Place, once the site of the priory of the Holy Trinity, founded in 1108, by Matilda, wife to Henry the First; and being the richest in England, was for that reason supposed to have been the first dissolved by Henry the Eighth, who granted it to Thomas Audley, afterwards Lord High Chancellor of England. Coming afterwards to the Duke of Norfolk, and remaining with the Howard family, it received the name of Duke's Place, It became the habitation of Jews in the time of Oliver Cromwell. One corner of the area or square, in Duke's Place, is distinguished by the Synagogue of the German Jews, built in the simplest style of Ger man architecture, and the other by the little church of St. James-a brick edifice of the time of James the First, and named after that monarch.-Pennant observed, that in his time only two arches remained of this priory. But it may supply the future antiquary, with some reflection, to be informed, that, in the month of September, 1816, the site of the last gateway belonging to this ancient priory, and consequently its last visible vestige, was partly occupied by a new house not then finished, and the passage rendered more convenient by the removal of another dwelling that lately crossed the gate, consisting of a central and two side arches of the pointed order, leading towards Cree Church-Lane. This gate, once perhaps the principal western entrance, for no reason that can now be assigned, was distinguished by the inhabitants of Duke's Place, by the name of the Thrum Gate. Here too the singular mutation of the same spot in the course of a few centuries offers a striking contrast: the first inhabitants were obedient and zealous Christians, devoted to the worship of the Holy Trinity; the latter, incredulous and obstinate Jews, willing, at all times, to forego life and all its enjoyments, rather than pay the least deference to the opinions of the founders of this priory! Genius, however, has once at least enlightened

the gloom of this obscure corner; and it will perhaps never be forgotten, that here a Hans Holbein has painted; and that he lived under the patronage of a ferocious prince who observed, that though he could make as many nobles as he pleased, it was out of his power to make one painter.

Houndsditch is a long street, running into Bishopsgate-Street, and derived its name from running along the city wall, and having formerly been the receptacle for dead dogs and other filth. Hence proceeding eastward, the long street and suburbs of Whitechapel commence, leading to a number of alms-houses and other benevolent foundations, highly indicative of the opulence and benevolence of the country, after having passed a long range of butcher's shops on the south side of this wide street, which altogether form what is called Whitechapel-Market, mostly for carcase butchers.

Returning to Houndsditch, we find, on the south side of this street, and a little to the north of Duke's Place, a street called Bevis Marks, containing a handsome synagogue for the Portugueze Jews. Here too the meeting-house in Bury-Street is still memorable, on account of its having been that in which the celebrated Doctor Watts used to preach, erected in the year 1708.

On the opposite side of Houndsditch a small passage leads to Devonshire-Square, containing Devonshire house, at present one of the principal meeting-houses of the Friends. A very large house on this spot, originally built by one Fisher, who ruined himself, and hence called "Fisher's Folly," became the habitation of several noblemen before and after Queen Elizabeth's time. One of its last occupants was William, the second Earl of Devonshire, who died here in the year 1622.

Nearly opposite to Devonshire-Court, in Bishopsgate-Street, stands St. Botolph's, Bishopsgate.

This fabric, begun upon the site of the old church, in 1725, has a spacious body of brick, and is well enlightened, the roof being also concealed by a balustrade. The steeple exhibits a considerable appearance of grandeur. In the centre of the front is a large plain arched window decorated with pilasters of the Doric order; over this a festoon, and above an angular pediment; on each side is a door crowned with windows, and over these are others of the port-hole kind: above these a square tower rises crowned by a dome with a circular base, surrounded by a balustrade in the same form; on each side of this, at the corner of the tower, are placed urns with flames. From this part rises a series of coupled Corinthian pillars, supporting similar urns to the former, and over them the dome ascends, crowned with a very large vase with flames. The structure, upon the whole, is upon a simple, beautiful, and harmonious plan, and the steeple more in taste than many in the metropolis, notwithstanding a great entrancedoor is wanting in the centre. The inside of the church is commensurate with the exterior, and the pulpit in a grand style. The monument of Sir Paul Pindar is one of the most conspicuous. In the lower church-yard there is another, with an inscription in Persian characters, relative to a secretary to the Persian ambassador, who died here in 1626.

In New-Street, nearly opposite this church, are the East India Company's warehouses, with fronts several hundred feet in length, and in general covering more ground than any of our royal palaces.

From these, during the late war, three regiments of armed men, composed of servants, &c. were in the habit of issuing out two or three times a week to be trained and exercised in a field belonging to the East India Company near the City-Road, and were generally known by the name of the Company's Volunteers.

Returning again to the southward, near Camomile