CHAPTER III. New Fleet Market-Bolt Court and Dr. Johnson-Cobbett-The Scottish Hospital-Procession of the Burning of the Pope-The Meal Tub PlotCharles II.'s attempt to suppress-Guy Fawkes' Day-Steeple of St. Bride's Church-Fatal accident in the Churchyard-Milton's HouseThe Palace of Bridewell-Residence of Henry VIII-His speech to Cardinal Campeius in relation to the King's Divorce-The Palace granted to the City-Bridewell Boys-The old Palace destroyed-Disgraceful state of Fleet Ditch-The Old Bourne-Fleet Market-Course of River FleetFleet Prison-Atrocious Treatment of the Prisoners formerly-Cruelties practised on Jacob Mendez Solas and Captain John McPhedris-Fleet Marriages. ON the eastern side of Shoe Lane, is Fleet Market, formerly held in the middle of the now clear and open thoroughfare of Farringdon Street, but which, being found a great inconvenience to the traffic, was removed here in 1829. As its contemplation offers few attractions to stay the steps of a rambler, we continue our course down Shoe Lane, and are once more on the north side of Fleet Street. There are a great number of small courts or alleys branching from this side, of which it will be necessary to speak, and we will therefore take them all together. This district was the principal part of the ancient Saxon city of London. It was nearly all burnt down in the year 982. Stow, in his "Annals," recording the event, says, "Great part of London was burnt, which city had at this time most buildings from Ludgate towards Westminster, and little or none where the heart of the city now is, except in divers places was housing that stood without order." The district has been always densely peopled; and some of the courts seem so close and narrow as scarcely to afford breathing room to a healthy person. most famous of these courts is Bolt Court, so long inhabited by Samuel Johnson. We have already spoken of him so frequently that it is needless to mention more than the mere fact of his residence here. The house itself which he inhabited exists no more. The Bolt Court is also well known as being the place of residence of the celebrated William Cobbett, and where he wrote, printed, and published his "Register," and dealt in flower seeds and Indian corn. His well-known "Register," which died with its author, was the last work of its kind,-a sort of hybrid between the pamphlet and the newspaper. Among the other courts branching off Fleet Street is Crane Court, at the extremity of which stands the Scottish Hospital, incorporated in the reign of Charles II., for the relief of poor Scotch people resident in London. The institution dates its first incorporation from the year 1665, and its re-incorporation from 1775. It is now under the presidency of the Duke of Sutherland. The only other courts in Fleet Street worthy of record are Johnson's Court and Wine Office Court. In the former, Dr. Johnson resided for many years, and Goldsmith had lodgings in the latter for a short time. Fleet Street was the scene of the annual grand procession and burning of the pope in the reign of Charles II. After the discovery of the Meal-tub Plot, as it was called, this annual mummery was performed with additional pomp and ceremony. The day was the 17th of November, the anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth-then observed as a Protestant festival. Black friars, black, white, and grey bishops, cardinals, and finally, the pope himself, formed the procession, which was headed by a man on horseback personating the dead body of Sir Edmonbury Godfrey, whose mysterious death at that time exercised the imaginations and inflamed the passions of the people of England. The pope was tricked out in grotesque habiliments, and a representative of the devil, as his prime minister, sat on his shoulders, and hopped from ear to ear, as if whispering evil counsels. The procession began at Bishopsgate and ended in Fleet Street, where the final ceremony of the burning took place. The following account is from a rare pamphlet, entitled "The Burning of the Pope at Temple Bar in London." Upon the 17th of November (1679) the bells began to ring about three o'clock in the morning, in the city of London, and several honourable and worthy gentlemen belonging to the Temple, as well as to the city, (remembering the burning both of London and the Temple, which was apparently executed by popish villany,) were pleased to be at the charge of an extraordinary triumph, in commemoration of that blessed Protestant queen (Elizabeth), which was as follows. In the evening of the said day, all things being prepared, the solemn procession began from Moorgate, and so to Bishopsgate Street, and down Houndsditch to Aldgate, through Leadenhall Street, Cornhill, by the Royal Exchange, through Cheapside, to Fleet Street. "The whole procession was attended with one hundred and fifty flambeaux and lights by order, but as many more came in volunteers as made up some thousands. Never were the balconies, windows, and houses more numerously lined, or the streets closer thronged with multitudes of people, all expressing their abhorrence of popery, with continual shouts and acclamations; so that it is modestly computed, that in the whole progress there could not be fewer than two hundred thousand spectators. "Thus with a slow and solemn state they proceeded to Temple Bar, where with innumerable swarms the houses seemed to be converted into beaps of men and women and children, for whose diversion there were provided great quantities of excellent fireworks. 