London Bridge-Some account of the New Bridge-The ancient bridge- Houses built on-Tradition connected with it-Gates at each end-Dread- ful calamity there-Inconvenience of the ancient bridge-Grand Tourna- ment on it-Grand displays on it in the olden time-Battle on it between Jack Cade's rioters and the citizens-Attacked by ruffians-Attack on it by the Bastard of Falconbridge Heads of great victims exhibited there— Hall's account of the exhibition of Bishop Fisher's head-Hentzner's account of the number of these heads-Romantic story-Hans Holbein, a resident here-Fishmonger's Hall described-The old Hall-Short account The Monument described-Account of the Fire of London-Plans for rebuild- ing-Origin of the Fire-Suicides committed from the Monument-Bil- lingsgate and its neighbourhood, formerly the chief place for eating-houses -A harbour for vessels-The first Custom House-The New Custom House The Tower; some account of the ancient fortress-Fatal result of the attempted escape of the son of the Prince of Wales-Escape of Roger Mortimer-Execution there of Sir John Mortimer-Sir William Wallace a prisoner here; his execution-Brutal excesses by the Wat Tyler rioters; murder of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Lord Saye murdered- Gallant defence of this fortress by Lord Scales; Henry VI. a prisoner here -Duke of Clarence and Lord Hastings imprisoned here: their deaths- Murder of the young Princes-Execution of Sir William Stanley, and other partizans of Perkin Warbeck-Melancholy fate of the Earl of War- Trial and death of Bishop Fisher, Sir Thomas More, Anne Boleyn-Im- prisonment of two noble lovers-Severities towards those engaged in the Pilgrimage of Grace"-Trial and execution of the Marquis of Exeter and others-Trial and execution of Sir Nicholas Carew of Beddington-Cruel fate of Margaret, Countess of Salisbury-Trial and execution of Cromwell, Earl of Essex-Heretics tried and executed by order of Henry VIII.— Trial and acquittal of Sir Thomas Wyatt, the poet-Trial and execution of Queen Catherine Howard-Sir Arthur Plantagenet's death there- Queen Catherine Parr-Trial and execution of the Earl of Surrey-Exe- cution of Lord Seymour, of Dudley-Imprisonment there of Bishop Gardiner-Fatal accident at the execution of the Protector, Somerset- Execution of Dudley, Duke of Northumberland-Sir Thomas Wyatt's A RAMBLE IN THE STREETS OF LONDON. m London; variety of its inhabitants-Romance and entertainment of its streets -Apsley House-Duke of Wellington's equestrian statue-Hyde Park Corner a century ago, its suttling-house and itinerant barbers-Anecdote of Sir Richard Steele and Richard Savage-London fortified in 1642Roundhead enthusiasm-The Elgin marbles, and Byron's indignation at their removal—George III. a designer of edifices-May Fair, its performers and performances-Duck-hunting-Shepherd's Market-Pulteney Hotel —Van Nost, the manufacturer of leaden figures—Bath House, its magnificence-Clarges Street-Mansion of Sir Francis Burdett-Berkeley House (on its site Devonshire House), account of the mansion, temp. Charles II. -Hay Hill, encounter between Cavaliers and Roundheads on-Clarendon House-Burlington House commemorated by Gay-The Albany (York House)-Paintings in St. James's Vestry-room-Artists buried in St. James's Churchyard-The Egyptian Hall-Anecdotes connected with the "White Bear"-Winstanley's Water Theatre: Bills of PerformancesWindmill Street-Pickadill, definition of the term-Piccadilly-Remarkable houses in the Haymarket-The Little Theatre, anecdotes connected with it-Broughton, the pugilist-Colley Cibber, an amateur-Fight between Johnson and Sherlock. THE great Poet has said that the contemplative man can find sermons in stones and good in everything." The averment has never been disputed; all the world admits its truth, and it is only brought forward here that we may claim for London stones more capabilities of instruction than stones in general afford. To the contemplative man who walks over the wide-extending leagues of pavement of this busy city, and who remembers something of the history of each street as he passes it, what a vast amount of amusement and instruction is spread out! As he loiters along, to all the world apparently an idle and unconcerned spectator, how his fancy may be charmed, his sensibility awakened, his emulation excited, and his patriotism warmed by the recollection, that here in this alley lived a poet; there in that lane a great man died in want and sorrow; here in this street another great man surmounted difficulties, that to weaker minds would have been insurmountable; and here in this square lived the friend of his country and of his kind, whose name is a household word of love and admiration. To the man who strolls through London in this spirit, the great city becomes, indeed, a world of itself, and he may travel over it with more delight and instruction than many gather in the whole of Europe, by railroads, remembering nothing but that they have gone over a certain number of leagues, and seen a certain number of capital cities, and returning home again with the same quantity of ideas with which they set out. The inhabitant of this great city, who looks a little deeper than the surface of things, need never lack amusement in his leisure hours. He has only to extend his map before him, and consider the various tribes and nations who inhabit his little world, and then take a journey among them, and study the difference of their manners, appearance, mode of life, and even language, and he will be surprised at the immense variety. There is scarcely more difference between Englishmen and Frenchmen than there is between the inhabitants of St. James's and Whitechapel, St. Giles's and Spitalfields, Islington and Gravel Lane: and then the history of those various regions-their separate laws, religions, characteristics, occupations, amusements-why, it is like studying the geography of a continent! What a fearful romance is a great city! Could we get at the secrets of each house, whether of the past or the present, what pictures of human strife, misery, cruelty, self-immolation, madness, and despair, we might unfold! How many, too, of a brighter aspect we might discover ;-pictures of ardent struggle for the right, of patient suffering, of virtue strong amid temptation, of unwearying benevolence, and of Christian loving-kindness! But without endeavouring to penetrate so far, we purpose to make a few journeys of discovery through some of the principal thoroughfares or arteries of this "mighty heart of England;" noting, as we pass, the various memorabilia of each spot, conjuring up reminiscences of the great and the good, the wise and the witty of former ages; remarking the physical changes each spot has undergone, and comparing the elegance |