was +the High Street with its four churches of St. George's, St. Margaret's, +St. Olave's, and St. Mary Overies: in the High Street were the two +Debtors' Prisons: in the High Street was the ancient hospital: there +also was the long succession of inns, stately, ample, frequented by +merchants and capable of stabling an immense number of packhorses, and +of receiving as many waggons as could fill the courtyard. The Palaces +were mostly gone, turned into inns or tenements. The whole place was a +great House of Call. It had no industries, it had no crafts: it had no +civic or corporate existence. But it was respectable. + +The other part lay on the west of the High Street, stretching along the +river nearly as far as Lambeth. This was the disreputable quarter, the +place of amusement: the people who lived there, one and all, made the +providing of amusement, pleasure and excitement their means of +livelihood. It was like a never-ending fair where nothing was sold, and +there were no booths except those of Ursula, with roast sucking pig, +black puddings, custards, and gingerbread. From every tavern all day +long came the tinkling of the guitar and the trolling of some lusty +voice and the silvery notes of a girl who sang like the wood pigeon +because nature taught her. Here marched along the bear rolling his head +from side to side, a monkey chattering on his back, the tabor and pipe +going before him. After him came the dogs straining at the chain which +held them, barking madly in anticipation of the fight. Or it was a young +bull who was led by two men to the ring where he would defend his life +as long as the dogs allowed; or it was the arrival at Falcon Stairs of +boats by the dozen, each turning out its complement of citizens and +their wives, who made for the theatre where the flag was flying. On the +open bank were placed tables for those who drank: the balladmonger sang +his songs and sold them afterwards: the posturer spread his carpet and +went through his performance: the boys cried nuts and apples: the drawer +ran about and filled his cans. In no other part of London was there a +scene of greater animation and cheerfulness than on Bankside, on an +afternoon or evening in the summer. And then to go home again across the +broad and peaceful river at full tide, when the sun was set, and the +river, like the sky, was aglow, and the people sang softly in the boats, +and still from Bankside came the dying snatches of music, the soft +breath of the cornet, and the tingling touch of the harp, and the +voices of those who sang, and the baying of the hounds from Paris +Gardens. + +The early history of the playhouses on the Bank involves many questions, +and may be safely left to the antiquarian historian. The reader will +find most of these questions raised and settled in a book, already +quoted here, by Mr. T. Fairman Ordish ('Early London Theatres'). It +appears, however, that there were players, if not playhouses, here as +early as 1547. After the death of Henry VIII. Gardiner proposed to have +a solemn dirge in memory of the King, but, he complained to the Council, +the players of Southwark say that they also will have a 'solemn playe to +trye who shall have most resorts, they in game, or I in earnest.' + +Whether these players had a regular theatre, or whether they acted in +the courtyard of an inn, or whether they had a moveable stage, I do not +know. It is, however, quite certain that before the end of the sixteenth +century there were four theatres in Bankside--the _Rose_, whose site was +somewhere in Rose Alley: the _Hope_ in Bear Garden Lane: the _Swan_ in +Paris Gardens--that is, on the west side of the Blackfriars Road, not +far from the Bridge: and the _Globe_. The site of the Globe is generally +allowed to have been at a spot 150 feet south of Park Street, close to +the Southwark Bridge Road, and on the east of it. For twenty years, more +or less, the stream of playgoers was turned steadily and continuously to +the Theatres in Bankside, and poet and player lived beside the theatre, +and the place was the pleasure resort of the people, and the haunt of +sporting men, and the school of the citizens, in history at least: and +the pride and glory of London for its dramatists, if the people knew: +and the sink and shame of London for the iniquities and villanies +practised there: the debauchery and the shamelessness of those who lived +upon the Bank. + +The Plague, not only of 1603 and of 1625, but those milder attacks +which threatened from time to time were a deadly enemy to the players, +for then the theatre must be closed and the Bear Garden too, for in +crowds there was infection. Think what it meant to close these places of +resort. The Elizabethan theatres maintained almost as many persons as +our own: there were the players proper--the Company: there were the +servants 'in the front' and the servants behind, the 'supers,' the money +takers, the boys who went round selling nuts and cakes, wine and ale, +new books and tobacco: there were the watermen required to carry the +audience to and fro. Why, the shutting of the Theatres must have thrown +out of employ many hundreds of men, and, if we consider their wives and +families, many thousands of people. Can we wonder if the players, one +and all, were Cavaliers, and were ready to fight for the side which +allowed them their daily bread? + +[Illustration: The Bear Garden and Hope Theatre, 1616] + +But Fortune was against them. The Puritanic spirit prevailed. When the +Parliament conquered, the theatres were doomed. And in 1655, by command +of Thomas Pride, High Sheriff of Surrey, the seven bears of Paris +Gardens were shot by a company of soldiers. In the same year it is +mentioned that the Hope Theatre had been destroyed to make room for +tenements. + +The profession of actor in a time when the Puritanic spirit was rapidly +growing stronger could not possibly be held in good repute. There was +dancing in it: music: mockery: merriment: satire: low comedy: all these +things the misguided flock enjoyed and the shepherd deplored. The Mayor, +long before the Theatres were suppressed, would never allow a theatre to +be set up within his jurisdiction: had that jurisdiction extended beyond +the various Bars: had there not, fortunately, happened to exist certain +illogical and absurd Liberties and Precincts, in which the Mayor had no +authority, there would have been no theatres in the neighbourhood of +London, and therefore no Elizabethan drama, no Shakespeare, no Ben +Jonson, no Massinger, no Fletcher. As things happened, we have to note +the very remarkable fact that while the popular love for the theatre +increased year by year; while the theatre became the teacher of history, +the satirist of manners, the home of music and of poetry; the ministers +and preachers thundered perpetually against it, yet prevailed not at +all, until the Civil War broke out, and the power fell into the hands of +the Puritans. For instance, one John Field, the father of one of the +most famous players, Nathan Field, wrote to the Earl of Leicester as +early as 1585 reviling him for having interfered 'on the behalf of evil +men as of late you did for players, to the great griefe of all the +godly,' and adjuring him not to encourage their wickedness, and 'the +abuses that are wont to be nourished by those impure interludes and +plays.' And the same divine, two years later, wrote an attack upon the +theatre in consequence of the accident at Paris Gardens which has been +already mentioned. The theatre was forcibly suppressed in the Civil War, +but it was never forgotten, and the moment that the Restoration allowed +it was opened again. But to our day the old Puritanism continues, in a +now feeble and impotent way, to consider the Theatre as the chosen home +of the Devil. + +[Illustration: INTERIOR OF THE OLD SWAN THEATRE] + +Nathan Field, though the son of such a father, was ready to meet all +comers in defence of the stage. In 1616 one Sutton, Preacher at St. Mary +Overies, denounced the Theatre and all connected with it. Field answered +him manfully, telling him plainly that he, the preacher, is disloyal, in +preaching from his pulpit against people who are licensed and +patronised by the King. The players were at all times equal to the task +of covering the preacher with derision; but derision seldom convinces or +converts. + +The general opinion of players remains that they have at all times been +a penniless tribe, eating the 'corn in the green;' borrowing; spending +their money in riotous living. This opinion is not by any means always +true. The musician, the mummer, the dancer, and the tumbler were all +regarded much in the same light; they were despised; they did not fight +like the soldier; they did not produce like the craftsman; they did not, +like the priest, say mass and forgive sins; they did not heal the sick; +they knew no law; their only function in the world was to amuse; to make +men laugh. It is very remarkable that directly the players ceased to be +dependent on noble lords, as soon as they appealed to the public and +received money from those who came to see them perform, they became +prudent men of business. They may have been a cheerful tribe; they were, +however, well to do, and, so far as can be learned, a thrifty tribe. +They made money, not by writing plays, nor by acting them, but by being +shareholders in the company with which they played. Burbage, Alleyn, +Heminge, Sly, Field, Schanke, not to speak of Shakespeare, all appear to +have lived in comfort, and to have died possessed of moderate fortunes. + +The poets, certainly, continued, as poets have always been, penniless +and in debt. By the end of the sixteenth century the earliest of the +dramatic poets, Marlowe, Peele, Nash, Greene--that turbulent roystering +profligate band whom everybody loved while everybody reproved--had +passed away. The early extravagance vanished. The later poets, Ben +Jonson, Beaumont, Fletcher, Massinger, led more godly lives. Yet they +were often harassed for want of money. Three of them, Massinger, Field +and Daborne, write to Henslow asking for an advance of 5_l._ on the +security of a play which is worth ten pounds in addition to what they +have had. All those, in fact, were poor, and remained poor, who +attempted to live by poetic literature alone. + +The poets have had enough attention paid to them: let us consider the +Company of Actors who played at the Globe and the Rose, the Hope and the +Lion, and lived on and near the Bankside. The books of St. Saviour's +(see Rendle's 'Southwark,' App. p. 26) are full of references to the +actors who died and were buried here, whose children were baptised here +or buried here. The name of William Shakespeare, unfortunately, does not +occur. Among the actors, and first and chief, was Richard Burbage--like +Shakespeare, a Warwickshire man. In person he was under the middle +stature, and grew fat and scant of breath. But no actor of the time had +so great a power over his audience. It was his father who built the very +first permanent theatre--called The Theatre at Shoreditch. In +consequence of a dispute with the landlord, he pulled down the house, +carried the timbers across the river to Bankside, and set up the Globe. + +There was Kempe, the low comedian, who succeeded Tarlton in that line. +He was a great dancer: on one occasion he danced all the way from +Norwich to London, taking nine days for the work: he was accompanied by +one Thomas Sly, who played the tabor and the pipe for him. As he passed +through the villages the girls came running out to dance with him along +the road till he tired them out. He was a fellow of infinite drollery, +with jokes and acting such as pleased the 'groundlings' well. There was +a kind of entertainment popular at the time called a jig. It was a +monologue for the most part, but might be played by two or more, in +which the words were interrupted by songs and dances: the jig was like +the farce which used to be played after the tragedy. This worthy lived +in Bankside, but I believe there is no record of his death. + +Another excellent player was John Lowin or Lewin. He also lived in the +Liberty of the Clink. But he lived too long. He survived the +suppression of Theatres, and in his old age had no craft or art or +mastery by which to earn his bread save that which was proscribed. He +wrote for assistance to a patron, and he quoted the lover's words +applied to the beggar: + + Silence in love betrays more woe + Than words, though ne'er so witty; + The beggar that is dumb, you know, + Deserves a double pity. + +Among the low comedians Robert Armin must not be forgotten. He attracted +Tarlton's attention when a mere boy. The veteran comedian adopted him +and taught him. I know not whether he, or Kempe, was the true successor +to that unrivalled buffoon. He is described by some rhymester as-- + + Honest gamesome Robert Armin, + That tickles the spleen like a harmless vermin. + +I have already mentioned Nathan Field the player: he was also Nathan +Field the dramatist. He brought into the latter profession the +carelessness about money that belonged to the former. There are +indications--only indications, it is true--that there was in him +something of the temperament of a Micawber, or a Harold Skimpole, a +constitutional inability to understand the meaning of addition and +subtraction or the translation of money into its equivalent in eating +and drinking. He took a wife when he was no longer quite young, and he +became jealous. Hence the epigram, 'De Agello et Othello:' + + Field is, in sooth, an actor: all men know it; + And is the true Othello of the poet: + I wonder if 'tis true, as people tell us, + That like the character he is most jealous. + If it be so, and many living sweare it, + It takes not little from the actor's merit, + Since, as the Moor is jealous of his wife, + Field can display the passion to the life. + +Who remembers John Schanke? He, like Kempe and Armin, carried on the +traditions of low comedy. He was great in the invention of 'jigs.' A +notable 'jig' was that called 'Schanke's Ordinary,' in which several +performers took part. There is an odd story told by Collier of a +'Schanke, a player.' It was in the year 1642. There came galloping to +London three of the Lord General's officers with the news that there had +been a great battle in which the London Companies had been cut to +pieces, and 20,000 men had fallen on both sides. They spread their news +as they rode through the villages: they spread it abroad in the city. It +was ascertained on inquiry that there had not been any battle at all, +but that those three men--Captain Wilson, Lieutenant Whitney, and one +Schanke, a player--were simply runaways. Therefore they were all clapped +in the Gatehouse, and brought to undergo punishment according to martial +law 'for their base cowardliness.' + +One remarks that the race of comic actors or low comedians never becomes +extinct. That power of always seizing on the comic side in everything, +of always being able to make an audience laugh throughout a whole piece, +is never, happily, taken away from a world which would be too sad +without it. Great poets do not occur more than once in a century: great +novelists not more than twice: but the low comedian, the comic man, +whose face, whose voice, whose carriage, are as humorous as his words, +never fails us. Tarlton is followed by Kempe, Kempe by Armin, Armin by +Schanke. So Robson follows Liston, and Toole follows Robson, with lesser +lights besides. + +There are many other actors. The painstaking Collier finds out what +parts they played and where they lived. Alas! He tells us no more. +Perhaps there is no more to tell. The rank and file of the theatrical +company are never a very interesting collection. Underwood, Toovey, +Eccleston, Cowley, Cooke, Sly, Argan--they are shadows that have long +since passed out, made an exit, and so an end. They were forgotten by +the audience the day after they were dead. Why seek to revive their +memory when there is not a single solitary fact to go upon? A bone would +be something: out of the skull of Yorick we might perhaps reconstruct +his life, with all the adventures, love-making, disappointments, +distresses and triumphs. + +We know the place where they all lived; the place of a continual Fair +without any booths, yet everything offered for sale: the music to cheer +your heart--you could command it had you money in purse; the wine to +raise your courage--you could call for it; the dancing to charm your +eye--any girl would dance for you if you paid her; the new play to fill +you with lofty thoughts--but you must pay for your seat; the jig to +bring you back to the level of earth--or perhaps a little lower--you +could buy it; the eyes of Dalilah at the sign of the Swan in the Hoope +were directed to your purse; the ruffians belonging to the kennels and +the bear garden; the drawers of the taverns and the sack and the +tobacco, the boats and the boatmen, were all at your service. The +players lived in this riot and racket, themselves a part: we catch +glimpses of them, we can discern them amid the crowd: sometimes one of +their women is ducked for a shrew; one of them is clapped in the Clink +Prison: some are haled before the Bishop for acting in Lent--these +unreasonable people really object to starving in Lent! And the place and +the people and their manners and customs are deplorable but delightful; +they are picturesque to the highest degree, but they are equally +reprehensible. I wish we could go back four hundred years and see and +listen for ourselves: but with all our admiration for the Elizabethan +drama, I do not think that I should like to be one of the Show Folk or +to live with them in that jovial colony on the Bankside in the days of +the Globe and the Rose, the Hope and the Swan. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +BELOW BRIDGE + + +'Below Bridge' covers Tooley Street and her lanes: Horselydown, +Bermondsey, Rotherhithe, Deptford, Greenwich, and Woolwich. The railway +has ruined one end of Tooley Street, which is a corruption of St. +Olave's Street. Perhaps it was ruined before the railway appeared at +all. Certainly no one would believe that this dark and narrow street was +once a place of Palaces. The Prior of Lewes had here, opposite St. +Olave's Church, his Inn or Town House: here the Abbot of St. Augustine +had his Inn: and here, we have seen, was the house of Sir John Fastolf. +Here was the Pilgrim's Way to Bermondsey Rood. Some came across the +bridge; some by boat, which was far more convenient, to Tooley Stairs; +some to Battlebridge Stairs; some to Pickle Herring Stairs. The way lay +along Tooley Street and by 'Barmsie' Lane through the fields and +gardens: a lovely rural lane. Beyond Tooley Street lies a quarter +bounded on the North by the River, and on the East by St. Saviour's +Dock: a quarter which is certainly the most industrious in the whole of +London. It is called Horselydown, the derivation of which seems obvious, +but derivations are not to be trusted, however obvious. We may take it +for granted, because we can prove the fact by looking at Roques' map of +1745, that there were meadows where horses grazed as soon as the +embankment was up, and the ground drained. There was some kind of common +here at one time: here suicides and persons deprived of Christian rites +were buried. There was also a Fair held at Horselydown. The industries +made their appearance in the eighteenth century, but they came +gradually. It is now a place of most remarkable variety as regards +occupations. All along the river and the bank of the Dock, formerly +Savoy Dock, there are wharves: inland are bonded warehouses, granaries, +leather warehouses, hide warehouses, hop warehouses, and wool +warehouses. There are tanneries, currieries, fur and skin dyeing works, +breweries, rice mills, mustard mills, pepper mills, dyeing works, dog's +food manufactories, vinegar works, bottle works, iron foundries, wooden +hoop manufactories, cooperages, roperies, smithies, biscuit +manufactories, oil and colour works, pin manufactories, varnish works, +and distilleries. All this in a district half a mile long and a quarter +of a mile broad. Between the factories and the warehouses are houses for +the workmen and the foremen. On the south side stands the Church, almost +the ugliest Church in London: next to the Church is, or was, a few years +ago, a street which has something of the look and feeling of a Close. + +It is a great pity that in the whole of South London lying east of the +High Street there is not a single beautiful, or even picturesque Church. +Look at them! St. Olave's, St. John, Horselydown, St. Mary Magdalen, St. +Mary, Rotherhithe, the four oldest churches in the quarter. It cannot be +pretended that these structures inspire veneration or even respect. You +may see drawings of them in Maitland. St. Olave's was rebuilt in 1737, +St. John's, Horselydown, in 1735, St. Mary Magdalen in 1680, and St. +Mary, Rotherhithe, in 1713 on the site of the older church. In 1738 the +steeple was added. The four churches are