66 Temple Bar being, since its rebuilding, adorned with four stately statues, namely, those of Queen Elizabeth and King James, on the inward or eastern side fronting the city, and those of King Charles Ist., of blessed memory, and our present gracious sovereign (whom God in mercy to these nations long preserve!), on the outside, facing towards Westminster; the statue of Queen Elizabeth was, in regard to the day, provided with a crown of gilded laurel, and in her hand a golden shield, with the motto 'The Protestant Religion and Magna Charta,' and flambeaux placed before it. The pope being brought up near thereunto, the following song, alluding to the posture of these statues, was sung in parts, between one representing the English cardinal (Philip Howard, brother of the Duke of Norfolk, made a cardinal in 1675,) and others representing the people: 6 CARDINAL NORFOLK. From York to London town we come To talk of popish ire, To reconcile you all to Rome, And prevent Smithfield fire. PLEBEIANS. Cease, cease, thou Norfolk cardinal! See, yonder stands Queen Bess, O Queen Bess! Queen Bess! Queen Bess! Your popish plot and Smithfield threat We do not fear at all, For lo! beneath Queen Bess's feet, You fall! you fall! you fall! 'Tis true, our king's on 'tother side, 1 But, could we bring him roundabout Then down with James, and up with Charles, That all true commons, lords, and earls, Now God preserve great Charles our king, And traitors all to justice bring, "Then the thronging spectators were entertained for some time with ingenious fire-works; and a vast fire being prepared just over against the Inner Temple Gate, his holiness, after some compliments and reluctances, was decently toppled from all his grandeur into the impartial (infernal) flames, the crafty devil leaving his infallibilityship in the lurch, and laughing as heartily at his ignominious end as subtle jesuits do at the ruin of bigoted lay catholics, whom themselves have drawn in. This act of justice was attended with a prodigious shout, that might be heard far beyond Somerset House (the residence of the queen and her catholic household); and 'twas believed the echo of its continued reverberations, before it ceased, reached Scotland (where the Duke of York then was), France, and even Rome itself, damping them all with a dreadful astonishment." Roger North states that from these processions the now common word of mob was first introduced into the English language. In his "Examen," he says, speaking of the Green Ribbon Club, the members of which were at the pains and cost of organizing this annual mummery, " The rabble first changed their title, and were called the mob-the assemblies of this club. It was their beast of burthen, and called first mobile vulgus, but fell naturally into the contraction of one syllable, and is ever since become proper English." These mock processions, renewed every year, were greatly to the distaste of the court of Charles II.; and in November 1682, the lord mayor and sheriffs were ordered to attend the king in council, when they were strictly commanded to prevent all such riotous disorders, and warned that, if they permitted them, the offence would be considered as that of the whole body corporate, and punished accordingly. The lord mayor, however, represented that such was the " ardour of the people against popery," that it would be dangerous to interfere; and the king being sensible from the sad experience of every day, that upon this subject his people were in a state of high excitement, resolved not to interfere, but to station troops of horse at convenient distances, to be ready in case of any sudden and alarming outbreak of popular fury. The annual saturnalia was kept up until the expulsion of James II., when it died away; leaving the national hatred of popery to vent itself upon the 5th of November, instead of the 17th, and upon the effigies of Guy Fawkes, instead of those of his holiness of Rome. The One of the most prominent objects to the gaze of the pedestrian who looks upon the memorabilia of Fleet Street, is the fine spire of St. Bride's steeple, the work of Sir Christopher Wren, that great church builder of the seventeenth century. The edifice is dedicated to St. Bridget, of which St. Bride's is the popular corruption. St. Bridget is said to have been an Irish saint, and has given name not only to this church, but to the spring adjoining, and the once royal hospital of Bridewell, now the city house of correction, of which we shall speak hereafter. church that formerly stood here was very small, as we learn from the authority of Stow. It was burned down in the great fire of 1666, and rebuilt from the plan of Sir Christopher Wren, in 1680. It has been several times repaired and beautified; and in 1796 was thoroughly renovated by authority of an act of parliament. The steeple was greatly injured by a thunder storm on the 18th of June, 1764, and large stones were displaced by the electric fluid and hurled into Fleet Street, to the great danger of the passengers and the adjoining houses. The illuminated clock was one of the first of those conveniences which have, since the year 1830, become so common in London. The present handsome avenue or opening from Fleet Street, allows a full view of this fine spire. In the churchyard are buried Richard Lovelace, whose fate we have already dwelt upon; and Richardson, the author of "Pamela." The Earl of Dorset, upon condition that the parishioners would not bury in the south churchyard opposite his mansion, granted a parcel of ground on the side of Fleet Ditch, for a new burial-place. In St. Bride's churchyard, Milton took lodgings on his return. from London. His apartments were in the house of one Russell, a tailor; and Milton here commenced the education of John and Edward Philips, his sister's sons. Finding the rooms toosmall, he removed to Aldersgate Street, and took more scholars. Underneath the church wall is a pump, homely in appearance, but nevertheless covering the site of, and supplying the inhabitants around with water from, the ancient St. Bride's well. Bridewell, named originally from the same spring,-now the house of correction for the city of London-was formerly a royal. |