servation and improvement of the fishery within the river of Thames, and for regulating and governing the company of fishermen of the said river; and alledging that the said company had ceased to act since the year 1727, and that the body of fishermen were then under no government or regulation; in consequence whereof frequent abuses were committed, to the prejudice of the fishery within the said river; which abuses could not be prevented or redressed without the aid of parliament; therefore it prayed that leave might be given to bring in a bill for the more effectual preservation and improvement of the fry and spawn of fish in the said river of Thames, and waters of Medway, and for the better regulating the fishery thereof, and more speedy punishment of offenders, in such manner as to the house should seem meet."

Soon after the presentation of this petition, a bill was brought in and passed, the purport of which was, "That the lord mayor and aldermen of London shall have full power, and they are hereby required, to make, and set down in writing, such reasonable rules and ordinances for the governing and regulating all persons who shall fish or dredge in the river of Thames and waters of Medway (within the jurisdiction of the mayor of London, as conservator of the said river and waters) as common fishermen or dredgermen, or otherwise; and for declaring in what manner they shall demean themselves in fishing, and with manner of nets and engines, and at what times and seasons they shall use fishing; for ascertaining the assize of the several fish to be taken; and for the preservation of the spawn and fry of fish within the jurisdiction aforesaid: also of obliging every common fisherman, or dredgerman, or other such person, who fish with a boat, &c. to have his christian name and surname, and the name of the place where he dwelleth, painted in large and legible characters, in some convenient place of his boat, &c. where any one may see and read the same, and for preventing the same from being changed or defaced: to annex reasonable penalties and forfeitures for the breach of such rules, not exceeding 57. for

any

any offence, and from time to time to alter and amend such rules, and to make new ones, touching the matters aforesaid; so as the same be allowed and approved of by the lord chancellor, lord keeper, or commissioners of the great seal, the two lord chief justices, and the lord chief baron, or any two of them, &c."

There are besides several excellent regulations for enforcing the purposes of the act; and by the last clause it is enacted, "That this act shall not authorize the lord mayor, or court of lord mayor and aldermen, or the water bailiff, or any other person, to grant licences, or to make any rules whereby any licence shall be required to be taken by any fisherman, dredgerman, or other person; or whereby any gratuity or compensation shall be payable; or whereby any fisherman, dredgerman, or other such person shall be obliged to appear before the lord mayor, water bailiff, or other person, to enter his name in any register, or other book; or whereby he shall be limited or restrained from keeping any number of boys in any one boat, as he shall judge proper; any thing in the said act of the 9th Queen Anne, or any other statute or usage to the contrary notwithstanding."

Whilst the improvements of London Bridge were carried on, a temporary bridge of timber was ordered to be erected on the western sterlings, formed in a curve, and to be opened into the entrances at each end. This bridge having been compleated in the month of October 1757, was opened as a very safe and convenient passage into the Borough of Southwark. But to the utter astonishment of the whole city, the building burst into a sudden blaze on the eleventh of April 1758, and continued burning till noon the next day, when the ruins fell into the river. A total stop was thus put to all trade depending on the intercourse between London and Southwark, except what could be carried on by boats.

No doubt remained but that the fire was occasioned by the villainous endeavours of incendiaries; this suspicion was VOL. I. No. 19. 3 K confirmed

confirmed by the watchmen at the Steel Yard, the Custom House Key, and several other persons, who declared, that about eleven o'clock they observed some lights under the bridge, which appeared in several places like candles in Janthorns, and that soon after this, the building burst into flames from one end to the other; the consequence was, that the remaining part of the bridge was strictly guarded by a nightly watch, in order to secure it from future accidents.

The result of this iniquitous circumstance was that the parliament soon after passed an act to amend the former one for repairing London Bridge; in which they granted "15,000l. for that purpose, repealed the tolls imposed for passage over and under the bridge, and enacted, that persons wilfully attempting to destroy any part of the bridge, or of the works belonging to it, should suffer death without the benefit of clergy."