therefore all examples of the +church architecture of nearly the same period. + +[Illustration: A FETE AT HORSELYDOWN IN 1590 + +(_From the Painting by G. Hoffnagel, at Hatfield_)] + +Of all the quarters and parts of London that of Horselydown is the least +known and the least visited, except by those whose business takes them +there every day. There is, in fact, nothing to be seen: the wharves +block out the river: the warehouses darken the streets, the places where +people live are not interesting: there is not an ancient memory or +association, or any ancient fragment of a building, to make one desire +to visit Horselydown. When we pass the Dock, we find ourselves in quite +a different quarter: the wharves are arranged along the river wall, +called the Bermondsey Wall, but behind the wharves there are fewer +factories and more people. Alas! poor people! It is a grimy place to +live in: of greenery or garden land there is none. There is not even any +access to the river except by one or two narrow stairs: the 'works' are +those whose near neighbourhood is not generally desired: places where +they make leather and curry it: or where they make glue or vinegar. +Fortunately, however, the good people of Bermondsey are spared the +handling of tallow, bones, or soap. Things might therefore have been +worse. This is the industrial centre of South London, and it occupies, +including Horselydown, St. Olave's, Bermondsey, and Rotherhithe, +something like a quarter of a million, which is a good-sized city in +itself. On the one side of St. Saviour's Dock we may step aside to look +at two streets, which fifty years ago represented the lowest kind of +vice and brutality, and the worse kind of human pigsties, Talbot Street +and London Street. The former was taken over by Dickens to adorn his +'Oliver Twist'--lugged in, for indeed it does not belong there. + +The condition of the latter is figured in Wilkinson's 'London +Illustrated' in the year 1806. + +The ugliness of the neighbourhood remains, but some of the dirt has been +washed away. + +It seems impossible to create a quarter of workmen's cottages or +residences which shall be beautiful. First there is the slum with a row +of two- or four-roomed cottages in a narrow court: the windows are +broken: the banisters of the staircase are broken away to be burned: the +sanitary appliances are terrible: the court is a laystall. Some of these +delightful places still survive in Southwark. The next step is to build +streets for working men in places where the ground is not too valuable. +Thus the town of Bromley near Bow sprang into existence. It consists +entirely of monotonous streets with monotonous houses, all small, all +ugly, all built after the same pattern: the result being dreary and +dispiriting. Then come the model dwelling-houses: the huge barrack, of +which, Bermondsey way, there are enormous stacks, accommodating the +working classes by the hundred thousand. There is not the smallest +attempt at making these places beautiful: they are simple cubes of grey +brick with rows and lines of windows. Outside they may be models of +economy in space. Once within, they may be models of convenience; but +there is another side. The moral effect of this piling up of family on +family is reported to be injurious in ways not contemplated by the +founders: the quiet folk are terrorised by the rowdy; the children are +demoralised: there are dangers not expected, and temptations not +considered: in a word, the model lodging-houses of Southwark and +Bermondsey are not, in every respect, adapted to a model population. + +It is difficult between London Bridge and Rotherhithe to get at the +river, except at two or three spots where the old stairs can be +approached by a narrow passage. There is an embankment or terrace: the +whole bank is occupied for commercial purposes: business men do not like +strangers on these wharves: and for all practical purposes the dwellers +below Bridge might just as well be a dozen miles inland. If, however, +the resident of Bermondsey can sometimes--say, on Saturday +afternoon--get down to the stairs and look out upon the river, he will +see close at hand, not only the ships and barges that lie about the +wharves, but the grand new Watergate of London, the most appropriate +entrance that could be devised to the port--the new Tower Bridge. + +[Illustration: THE OLD ELEPHANT AND CASTLE, 1814] + +Where Bermondsey Wall ended and Rotherhithe began the houses, until +fifty years ago, rapidly grew thinner, until Rotherhithe itself +consisted of little more than a single street, with docks, and stairs, +and taverns on the riverside, and on the other side lanes leading to +cottages and cottage gardens. The Commercial Docks were opened in 1807, +but the place still preserved something of its old character until quite +recently. It consisted of a district round which the river flowed on the +north and east. Like all the country about the Thames, it was low-lying, +and originally a marsh. Even as late as 1830 it was imperfectly drained, +and a good part of it remained still a marsh. Thus the road, now called +Southwark Park Road--why could they not leave the old name, Blue Anchor +Road?--even in 1830 wound through a marsh covered with ditches and +ponds. On the east side, near the junction of Blue Anchor Road with +Jamaica Row, there was a most remarkable collection of ponds and +islands, ending with a broad stream or ditch running into the river at +Rotherhithe stairs. Other ditches or streams lay or flowed at will over +the levels, making islands which were approached by bridges. The +character of the place was entirely that of a marsh: in fact, it was the +last part of London where there lingered still the appearance of a +marsh. The names show this. We have The Reed Bed; Providence Island; the +Seven Islands; the West Pond; the East Pond; Broom Fields; Halfpenny +Hatch, repeated more than once. The numerous Ropewalks scattered about +show that the ground was cheap, and the factories where they make glue, +soap, brimstone, turpentine, white lead, and paper are there, which +require plenty of room and few people to enjoy the smell. + +[Illustration: VIEW NEAR THE STORE-HOUSE, DEPTFORD + +(_From an Engraving by John Boydell, 1750_)] + +Leaving Rotherhithe, we arrive at a place much more interesting, namely, +Deptford. They have done their best to spoil Deptford of late years: +they have taken away the old Trinity Almshouses: they have built new +streets: but a good deal of the old Deptford remains. I walked about it +nearly every day for three months some twelve years ago, reconstructing +the Deptford of 1750 from the Deptford of 1886. It is like +reconstructing the face in youth from a portrait in middle life. I +succeeded at last, to my own satisfaction, and, I hope, to the +satisfaction of my readers when the eighteenth-century Deptford appeared +as the background of a novel. It was not a very big place: it consisted +chiefly of an old church in the lower part of the town, and a new church +in the upper part: there were two almshouses: there was the Hall where +the Brethren of the Trinity House assembled every year before their +service at St. Nicolas and their feast at their house on Tower Hill. +The town was full of sailors and naval officers: the latter were not +remarkable for the finicking ways of the beaux their contemporaries: on +the contrary, they despised such ways--'their fashions I hate, like a +pig in a gate.' When they were young they made love all the time they +were ashore, except when they were drinking and taking tobacco at the +tavern--these occupations, truly, left the honest fellows less time for +love than might have been expected. There were officers' taverns and +seamen's taverns: rum, however, was the favourite drink at both. And, +really, it would surprise you to hear the songs they sang, and to +observe the cheerfulness with which they put up with everything: +favouritism: long and hopeless service in the lower ranks: bad food on +board: long years of foreign service: and for all the gallantry that +these brave fellows showed in service not a word of thanks: not a hint +at promotion. + +The Town consisted mostly of a single street: there were shops, but poor +things: there was a market: fruit and vegetables were brought in from +the country round: within a few steps of the town one was in the +loveliest country, with the Ravensbourne flowing between meadows and +under the branches of willows and of alders. + +The dockyard of Deptford was founded by Henry the Eighth, and continued +till 1869. It was at Deptford that most of the ships were built for the +Royal Navy in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries: it was here that +Drake's ship, the _Golden Hind_, in which he had made his voyage round +the world, was laid up, her cabin turned into a place of entertainment. +She remained here, an object of pilgrimage for the Londoners, for many +years. She was a good deal cut about, because everybody wanted to carry +away a piece of her. At last she was suffered to fall to pieces. One +pious archaeologist got a chair made out of her timbers and presented it +to the Bodleian Library. + +Pepys was often at Deptford in his capacity of Secretary of the +Admiralty. 'Up and down the yard all the morning, and seeing the seamen +exercise, which they do already very handsomely. Then to dinner.... +After dinner and taking our leave of the officers of the yard, we walked +to the waterside, and on our way walked into the ropeyard, where I had a +look into the tarhouses and other places, and took great notice of all +the several works belonging to the making of a cable.' + +It was at Deptford that Pepys visited Lady Sandwich, 'where I stood with +great pleasure an hour or two by her bedside, she lying prettily in +bed.' During the plague year, when he and his wife were staying at +Woolwich, he goes over to Deptford nearly every day, and was continually +feasting with his friends and always 'very merry,' though the plague was +slaying its thousands only a mile or two away. + +Another visitor to Deptford who left a lasting memory was Peter the +Great, who stayed here in 1698, studying ship architecture. The people +of the town had the satisfaction of seeing the Czar of Muscovy--not +quite so great a man then as he is now--smoking a pipe of tobacco and +drinking brandy in their taverns every evening. By day they might see +him working among the dockyard men at the various parts of a ship and +its gear. + +The most interesting person, however, who is connected with the annals +of Deptford is certainly John Evelyn. + +Evelyn was not a great writer, nor a great scholar, nor a great +statesman: he was not great in anything that he did: yet his memory +remains, and will remain long after that of much stronger men has been +forgotten. He wrote a great deal, and since some of his writings survive +after three hundred years it is manifest that he must have written well. +He was a strong royalist who knew how to take care of his own skin. In +order to avoid being dragged into the army and fighting for the cause +which he loved, he went abroad and travelled in Europe for four years, +during which time the royal cause fell to pieces, and those who fought +for it were ruined. In 1647 he came home again; in 1649 he went back to +France, where he stayed till 1652. By this time he had made many +discoveries and observations on art and antiquities. He also married a +wife, the daughter of Charles's ambassador at Paris. Through his wife he +obtained possession of Sayes Court, Deptford, where, with a few breaks, +one of which was to allow Peter the Great to use the house, he lived +till nearly the end of his life. He was one of the founders and first +Fellows of the Royal Society: he was a member of many commissions: he +was the first Treasurer of Queen Mary's new naval hospital, and held +many other offices. + +In quite a brief note Pepys sums up the character and the +accomplishments of this estimable man: + +'Nov. 5, 1665. By water to Deptford, and here made a visit to Mr. +Evelyn, who among many other things showed me most excellent painting in +little: in distemper; in Indian ink; water colours; graving: and above +all, the whole secret of mezzotinto, and the manner of it, which is very +pretty, and good things done with it. He read to me very much also of +his discourse he hath been many years and now is about, about Gardening, +which will be a most noble and pleasant piece. He read me part of a play +or two of his making; very good, but not as he conceits them, I think, +to be. He showed me his "Hortus Hyemalis," leaves laid up in a book of +several plants kept dry, which preserve colour, however, and look very +finely, better than a Herball. In fine, a most excellent person he is, +and must be allowed a little for conceitedness; but he may well be so, +being a man so much above others.' + +His memory survives on account of the personal character of the man +which is revealed in his works, and of the high opinion in which he was +held. 'A typical instance,' says his latest biographer ('Dict, of Nat. +Biog.'), 'of the accomplished and public-spirited country gentleman of +the Restoration, a pious and devoted member of the Church of England, +and a staunch loyalist in spite of his grave disapproval of the manners +of the court.' Above all things, it might be added, he was a gardener, +and all gardeners are amiable and all gardeners are personally popular. + +[Illustration: GEORGE HOTEL, BOROUGH] + +Of Greenwich Palace I have already spoken. There is little else in +Greenwich except the Palace or Hospital. The Almshouse known as Norfolk +College must not be forgotten, however. It is on the east side of the +Hospital, and stands behind a stone terrace, overlooking the river. The +College consists of a quadrangle containing a chapel and a small hall or +common room, with gardens at the back. This kind of almshouse is common, +but it is difficult to build it so that it shall not be beautiful. +Norfolk College is quite a beautiful place. Finer and larger is Morden +College, up the hill, designed for decayed merchants. + +This is the end of London: a few yards beyond Norfolk College the houses +stop suddenly: on the tongue of land projecting north formed by a loop +of the river there are hardly any houses at all: the place is a dreary +flat as far as Woolwich. The London County Council limits include +Woolwich and Plumstead; but that broad area covered by continuous houses +which begins at Battersea ends at Greenwich. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE LATER SANCTUARY + + +The Sanctuary created and crossed by the Church for the refuge of those +who had fallen into temptation became, as we know, the resort of the +rogue, the murderer, and the habitual criminal. Within the precincts of +St.-Martin's-le-Grand were carried on with impunity all the trades and +methods of producing things counterfeit. The Sanctuary of Westminster +was a scandal and a disgrace. These places had been finally abolished +after much trouble: the City officers could march their rogues to +Newgate without fear of a rescue from St. Martin's. The people of +Westminster could lie down at night without fear of housebreakers from +Sanctuary. At the same time the custom of holding and seeking sanctuary +was too deep-rooted to be quickly abolished. Perhaps there was something +comfortable in the thought that there should be a place, however small, +where the officers of the law were not admitted, and where rogues should +be unmolested. It was a loophole for repentance, perhaps: it was a gleam +of sunshine on the path of the outlaw. So the custom was continued well +into the eighteenth century. In this chapter I am going to recall the +memory of these later Sanctuaries. As may be imagined, literature says +little about them. But it says enough to show that there were places +dotted about London which served all the purposes of the old sanctuaries +without the restraints of ecclesiastical government: in fact, there was +no government, except on purely democratic principles. In these places +lived rogues and villains of all kinds: here the thief-taker came to +find his man--observe that this functionary was admitted; the +thief-taker ventured where the sheriff's officer could not. Why was +this? Because the London rogue had a sense of justice: no man could +expect to go on for ever: when a man's time was up, let him give place +to his successor. The thief-taker, therefore, was a recognised official: +it was his duty to assign to every man his proper length of rope. This +allowance expended, it was the duty of the rogue to get up when he was +called, go away quietly with the thief-taker, and get hanged in due +course. Otherwise, there would have been no living to be made by the +rogues on account of the competition of numbers. The name of Alsatia had +been long forgotten, but the asylum still remained. + +In the 'Fortunes of Nigel' we are made acquainted with the Alsatia of +Fleet Street. There were other places equally secure for rogues, besides +Alsatia. Such were Whetstone Park in Lincoln's Inn Fields; Fullwood's +Rents, Holborn; Milford Lane, Strand; Montagu Close, Southwark; and +others. All these were gradually extinguished; not by any summary +procedure; not by turning out the rogues and forcing them to scatter; +not by marching off the whole population to prison; but by the slower +and more gradual process of transformation. This process began when the +parts and places around became respectable. There is something chilling +and repellent to the common rogue about the proximity of respectability: +he does not like to be in its neighbourhood: in this way these +degenerate and unlawful sanctuaries gradually fell into decay. One alone +remained, when all the others had disappeared. It was in that part of +Southwark--that part which is still a slum--called Mint Street, nearly +opposite St. George's Church in the High Street. This street, with its +alleys and courts, was inhabited by as villainous a collection as even +the eighteenth century, which in point of villains was rich beyond its +predecessors, could not equal. They had retreated here from their +former haunt in Montagu Close, as to a last fortress, which was not yet +besieged. They lived in perfect safety here: no writ could be served on +them: no arrest could be made: the only person they had to fear was, as +said above, the thief-taker. + +The annals of this Sanctuary were never, unfortunately, kept; it is +impossible to ascertain what illustrious criminals were here housed and +for how long. There are, however, one or two little histories of the +Mint which will serve to show us at once the public spirit, the courage, +and the immunity with which the people of the later Sanctuary lived and +acted. + +The first story belongs to the year 1715. The case of Dormer _v._ Dormer +and Jones came on for hearing at Westminster Hall. It was a divorce +case, in which the co-respondent had been a footman in the plaintiff's +house. There seems to have been no defence, practically. The verdict of +the Jury was for the plaintiff, with 5,000_l._ damages. Now, consider +for a moment what that verdict meant. In these days, when a defendant +without any private means at all is mulcted in damages and costs, +whether of 5,000_l._ or of 100_l._, he simply smiles. He is not in the +least degree affected. Nothing worse than bankruptcy can happen to him, +and when a man has nothing bankruptcy presents few terrors. In Portugal +Street _subridet vacuus viator_--the insolvent pilgrim smiles +cheerfully. But in those days it was very different. To inflict damages +of 5,000_l._ meant simply that the Jury considered the case one in which +the defendant, who could not be tried in the criminal courts, could only +be adequately punished by being locked up for the whole of his remaining +days in a debtor's prison, where, since he was only a footman whose +relations were probably unable to assist him and certainly unable to +maintain him, he would speedily take his place on the common side, and +there he would be slowly done to death by insufficient food and +insufficient clothing, by privation, cold, fever and misery. + +The Jury therefore gave this verdict with deliberate intention. It meant +prison and slow starvation and insufficient warmth, and so everybody +instantly understood, including Mr. Jones himself. In a moment the +officers would have laid hands upon the unhappy but undeserving footman. +But he was too quick for them: he turned: he fled: he hurled himself +down Westminster Hall through the crowd of lawyers, witnesses, +booksellers, glovesellers, and visitors: he tore across New Palace Yard, +now pursued by the officers: he made for the 'Bridge,' that is, the pier +so called, for as yet there was no Bridge: he jumped into the first boat +and shoved off. When the bailiffs arrived breathless at the Stairs, they +saw their prisoner already half way across the river. They too jumped +into a boat: for some reason or other--one knows not why--it was most +unlucky--their boat took a long time to get off: