the balance of its security relies the prosperity of a great portion of the commercial world. This lane is now inhabited by bankers, and most respectable tradesmen.

The CORPORATION of the LONDON ASSURANCE, in this lane, founded by royal charter of George I. and their powers extended

Unto the Rolls I gat me from thence,
Before the clarkes of the chauncerye ;
Where many I found earnyng of pence,
But none at all regarded mee;

I

gave them my playnt uppon my knee,
They lyked it well, when they had it reade;
But lacking mony I could not be sped.

In Westmynster-hall I found out one
Which went in a long gown of raye,
1 crouched and kneled before hym anon,
For Mary's love of help I hym praye;
"I wot not what thou meanest" gan he say;
To get me thence he dyd me bede,
For lack of mony I cold not spede.

Within this hall neithere ryche nor yett poor
Wold do for me ought although I shold dye;
Which seeing I gat me out of th' doore,
Where Flemynge began on me for to cry,
"Master, what will you copen or by ;
"Fyne felt hatts or spectacles to reede

"Lay down your sylver, and here you may spede."

Then to Westmynster gate I presently went,

When the sunn was at hyghe pryme;

Cokes to me they tooke good entent

And profered me bread with ale and wyne;

Rybbs of befe both fat and ful fyne,

A fayre cloth they gan for to sprede

But wantyng mony I might not be speede.

Then unto London I dyd me hye,
Of all the land it beareth the pryse;
Hot pescods one began to crye

Strabery rype and cherryes in the ryste :
One bad me come nere and by some spyce
Peper and sayforne they gan me bede
But fore lacke of mony I myght not spede.
VOL. II. No. 33.

R

Then

extended to foreign parts, by an act of parliament in the present reign, assures houses, merchandize, &c. whether the property of the assured be on commission, or in trust. They also are accountable for damages by lightning; and in extraordinary cases, even pay losses by invasion, civil commotion, and other circumstances of that nature.

Then to the Chepe I began me drawne,
Where mutch people I sawe for to stande;
One ofred me velvet, sylke, and lawne,
An othere he taketh me by the haunde,
"Here is Paris thred the finest in the launde,"
I never was used to such things in dede
And wanting mony I myght not spede.

Then went I forth by London Stone
Throughout all Canwyke street.
Drapers mutch cloth me ofred anone

Then comes me one, cryd "hot shepes feete;"
One cryde mackerell ryster greene, other gan grecte,

One bad me by a hood to cover my head,

But fore want of mony I might not be sped.

Then I hyed me into Estchepe,

One cryes rybbs of bese and many a pye;
Pewter potts they clattered on a heape,

There was harpe, pype, and mynstrelsye:

"Yea by cock," " nay by cock" some began crye;
Some sang of Jenken and Julyan fore there mede,
But fore lack of mony I mýght not spede.

Then into Cornhyll anon I yode,
Where was much stolen gere amonge;
I saw where honge myne own hoode,
That I had lost amonge the thronge:
To by my own hood I thought it wronge,
I knew it well as I dyd my crede,
But for lack of mony I could not spede.

The Taverner took me by the sleve,

"Sir," sayth he, "wyll you our wyne assay;"
I answered, "That can not mutch me greve,
A penny can do no more than it may :”

I dranke a pynt and for it dyd pay,
Yet sore a hungered from thence I yede,
And wanting my mony I cold not spede.

In

Then

In Cornhill, was anciently a large Hofpitium or Inn called Coleyn's-hyn; a great controverfy in 1391, was fustained by the rectors of the two parishes of St. Michael and St. Peter, on account of oblations from the western part of the inn, denominated Vernivele. Upon an inquisition, it was found that one part of the extreme western part, containing in length from the street northward, forty-three feet and an half, and in breadth along the street, forty-one feet, was in the parish of St. Michael; the remaining part, containing from east to west on the north part, forty-two feet, and in breath twenty-six feet, was in the parish of St. Peter; it was therefore finally settled, that the rector of St. Michael should admit the inhabitants of Vernivele to the sacrament, &c. and they should be accounted his parishioners; and, that the rector of St. Peter should be indemnified, the rector of St. Michael was to pay him xii. pence at the first of the Nativity, yearly for ever, under the pain of sequestration, which composition was confirmed by bishop Braybroke *.

