ed beyond all former example, and the merchants of London acquired a weight and influence in the scale of commerce, as well as in the national councils of their country, hitherto unknown; the event which had nearly extinguished the ancient royal house, and the nobility, became highly beneficial to the community, by procuring domestic peace; by opening the advancement of traffic; and by establishing respectable connexions with foreign powers. But just as Canute began to enjoy the fruit of the benefits he had thus secured, he departed this life at Shaftesbury, Nov. 12, 1035, leaving behind him the character of a great prince.

His son Harold, surnamed Harefoot, unlike his father in any good quality, having imposed himself upon the nobility, in preference to his brother Hardicanute, the son of Emma, Ethelred's widow, obtained the sanction of the Wittena-gemot, which was composed of the Thanes, among which sat the merchants, who on account of their occupation were denominated the Seamen of London *.

We pass the turbulent reigns of this monarch and his successor Hardicanute; the first criminally ambitious; the second a ferocious, revengeful drunkard; whose actions had rendered their names so'odious, that it reflected in the eyes of the English, a detestation of the Danish character; they therefore resolved to restore the family of their native sovereigns, in the person of Edward the Confessor; but they mistook their aim; for instead of being governed by a monarch, they had crowned a whining monk, who suffered his kingdom to go to distruction whilst he sought his salvation by building and endowing churches. He re-edified the sarced pile of St. Peter, Westminster; restored it to a style of magnificence, with a munificent endowment; and bestowed on it all the privileges which papal decrees could enforce. His death happened Jan. 5, 1066, and he was interred in his

The comparative importance of commerce was so great, even in these times of ignorance, that by a law of Athelstan, a merchant who had made three foreign voyages on his own bottom, became entitled to the quality and privileges of a Thane, or nobleman; the pre-eminent title, Seamen of London, above mentioned, is thus accounted for.

new

new finished Abbey, which at present serves as the grand receptacle of the remains of departed worth-the scene of pride at coronations, and of humility at interments* !"

It appears that at this period, no city, except London and Westminster, had ten thousand inhabitants. York, the largest, after those already mentioned, contained only one thousand four hundred and eighteen houses and of these five hundred and forty were uninhabited; and though the seat of an archbishop and the capital of a vast province, its population amounted only to about seven thousand souls. Hackney at present contains more than three times that number. Singularly as it may appear to our readers, it is extremely probable that the whole population of England, during this dismal period, did very little exceed the number of inhabitants now residing in the cities and neighbouring villages which form our vast metropolis. It also, at this day, appears almost incredible, that, at the age of which we are writing, agriculture was at so low an ebb, and land so very cheap, as to be sold for no more than sixteen Saxon pennies (about four shillings present currency) per acre; and our ancestors paid as much money for four sheep as for an acre of land.

We do not then expect to find any cultivation of arts and sciences, except what the Great Alfred endeavoured to promote; but neither his authority nor example could stimulate a spiritless nobility-and" as he had no model, so he had no imitator!"

In writing the history of the British metropolis, during a period so dark and remote, and in a state of manners and society so very different from the present, it will naturally be expected, that we should nevertheless endeavour to convey some general idea of the period which we have been running over, so as to enable the reader to state sundry important points of comparison between our ancestors and ourselves. It is a period, indeed, of no less than six hundred and

* Among the laws of this king is a statute wherein he acknowledges the pre-eminence of London over all his cities; confirms to it all its ancient customs and usages, so as not to be violated by his successors, and particularly grants to the citizens the privilege of holding and keeping the hustings every Monday.

seventeen

seventeen years, and produced revolutions more frequent, more sudden, more violent, and more disastrous, than the subsequent. period of seven hundred and forty years from the Norman conquest. Seven petty governments had been consolidated into one powerful kingdom. The country had, however, long and grievously to labour under the miseries of civil discord, and of formidable foreign invasion. The death of almost every sovereign kindled a dispute about the succession, the feelings of nature were violated, and the dagger or the sword settled the controversy. The Saxon race was borne down and expelled by the Danish. The Danes were massacred, oppressed, and expelled in their turn. Tyrants acted the parts of madmen, and the people were the victims of their frenzy. This state of perpetual agitation could not be favourable to improvement of any kind. The language of the country continued rude and barbarous; the mixed jargon of various ill-assorted nations. Agriculture, the parent of all other arts, was neglected. Tyranny and slavery were established by law. The seas swarmed with pirates, and the highways were infested by wolves and banditti.