something was wrong +with the painter: the ropes were knotted: the stretchers wanted to be +set right: the oars were on the wrong sides: the men were slow in +getting off their coats: finally, when she was cast loose the boat +proved to be another Noah's Ark for creeping slowly over the face of the +waters. Jones therefore got safely ashore on the other side, and the +bailiffs turned back with a good deal of cursing. Once ashore, the +fugitive made straight to Mint Street, as to a Levitical City which was +also a City of Refuge. I know not what became of him afterwards. It was +a hive where all the bees were busy. Jones could not eat the bread of +idleness: he therefore, one may certainly conclude, became a rogue by +profession and in due course met his fate bravely with white ribbons +round his cap, an orange in one hand, a Prayer-book in the other, and a +large nosegay in his shirt front. + +Here is another story of the same Eighteenth Century Sanctuary. It will +seem incredible that the Executive should have been so incapable, but +the story is literally true. + +[Illustration: MINT STREET, BOROUGH] + +Things being in so satisfactory and settled a condition, the Law being +so triumphantly defied, at the Mint in Southwark, some of the residents +or collegians naturally desired to go farther afield, and to establish +more Sanctuaries or Law-defying colonies on the other side of the +river, which was reported to be ripe for these settlements. No reports +of Meetings, Proceedings, and Resolutions held and passed on the subject +have come down to us. However, that matters very little. Every great +movement, we know, is the work of one man. Therefore there arose a +Prophet--the Prophet as Rogue. He perceived, understood, and presently +began to preach that a 'long felt want'--call it rather a +'need'--existed, which it was his duty to supply. The old Sanctuaries of +North London, he pointed out, had fallen into decay. Alsatia was +deplorably respectable: bailiffs had been seen in Milford Lane: the +trade of counterfeit rings was no longer carried on in St. Martin's. +And, though there were certainly taverns in Clerkenwell which bailiffs +regarded with a useful respect, it could not be denied that London +needed a new Sanctuary. This need he called upon his friends and +fellow-residents in the Mint to supply. He set before his hearers with +burning eloquence--I am sure it was burning--a Vision of a New London, +Purged; Purified; without honesty; without morals; without law; with +neither gallows, pillory, whipping post, or stocks: a City entirely in +the hands of Rogues who would compel all the conquered City to work for +them: would seize on all property and would live triumphantly happy with +complete control over all the Prisons. To make a beginning of this +Millennium, he proposed, by means of colonies from the Mint, to plant +all London with Sanctuaries until, in fulness of time, the City should +become one huge Sanctuary, where debts would never be collected, and +robbery and murder would never be punished. + +They chose for their new settlement a piece of ground on the east of +Tower Hill, where Cable Street is now. They laid down their boundaries: +they called the place the New Mint: they said, 'Within these limits +there shall be no arrest.' This new law they communicated fairly and +plainly, because everything was above board, to all the catchpoles. They +then sat down as in an impregnable fortress. Remember, that if there +were no police, such as we now understand by the word, they were close +to the soldiers of the Tower, who might have been called in to disperse +this lawless establishment. However, nothing at all was done. They sat +down triumphant. Presently--I know not how long afterwards--a bailiff +was actually found to disregard the warning. You will hardly believe +that this rash and audacious person ventured to arrest a New Minter +within the Precincts! + +Then the colonists arose and formed into column: they called for music: +preceded by a band of what used to be called the Whifflers, they marched +in a procession, four abreast, quietly, calmly, but with settled purpose +in their gallant and resolute faces: they carried a banner, yea, the +Flag of Unrighteousness: they marched straight to the house of the +offender, who, for his part, was so foolish as not to run away. It is, +however, a weakness common to Catchpoles that they always put their +trust in the Law. They arrested that Catchpole: they led him to the +place where he had offended: and there they made an example of him. They +tore away every shred of clothing from him: they flogged him all over +with brooms and thorny brambles: they gave him a thousand lashes, so +that there was not a whole inch of skin left upon him: they dragged him +through filthy ponds and laystalls: they took him out and flogged him +again: they tried to flog the life out of the poor wretch but failed, +for he survived: then they dragged him again through the filth: at last +they suffered him, bleeding and naked, to crawl home as best he might. I +am sorry to say that I have no information as to the end of the New Mint +adventure; but it certainly appears that no one was punished for this +outrage, and that no attempt even was made to punish anyone. Perhaps the +memory of that gallant deed still lingers in Cable Lane: but I have not +ventured to inquire of the still rude and independent freemen, its +present residents. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY + + +If we look at a map of South London compiled at any time during the +eighteenth century it is surprising to observe how little the place had +grown since the fifteenth. There runs, as of old, the Causeway at right +angles to the Embankment. On either side of the Causeway or High Street +or St. Margaret's Hill, run off right and left a few narrow streets: the +continuity of houses is broken by St. George's Church, south of which, +although there are, here and there, detached houses and even rows of +houses or terraces, there are open fields, streams, ponds and gardens. +St. George's Fields, crossed by paths, are broad and open fields +stretching out westward till they join Lambeth Marsh. St. Margaret's +Church has long since vanished: he who knows the old maps can still put +his finger on the site, but its burial ground has wholly disappeared. +There are four old churches in Southwark proper: St. George's, St. +Saviour's, St. Thomas's, and St. Olave's. On the east are the churches +of Bermondsey and Rotherhithe, not to speak of Deptford: on the west is +Lambeth Church: on the south are the churches of Newington and +Kennington. As for other institutions, there are the two great hospitals +St. Thomas's and Guy's almost side by side: and there are the prisons, +that of the King's Bench, the Marshalsea and the White Lyon. They were +all on the east side of the street until 1756, when the King's Bench +Prison was removed across the road nearly opposite to St. George's. Some +time after the Marshalsea was moved further south on the site of the old +White Lyon and including that ancient Clink. The old Clink on Bankside +had vanished. But the Borough Compter was still flourishing--a grimy, +filthy, fever-stricken place. + +[Illustration: OLD HOUSE, STONEY STREET, SOUTHWARK] + +At the back of the houses and narrow streets to east and west, the +fields began with open ditches or sewers and sluggish streams. 'Snow's' +Fields on the east were as well known as St. George's in the West. 'Long +Lane' ran from St. George's to Bermondsey Church: it contained a few +houses: Bermondsey Lane, commonly called Barmsie, ran from the old cross +to the same church: it was already a street of houses. The most crowded +part of Southwark proper was the street called Tooley or St. Olave's, +the most ancient street in the Borough, originally built upon the +Embankment, the Thames Street of South London. Here, in the eighteenth +century, there were no vestiges left of the former palaces: everything +had gone except a crypt or a vault: at every step one came upon the +entrance to a court, narrow, mean and squalid: these courts remain, also +narrow, mean and squalid, to the present day. There were no places in +London, unless in the neighbourhood of Hermitage Street, Wapping, where +human creatures had to pig together in such horrible conditions. There +was no water supply to these courts: there was no lighting: there was no +paving, not even with the round cobbles which they still called paving. + +[Illustration: ST. THOMAS'S HOSPITAL + +(_From an old Print_)] + +[Illustration: Some Ancient Houses in the Long Walk, Bermondsey] + +[Illustration: Jamaica House, Bermondsey] + +On the west side of the High Street, of which a map is given on p. 85 +of this volume, beyond St. Saviour's, the nave of which was fast falling +into ruins, came Bankside. Alas! It was deserted: not a single theatre +was left: not a baiting Place: not a Bear to bait: there was no longer a +poet or an actor or a musician on Bankside: there were no more evenings +at the Falcon: there was no longer heard the tinkling of the guitar, and +the scraping of the violin. South of Bankside lay two broad gardens, +side by side: one called Pye Garden; and the other, west of Winchester +House, was called Winchester Park. Paris Gardens were no more. +Blackfriars Bridge Road, in which there were as yet but few houses, had +been cut ruthlessly right through the middle of the old Gardens; the +trees, once so thick and close, had been laid low, but there were still +kitchen gardens. South of the Gardens, with an interval of a few side +streets, we come upon St. George's Fields, and on the west of these +fields upon Lambeth Marsh, which was cut up into ropewalks, tenter +grounds, nurseries, and kitchen gardens. Where Waterloo Station now +stands were Cuper's Gardens: there were half a dozen Pleasure Gardens, +of which more anon: there were turnpikes wherever two roads met. But +perhaps the most remarkable feature of this quarter in the last century +was the immense number of streams and ditches and ponds: most of these +were little better than open sewers: complaints were common of the +pollution of these streams--but it was in vain: people will always throw +everything that has to be ejected into the nearest running water if they +can. One wants the map in order to understand how numerous were these +streams. There was one murky brook which ran along the backs of all the +houses on the east side of High Street--the prisoners of the Marshalsea +and the King's Bench grumbled about it continually: another +corresponding stream ran behind the west side of High Street. Maiden +Lane, now called Park Lane, rejoiced in one: Gravel Lane, more blessed +still, was happy with a ditch or stream on each side: Dirty Lane had +one: another ran along Bandy Leg Walk: other streams flowed, or crept, +or crawled, across Lambeth Marsh and St. George's Fields. Where there +were no houses, and therefore no pollutions, the streams of this broad +marsh, lying beneath and between the orchards, fringing the gardens, and +crossing the open fields, were a pleasant feature, though they had no +stones to prattle over, but only the dark peaty _humus_ of the marsh: +and the water channels necessitated frequent little rustic bridges which +were sometimes picturesque. Some of the streams again were of +considerable size, especially that called 'The Shore' by Roques. It was +also called the Effra. Along the banks of this stream stood here and +there cottages, having little gardens in front and rustic bridges across +the stream. But whether these streams ran or whether they crawled, +behind or beside the crowded houses they were foul and fetid and +charged with all the things which should be buried away or burned way: +they were laden with fevers and malaria and 'putrid' sore throat. + +[Illustration: QUEEN ELIZABETH'S FREE GRAMMAR SCHOOL] + +[Illustration: ANCIENT BUILDINGS, HIGH STREET, BOROUGH + +(_From a Drawing by T. Higham, 1820_)] + +[Illustration: THE FALCON TAVERN, BANKSIDE] + +The High Street of Southwark is now a crowded thoroughfare, because it +is the main artery of a town containing a population of many hundreds +of thousands. In the last century it was quite as animated because it +was one of the main arteries by which London was in communication with +the country. An immense number of coaches, carts, waggons, and +'caravans' passed every day up and down the High Street, some stopping +or starting in Southwark itself; some going over London Bridge to their +destination in the City. The coach of the first half of the century can +be restored from Hogarth. That of the latter half of the century was in +all respects like the revived coaches of the present day, adapted for +rapid travelling along a smooth road. The carts were carriers' carts on +two wheels with a tilt or cover; they carried parcels and small +packages, and on occasions, but not always, one or two passengers. The +waggons, which carried heavy goods and passengers not in a hurry, were +also covered with a tilt; their broad wheels and capacious interior can +be restored, as well as the coach, from that most trustworthy painter of +his own time. As for the caravans, I am in some doubt. I suppose, +however, that a caravan was then what it is now, in which case it was +an elementary Pullman's car, in which people and their effects were +drawn slowly along the road, in a four-wheeled covered cart. Perhaps the +passengers slept in the car at night, drawn up by the roadside, like the +gipsies. But of this theory I have no kind of proof. + +[Illustration: AN OLD MILL, BANKSIDE] + +[Illustration: JOHN BUNYAN'S MEETING HOUSE, BANKSIDE] + +From the Borough alone, without counting the vehicles which passed +through to or from the City, there were sent out, every week, one +hundred and forty-three stage coaches: one hundred and twenty-one +waggons: and one hundred and ninety-six carts and caravans. And, of +course, the same number came back every week. There was a continual +succession of departures and arrivals; all day long, one after the +other, the stage coaches came galloping up each to its own inn; while +they were still far away the people of the inn knew when their own coach +was coming by the tune played on the guard's bugle: the High Street, in +fact, was like a railway terminus, where trains are arriving and leaving +all day long. + +[Illustration: The Old Town Hall, Southwark] + +I am quite sure that we have no idea at all of the life and animation at +a London inn when the stages were started and when they arrived. With as +much method, and as quickly as the railway porters clear out the luggage +and get rid of the train, the horses were taken out: the passengers got +down: the coachman looked inside for his perquisites in the shape of +anything forgotten and left behind: the luggage was laid out: the +porters seized it and carried it off to the hackney coach outside: the +passengers followed their luggage: and the courtyard was ready for the +next coach. Outside the courtyard there hung about, all day long, whole +companies of thieves waiting for the chance of carrying off something +unconsidered or forgotten. Generally, they stood in with the stable boys +and the porters, who, for a trifle, were good enough to shut their eyes. +If a trunk was seen to lie unclaimed, one of them came bustling in. +'Give us a hand, Jack,' he cried to one of the porters, as if he had +been ordered to call for and bring away that trunk. A confederate or two +stood at the door to trip up a pursuer or a proprietor, if there was +one, and in a moment man and box would be lost to sight in a +neighbouring court. Pickpockets as well abounded about the courtyards: +outside were houses filled with disorderly folk of all kinds waiting to +entrap and to tempt and to rob the country bumpkin. There was the couple +ready with the confidence trick: the generous and hospitable gentleman +to welcome the country lad: there was the lady of the ready smile: and +the taverns with the doors open to all. The numbers of coaches and +waggons I have given refer to Southwark alone, and to the conveyances +which belonged to the inns up and down in the High Street. But a great +many more came across the bridge from the City daily. Now, if we are +considering the traffic and animation of the roads leading to the City, +remember that the High Street, Borough, was only one of many main lines +of traffic. There were, besides, the roads to the North: to the Eastern +counties: to the Midlands: to the West: and to the Northwest. Day and +night the roads all round London were thronged with these coaches, +carts, caravans, and waggons: but these vehicles were for ordinary folk +only: for tradesmen, attorneys, clergymen, farmers, riders (that is, +commercial travellers) and servants: a nobleman or a country gentleman +scorned to travel in a public conveyance: he came up to London, if not +in his own coach, then in a post-chaise, of which there were thousands +on the road. Add to these the horsemen, of whom there were an immense +number riding from place to place: add, further, the long droves of +cattle, sheep and pigs: the cattle, however, to save their feet and to +keep them in condition, were mostly taken along 'drives' by the +roadside, where the ground was soft. One of these can still be seen on +the other side of Hampstead. Pedestrians there were also by thousands: +soldiers: sailors: gipsies: strolling actors: tinkers and tramps--the +land was full of tramps: in a word the roads near London were crowded +and animated and full of adventure, character, incident, and +picturesqueness: indeed, the dismal and deserted condition of the modern +road makes it difficult for us to realise the crowds and the life of the +road in the eighteenth century. + +[Illustration: Old Houses in Ewer Street] + +Of society in the Borough there is little information to be procured. +The place had, however, its better class. One infers so much from the +fact that there were Assembly Rooms in the High Street, and that a +Borough Assembly was held during the winter on stated days, at which the +fashion and aristocracy of the place were gathered together. I have +gathered one anecdote alone concerning this Assembly. It is of an +accident. + +[Illustration: Courtyard of the Dog & Bear Inn] + +The company were assembled: the Minuets had begun: the orchestra was in +full play: the ladies were dressed in their finest: hoops were swinging: +towering heads were nodding: the gentlemen were splendid in pale blue +satin and in pink, when suddenly the doors, which stood on the level of +the street, were pushed open, and a dozen oxen came running in one after +the other. The company parted right and left, falling over benches and +each other: the creatures, terrified by the light and the shrieks of the +ladies, began to point threatening horns: nobody dared to drive them out +till the 'well-known'--the phrase is pathetic, because fame is so +short-lived--the 'well-known' Mrs. A. advanced, and with a brandishing +of her apron and the magic of a 'Shoo! Shoo!' persuaded the animals to +leave the place. Then who shall tell of the raising of fallen and +fainting damsels? Who shall speak of the rending of skirts and +embroidered petticoats? Who can describe the deplorable damage to the +heads? And who can adequately celebrate the gallantry of the men when +there was no more danger? Bowls of punch, I am pleased to record, were +quickly administered as a restorative: and after certain necessary +repairs to the heads and the sewing up of torn skirts, the wounded +spirits of the company revived, and the ball proceeded. + +Another indication of society in Southwark is the fact that on one +occasion--perhaps on more than one occasion--when the black footmen of +London resolved on holding an Assembly of their own, it was in the +Borough that they held it. And a very interesting evening it must have +proved, had we any record of the proceedings. Perhaps black cooks were +found to dance with black footmen. + +[Illustration: THE WHITE BEAR TAVERN, SOUTHWARK] + +Since it contained the headquarters of so many stage coaches, carts and +waggons, the High Street was bound to contain, as well, many houses of +entertainment, if only as stables for the horses and accommodation for +the drivers and grooms. The inns of Southwark, however, were far more +ancient than the stage coaches. We have seen already that from the +earliest times of trade the southern suburb was the place where +merchants and those who brought produce of all kinds to London out of +the south country put up their teams of pack-horses and their goods, and +found bed and board and company for themselves. We have also seen how +the inns of Southwark were used as gathering places and starting places +for the Pilgrims bound for St. Thomas's Shrine, Canterbury. The mediaeval +inn was not much like that of later times. It contained a common hall +and a common dormitory, with another for women. There was also a covered +place for goods, and stables for horses. A small specimen of a +fifteenth-century inn survives at Aylesbury: the