Then hyed I me to Belynges Gate,
And one cryed "Hoo, go we hence;"
I prayd a barge man for God's sake,
That he would spare me my expence;

"Thou stepst not here," quo' he, "under ij pence,"
I lyst not yet bestow my almes dede;
Thus lacking mony I could not spede.

Then I conveyed me into Kent;
For of the law wold I meddle no more,
Because no man to me took entent,
I dyght me to do as I dyd before :

Now Jesus that in Bethlem was bore

Save London, and send trew lawyers there mede
For who so wants mony with them shall not spede.
Explicit London Lyckpenny.

Harl. MSS. vol. ccclxvii. p. 126, 127.

* Newcourt's Repertorium.

R 2

ST.

THE history of this church is very remote. Alnoth the priest gave it to the abbot and convent of Eovesham, who granted it and all their lands there held, in 1133 to Sparling, the priest, for which he was to pay a yearly rent of one mark to the abbot, and to find him lodging, falt, water, and and fire, whenever he came to London *.

Sir Richard Drope was a great benefactor to the poor of the parish and the ward. His lady having afterwards married Edward Gray Lord Lisle, was buried in this church by the side of her first husband, in 1500. She was also a benefactress to the church, and gave ninety pounds to beautifying the structure, and her great messuage, with the appurtenances, to the parfon and churchwardens, for ever, on condition that they kept her anniversary to be spent on the poor or otherwise, to the amount of three pounds, the rest to be appropriated to the reparation of the church. The house and appurtenances, called Lady Lisle's Lands, were in the 34th

* Among the registers of charters belonging to the abbey of Evesham, is the following note. "In Londoniis ecclesia S. Mich. de Cornhull, pertinet ad ecclesiam de Evesham, cum tribus domibus, & reddit annuatim ecclesiæ duas marcas, & semel in anno ignem, salem, & literiam." Cott. MSS. Vesp. b. xxiv. fol. 9.

of

of Henry VII. leased out for sixty years, at a yearly rent of gl. 13s. 4d. But, the parishioners not consulting their own interest, gave up this bequest as chantry lands; and suffered the tombs of fuch benefactors to be demolished without remorse. Another act of carelessness we cannot forbear to mention. Alderman John Tolus, in 1548, gave to the rector, and churchwardens for ever, towards the repair of the church, and the relief of the poor, his tenement and appurtenances in the parish; but through the knavery of the executors, and the negligence of the parishioners, the benefaction was not claimed for forty years.

There was a chantry founded in this church for the soul of Walter de Billingham, to which bishop Braybroke collated in 1390. Two other chantries were founded by William Co merton and Simon Smith.

Stow defcribes this to have been "a fair and beautiful church; but since the surrender of their lands to Edward VI. greatly blemished by the building of four tenements on the north side thereof, towards the high street, in place of a green church-yard, whereby the church was darkened, and otherwise annoyed." These tenements, with the consent of the Draper's company, patrons, and Grindall, bishop of London, were given by Richard Matthew, then rector, 11 Elizabeth, to alderman Hawes, and other inhabitants, and their heirs for ever; the rector reserving to himself and successors the tythes, towards the support and reparation of the church and its ornaments.

On the south side of the structure, was 66 a proper cloister, and a fair church-yard, with a pulpit cross, similar to that at St. Paul's cathedral. In this cloister were lodgings for choristers, and in the cross sermons were preached; this was all at the expence of Sir John Rudstone, mayor in 1528. After his death in 1531, the choir was dissolved, the cross delapidated, his monument was demolished, and every other sacrilege was committed consistently with the barbarity of the despoilers. However, some humane persons having procured the choristers' lodgings, they were appointed for the dwellings of antient widow parishioners, who were decayed, or were unable to bear the charge of greater rents.

The