London experienced an affecting loss on the sixteenth of July, when the father of the city, Sir John Barnard, requested that the court of aldermen would permit him to resign his gown, on account of his age and infirm state of health. It was with reluctance that the court of aldermen could part with such a virtuous and patriotic member; and to shew the high sense of gratitude which was due to his conduct, it was, on the twenty-fifth unanimously resolved by the common council, who had voted a statue to perpetuate his memory under the piazza of the Royal Exchange, "That Sir John Barnard, Knt. so justly and emphatically stiled the father of this city, having lately (to the great and lasting regret of this court) thought proper to resign the office of alderman, the thanks of this court be given him, for having so long and so faithfully devoted himself to the service of his fellow-citizens, for the honour and influence which this city has, upon many occasions, derived from the dignity of his character, and the wisdom, steadiness, and integrity of his conduct: for his firm adherence to the constitution both in church and state, his

noble

noble struggles for liberty, and his disinterested and invariable pursuit of the true glory and prosperity of his king and country, uninfluenced by power, unawed by clamour, and unbiassed by the prejudice of party."

The committee appointed to carry the act of parliament into execution for building a bridge across the river Thames from Blackfriars, delivered to the court of common council, on the 28th of June 1759, a representation in writing, under the hands of six aldermen and twenty commoners, which was in substance as follows:

"1. That it is the opinion of this committee, that the intended bridge should be of stone.

“2. That from the evidence given to parliament, upon the application for an act to build the said bridge, it is the opinion of this committee, that an elegant, substantial, and convenient stone bridge may be erected for a sum not exceeding 120,000l.

"3. That, from estimates laid before us, it is the opinion of this committee, that proper avenues to the said bridge may be purchased and completed for a sum not exceeding 24,000l.

4. That it is the opinion of this committee, that a sum not exceeding 144,000l. should be forthwith contracted for, and raised within the space of eight years, by such installments as this committee shall think proper in each year, not exceeding 30,000l. in any one year; the money to be contracted for to be paid into the chamber of London.

5. That it is the opinion of this committee, that the persons contracting to advance the said money should be entitled to an interest of 4l. per cent. per annum, by way of annuities, to be computed from the time of the first payment in each year upon the whole sum by them respectively advanced within the year, but should name such forfeiture as this committee shall see fit, in case of neglect, to make good any of the stipulated sums: the said annuities to be paid half yearly by the chamberlain, but to be redeemable at the expiration of the first ten years upou six months notice, and payment of the money advanced.

"6. That it is the opinion of this committee, that the chamberlain should be authorized and directed to affix the city's seal to such instrument as the committee should think fit to give, pursuant to the said act for securing the payment of the said annuities, redeemable as aforesaid, and which shall be transacted and paid for in manner before mentioned.

"7. That it is the opinion of this committee, that the chamberlain should be authorized and directed to pay and apply the monies so to be paid in for the purposes of the said act, in such a manner as this committee shall from time think fit and order.

"8. That it is the opinion of this committee, that the chamberlain should be authorized and directed to lay out and apply the sheriffs fines, appropriated by order of the court of common council for the purposes of the said act, either in the public funds, in order to carry interest, or to payment of the said annuities, or otherwise, as this committee shall from time to time think fit and order. And it was ordered that the court of common council be moved, pursuant to the last five resolutions.".

Another court of common council was appointed for the nineteenth, at which were upwards of two hundred members; and the said affairs of the new bridge was considered, and strongly debated; they divided three several times, and there being on each division a majority of forty and upwards, they were agreed to.

To connect the particulars of our narrative it is necessary to remark, that the power of the French in Germany having been very considerable; and that to defeat their designs against Great Britain and her allies, it was requisite that continual recruits should be raised to supply the great draughts of men from these realms. The lord mayor, Sir Richard Glyn, Bart. summoned a court of common council to meet on the fourteenth of August, when his lordship informed the court that he had called them together to deliberate on a proposition of great consequence to the service

of