hall, quite a small +room, is very well preserved. That of the Tabard must have been much +larger, in order to accommodate so large a company. The quaint old inns, +so long the delight of the artist, now nearly all gone, were not +earlier than the sixteenth or seventeenth century. They consisted of a +large open courtyard filled with waggons and vehicles of all kinds, +surrounded by galleries, at the back of which were bedrooms, and other +chambers opening from the gallery. On the ground floor were the +kitchens, dining-rooms, and private sitting-rooms. There was generally a +large room for public dinners and other occasions. The inns of Southwark +formed, so long as they stood, the most picturesque part of modern +Southwark. Scarcely anything now remains of them, the George alone +preserving anything of its ancient picturesqueness. The reader who +desires a closer acquaintance with these inns is referred to Mr. Philip +Norman's exquisitely illustrated book, which presents in a lasting form +the vanished glories of the High Street. + +To speak of these inns is like entering upon a historical catalogue. +There are so many of them, and the associations connected with them +carry one away into so many directions and land him into many strange +corners of history. + +At the south end of London Bridge, and on the west side of it, stood a +tavern called the 'Bear at the Bridge Foot.' It was built in the year +1319 by one Thomas Drinkwater, taverner of London. In Riley's +'Memorials' may be found a lease of this house by the proprietor to one +James Beauflur. The lease is for six years. James Beauflur is to pay no +rent, because he has advanced money to Thomas Drinkwater to help in the +building. James is, in fact, to act as manager of a 'tied' house. Thomas +Drinkwater will furnish all the wine, and will keep an exact account of +the same and will have a settlement twice a year. Thomas will also +complete the furniture of the house with 'hanaps,' that is, handled mugs +of silver and of wood, with curtains, clothes, and everything else +necessary for the proper conduct of a tavern. + +[Illustration: ALLEN ROPEWALK, SOUTHWARK] + +One hopes that James Beauflur made the tavern pay. This was the +commencement of a long and singularly prosperous inn. It became one of +the most famous inns of London, and one of the most popular for +dinners. Hither came the Churchwardens and vestry of St. Olave's to +feast at the expense of the parish as long as feasts were allowed. Some +of the bills of these dinners have been preserved among the papers of +St. Saviour's. Rendle the antiquary and historian of Southwark gives +one: + +P^d for 3 Geese, 3 Capons and one Rabbit 00 14 08 + 3 Tarts 00 12 00 + a Giblett pie makyng 00 02 08 + Beefe 01 02 06 + 3 leggs of mutton 00 8 00 + wine and dresing the meat and naperie, + fire, bread and beere 02 11 00 + 18 oz Tobacco and 12 pipes 00 01 02 + 12 Lemmonds and 18 Oranges 00 03 00 + ----------- + 05 15 00 + ----------- + +Among the names of persons connected with the tavern must be noticed +that of the Duke of Norfolk--'Jockey of Norfolk'--in 1463. Two hundred +years later, one Cornelius Cooke, late a Colonel in Cromwell's army and +a commissioner for the sale of the King's lands, enters upon a new +sphere of usefulness by turning landlord of the Bear at the Bridge Foot. +Samuel Pepys records several visits paid to the tavern. From this house +the Duke of Richmond carried off Miss Stewart. It was pulled down in +1761, when the end of the bridge was widened. I need not catalogue the +whole long list of the Southwark inns: you may find them all enumerated +in Rendle's book, but mention may be made of the more important. Some of +them, it will be seen, had been in more ancient times the town houses of +great people--Bishops, Abbots and nobles. Other town houses, those off +the highway of trade, having been deserted by their former occupants, +fell upon evil times, went down in the world, even became mere +tenements. This happened to Sir John Fastolf's house, and to the house +of the Prior of Lewes, and to many others. Those standing in the +highway, whither came all the merchants; whither came all the waggons; +became transformed, and proved more valuable property as inns than as +residences. + +[Illustration: A SOUTH LONDON SLUM] + +Thus, in Foul Lane, now just south of St. Mary Overies, was the entrance +to the Green Dragon Inn. This inn was anciently the town house of the +Cobhams. This family left Southwark, and the house, with some +alterations, became an Inn. When carriers began to ply between London +and the country towns, Tunbridge was connected by a carrier's cart with +the Green Dragon. Early in the eighteenth century it became the +Southwark post-office. Another and a much more important inn for +carriers and waggons was the King's Head. Taylor, the Water Poet, says +that 'carriers come into the Borough of Southwark out of the counties of +Kent, Sussex, and Surrey: from Reigate to the Falcon: from Tunbridge, +Seavenoks, and Staplehurst to the Katherine Wheel, and others from +Sussex thither; Dorking and Ledderhead to the Greyhound: some to the +Spurre, the George, the King's Head: some lodge at the Tabbard or +Talbot: many, far and wide, are to be had almost daily at the White +Hart.' + +The White Hart is, if possible, a more historical inn than Chaucer's +Tabard itself. It was the headquarters of Jack Cade, as has already been +related in chapter vi. In front of this inn one Hawarden was beheaded: +and also in front of this inn the headless body of Lord Say, after being +dragged at the horsetail from the Standard at Chepe, was cut up in +quarters, which were displayed in various places in order to strike +terror into the minds of the people. + +[Illustration: THE OLD TABARD INN, SOUTHWARK] + +I have spoken sufficiently of Chaucer already. The Tabard Inn, from +which the famous Company set out, was named after the ornamented coat or +jacket worn by Kings at Coronations, and by heralds, or even by ordinary +persons. In the fourteenth century it was the town house of the Abbot +of Hyde, Winchester. Does this mean that the Abbot allowed the place to +be used as an ordinary inn? It is clear that Chaucer speaks of it as an +ordinary inn. Yet in 1307 the Bishop of Winchester licenses a chapel at +the Abbot's Hospitium in the Parish of St. Margaret, Southwark. At the +Dissolution it is surrendered as 'a hostelry called the Taberd, the +Abbot's place, the Abbot's stable, the garden belonging, a dung place +leading to the ditch going to the Thames.' It is explained in Spight's +'Chaucer,' 1598, that the old Tabard had much decayed, but that it had +been repaired 'with the Abbot's house adjoining.' Until the inn was +finally pulled down, a room used to be shown as that in which Chaucer's +Company assembled. This, however, was not the room, though it may have +been rebuilt on the site of the old room. For on Friday, May 26, 1676, a +destructive fire broke out, which raged over a large part of the Borough +and destroyed the Queen's Head, the Talbot, the George, the White Hart, +the King's Head, the Green Dragon, the Borough Compter, the Meat Market, +and about 500 houses. St. Thomas's Hospital was saved by a change of +wind, which also seems to have saved St. Mary Overies. + +[Illustration: ST. GEORGE, SOUTHWARK: NORTH-WEST VIEW + +(_From an Engraving by B. Cole_)] + +Walk with me from the Bridge head southwards, noting the Inns first on +the right or the west, and then on the left or east. + +We have, first, the Bear on Bridge Head: then, before getting to Ford +Lane, the Bull's Head: opposite the market place, the Goat: next the +Clement. Opposite St. George's Church we cross over, and are on the east +side, going north again: here we have a succession of Inns: the Half +Moon: the Blue Maid and the Mermaid: the Nag's Head: the Spur: the +Christopher: the Cross Keys: the Tabard: the George: the White Hart: the +King's Head: the Black Swan: the Boar's Head. There is a pleasing +atmosphere of business mixed with festivity about this street of inns +and courtyards: of stables and grooms: of drivers and guards: of coaches +and waggons: of merchants and middlemen: of country squires come up on +business, with the hope of combining a little pleasure amongst the +excitements of the town with a profitable deal or two. There is the +smell of roast meats hanging about the courtyards of the inns. There is +a continual calling for the drawers, there is a clinking of hanaps and a +murmur of voices. + +The _strepitus_, however, of the High Street is not like that of +Bankside. There is no tinkling of guitars: no singing before noon or +after noon: no laughing: the country folk do not laugh: they do not +understand the wit of the poets and the players. High Street has nothing +to do with Bankside: the merchants and the squires know nothing about +the Show Folk. + +There was one exception. Among the Show Folk was a certain Edward +Alleyn, who was a man of business as well as a conductor of +entertainments. He was on the vestry of St. Saviour's: he was also +churchwarden, his name appears in the parish accounts of the period. He +was a popular churchwarden: probably he had about him so much of the +showman that he was genial, and mannerly, and courteous--these are the +elementary virtues of the profession. For we find that when he proposes +to retire his fellow members of the vestry refuse to let him go. + +It is melancholy to walk down the High Street and to reflect that all +these inns, most of them so picturesque, were standing thirty or forty +years ago, and that some of them were standing ten years ago. One of +them is figured in the 'Pickwick Papers.' The courtyard is too vast: the +figures are too small: the galleries are too large: but the effect +produced is admirable. Now not only are the old Inns gone, but there is +nothing to take their place: a modern public-house is not an Inn. The +need of an Inn at Southwark is gone: there are no more caravans of +produce brought up to the Borough: the High Street has become the shop +and the provider of everything for the populations of the parishes of +St. Saviour, St. Olave, St. Thomas, and St. George. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE DEBTORS' PRISON + + +There was another kind of Sanctuary in Southwark, a place of Refuge not +invited, and of security against one's will--The Debtors' Prison. In +fact, there were three Debtors' Prisons--the King's Bench, the +Marshalsea, and the Borough Compter. The consideration of these +melancholy places--all the more melancholy because they were full of +noisy revelry--fills one with amazement to think that a system so +ridiculous should be continued so long, and should be abandoned with so +much regret, reluctance, and with forebodings so gloomy. There would be +no more credit, no more confidence, if the debtor could not be +imprisoned. Trade would be destroyed. The Debtors' Prison was a part of +trade. It is fifty years and more since the power of imprisoning a +debtor for life was taken from the creditor: yet there is as much credit +as ever, and as much confidence. To a trading community such as ours it +seems, naturally, that the injury inflicted upon a merchant by failing +to pay his just claims is so great that imprisonment ought to be awarded +to such an offender. The Law gave the creditor the power of revenge full +and terrible and lifelong. The Law said to the debtor: 'Whether you are +to blame or not, you owe money which you cannot pay: you shall be locked +up in a crowded prison: you shall be deprived of your means of getting a +livelihood: you shall have no allowance of food: you shall have no fire: +you shall have no bed: you shall be forced to herd with a noisome +unwashed crowd of wretches: and whereas a criminal may get off with a +year or two, you shall be sentenced to life-long imprisonment.' + +[Illustration: REMAINS OF THE MARSHALSEA: N.E. VIEW. A, CHAPEL; B, +PALACE COURT + +(_From 'The Gentleman's Magazine,' September 1803_)] + +The barbarity of the system, its futility, because the debtor was +deprived of the means of making money to pay his debts, withal, were +exposed over and over again: prisoners wrote accounts of their prisons: +commissions held inquiry into the management of the prisons: regulations +were laid down: Acts were passed to release debtors by hundreds at one +time: the system of allowing prisoners to live in 'Rules' was tolerated: +but the real evil remained untouched so long as a creditor had the power +of imprisoning a debtor. The power was abused in the most monstrous +manner: a man owed a few shillings: he could not pay: he was put into +prison: the next day he discovered that he was in debt to an attorney +for as many pounds. If he owed as much as 10_l._, the bill against him +for his arrest amounted to 11_l._ 15_s._ 8_d._ of what we should now +call 'taxed costs.' In the year 1759 there were 20,000 prisoners for +debt in Great Britain and Ireland. Think what that means: all those were +in enforced idleness. Why, their work at 2_s._ a day means 600,000_l._ a +year: all that wealth lost to the State: nay more, because they were +mostly married men with families: their families had to be maintained, +so that not only did the country lose 600,000_l._ a year by the idleness +of the debtors, it also lost that much again for the maintenance of +their families. Put it in another way. A poor man knowing one trade +which one cannot practise in a prison owed, say, 15_s._ He was arrested +and put into prison. He lived there for thirty years. He lived on doles +and the proceeds of the begging box, and what his friends could give +him: he lived, say, on five shillings a week. He cost some one +therefore; the charitable people who dropped money into the box; the +community; for his maintenance in the prison, and for thirty years of +it, the sum total of 400_l._ This is rather an expensive tax on the +State: but the tradesman to whom he owed the money considered no more +than his own 15_s._ In addition there were his wife and children to keep +until the latter were self-supporting. This charge represented perhaps +another 400_l._ But there were 20,000 debtors in prison. If they were +all in like evil case, the State was taxed on their behalf in the sum of +sixteen millions spread over thirty years, or half a million a year, +because these luckless creatures could not pay an insignificant debt of +a few shillings or a few pounds. + +The King's Bench was the largest of all the Debtors' Prisons. It +formerly stood on the east side of the High Street, on the site of what +is now the second street north of St. George's Church. This prison was +taken down in 1758, and the Debtors were removed to a larger and much +more commodious place on the other side of the street south of Lant +Street--the site is now marked by a number of new and very ugly houses +and mean streets. When it was built it looked out at the back of St. +George's Fields and across Lambeth Marsh, then an open space, and by +this time drained. But the good air without was fully balanced by the +bad air within. + +The place was surrounded by a very high wall, the area covered was +extensive, and the buildings were more commodious than had ever before +been attempted in a prison. But they were not large enough. In the year +1776 the prisoners had to lie two in a bed, and even for those who could +pay there were not beds enough, and many slept on the floor of the +chapel. There were 395 prisoners: in addition to the prisoners many of +them had wives and children with them. There were 279 wives and 725 +children: a total of 1,399 sleeping every night in the prison. There was +a good water supply, but there was no infirmary, no resident surgeon, +and no bath. Imagine a place containing 1,399 persons, and no bath and +no infirmary! + +[Illustration: KING'S BENCH PRISON] + +Among these prisoners, about a hundred years ago, was a certain Colonel +Hanger, who has left his memoirs behind him for the edification of +posterity. According to him, the prison 'rivalled the purlieus of +Wapping, St. Giles, and St. James's in vice, debauchery, and +drunkenness.' The general immorality was so great that it was only +possible, he says, to escape contagion by living separate or by +consorting only with the few gentlemen of honour who might be found +there: 'otherwise a man will quickly sink into dissipation: he will lose +every sense of honour and dignity: every moral principle and virtuous +disposition.' Among the prisoners in Hanger's time, there were seldom +fifty who had any regular means of sustenance. They were always +underfed. At that time a detaining creditor had to find sixpence a day +for the prisoner's support. But in 1798 a pound of bread cost 4-1/2_d._, a +pint of porter 2_d._: therefore a man who had to live on 6_d._ a day +could not get more than a pound of bread and a half pint of porter. And +then the 6_d._ a day was constantly withheld on some pretence or +another, and the poor prisoner had not the wherewithal to engage an +attorney to secure his rights. And as for attorneys their name stank in +the prison: more than half of the prisoners, Hanger avers, were kept +there solely because they could not pay the attorneys' costs. + +Those prisoners who knew any trade which could be carried on in the +King's Bench were fortunate. The cobbler, the tailor, the barber, the +fiddler, the carpenter, could get employment and were able to maintain +themselves: some of them kept shops, and the principal building in the +place, about 360 feet long, had its ground floor, looking out upon an +open court, occupied by shops where everything could be bought except +spirits, which were forbidden. They were brought in, however, secretly +by the visitors. The open court was the common Recreation Ground: there +was the Parade, a Walk along the front of the building: three pumps +where were benches: these were three separate centres of conversation: +there were racket and fives courts: a ground for the play called 'bumble +puppy.' And in fine weather there were tables set out here and there, +with chairs and benches, where the collegians drank beer and smoked +tobacco. + +[Illustration: The King's Bench Prison] + +Anybody might enter the Prison to visit an inmate or to look round: +every day the place was thronged with visitors, chiefly to see the new +comers: the time came when the newcomer was an old resident, who had +worn out the kindness of his friends or had outlived them, and now +lingered on, poor and friendless, in this living grave. All day long the +children played in the court, shouting and running: they saw things that +they ought not to have seen: they heard things which they ought not to +have heard: they learned habits which they ought not to have learned. +Can one conceive a worse school for a boy than the King's Bench Prison? +Look at the Court on a fine and sunny afternoon. The whole College is +out and in the open: some stroll up and down: in the Prison nobody ever +walks: they all stroll: even, it may be said without unkindness, they +slouch. The men wear coats which are mostly in holes at the elbows, with +other garments that equally show signs of decay: they wear slippers +because it is absurd to wear boots in a prison: the slippers are down at +heel--never mind: no one cares here whether one is shabby or not: it is +better to go ragged than to go hungry. If the men are ragged the women +are slatternly: they have lost even the feminine desire to please: they +please nobody, and certainly not their husbands: they are shrewish as to +tongue and vicious as to temper. Look at their faces: there is this face +and that face, but there is not a single happy face among them all. The +average face is resentful, painted with strong drink, stamped with the +seal of vice and self-indulgence. A vile place, which has imprinted its +own vileness on the face of everyone who lives within its walls. + +A worse place than the King's Bench was a wretched little Prison called +the Borough Compter. It was used both for debtors and for criminals. Now +you shall hear what marvellous thing in the way of cruelty can be +brought about when the execution of the law is entrusted to such men as +prison warders and turnkeys. + +The place consisted of a women's ward, a debtors' ward, a felons' ward, +and a yard for exercise. The yard was nineteen feet square: this was the +only exercising ground for all the prisoners. When Buxton visited the +place in the year 1817, there were then thirty-eight debtors, thirty +women, and twenty children--all had to exercise themselves in this +little yard: he does not say how many felons there were. The debtors' +ward consisted of two rooms, each of which was twenty feet long and +about nine feet broad. Each room was furnished with eight straw beds, +sixteen rugs, and a piece of timber for a pillow. Twenty prisoners slept +side by side on these beds! That gives a breadth of twelve inches for +each. No one therefore could move in bed. The place was shut up: in the +morning the heat and stench were so awful that when the door was opened +all rushed together, undressed as they