"What a contrast to the present well-ordered state of society in Britain, where we now laugh to scorn the idea of invasion; where the tongue in parliamentary debate, and the pen in political pamphlets, are the only weapons of our warfare; every breath of the wind carries out, or brings home exhaustless mines of treasure; the slave becomes free from his master the moment his foot alights on these hallowed shores; unnumbered palaces swell the cities and embellish the plains, and golden harvests wave on the lately barren waste *."

The above animated picture is surely the work of a great master, who possessed at the same time an expanded and a noble mind.

* Hunter.

LONDON

LONDON, FROM THE TIME OF WILLIAM I. TO THE REIGN OF HENRY IV.

THE conquest of England by William duke of Normandy, if such it may be called, produced a reign turbulent, violent, and oppressive. William was convinced of the aversion which the English bore to the Normans; he knew also that though his predecessor Harold's title was in itself defective, yet his popularity, wealth, connexions and other qualifications had superseded every obstacle; and William would have been very much disappointed in his competition for the English crown, were it not that rebellion and treachery, ever the bane of this country, had fortunately for him made his victory more easily attainable over a divided nation.

The citizens of London, and the clergy had been the foremost in repelling William's slender claims, by the immediate coronation of Harold on Edward's death; when, therefore, the disaffection of one part of England had procured the victor power over the other, London was among the first to feel its full extent; her citizens were restrained; no one was to be seen after the curfew had tolled; a fortress was con structed to keep her in awe; and all seemed as though mutual jealousy and suspicion bad assumed their unbounded dominion. William, however, soon perceived that the good treatment of his subjects was the surest way to secure their Joyalty; and he found that the exercise of his authority with prudence, gained him more adherents than the most violent. measures would have procured. He had the sagacity to discover that the growing opulence of the city was an object of his highest consideration, and we are not to wonder then at his future condescensions towards his capital; and that he confirmed to the citizens all the privileges they had enjoyed under former monarchs; his charters of confirmation, still preserved among the city archieves, abound in expressions of friendship and protection.

By these charters it was declared that,

"1. The burgesses were all to be law-worthy.

،، 2. That their children should be their heirs."

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"There were two ways of being law worthy, or having the benefit of the law. By the state and conditions of men's persons: almost all freemen had the free benefit of the law; but men of servile condition had not, especially such as were in Dominio, (in Demesne ;) for they received justice from their lords, were judged by them in most cases, and bad not the true benefit of the law: so neither as to the second observation in this charter, could their children be their heirs ; for they held their lands and goods at the will of the lord, and were not sure to enjoy them longer than at his pleasure.

"The second way of being law-worthy was, when men had not committed any crimes, or done any thing for which they forfeited the law, and deserved to be outlawed; then they were said to be legales homines, recti in curia, or lawworthy, but not so properly as in the first sense of the word.

"Hence may arise a very probable conjecture at the meaning of this protection or charter. That the burgesses of London had obtained of the Saxon kings several liberties and immunities is undoubted, among which this was one, to be so far free, as not to be in Dominio, or so obnoxious to any lord, but that, by reason of their state and condition, they might be law-worthy, that is, have the free benefit of the law; and likewise further obtained, (if it was not then a consequent of their personal estate and condition) that their children should be heirs of their lands and goods, and in both these were free from the injuries and unreasonable demands and power of any severe lord; so that all the application made by their bishop William, and not unlikely by Godfrey the portreve, to the Conqueror for them, was, that their state and condition might be the same it was in king Edward's days, that their children might be their heirs, and that they might in both be protected from the injury and violence of imperious lords; which by the prevalency of their bishop were granted

"Considering, therefore, that by the foregoing instances it is clear, that many or most burgesses of other burgs were in Dominio, either of the king, or some other lords or patrons VOL. I. No. 3.

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