were, into the yard for fresh +air. Now and then a man would be brought in with an infectious disease +or covered with vermin: they had to endure his company as best they +could. There was no infirmary: no surgeon: no conveniences whatever in +case of sickness. And the place was so crowded that those who might have +carried on their trade could not for want of space. As for the women's +ward, I forbear to speak. Think, however, of the noisome, horrible, +stinking place, narrow and confined, with its felons' ward of innocent +and guilty, tried and untried: the past masters in villainy with the +innocent country boy: the honest working man with his wife and children +slowly starving and slowly poisoned by the brutal law which permitted a +creditor to send him there for life for a paltry debt of a few +shillings. Think of the simple-minded country girl thrust into the +women's ward, where wickedness was authorised, where nothing was +disguised! I sometimes ask whether in the year 1998 the historian of +manners will call attention to the lamentable brutality of this the end +of the nineteenth century. There are some points as to which I am +doubtful. But I cannot believe that there will be anything alleged +against us compared with the sleek complacency with which the City +Fathers and the Legislators regarded the condition of the Debtors' +Prisons. + +I have not forgotten the Marshalsea. The position of the Marshalsea +Prison was changed from its first site south of King Street in the year +1810, when it was removed to the site which it occupied down to the end, +overlooking St. George's Churchyard. The choice of that site is a good +illustration of English conservatism. Why was the Marshalsea brought +there? Because there had been a prison on the spot before. From time +immemorial the Surrey Prison had stood there. They called the place the +White Lyon. It still stood when the Marshalsea was brought there: it was +still standing when the Marshalsea was pulled down. + +I think it was in the year 1877 or 1878 or thereabouts that I walked +over to see the Marshalsea before it was pulled down. I found a long +narrow terrace of mean houses--they are still standing: there was a +narrow courtyard in front for exercise and air: a high wall separated +the prison from the Churchyard: the rooms in the terrace were filled +with deep cupboards on either side of the fireplace: these cupboards +contained the coals, the cooking utensils, the stores, and the clothes +of the occupants. My guide, a working man employed on the demolition of +another part of the Prison, pointed to certain marks on the floor as, he +said, the place where they fastened the staples when they tied down the +poor prisoners. Such was his historic information: he also pointed out +Mr. Dorrit's room--so real was the novelist's creation. At the east end +of the terrace there were certain rooms which I believe to have been the +tap-room and the coffee-room. Then we came to the White Lyon, which at +the time I did not know to have been the White Lyon. It was a very +ancient building. It consisted of two rooms, one above the other: the +staircase and the floors were of most solid work: the windows were +barred: bars crossed the chimney a few feet up: large square nails were +driven into the oaken pillars and into the doors. The lower room had +evidently been kitchen, day room, sleeping room and all. Outside was a +tiny yard for exercise: this was the old Surrey Prison. I have seen +another prison exactly like it, and, if my memory does not play tricks, +it was at the little country town of Ilminster. This was a Clink, and on +this pattern, I believe, all the old Prisons were constructed. Beyond +the Clink was the chapel, a modern structure. So far as I know, Mr. +Dickens _pere_, and Mr. Dorrit, were the only persons of eminence +confined in this modern Marshalsea. In the older Marshalsea all kinds of +distinguished people were kept captive, notably Bishop Bonner, who died +there. They say that it was necessary to bury him at midnight for fear +of the people, who would have rent his dead body in pieces if they +could. Perhaps. But it was not at any time usual for a mob of Englishmen +to pull a dead body, even of a martyr-making Marian Bishop, to pieces. +Later on, in the last century, it was the rule to bury at night. The +darkness, the flicker of the torches, increased the solemnity of the +ceremony. So that after all Bishop Bonner may have been buried at night +in the usual fashion. He lies buried somewhere in St. George's +Churchyard. It is now a pretty garden, whose benches in fine weather are +filled with people resting and sunning themselves: in spring the garden +is full of pleasant greenery: the dead parishioners to whom headstones +have been consecrated, if they ever visit the spot, may amuse themselves +by picking out their own tombstones among the illegible ones which line +the wall. But I hardly think, wherever they may now be quartered, they +would care to revisit this place. The owners of the headstones were in +their day accounted as the more fortunate sons of men: they were +vestrymen and guardians and churchwardens: they owned shops: they kept +the inns and ran the stage coaches and the waggons and the caravans: +their tills were heavy with guineas: their faces were smug and smiling: +their chins were double: they talked benevolent commonplace: they +exchanged the most beautiful sentiments: and they crammed their debtors +into these prisons. + +There are other tenants of this small area: they belonged to the great +army--how great! how vast! how rapidly increasing!--of the +'Not-quite-so-fortunate.' They were brought here from the King's Bench +and the Marshalsea: they came from the Master's side and from the Common +side. They came here from the mean streets and lanes of the Borough: +they were the porters and the fishermen and the rogues and the grooms +and the 'service' generally. This churchyard represents all that can be +imagined of human patience, human work, human suffering, human +degradation. Everything is here beneath our feet, and we sit among these +memories unmoved and enjoy the sunshine and forget the sorrows of the +past. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE PLEASURE GARDENS + + +It is somewhat remarkable that two books should have appeared almost at +the same time on the Pleasure Gardens of London--that of Messrs. Warwick +and Edgar Wroth, and that of Mr. H. A. Rogers. I refer the reader who +desires exact and special knowledge on the subject to these two books. +For my own part I have only to speak of two or three of these gardens, +and shall confine myself to certain sources of information neither so +exact nor so detailed as those from which Messrs. Warwick and Wroth have +drawn the material for their excellent work. + +The Pleasure Gardens grew out of the old Bear Baiting Gardens. The +London citizen loved sport first and above all things: next, he loved +the country: to sit under the shade of trees in the summer: to walk upon +the soft sward; to smell the flowers: to rest his eyes upon country +scenes. He has always yearned for the country while he remained in town. +With these things he desired, as a concomitant of the entertainment, +good eating, good drinking, the merry sound of music not softly but +loudly played: the voices of those who sang: and a platform or floor for +dancing. All these things he could get in Paris Gardens so long as that +place existed, together with its bears and dogs. When the bears +disappeared, what followed? The Gardens continued without the bears. +There were also the Mulberry Gardens on the site of Buckingham House, +and the Spring Gardens at Charing Cross. In the month of July 1661 +Evelyn visited the new garden of Foxhall, afterwards Vauxhall, and in +June 1665, the year of the Plague, Pepys spent the evening at the same +place, for the first time, and with great delight. + +[Illustration: VAUXHALL GARDENS + +(_From the Engraving by J. S. Mueller_)] + +The Pleasure Garden apart from the sport of Bear and Bull Baiting was +then beginning. Before long it became a necessity of life--at least, of +the gregarious and social life of which the eighteenth century was so +fond. Many things are said about that century, now so nearly removed +from us by the space of another century, but we cannot say that it was +not social, and that it was not gregarious. It had its coffee houses: +its clubs: its taverns: its coteries: its societies: it loved the +theatre: the opera: the concert: the oratorio: the masquerade: the +Assembly: the card-room: but most of all the eighteenth century loved +its Pleasure Gardens. It took every opportunity of getting away from the +quiet house to crowds and noise and the scene of merriment. + +[Illustration: VAUXHALL JUBILEE ADMISSION TICKET] + +Many things were required to make a Pleasure Garden. There must be, +first, abundance of trees--at first cherry trees, but these afterwards +disappeared: if possible, there should be avenues of trees: aisles and +dark walks of trees. There must be, next, an ornamental water with a +fountain and a bridge: there must be a row of rustic bowers or retreats +in which tea and supper could be served: there must be a platform for +open-air dancing and promenading: there must be card-rooms: there must +be a long room for dancing and for promenading, with a gallery for the +orchestra and the singers. Add to these things a crowd every night +including all classes and conditions of men and women. The eighteenth +century was by no means a leveller of distinctions, but all classes met +together without levelling. Distinctions were preserved: each party kept +to itself: the nobleman wore his star and sash: he did not pretend to be +on a level with the people around him: they liked him to keep up the +dignity of aristocratic separation: he brought Ladies to the Gardens, +sometimes in domino, sometimes not. They were not expected to speak to +the ladies outside their set: they danced together in the minuets: +after the minuets they withdrew. The main point about the company of the +Gardens was that each party was separate and kept separate. In the Park, +either in the morning or the afternoon, it was not difficult to make +acquaintances. The reason was that in the Park were only to be found in +the morning or the afternoon those people who were not engaged in +earning their livelihood. Accordingly, all professional men--lawyers, +physicians, attorneys, surgeons, artists, architects, literary people: +all those engaged in trade, from the greatest merchant to the smallest +shopkeeper, were excluded: they were occupied elsewhere. Therefore, the +servants and footmen not being allowed in the Park, but compelled to +wait outside, the people of position had the place to themselves, and +access was easy. In the Gardens it was different: all could enter who +paid the shilling for an entrance fee. Among them were the gentlemen in +the red coat who bore His Majesty's Commission: the young fellows about +town, a noisy disreputable band with noisy and disreputable companions: +the plain citizen with his wife and daughter, the young fellow who was +courting her: the young tradesman taking a holiday for once: the +highwayman: the common pickpocket, and whole troops of the customary +courtesan. All were here enjoying together--but separated into tiny +groups of two or three--the strings of coloured lamps, the blare of the +orchestra, the songs, the dances, and the supper. As for the last, it +seems to have been always a cold collation: it generally consisted of +chicken and a thin slice of ham, with a bowl of punch and a bottle of +Port. There was no affectation of fine or polite behaviour; everybody +behaved exactly as he pleased: the citizen was not _gene_ by the +presence of the great lady: he prattled his vulgar commonplaces without +being abashed: nor did the great lady put on 'side,' or behave among her +own company with any affectation of dignity or reserve in the presence +of the mercer of Ludgate Hill in the next box. Perhaps the recognition +of rank made them all behave more naturally. After all, the mercer had +his own rank. He could look forward to becoming Alderman, Sheriff, and +Lord Mayor: he understood very well that he was already a good way up +the ladder: the social precedence which belongs to the possession of +money and the employment of many servants had already placed him in +front of a vast crowd of inferiors: he was perfectly satisfied with his +own position, although he could certainly never become a noble earl or +wear a star upon his breast, or hope to consort on equal terms with the +jewelled lady in silks which he knew (professionally) to be beyond all +price, with her rouged face and high-dressed head, who laughed so loud +and talked so fast with the noble lords her companions, one of whom was +blind drunk and the other was a little mincing beau who walked on his +toes with bent knees and carried his hat under his arm, and spoke under +his breath as if every word was to be listened to. Do you think the +honest mercer was indignant at the manners of the great? Not he: he +called for another bowl of punch and tied his handkerchief over his wig +to keep off the damp. In the box on the other side of the citizen from +Ludgate Hill was a party also taking supper and punch, with plenty of +the latter. They were under the lead of an extremely fine gentleman: his +white coat was covered with gold lace: his hat was laced in the same +way: his waistcoat was of flowered silk: his ruffles were of white +lace--lace of Valenciennes. The ladies with him were dressed with a +corresponding splendour. Everybody knew that the gentleman was a +highwayman: his face was perfectly well known: he had been going on so +long that his time must soon be up. In a few months at most he would +take that fatal journey in the cart to Tyburn, there to meet the end +common to his kind. A good many people in the Gardens knew, besides, +that the ladies with him--ladies of St. Giles in the Fields--were +dressed from the stores of a receiving house for stolen goods. Perhaps +the consciousness of this cheap and easy way of getting one's clothes +made the ladies so buoyantly and extravagantly happy, with their +sprightly sallies and their high-bred courtesy of adjectives. But the +mercer troubled himself not at all about them. + +The toleration of the mercer ought to endear his memory to us. For in +all public assemblies there are things which must be tolerated. Less +wise, we shut up the Assembly. We cannot keep out the Lady of the +Camellias from the Pleasure Garden. Therefore we shut up the place. In +the eighteenth century this lady was told that everybody must behave +with a certain amount of restraint: we have improved upon that manner: +we cut off our nose to spite our face: we shut up the lovely Garden +because we cannot keep her out. + +For the same reason we have practically forbidden the youth of the lower +middle class to practise the laudable, innocent, and delightful +diversion of dancing. Not a single place, except certain so-called +clubs, where the young people can now go to dance. Why? Because the +magistrates in their wisdom have concluded that vice free and unchecked +out of doors is better for the people than vice fettered and restrained +by the necessity of behaving decently, and compelled to hide itself +under the semblance of virtue. The Pleasure Gardens were shut up one +after the other for that reason. When will they return? And in what +form? + +The Gardens of South London were not so celebrated as those of the +North. Against Ranelagh, Cremorne, Marylebone, Bagnigge Wells, the White +Conduit House--the South can only point to Vauxhall as a national +institution. They were, however, of considerable note in their time, and +were greatly frequented. They lay in a half circle, like pearls on a +chain, all round South London. There were the Lambeth Wells, the Marble +Hall, and the Cumberland Gardens at Vauxhall, besides Vauxhall itself; +the Black Prince, Newington Butts; the Temple of Flora, the Temple of +Apollo, the Flora Tea Gardens, the Restoration Spring Gardens, the Dog +and Duck, the Folly on the Thames; Cuper's Gardens; Finch's Grotto, the +Bermondsey Spa, and St. Helena Gardens, Rotherhithe. No doubt there were +others, but these were the principal Gardens. + +Cuper's Gardens lay exactly opposite to Somerset House. When Waterloo +Bridge and Waterloo Bridge Road were constructed the latter passed right +through the former site of the Gardens. St. John's Church marks the +southern limit of the Gardens. They were opened about the year 1678 by +one Cuper, gardener to the Earl of Arundel. He begged such of the +statues belonging to his master as were mutilated, and decorated the new +gardens with them. Aubrey mentions them as belonging to Jesus College, +Oxford; he calls them Cupid's gardens, and speaks of the arbours and +walks of the place. There was a tavern connected with the gardens by the +riverside, and fireworks were exhibited. These gardens continued until +1753, when they were suppressed as a nuisance. Cunningham quotes the +prologue to Mrs. Centlivre's 'Busy Body.' + + The Fleet Street sempstress, toast of Temple sparks, + That runs spruce neckcloths for attorneys' clerks, + At Cupid's Gardens will her hours regale, + Sing 'Fair Dorinda,' and drink bottled ale. + +[Illustration: THE DOG AND DUCK, BETHLEM] + +In the 'Sunday Ramble' (1794) the Dog and Duck is one of the last places +visited in the course of that very remarkable Sunday 'out,' which began +at four o'clock in the morning and ended at one o'clock next morning, +such was the zeal of the ramblers. The place was a tavern in St. +George's Fields. On its site now stands Bethlehem Hospital. It was first +built for the accommodation of those who came to this spot in order to +drink the waters of a spring supposed to possess wonderful properties, +especially in the case of cutaneous disorders and scrofula. The spring, +like so many other medicinal springs, has long since been forgotten. +Where is Beulah Spa? Who remembereth Hampstead Spa? Yet in its day the +spring in St. George's Wells had no small reputation. It was especially +in vogue between 1744 and 1770. Dr. Johnson advised Mrs. Thrale to try +it. When the Spa declined, the tavern looked out for other attractions; +it found them by day in certain ponds on the Fields close to the tavern: +these ponds especially on Sunday were used for the magnificent sport of +hunting the duck by dogs. All the ponds around London, especially those +lying on the east side of Tottenham Court Road, were used for this +sport. The gallant sportsmen, their hunt over, naturally felt thirsty: +they were easily persuaded to stay for the evening when on week days +there was music, with dancing, singing, supper, and more drink, and on +Sundays the organ, with a choice company of the most well-bred gentlemen +and ladies of similar breeding and taste. + +Like Ranelagh and Bagnigge Wells, and indeed all the Pleasure Gardens, +the Dog and Duck was a favourite place for breakfasts. The fashion of +the public breakfast, now so completely forgotten, was brought to London +from Bath, Tunbridge Wells, and Epsom. Tea and coffee were served at +breakfast. After breakfast the people stayed on at the gardens, very +often all day and half the night at the Dog and Duck. There was a +bowling green for fine weather, there was also a swimming bath--I +believe, the only one south of the Thames. About three or four in the +afternoon there was dinner, with a bottle or several bottles of wine. +One of the ponds not then employed for duck-hunting was in the garden, +and served as an ornamental water, with alcoves or bowers round it; a +band played at intervals during the day. In the long room there was an +organ, with an excellent organist. In the evening, there was generally a +concert; the Dog and Duck maintained its own poet and its own composer. +All this sounds very innocent and Arcadian, but in truth the place was +acquiring a most evil reputation. In 1787 it was closed on Sunday, and +in 1799 it was suppressed. In the 'Sunday Ramble' (1794) the Dog and +Duck is open, but the Ramble may have taken place before 1787. Let us +see what is going on. Remember that it is Sunday evening. But there is +not the least trace of any respect for the day, and the place--to speak +the truth--is full of the vilest company in the world, whose histories +are described in the greedy fulness and with the hypocritical +indignation against the wickedness of the people which were common among +such writers a hundred years ago. I suppose they would not venture to +set down what they did, but for the pretence of indignation. Thus, there +is a certain City merchant, once a Quaker and formerly a bankrupt, but +now rich and flourishing again. His companion is an ex-orange-girl, his +mistress. Observe that the writer is certainly airing some City scandal +of the day, and that his readers know perfectly well who was meant. +There is a certain Nan Sheldon, who seems to have been a lady of some +conversational powers with a considerable fund of information about the +shady side of town life. There is also present a young lady described as +the mistress of the 'Rev. Dr. D----s, of St. G.' Here, no doubt, we have +a piece of contemporary humour which enables us to have a slap at the +Church. There is other company of the like kind, but this specimen must +suffice. As to the men, they are chiefly 'prentices and shopmen. At the +Dog and Duck the license to sell drink had been withdrawn. The manager, +however, met the difficulty by engaging a free vintner, _i.e._ a member +of the Vintners' Company, for whom no license was required. He +therefore came to sell the drink to the visitors. It is a curious +illustration of City privileges. Leaving the Dog and Duck, the Ramblers +visited the Temple of Flora, dropped a tear over the Apollo Gardens, +deserted and falling into ruins, and visited the Flora Tea Garden. The +company here was more respectable, in consequence of some separation +among the ladies; it was not, however, very orderly, and political +argument ran high. + +From this Tea Garden they drove to the Bermondsey Spa Gardens. Let me +extract this account of this place, which was once so popular: + +'We found the entrance presents a vista between trees, hung with lamps, +blue, red, green, and white; nor is the walk in which they are hung +inferior (length excepted) to the grand walk in Vauxhall Gardens. Nearly +at the upper end of the walk is a large room, hung round with paintings, +many of them in an elegant and the rest in a singular taste. At the +upper end of the room is a painting of a butcher's shop, so finely +executed by the landlord that a stranger to the place would cheapen a +fillet of veal or a buttock of beef, a shoulder of mutton or a leg of +pork, without hesitation, if there were not other pictures in the room +to take off his attention. But these paintings are not seen on a Sunday. + +'The accommodations at this place on a Sunday are very good, and the +charges reasonable, and the captain, who is very intimate with Mr. +Keyse, declares that there is no place in the vicinity of London can +afford a more agreeable evening's entertainment. + +'This elegant place of entertainment is situate in the lower road, +between the Borough of Southwark and Deptford. The proprietor calls it +_one_, but it is nearer two miles from London Bridge, and the same +distance from that of Black-Friars. The proprietor is Mr. Thomas Keyse, +who has been at great expense, and exerted himself in a very +extraordinary manner, for the entertainment of the public; and his +labours have been amply repaid. + +'It is easy to paint the elegance of this place, situated in a spot +where elegance, among people who talk of _taste_, would be little +expected. But Mr. Keyse's good humour, his unaffected easiness of +behaviour, and his _genuine_ taste for the polite arts, have secured him +universal approbation. + +'The gardens, with an adjacent field, consist of not less than four +acres. + +'On the north-east side of the gardens is a very fine lawn, consisting +of about three acres, and in a field, parted from this lawn by a sunk +fence, is a building with turrets, resembling a fortress, or castle. The +turrets are in the ancient style of building. At each side of this +fortress, at unequal distances, are two buildings, from which, on public +nights, bomb shells, &c., are thrown at the fortress; the fire is +returned, and the whole exhibits a very picturesque, and therefore a +horrid, prospect of a siege. + +'After walking a round or two in the gardens we retired into the +parlour, where we were very agreeably entertained by the proprietor, +who, contrary to his own rule, favoured us with a sight of his curious +museum, for, it being Sunday, he never shows to any one these articles; +but, the captain never having seen them, I wished him to be gratified +with such an agreeable sight. + +'Mr. Keyse presented us with a little pamphlet, written by the late +celebrated John Oakman, of lyric memory, descriptive of his situation, +which a few years ago was but a waste piece of ground. "Here is now," +said he, "an agreeable place, where before was but a mere wilderness +piece of ground, and, in my opinion, it was a better plan to lay it out +in this manner than any other wise, as the remoteness of any place of +public entertainment from this secured to me in my retreat a comfortable +piece of livelihood." + +'We perfectly coincided in opinion with our worthy host, and, after +paying for our liquor, got into our carriage, but not before we had +tasted a comfortable glass of cherry brandy, for which Mr. Keyse is +remarkable for preparing.' + +I am not here writing a history of South London. Were this a history, +Vauxhall Gardens would demand its own place, and a very large place. A +garden which continued to be a favourite resort from the year 1660 or +thereabouts until the year 1859, when it was finally abandoned, which +occupies so large a part in the literature of that long period, must +have its history told in length when a history is written of the place +where it stood. In this place I desire to do no more than to take off my +hat to this Queen of Gardens, and to recognise her importance. The +history of Vauxhall is an old story; it has been told at greater or less +length, over and over again. We seem to know all the anecdotes which +have been copied from one writer by another, and all the literature and +all the poetry about Vauxhall. The poetry is, indeed, very poor stuff. +The best are the lines of Canning: + + There oft returning from the green retreats + Where fair Vauxhallia decks her sylvan seats; + Where each spruce nymph, from City counters free, + Sips the frothed syllabub or fragrant tea: + While with sliced ham, scraped beef, and burnt champagne, + Her 'prentice lover soothes his amorous pain. + +What a chain of anecdotes it is! We begin in 1661 with Evelyn, who +treats the place with his accustomed brevity and coldness; we go on to +Pepys, who records how the visitors picked cherries, and how the +nightingales sang, and lets us understand how much he enjoyed his visits +there, and how delightful he found the place, and how much after his own +heart; we proceed to Congreve and Tom Brown, to Addison, to Fielding, to +Horace Walpole. We all know the Dark Walk, and how the ladies were taken +there, not unwillingly, to be frightened: we know the stage where they +danced: we know the orchestra; we know the Chinese Room: we know +Rowlandson's picture of the evening at Vauxhall with the Prince of +Wales, putting on princely arrogance in the middle, and the Duchess of +Devonshire and her friends apparently making fun of him; and in the side +box, having supper, Goldsmith and Boswell, and Mrs. Traill, and Dr. +Johnson; with Miss Linley singing; and we all know about the forty +thousand coloured lamps festooned about the trees. + +London was not London, life was not worth having, without Vauxhall. Like +Mrs. Cornelys's masquerades and assemblies, Vauxhall was the great +leveller of the eighteenth century. A man might be an earl or a prince: +he would get no more enjoyment out of Vauxhall than a 'prentice who had +a little money to spare. And the milliner going to Vauxhall with that +'prentice was quite as happy as any lady in the land could be. + +When one thinks of Vauxhall and all it meant, one is carried away by +admiration. To the City Miss who might belong to the City Assembly, but +most likely did not, there was no such spectacle in the world as those +avenues of trees with their thousands of coloured lamps; there was +nothing that so much made her heart leap up as the sight of the dancing +in the open air to the music of the orchestra in the high stand; there +was nothing so delightful as to sit in an arbour dimly lighted, and to +make a supper off cold chicken with a glass of punch afterwards--girls +drank punch then--to look out upon the company, resplendent, men and +women alike, in their dress, and ceremonious in their manners; to be +told how the one was the young Lord Mellamour and the angel with him was +a danseuse of Covent Garden: and that other gentleman behind them was +the Rev. Dr. Scattertext of St. Bride's; and that the dashing young +fellow in peach-coloured velvet was no other than Sixteen String Jack +the highwayman. Vauxhall, in fact, for two hundred years, was nothing +less than a national institution. All classes who could command a +decent coat went to Vauxhall. The Prince of Wales went there--once or +twice he was recognised and mobbed; all the great ladies went there; all +the lesser ladies; all the ladies of the half world; all the citizens, +from the Alderman to the 'prentice; all the adventurers; all the gallant +highwaymen. There was a charming toleration about the visitors to +Vauxhall. They were not in the least disturbed by the presence of the +highwaymen, of the adventurers, or of the ladies corresponding to those +gentlemen--not in the least; they walked together in the lanes and +aisles of the place; they ate supper in the next arbour; they saw the +young rakes carrying on openly and without the least disguise. The sober +citizen saw it; his sober wife saw it; her daughter saw it. There were +no complaints, save occasionally from the Surrey magistrates. The place +and the behaviour of the people are typical of the eighteenth century, +in which the maintenance of order was thrown upon the public, and there +were no police. If things got very bad in a pleasure garden, the +magistrates refused a license; if the visitors were robbed by highwaymen +on their way to and from the place, guards were appointed by the +managers. Vauxhall, however, was safer than most places, because most of +the people came by boat. In common with all places of amusement in the +eighteenth century, Vauxhall was late. The people seem to have been +allowed to stay there nearly all night. + +There is a passage quoted in Chambers's 'Book of Days,' which I should +like to transfer with acknowledgments to this page. It is from the +'Connoisseur' of 1755, and discusses a Vauxhall slice of ham. + +'When it was brought, our honest friend twirled the dish about three or +four times, and surveyed it with a settled countenance. Then taking up a +slice of the ham on the point of his fork, and dangling it to and fro, +he asked the waiter how much there was of it. "A shilling's worth, sir," +said the fellow. "Prithee," said the cit, "how much dost think it +weighs?" "An ounce, sir." "Ah! a shilling an ounce, that is sixteen +shillings per pound; a reasonable profit, truly! Let me see. Suppose, +now, the whole ham weighs thirty pounds: at a shilling per ounce, that +is sixteen shillings per pound. Why, your master makes exactly +twenty-four pounds off of every ham; and if he buys them at the best +hand, and salts and cures them himself, they don't stand him in ten +shillings a-piece!"' + +In 1841 there seemed every prospect that the gardens would be closed; +they were not closed, however, but were reopened and continued open +until the year 1859, where they were finally closed and the farewell +night was celebrated. + +The scare, however, in 1841 produced in June a brief history of Vauxhall +Gardens in one of the morning papers--I do not know which--I have it as +a cutting only. It is as follows: + +'Vauxhall Gardens are announced for public sale under Gye and Hughes's +bankruptcy, and their past celebrity deserves a notice, if only as a +memento of the pleasure the old and young have experienced in their +delightful retreats, while their hundredfold associations, such as the +journey of Sir Roger de Coverley to the gardens, old Jonathan Tyers, and +the paintings in the pavilions by Hayman and Hogarth, create an interest +seldom to be met with. The gardens derive their name from the manor of +Vauxhall, or Faukeshall, but the tradition that the property belonged to +Guy Fawkes is erroneous. The premises were in 1615 the property of Jane +Vaux, and the mansion was then called Stockdens. The gardens appear to +have been originally planted with trees and laid out into walks for the +pleasure of a private gentleman, Sir Samuel Moreland, who displayed in +his house and gardens many whimsical proofs of his skill in mechanics. +It is said these gardens were planted in the reign of Charles I.; nor is +it improbable, since, according to Aubrey, they were well known in 1667, +when Sir Samuel Moreland, the proprietor, added a public room to them, +"the inside of which," he says, "is all looking-glass and fountains and +very pleasant to behold, and which is much visited by strangers." The +time when they were first opened for the entertainment of the public is +involved in some uncertainty; their celebrity is, however, established +to be upwards of a century and a half old. In the reign of Queen Anne +they appear to have been a place of great public resort, for in the +"Spectator," No. 383, dated May 20, 1712, Addison has introduced Sir +Roger de Coverley as accompanying him in a voyage from Temple-stairs to +Vauxhall, then called Spring Gardens. He says: "We made the best of our +way to Foxhall;" and describes the gardens as "exceedingly pleasant at +this time of the year. When I considered the fragrancy of the walks and +bowers with the choirs of birds that sung upon the trees and the tribe +of people that walked under their shades, I could not but look on this +place as a sort of Mohammedan Paradise." Masks were then worn, at least +by some visitors, for Addison talks of "a mask tapping Sir Roger on the +shoulder and inviting him to drink a bottle of mead with her." A glass +of Burton ale and a slice of hung beef formed the supper of the party. +The place, however, resembled a tea-garden of our days till the year +1730, when Mr. Jonathan Tyers took a lease of the premises, and shortly +afterwards opened Vauxhall with a _Ridotto al Fresco_. The novelty of +the term attracted great numbers, and Mr. Tyers was so successful in +occasional repetitions as to be induced to open the gardens every +evening during the summer. Hogarth at this time had lodgings at +Lambeth-terrace, and, becoming intimate with Tyers, was induced to +embellish the gardens with his designs, in which he was joined by +Hayman. The house which he occupied is still shown, and a vine pointed +out which he planted. Tyers's improvements consisted of sweeps of +pavilions and saloons, in which these paintings were placed. He also +erected an orchestra, engaged a band of music, and placed a fine statue +of Handel by Roubiliac in a conspicuous part of the gardens. Mr. +Cunningham dates the appearance of this statue, which was Roubiliac's +earliest work, at 1732. Mr. Tyers afterwards purchased the whole of the +estate, which is copyhold of inheritance, and held of the Prince of +Wales, as lord of Kennington manor, in right of his Duchy of Cornwall. +The gardens were originally opened daily (Sunday excepted), and till the +year 1792 the admission was 1_s._; it was then raised to 2_s._; +including tea and coffee; in 1809 several improvements were made, lamps +added, &c., the price was raised to 3_s._ 6_d._, and the gardens were +only opened three nights in the week; in 1821 the price was again raised +to 4_s._ Upon the death of Mr. Jonathan Tyers, the gardens became the +property of Mr. Bryant Barrett, who married the granddaughter of the +original proprietor. They next descended to Mr. Barrett's sons, and from +them by right of purchase to the late proprietors. Mr. Thomas Tyers, a +son of the famous Jonathan Tyers, and author of "Biographical Sketches +of Johnson," and "Political Conferences," who died on February 1, 1787, +contributed many poetic trifles to the gardens. The representation of +the _Ridotto al Fresco_ is thus described by one of the newspapers of +June 21, 1732: "On Wednesday, at the _Ridotto al Fresco_ at Vauxhall, +there was not one half of the company as was expected, being no more +than 203 persons, amongst whom were several persons of distinction, but +more ladies than gentlemen, and the whole was managed with great order +and decency; a detachment of 100 of the Foot Guards being posted round +the gardens. A waiter belonging to the house having got drunk put on a +dress and went to _fresco_ with the rest of the company, but being +discovered he was immediately turned out of doors." The season of 1739 +was for three months, and the admittance was by silver tickets. The +proprietors then announced that "1,000 tickets would only be delivered +at 25_s._ each, the silver of every ticket to be worth 3_s._ 2_d._, and +to admit two persons every evening (Sunday excepted) during the +season." It appears that these silver tickets were struck after designs +by Hogarth, and a plate of some of them shows the following:--Mr. John +Hinton, 212, 1794; on the reverse side the figure of Calliope. Mr. Wood, +63, 1750; on the reverse side three boys playing with a lyre, and the +motto "_Jocosae conveniunt Lyrae._" Mr. R. Frankling, 70; on the reverse +side figure of Euterpe. Mr. Samuel Lewes, 87; on the reverse side the +figure of Erato. Mr. Carey, 11; on the reverse side the figure of +Thalia. This plate also exhibits the gold ticket, a perpetual admission +given to Hogarth by Jonathan Tyers, in gratitude for his advice and +assistance in decorating the gardens. After his decease it remained in +the hands of Mrs. Hogarth, his widow, who bequeathed it to her relation, +Mrs. Mary Lewis, who subsequently left it to Mr. P. F. Hart, who in his +will, in 1823, bequeathed it to Mr. John Tuck. It is hardly necessary to +say that the ticket is after Hogarth's own design. The face of it +presents the word "Hogarth," in a bold hand, beneath which is "_In +perpetuam beneficii memoriam._" On the reverse there are two figures, +surrounded with the motto, "_Virtus voluptas felices una._" It also +appears that Roubiliac furnished a statue of Milton for the gardens. +Among the singers Beard and Lowe were early favourites; then came +Dignum, Mrs. Weichsel, Mrs. Billington, Signora Storace, Incledon, Mrs. +Bland, &c. In later years, Misses Tunstall, Noel, Melville, and +Williams; Stephens, Love, Madame Cornega, and Madame Vestris; Mr. +Braham, Mr. Sinclair, Mr. Robinson, and Signor de Begnis, &c., with +Signor Spagnoletti as leader.' + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +SOUTH LONDON OF TO-DAY + + +[Illustration: A DOORWAY, CURLEW STREET, BERMONDSEY] + +The expansion of London during the Nineteenth Century is in itself a +fact unparalleled in the history of cities. Those who call attention to +this miracle always point to the filling up of the huge area between +Highgate and Hampstead and Clerkenwell in the North, or the extension of +the town to Hammersmith on the West. Perhaps a little consideration of +the South may show a still more remarkable growth. I have before me a +map of the year 1834, only sixty-four years ago, showing South London as +it was. I see a small town or collection of small towns, occupying the +district called the Borough Proper, Lambeth, Newington, Walworth, and +Bermondsey. In some parts this area is densely populated, filled with +narrow courts and lanes; in other parts there are broad fields, open +spaces, unoccupied pieces of ground. At the back of Vauxhall Gardens, +for instance there are open fields; in Walworth there is a certain +place, then notorious for the people who lived there, called Snow's +Fields; in Bermondsey there are also open spaces, some of them gardens, +or recreation grounds, without any buildings. Battersea is a mere +stretch of open country. I myself remember the old Battersea Fields +perfectly well; one shivers at the recollection; they were low, flat, +damp, and, I believe, treeless; they were crossed, like Hackney Marsh, +by paths raised above the level; at no time of year could the Battersea +Fields look anything but dreary. In winter they were inexpressibly +dismal. As a boy I have walked across the fields in order to get to the +embankment or river wall from which one commanded a view of the Thames +with its barges and lighters going up and down--pleasant when the sun +shone on the river, but a mere shadow of the ancient glory when the +pleasure barges and the State barges swept majestically up the river +with the hautboys and the trumpets in the bows; when the swans by +thousands sailed upon the broad bosom of the waters, and in the middle +of the river the fisherman cast his net, as Edric had done fifteen +hundred years before at St. Peter's orders, when he brought out his +famous salmon. One walked along the embankment; the fields on one side +were lower than the waters on the other. Beyond the river were the trees +of Chelsea Hospital. Close to the river bank was an enclosure which was +called the Subscription Ground; here the subscribers came to shoot +pigeons--noble sport. If I remember aright, while the subscribing +sportsmen shot at the pigeons in the enclosure, others of low condition +who were not subscribers lurked about on the outside to shoot down those +birds which escaped from the murderers within. Close by the Subscription +Ground was a certain famous tavern called the Red House. I do not know +why it was famous, but everybody always said it was. I believe it was +much frequented on summer evenings, and that the subscribing sportsmen +close by, whether they hit their pigeon or not, proved excellent +customers for the drinks of the Red House. At that time there were +'famous' taverns all up and down the river on either bank. There are +still Riverside taverns, but the invasion of the new streets and houses +has driven them, considered as 'famous' taverns, either higher up, or +lower down. As mere commonplace public houses they probably remain +still. Duels were conducted on the Battersea Fields, and there were +certain historical associations in connection with these dreary flats. +Here, for instance, the Duke of Wellington fought his duel with Lord +Winchilsea. Other important people were also connected either with the +Fields or the Village of Battersea, but at the time I knew not anything +about them. The Battersea of my boyhood is gone absolutely: no trace of +it remains, except the Church. The Grosvenor Railway Bridge passes over +the site of the famous Red House; the most beautiful of all our Parks +covers the Subscription Shooting Grounds, together with most of the flat +and dreary fields; and houses by the thousand, with streets mean and +monotonous, stand where formerly the pigeons flew wildly, hoping to +escape those who waited outside the grounds as they had escaped those +who potted at them from within. + +[Illustration: IN SNOW'S FIELDS, BERMONDSEY] + +[Illustration: The Temple from the Surrey Bank] + +[Illustration: HOLY TRINITY, ROTHERHITHE] + +Let us turn to another part of the map and inquire into Rotherhithe. It +is curious that at one end we get Rotherhithe, the Place of Cattle; and +at the other Lambeth or Lambhythe, if it be the 'Place of Lambs' and not +the 'Place of Mud.' In 1834 the Commercial Docks are already there, but +without prejudice to the ancient and venerable docks of the preceding +century, Acorn Dock and Lavender Dock. A single street runs along the +Embankment, which it hides and covers: at the back of this street there +is a succession of small lanes and courts running back with tiny +houses--two or four rooms to each--on either side, and ending generally +in gardens of greenery--leaves and palings. You may still see, in 1898, +if you are lucky, the bows and bowsprit of a ship in one of the old +docks, sticking across the street, causing a momentary confusion in the +mind between land and water; there are riverside taverns which look as +if at a touch they would yield and slide into the mud below. In 1834 +this street with these little lanes was the whole of Rotherhithe. +Inland--or in-marsh--ponds and ditches and creeping streams lay about; +one of the ponds survives to this day; you will find it in the middle of +the pretty garden they call Southwark Park, of which it forms the +ornamental water. And the rest of Rotherhithe, between the Park and +Bermondsey, is one unbroken mass of streets with no green thing and no +open space. All is filled up and built upon. + +A little beyond Rotherhithe lies Deptford. On my map of 1834 I see a +little town, lying partly on the bank of the Thames, partly on the bank +of the Ravensbourne, which here widens out and forms Deptford Creek. The +greater part of the area of Deptford is taken up by the Dockyard, not +yet closed. As for the town, which now contains nearly 100,000 people, +about five-and-twenty little streets sufficed for all its people; it +boasted of two churches and two almshouses. One of these Havens of Rest +was so picturesque and so beautiful that it could not be suffered to +remain. Almshouses which are perfectly beautiful are only vouchsafed to +man for a limited period, lest other buildings become intolerable. Their +time expired, they are then carried off Heavenward. + +Or turn your eyes further south. London in this direction now +covers--for the most part completely, in some parts leaving spaces and +fields here and there--Greenwich, Blackheath, Brockley, Peckham, Forest +Hill, Dulwich, Brixton, Stockwell, Camberwell, Clapham, Balham, +Wandsworth, Vauxhall, and Penge, and many others. + +[Illustration: CZAR PETER'S HOUSE, DEPTFORD.] + +It is difficult, now that the whole country south of London has been +covered with villas, roads, streets, and shops, to understand how +wonderful for loveliness it was until the builder seized upon it. When +the ground rose out of the great Lambeth and Bermondsey Marsh--the cliff +or incline is marked still by the names of Battersea Rise, Clapham Rise, +and Brixton Rise--it opened out into one wild heath after +another--Clapham, Wandsworth, Putney, Wimbledon, Barnes, Tooting, +Streatham, Richmond, Thornton, and so south as far as Banstead Downs. +The country was not flat: it rose at Wimbledon to a high plateau; it +rose at Norwood to a chain of hills; between the Heaths stretched +gardens and orchards; between the orchards were pasture lands; on the +hill sides were hanging woods; villages were scattered about, each with +its venerable church and its peaceful churchyard; along the high roads +to Dover, Southampton, and Portsmouth bumped and rolled, all day and +all night, the stage coaches and the waggons; the wayside inns were +crowded with those who halted to drink, those who halted to dine, and +those who halted to sleep: if the village lay off the main road it was +as quiet and as secure as the town of Laish. All this beauty is gone; we +have destroyed it: all this beauty has gone for ever; it cannot be +replaced. And on the south there was so much more beauty than on the +north. On the latter side of London there are the heights with +Hampstead, Highgate, and Hornsey--one row of villages; but there is +little more. The country between Hatfield or St. Albans and Hampstead is +singularly dull and uninteresting: it is not until one reaches Hertford +or Rickmansworth that the explorer comes once more into lovely country. +But the loveliness of South London lay almost at the very doors of +London: one could walk into it; the heaths were within an easy walk, and +the loveliness of Surrey lay upon all. + +I have mentioned already some of the heaths, those which remain at the +present moment. It will be a matter of surprise to the reader to hear of +the many waste and wild places which have been appropriated and built +over in the last two hundred years. In the parish of Lambeth alone, an +extensive tract, it is true, there was nearly 500 acres of commons: +namely, Kennington, Norwood, Norwood Common (in another part of +Norwood), Hall Lane, Knight's Hill Green, Half Moon Green, Rush Common, +South Stockwell Common, South Lambeth and North Stockwell Common. With +the exception of the first all these are now gone. + +[Illustration: ALLEYN'S ALMSHOUSES, 1840] + +Look at Dulwich--the peaceful and picturesque village of Dulwich on this +map of 1834. It lies among its trees, its gardens, and its fields: the +venerable college of Alleyn is the glory of the village--nothing more +beautiful than this almshouse with its hall and its picture gallery. Yet +the people flocked out to Dulwich less for the picture gallery than the +shady walks, the fields, and a certain tavern--the Greyhound--which was +beloved by everybody, and believed to contain a particular brew of beer, +a particular kind of old Jamaica for punch, and a particular vintage of +port not to be found anywhere else, even in a City company's cellars. +There was, in fact, no more favourite place of resort for the better +sort of citizens of London than Dulwich in the summer. For the poorer +sort it was too far off, and cost too much in conveyance. The Dulwich +stage ran two or three times a day: it was not too long a drive from the +city; the young men rode--in those days the young men could all +ride--even John Gilpin thought he could ride; they hired a horse as we +now get into a cab. For those who lived in any suburb on the south, +Dulwich was an easy walk. Not far from the college and the village--Mr. +Pickwick lived there in 1834--were the Dulwich Fields, as beautiful and +interesting as those of Battersea were the contrary: there were, I +think, five of them in succession: the little stream called the Effra +rose somewhere in the neighbourhood, and ran about, winding through the +fields in a deep channel with rustic bridges across. In older days--at +the end of the eighteenth century, for example, the Effra, a bright and +sparkling stream, ran out of the fields above what is now called the +Effra Road, and so along the south side--or was it the north?--of +Brixton Road. Rustic cottages stood on the other side of the stream, +with flowering shrubs--lilac, laburnum, and hawthorn--on the bank, and +beds of the simpler flowers in the summer: the gardens and the cottages +were approached by little wooden bridges, each provided with a single +rail painted green. That, however, was before my time. In the 'fifties +the boys used to play in these fields, jumping over the stream: when +they left the fields and got into the village they looked about for Mr. +Pickwick and for Sam Weller, if haply they might see either. But I do +not learn that either sage or servant ever gratified those eyes of faith +by an incarnation. + +Here are three hills close together: Herne Hill, Denmark Hill, and +Champion Hill. On Denmark Hill Ruskin once lived; but in the 'fifties I +was not conscious of that fact or of his greatness. It must be saddening +to a great man to reflect that the schoolboys have no respect for him. +The road up the hill was somewhat gloomy on account of the trees: the +houses, with their gardens and lawns, and carriage drives, and +smoothness and snugness, betokened in those years the institution of +evening prayers. I fear I may be misunderstood. At that time great was +the power and the authority of seriousness. To be serious was +fashionable, if one may say so, in City circles. Respectability was +nearly always serious: it was divided into two classes: that which had +morning prayers only, and that which had evening prayers as well. With +the young, the latter institution was unpopular--no one of the present +younger generation can understand how unpopular it was: a house which +had evening prayers made a deliberate profession of a seriousness which +was something out of the common, which the young people disliked, as a +rule; and it insisted on the sons getting home in time for prayers. This +profession of seriousness generally belonged to a large house, beautiful +gardens, rich conservatories, a large income, and a carriage and pair. +Denmark Hill used to appear to outward view as more especially a suburb +belonging to the serious rich, who could afford a profession of more +than common earnestness. + +[Illustration: DULWICH COLLEGE, 1780] + +Herne Hill was remarkable for consisting of three houses only, each with +its parklike grounds and gardens and its noble trees. Champion Hill I +remember as a green and grassy slope: there were no houses at all upon +it: but there was a road, and at the bottom of the road a green called +Goose Green--you may still find this tract of grass, but I believe it is +now pinched and attenuated. On Goose Green they kept ponies for hire: +the boys used to ride them up the hill and gallop them down the hill. +Beyond this green there was a much larger expanse called Peckham Rye: so +far as I can remember it was a most uninviting place formerly; not a +wild heath like Putney or Hampstead, not a waste place covered with fern +and gorse and bramble and wild trees; but a barren, dreary expanse of +uncertain grass. Boys would perhaps have played cricket upon it in +summer, but there were then no boys at Peckham Rye. Now, all this +country is covered with houses, and Peckham is like Bloomsbury itself +for streets and terraces and squares. + +We have not only destroyed the former beauty of South London: we have +forgotten it. Ask a resident of Penge--one of the many thousands of +Penge--what this suburban town was like seventy years ago. Do you think +he can tell you anything of Penge Common? Has he ever heard of any Penge +Common? Well, it is exactly seventy-one years ago--viz. in May +1827--that Mr. William Hone--the compiler of the 'Every-Day Book,' +climbed up outside the Dulwich stage, proposing to visit the picture +gallery of Dulwich College. Hone was one of the first of those curious +and inquisitive persons who began to employ their summers in exploring +the unknown villages and strange places round London. The picture +gallery he could not see because it was closed; he therefore walked +across the country from Dulwich to a place called Penge. At the top of a +hill he found a choice of three roads. He chose that which led through +Penge Common. The place was thickly wooded: it was, he says, 'a +cathedral of singing birds.' At the mere recollection of that choir he +bursts into verse--other people's verse. Alas! the Common had already, +even then, been ravished from its owners, the people: it was enclosed; +it was doomed; it was about to be built upon. Mr. Hone consoled himself, +however, at the 'Old Crooked Billet,' with eggs and bacon and +home-brewed ale. Again, is there anyone in Penge who now remembers the +hanging woods? They hung over a hillside, and were as beautiful as the +hanging woods of Cliveden. But, like the Common, they are gone. + +[Illustration: From the Tower of St. Saviour's] + +Or let us ask the resident of Norwood what he remembers of its ancient +glories; whether there were any ancient glories. Has he heard of the +famous Norwood oak? Of the Norwood Spa? Of the gypsies of Norwood? Why, +the Queen of all the gypsies, unless there was a more powerful sovereign +at Jedburgh, held her court and camp at Norwood. Has this resident heard +of the views from the top of the hill, four hundred feet above the level +of the sea, whither the people flocked by hundreds to see the view and +to wander in the woods? + +All this beauty is destroyed. Of course, the destruction was inevitable. +One accepts the inevitable with a sigh; we cannot have town and country +together. The woods are gone, the rural life is gone, encroachments have +been made upon the commons, the wayside tavern--the place was full of +wayside taverns--is gone. What remains of all this beauty is a fragment +here and there. Clapham Common, once a heath, now a park; Wimbledon +Common, Tooting Common; these expanses are mercifully left us for +breathing-places. Some of them, like Clapham, are transformed into +imitations of a park, instead of being left as a heath. All of them are +bereft, of course, of their old accompaniments; they have lost the wood +beside the heath, the farm, the ploughed lands, the tinkle of the sheep +bell, the song of the skylark. + +We have seen in the course of these chapters some of the associations of +South London. I confess that, for my own part, I am not happy in +considering associations connected with rows of terraces and villas. +Here, you say, was once the house, with the park, of such and such a +great man. Really! I dare say. But it is now covered with gentility. If +I am taken to a slum--such a slum as that on the west of St. Mary +Overies, and am told that in this place was Winchester House, I am at +once interested. Why should the memory of the past appeal to our +imagination more in a slum than in a brand new, spick and span +collection of pleasant country villas? Is it from a feeling that all +things tend to decay, and that the new suburb speaks not of decay? Who, +for instance, stepping from the south-east corner of Tooting Common into +the place which was once Streatham Park, can think of Mrs. Thrale and +Dr. Johnson among these roads and villas? At Tooting itself, one might +remember, were it not for the houses, Daniel De Foe, who founded the +first Independent chapel there. At Wandsworth, if it were not so much +built upon, I might see Voltaire walking about. At Putney, but for the +villas, I should look for Pitt. Oh! there are a thousand people once +living, and walking, and playing their parts in their villages, whose +wraiths and spectres would willingly haunt them still, but cannot for +the bricks and the walls, the chimneys and the smoke, the roads and the +trams. + +We have destroyed the beauty of South London: we have also made its +historical associations impossible. + +[Illustration: RED CROSS GARDENS, Southwark] + +The first settlers or colonisers of this region, apart from its rural +folk, came from London about the time when roads began to be tolerable; +that is to say, late in the seventeenth century; they were the great +folk, the leisured folk, the Quality, who had suburban houses in +addition to their town houses and their country houses. They sought +shelter in the quiet retreats of Clapham, Streatham, or Norwood. These +people did not come, however, to settle, but only remained, as a rule, +for a year or two, for a few months, for a season. When the roads +became so far improved as to make driving easy and pleasant, the city +merchants came and built or bought big houses, and drove in and out +every day in their carriage and pair. They did not buy estates, as a +rule: they bought a substantial house and grounds, and sat down therein. +They had large gardens behind, with greenhouses where they grew early +strawberries; they had in front a broad lawn with a carriage drive; they +liked to have on the lawn two stately cedars, whose branches swept the +grass. They brought their friends down from Saturday to Monday. In +course of time other people came; but the first comers--these +merchants--were the aristocracy, the first families of the suburbs. In +the newer places there are still to be found the first families; in the +older suburbs they have all disappeared from the place. Thus Clapham, I +believe, knows no longer a Macaulay, a Wilberforce, a Venn. These were +people of national distinction. Of course there were not in other +suburbs first families who rose to the giddy heights attained by these +fortunate aristocrats of the suburbs; but there were many which had +among them ex-Lord Mayors and Aldermen; there were many persons among +them of dignity and authority. Alas! the first families are gone: there +is now no aristocracy of the suburb left. It is a pity. There should be +in every community some whose position entitles them to respect and +authority; there should be some to take the lead naturally; there should +be some who should maintain the standards of conduct, ideas, and +principles. Especially is this the case when by far the greater part of +the people in a community are engaged in trade. + +[Illustration: ST. SAVIOUR'S DOCK] + +I cannot quite avoid the use of figures, because a comparison between +the population of these villages in 1801 with that of these great towns +in 1898 is so startling that it must be recorded. Battersea has risen +from 3,365 to 165,115; Camberwell from 7,059 to 253,076; Lambeth from +27,985 to 295,033; Lewisham from 4,007 to 104,521; Wandsworth from +14,283 to 187,264. Or, taking the whole area of South London, that part +which is covered by the electoral districts, there is now a population +of very nearly two millions; in other words the population, in less than +a hundred years, has been multiplied by ten. That of London itself, in +the same time, the London including the City, Clerkenwell, Whitechapel, +Bloomsbury, and Westminster, has been multiplied during the same time by +five. What has caused this enormous increase in South London? Well, +people must live somewhere; the old limits proved insufficient. First, +places which had been dotted over with fields and gardens and vacant +places, such as Southwark on the west side, and Bermondsey, were +completely built over and inhabited. Then, when it became a problem how +to stow away the people within reach of their work, the 'short stage' +was supplemented by the omnibus. Next South London stretched itself out +farther; it began to include Camberwell, Brixton, Stockwell, Clapham, +and Wandsworth. These were separate suburbs lying each among its own +gardens; the inhabitants were not clerks, but principals and employers, +substantial merchants and flourishing shopkeepers. The clerks lived +nearer London, mostly on the north of the river. Lastly came the +railway, when London made another step outward, so as to take in the +places lying south of Clapham and Brixton. Then the builder began; he +saw that a new class of residents would be attracted by small houses and +low rents. The houses sprang up as if in a single night; streets in a +month, churches and chapels in a quarter. The population of South London +no longer consists of rich merchants, principals, and partners. Clerks, +assistants, and employes of all kinds now crowd the morning and evening +trains. + +If you want to form some idea of the South London folk, go stand inside +Cannon Street Station and watch the trains come in, each with its +freight of those who earn their daily bread within the City. See them +pass out--by the hundred--by the thousand--by the fifty thousand. The +brain reels at the mere contemplation of this mighty multitude which +comes in every morning and goes out every afternoon. As they hurry past +you observe on each the same expression, the same set eagerness, with +which the day's work is approached. Employer or employe, principal or +clerk, it matters nothing. The clerk, who will get none of the thousands +he is helping to secure, comes in to town as eager for the fray as his +master; the fighting instinct is in the man; his face means battle, +daily battle, in which the weapons are superior knowledge, earlier +knowledge, keen sight, readiness, ruthlessness, while there is as much +need, for success, or courage tenacity, and bluff as in any battle +between contending armies. The many twinkling feet pass out of the +station by the hundred thousand, every morning, to the field of battle. +The English are a warlike people; they enjoy the field of battle; the +City is like that state of beatitude which the pious Dane desired, in +which there would be fighting every day, and all day, and for ever. + +[Illustration: Below Cherry Garden Pier] + +In South London there are two millions of people. It is therefore one of +the great cities of the world. It stands upon an area about twelve +miles long and five or six broad--but its limits cannot be laid down +even approximately. It is a city without a municipality, without a +centre, without a civic history; it has no newspapers, magazines, or +journals; it has no university; it has no colleges, apart from medicine; +it has no intellectual, artistic, scientific, musical, literary +centre--unless the Crystal Palace can be considered a centre; its +residents have no local patriotism or enthusiasm--one cannot imagine a +man proud of New Cross; it has no theatres, except of a very popular or +humble kind; it has no clubs, it has no public buildings, it has no West +End. It is argued that although it has none of these things, yet it has +them all by right of being a part of London. That is, in a sense, true. +The theatres, concerts, picture galleries of the West End are accessible +to the South. Far be it from me to deny the culture of Sydenham and the +artistic elevation of Tooting. Yet one feels there must surely be some +disadvantage in being separated from the literary and artistic circles +whose members, it must be confessed, reside for the most part in North +London. It must surely, one thinks, be a disadvantage for a young man +who would pursue a career in art not to live among people who habitually +talk of art and think of art. It must surely be some disadvantage to +live in a place where the people, when they are gathered together, +mostly allow the conversation to turn upon things connected with the +City. + +How are these two millions distributed? + +There are, in fact, four layers. First, there is the 'submerged' +element, the people of the slums of which mention has been made. Their +numbers and their proportion to the whole I know not. Next, there are +the working people, those for whom the long lines, the endless lines, of +barracks called model lodging-houses, have been built. Here they live by +the hundred thousand--by the million: there are more than a million +working men in South London. For their use are the shops of the +Borough, chiefly provision shops, and the public houses. The third layer +is found on a slip of ground, of which Newington and Kennington may be +taken as representative: it consists principally of lodging-houses for +clerks. The fourth layer is that of the suburban villa, from the little +semi-detached cottage to the stately mansion. The 'High Street,' filled +with shops, is for the villas. + +[Illustration: The George Inn + +Little Dorrit's Window in the Marshalsea] + +Now, the whole of this immense population lives upon the City. The +bread-winners go in and out every day; the local shops provide for the +houses, and are paid out of the money made in the City; the local +doctor, the local house agent, the local schoolmaster, the local +clergyman, all receive their share of the money made in the City; even +if there be, here and there, a literary man, his wares are bought by the +money made in the City; the artist looks for his patron to the City; +the working man, whatever his work, is paid out of the City, so that the +first function of the City is to feed and supply all these millions. If +at any time the trade of the City were to decay, these suburbs would +decay as well; if the decay were gradual, they would slowly cease to +spread, begin to show empty houses and deserted streets; if the decay +were to mean ruin, the suburbs would themselves be speedily deserted. +Then would be seen a deserted city on a scale never before equalled. +Tadmor in the Wilderness would be a mere little wheelbarrow full of +stones compared with suburban London given over to decay and wreck. + +Two millions of people, most of whom belong to the working class! The +brain reels at thinking of this teeming multitudinous life; these armies +of men, women, and children living in the slums and in the huge, +unlovely barracks. The very number makes it impossible to grasp the +enormity of the mass; the vastness of the population makes one feel as +if individual effort would be absolutely useless. In a sense it is +useless, because it can only touch one or two, and what are they among +so many? But in another sense, as I will presently show, individual +effort may produce consequences both deep and widespread. + +It seems, again, when one contemplates this mass of humanity--this +compact round ball of men and women, to make which two millions have +been brought together--as if any one life was nothing, as if the life of +any one out of the heap--any girl, any lad--was wholly unimportant and +trivial, however that life were spent. That is not so: every heap is +made up of atoms; the influence of the individual is as great in a +densely populated place as in a village. One example is precious--beyond +all price--in a model dwelling-house of Bermondsey as in the most +retired community of rustics. It is very easy to generalise from the +mass: the dweller of the slums stands before the mind's eye, beery, +unwashed, in rags, inarticulate, his brain filled with thoughts which +may better be described as suspicions, desirous of nothing but of food, +drink, and warmth. That is what we think of him. It is because we do not +know him. Ask those who go down among these people habitually, they will +tell you of differences and distinctions among them as among ourselves, +of memories of better things, of resignation rather than despair, and, +at the very worst, of traits of generosity and unselfishness worthy of a +clean cottage and the air of a village green. We must be very careful +how we form general conclusions about men and women. + +[Illustration: Alcove from Old London Bridge, now at Guy's] + +But--two millions of people! And every one of them wanting all the time +what he thinks will make his life more happy. For the riverside folk the +wants are few, but they are daily wants. With them, literally, it is a +question of daily bread. Happy are the people whose wants are more +numerous and their happiness more complex! + +Let me terminate this chapter by a brief account of certain work of a +philanthropic kind which is characteristic of the place and of the time. +Many and various are the attempts and the associations and the machinery +for raising some of these people and for keeping others from sliding +down. There are the parish clergy, of late years better organised than +at any previous time, more active, and more largely assisted; they have +planted evening schools and clubs, for boys and girls. One must put the +Church of England first, not only because her clergy began the work of +rescue, but also because hers is still the larger part. There is, next, +the indirect work of the medical students of Guy's and St. Thomas's, who +go in and out among the worst courts, tolerated because they come to +doctor the sick, and do not ask disagreeable questions about the +children's school. There are, next, places which aim at civilising by +the presentation of things civilised. For instance, there is a very +pleasing institute in Whitecross Street, where a garden, an open air +band, a lecture or concert hall, and a row of cottages beautiful to look +upon are provided as a standard to which the people may rise by degrees. +There are one or two Polytechnics for the lads, and, lastly, there are +the 'Settlements,' college settlements and others. Let me briefly +describe the work and aims of one of these settlements. I have before me +the last Report of the Browning Settlement in Walworth. It is called the +Browning Settlement because its headquarters is the chapel in York +Street in which Robert Browning was christened. + +[Illustration: The Entrance Gates to Guy's] + +As for their plan of work, perhaps the aims and methods of a +'settlement' are not too well known for repetition. They are not all the +same, but the differences are slight. The directors of this settlement, +for instance, desire to plant a settlement house in every poor street; a +house which shall be inhabited by the workers, men or women, and shall +serve as a model for the other people in the street; example, in fact, +is relied upon as a potent influence. There is, or will be, a large club +house and coffee tavern for men and women, boys and girls. Once a week +there is a concert in the hall. The members of the settlement take as +large a part as possible in the local government; they have laid out a +burial-ground at the back of their hall as a garden; they have a medical +mission which gives consultations free; some of them are poor men's +lawyers; they have introduced the University Extension Lectures; they +have founded thrift agencies; they hold Sunday afternoons for the men; +they have a maternity society; they have a clothes store; they have an +adult school. Classes are held in hygiene, mathematics, and classics; +there have been Shakespeare readings, music, singing, country holidays, +summer camps, children's holidays; there is a boys' brigade; there is +musical drill; there are May Day and Harvest Festivals; and there are, +in addition, works of religion and temperance which I have not +enumerated above. + +The keynote of all such work as this is, for the workers, personal +service; for the people, the influence of example, the attraction of +things which they understand at once to be a great deal more pleasant +than the bar and the tap-room; such a variety of work and recreation as +may drag all into the net except the substratum of all, whom nothing can +lift out of the mire. + +One or two things have yet to be learned as regards these settlements. +First, how large an area in a densely populated part can be covered by a +single settlement? Next, how many young men can be found to carry on the +work? For instance, if the Browning Settlement can reach--of course it +cannot--all the people of Walworth, which is in the Parish of Newington, +and includes 120,000 people, there ought to be nine other settlements in +South London from Battersea to Greenwich, both included. If we give +20,000 people for each settlement, then there ought to be at least fifty +settlements for the millions of the working class. The Report does not +state how many residents there are, but gives a list of the officers and +managers of departments, from which it would seem that about thirty are +actively engaged from day to day. So that fifteen hundred voluntary +workers in all would be required in order to cover this land of slums +with an effective string of settlements. + +[Illustration: A Former Entrance to St. Thomas's Hospital] + +There never was a time when more determined efforts have been made for +the elevation of the submerged, and there never was a time when so many +young men and young women have been found ready to give the whole of +their time, or all their spare time, to the work. Whether they will +succeed in effecting a permanent improvement remains to be seen; +whether the attraction of personal devotion which is now passing over +the minds of the young will continue and remain with us has also to be +proved. The directors of the Browning Settlement meantime declare--I +have no intention of questioning the truth of their assertion--that they +find already among the people 'a quickening of spirit, shown in keener +intellectual interest, intenser civic ardour, warmer friendship, and +more avowed piety.' If such are the fruits of a settlement, we cannot +but desire for South London a chain of settlements reaching from +Battersea to Greenwich, both inclusive. + + NOTE.--Since this was written several new Theatres have been built + in South London. I should therefore like to correct the passage on + p. 320 which states that the Theatres are humble. Also I would + acknowledge the existence of local newspapers, and instead of saying + that it has no public buildings I would say only one or two old + buildings. + + + + +INDEX + + +Acrensis, Thomas, 161 + +Actors, Company of, 225-228 + +Ailwin, Childe, 52 + +Albion Island, 4 + +Alfred repairs the Walls, 31 + +Allectus, Emperor, 18, 26 + +Alleyn, Edward, 271 + +Arundell, Archbishop, 114, 116 + +Asclepiodotus, 29 + +Awdry, Legend of, 15 + + +Bankside, 217 + +Battersea Fields, 303, 304 + +Battle of Clapham Common, 18 + +-- on London Bridge, 148-150 + +Bear Garden Alley, 214 + +'Below Bridge,' 229 + +Bermondsey, Religious House, 51 + +-- Spa Gardens, 292 + +-- Hall, 233 + +Bill of a Feast, 265 + +Boadicea, Queen, 26 + +Boleyn, Anne, 122 + +Bombardment of London, 153 + +Borough Compter, 249, 272, 278 + +-- Society, 260, 261 + +Bridge across the River, 12 + +-- at the Barefoot Tavern, 264 + +-- Construction of, 29 + +-- Destroyed and repaired, 44, 45 + +--, The, 25 + +-- when built, 26 + +Bridges, Roman Method of Building, 28 + +Bull and Bear Baiting, 210, 211 + +Burials and Marriages in St. Mary Overies, 64 + + +Cade's Rebellion, 148 + +Canal of Cnut, Maitland's Discovery of, 38 + +Canterbury, Pilgrimages to, 163 + +-- Tales, 168-176. + +Carausius, History of, 18 + +Causeway across Southwark Marsh, 6, 7 + +-- the Lie of, 6, 7 + +Chapel of St. Peter on the Wall, 4 + +Charles II.'s Restoration, 129 + +Charlton Fair, 188 + +Chaucer's Company of Pilgrims, 168-174 + +Chelsea--'Isle of Shingle,' 6 + +Christmas at Kennington Palace, 77-79 + +Clapham Common Battle, 18 + +-- Rise, 5 + +Clink Prison, 248 + +Cnut's Canal, Course of, 40, 41 + +-- Siege, 38 + +-- Trench, 38 + +Commercial Docks, 234, 305 + +Copt Hall or Vauxhall, 111 + +Count of the Saxon Shore, 17 + +Cranmer, Martyrdom of, 65 + +Cuper's Gardens, 252, 288 + + +Danes defeated, 35 + +Danish Alliance against London, 32, 33 + +-- Invasion, Second, 36 + +Debtors' Prisons, 272 + +Denmark Hill, 311 + +Deptford, 234-238, 306 + +'Dog and Duck,' 289-292 + +Domesday Book compiled, 72 + +Dover Road, 25 + +Dry Ground beyond Kennington, 5 + +Duels in Battersea Fields, 304 + +Dulwich Fields, 309 + + +Earl Godwine's Invasion, 42 + +Earliest Maps of South London, 47 + +Edmund fights Cnut, 38 + +Edward the Third's Entertainment at Eltham Palace, 96 + +Effra River, 310 + +Elizabeth, Queen, at Greenwich, 103, 105, 108 + +Elizabeth Woodville, 62 + +Eltham Palace, 69, 74, 75, 89-97 + +Eltham Palace, Remains of, 94; + a Royal visit, 94-96 + +Embankment, Early Repairs of, 12 + +-- First, of River, 11, 12 + +Extent of South London, 2; + its Islets or Eyots, 2-3 + + +Fabri, Felix, Pilgrimage of, 176 + +Fairs of London, 179 + +Falconbridge, Bastard of, 153 + +Falcon Stream, 3 + +Falstaff, Sir John, History of, 134-152 + +Ferries across Marsh, 26 + +Field, Nathan, 223 + +Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, 110 + +Fleet sent against the Danes, 32 + +Ford of Thorney, 5 + +Freemantle, History by, 1 +[Transcriber's Note: The reference on page 1 is to Freeman not Freemantle.] + + +Gildable Manor, 48 + +Gokstad's ship, 33, 40, 41 + +Goose Green, 311 + +Great South Marsh, 2 + +Green Dragon Inn, 262 + +Greenwich Fair, 188 + +-- Hospital, 109 + +-- Palace, 97-109 + + +Hackney Marsh, 11 + +-- Marshes, 6 + +Hanger, Colonel, Memoirs of, 275 + +Harold Harefoot, 71 + +Hengist and AEsc, 20 + +Henry III. at Eltham, 90 + +-- VI.'s Coronation, 126-129 + +Herne Hill, 311 + +High Street, Borough, 10 + +-- -- Southwark, 254 + +Hope Theatre, Southwark, 221 + +Horseferry Road, Origin of Name, 5 + +Horselydown, 231 + +-- Fair, 229 + +Hubert, Archbishop of Canterbury, 118 + + +Inns of Southwark, 16, 262, 263 + +Insignia of Pilgrimage, 157 + +Islands in the Marsh, 2 + +Isle of Bramble, 9 + +-- -- or Westminster, 4 + + +Juxon, Archbishop, 120 + + +Katharine of Aragon, Marriage of, 129 + +Katharine of Valois, 56-60 + +Kennington, Richard II.'s connection with, 81-88 + +-- Palace, 69, 73; + owned by Theodric, 72; + Christmas at, 78-80 + +Kings and Princes connected with Kennington, 81 + +King's Bench Prison, 272, 274 + + +Lady Fair or Southwark Fair, 179-185 + +Lambeth Palace, 109 + +-- -- visited by Royalty, 114 + +Langton, Stephen, 118 + +Legend of Awdry, 15 + +'Le Loke,' 64 + +'Liberties' of South London, 48 + +'Liberty' Prisons, 49 + +London and Southwark, Difference between, 22 + +-- as a Port, 10 + +-- attacked by Bastard of Falconbridge, 154-156 + +-- Original Site of, 23 + +-- Site of, from the Causeway, 7 + +-- Third Siege of, by Danes, 36, 37 + +Long Barn, The, 70, 73, 75 + +Lord Mayor's Pageants, 133 + + +Maitland's Discovery of Cnut's Canal, 38 + +Manor of Lambeth, 117 + +Marian Persecution, St. Mary Overies connected with, 199-204 + +Marriages and Burials in St. Mary Overies, 64 + +-- at St. Mary Overies, 192, 193 + +Marsh, Great South, 2 + +-- Islands in, 2 + +Marshalsea, 279 + +Memories of Greenwich, 98, 99 + +Mint Street, Southwark, Sanctuary at, 242, 246 + +Monastic Houses, 50 + +Montagu Close, Southwark, 242 + +Monuments in St. Mary Overies, 196-198 + +Morden College, 239 + + +New Mint Sanctuary, 246 + +Nonesuch, 77 + +Norfolk College, 239 + +-- House, 110 + + +Origin of Settlements in South London, 17 + +Owen Tudor, 56-60 + + +Paris Gardens, 215 + +-- -- Baiting at, 212 + +Parish Clerks, Company of, 210 + +Parliament at Lambeth Palace, 113 + +Pax Romana, 17, 43 + +Payn, John, 147, 151 + +Peckham Rye, 312 + +Penge Common, 312 + +Philanthropic Work, 324 + +Pilgrimage a Mockery, 165, 166 + +-- Insignia of, 157 + +Pilgrimages, Choice of, 159, 160 + +Pilgrims starting from Southwark, 158 + +Playhouses in Southwark, 220 + +Pleasure Gardens, 282-288 + +Poets of South London, 224, 225 + +Population, Increase in, 316, 317 + +Priory of St. Mary Overies, 192 + +Prisons of the Liberties, 49 + +Processions in Southwark, 124 + +Punishments ordered by the Church, 68 + +Puritan Effect on Theatres, 221, 222 + + +Ravensbourne, 2, 3 + +Red Cross Gardens, 315 + +-- House Tavern, 304 + +Remains of Eltham Palace, 94 + +Richard II. at Kennington Palace, 81, 82 + +River, First Embankment of, 11, 12 + +-- Wall removed, 28 + +Roger of Wendover's Chronicle, 21 + +Roman Connection with Causeway, 6 + +-- Method of Building Bridges, 28 + +-- Remains in South London, 14-16 + +-- -- at St. Saviour's Grammar School, 15 + +-- Trajectus, 10 + +Rotherhithe, 305 + +Royal Houses, 69 + +-- Manor, Valuation of, 72, 73 + +Royalty at Eltham Palace, 92 + +Rum, 10 + + +Sanctuaries, Later, 241 + +Sanctuary at Southwark, 243 + +-- at New Mint, 246 + +Savoy Dock, 230 + +Settlements in South London, Origin of, 17 + +Show Folk of Bankside, 206 + +Site of London from Causeway, 7 + +-- of Original London, 23 + +Snorro, Thirlesen, 22 + +Society in the Borough, 261 + +South London, Extent of, 2 + +-- -- deserted, 20, 21 + +-- -- named Southwark by Saxons, 2 + +-- -- in Ruins and deserted, 31 + +-- -- Earliest Map of, 47 + +-- -- of To-day, 301 + +Southwark, Conditions of Existence, 12, 13 + +-- and London, Difference between, 22 + +-- Fair or Lady Fair, 179-185 + +-- Famous Inns, 16 + +-- without a Wall, 17 + +Stage Coaches, Start of, 258, 259 + +St. Mary Overies, 191 + +-- -- -- Dock, 10 + +-- -- -- Marriages at, 192, 193 + +-- -- -- reconstructed, 195, 196 + +-- -- -- connected with Marian Persecution, 199-204 + +-- -- -- in Recent Times, 205 + +St. Peter-on-the-Wall Chapel, 4 + +St. Saviour's Abbey, 51 + +St. Thomas's Hospital, 64 + +-- -- -- Foundation of, 66 + +-- -- -- Roman Remains in, 15, 16 + +'Stonegate,' 6 + +Stubbs, History by, 1 + +Swegen and Olaf, Alliance of, 33-37 + + +Tabard Inn, 268 + +Tabard Inn, Chaucer's Company of Pilgrims, 167 + +Thames Fishermen, 14 + +Theatre of Southwark Fair, 185 + +Thorney, Trade of, 8 + +-- Island, Trade of, 4 + +Tournament at Eltham, 94-96 + +Trade of Thorney, 8 + +-- Route of South London, 4 + +Traffic through Southwark, 256, 257 + +Trench of Cnut, 38 + + +Vauxhall Gardens, 294-299 + +-- -- Site of, 113 + +-- or Copt Hall, 111 + + +Walbrook, 8 + +-- Origin of Name, 3 + +Walls repaired by Alfred, 31 + +Walworth, the Name, 23 + +Wandle, River, 2, 3 + +Westminster, or Isle of Bramble, 4 + +White Lyon Prison, 280 + +William the Conqueror enters London by the Bridge, 43 + +-- III.'s Entry into London, 131, 132 + +Willoughby, Sir John, 105 + +Wyclyf's trial, 84 + + + PRINTED BY + SPOTTISWOODE AND CO. 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