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half the expense of the work already incurred, as well as of the future. It now went on without interruption, and was finished according to Mr. Middleton's original agreement with the city; when, on the 29th of September, 1613, the water was let into the bason, now called the New River Head, which was prepared for its reception. By an exact admeasurement of the course of the New River, taken in 1723, it appeared to be nearly thirty-nine miles in length. This great undertaking cost half a million of money, and was the ruin of its first projector; who parted with his interest in it to a Company called the New River Company, in whose hands it still remains, reserving to himself and his heirs for ever an annuity of £100 per annum. This annuity ceased to be claimed about the year 1715.

The property of the New River is divided into seventy-two shares; for the first nineteen years after the finishing of the work, the annual profit upon each share scarcely amounted to twelve shillings. A share is now considered to be worth £11,500, and they have been sold as high as £14,000.

WATER PIPES,

Water was first conveyed to London by leaden pipes, 21 Henry III., 1237. It took near fifty years to complete it; the whole being finished, and Cheapside Conduit erected only in 1285. An engine erected at Broken Wharf, to convey water by leaden pipes, 1594. The New River brought to London from Amwell, in Hertfordshire, by Sir Hugh Middleton, in 1613. The city supplied with its water, by conveyances of wooden pipes in the streets, and small leaden ones to the houses, and the New River Company incorporated, in 1620. So late as queen Anne's time, there were water-carriers at Aldgate-pump.

BRIDGE HOUSE ESTATES.

"Towards the support and repairs of London Bridge, which was built, as before stated, in the reign of Henry II., king John, his son, gave divers parcels of ground, in London and its vicinity, to build upon, the profits whereof were to be continually employed as above stated. Hence this property has been called the Bridge Estates, or Bridge House Estates."-Maitland's London.

ROYAL EXCHANGE.

The first Royal Exchange was founded by Sir Thomas Gresham. The first stone was laid June 7, 1566, and the building opened by Queen Elizabeth in person, January 23, 1570. This Exchange was destroyed in the great fire of 1666. Pepys describes its appearance as a sad sight, nothing standing there of all the statues

The second

and pillars, but Sir Thomas Gresham in the corner. Exchange was built by Edward Jarman or Jerman, one of the City Surveyors. It is said to have cost £58,962, and was destroyed by fire January 10, 1838. The statue of Sir Thomas Gresham again escaped uninjured. The present building was built from designs of William Tite, and opened by Her Majesty in person October 28, 1844. The pediment was made by R. Westmacott R.A. (the younger), the marble statue of Her Majesty in the quadrangle by Lough; and the statues of Sir Thomas Gresham, Sir Hugh Middleton, and Queen Elizabeth, by Messrs Joseph, Carew, and Watson. It is said to have cost £180,000.

STATUES, ROYAL EXCHANGE.

As the origin of the statues in the Royal Exchange may not be generally known, the original precept issued by the Court of Aldermen for the erection of the one to Charles II. is here introduced, and which also alludes to the origin of the other statues therein placed.

SMITH, MAYOR.

Martis Vndecimo Die Novembr' 1684, Annoque Regni Regis CAROLI Secundi, Angl', &c., Tricessimo Sexto.

Whereas, the statue of king CHARLES the First (of blessed memory) is already set up in the Royal Exchange, and the Company of Grocers have undertaken to set up the statue of his present MAJESTY, and the Company of Cloth workers that of king JAMES, and the Companies of Mercers and Fishmongers the statues of queen MARY and queen ELIZABETH, and the Company of Drapers that of EDWARD the Sixth, this court doth recommend it to the several companies of this city hereafter named, viz., the Companies of Goldsmiths, Skinners, Merchant Tailors, Haberdashers, Salters, Ironmongers, Vintners, Dyers, Brewers, Leathersellers, Pewterers, Barber-Chirurgeons, Cutlers, Bakers, Wax Chandlers, Tallow Chandlers, Armourers, Girdlers, Butchers, Sadlers, to raise money by contributions, or otherwise, for setting up the statues of the rest of the kings of England (each company one), beginning at the CONQUEROR, as the same were there set up before the Great Fire. And for the better order of their proceeding herein, the master and wardens, or some members of the said respective companies, are desired within some convenient time to appear before this court, and receive the further directions of this court therein.

And in regard of the inability of the Chamber of London to advance monies for the carrying on and finishing the Conduit, begun to be set up with His MAJESTIES approbation, at the upper end of Cheapside, it is earnestly recommended from this Court to all the rest of the Companies of this City (other than those before named), to raise moneys likewise by contributions, or

otherwise, for the carrying on and finishing the said work, so necessary to the ornament of this city; and to pay the same into the Chamber, to be laid out and employed for the said purpose. -Wagstaffe.

GRASSHOPPER.

The grasshopper on the top of the Royal Exchange, was the crest of Sir Thomas Gresham.

GRESHAM COLLEGE AND LECTURES.

So denominated from Sir Thomas Gresham, who founded the same. A writer says:-To Sir Thomas Gresham, who lived in the reign of queen Elizabeth, and who was styled the Royal Merchant, in consequence of feasting ambassadors and entertaining princes, the city of London is indebted for the Royal Exchange, which he erected at his own expense, and liberally endowed a College for Lectures, which are now almost a dead letter, as few persons ever think of attending the Gresham Lectures, which are given during the law terms. When the Gresham Lectures were established, the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Commons left in trust to see proper persons appointed, sent letters to the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, stating, that for want of judgment to discern men of most sufficiency in the said faculties, they might make default, and commit some error in the election; they therefore prayed each University to nominate two proper persons to fill the offices of professors. Strange as it may seem, the heads of Cambridge were jealous of these lectures, nor was it until Lord Burleigh gave them leave, that they consented to act. The first Gresham College was taken down in 1768, and the ground on which it stood made over to the Crown for a perpetual rent of £500 per annum. A new College was subsequently erected, and the first lecture read in it Nov. 2, 1843.

CHARTER HOUSE.

This celebrated school was instituted June 22, 1611, by Thomas Sutton of Camps Castle, in the county of Cambridge, and so called from a Monastery of Carthusian monks founded in 1371 on a Pest-house field, by Sir Walter Manny, knight. St. Bruno was the founder of the Order of Carthusian Monks, and is styled by writers of his own age, Master of the Chartreuse; and from his order comes our Charter House at London.

LLOYD'S COFFEEHOUSE.

Lloyd's Coffeehouse was originally in Lombard Street, at the corner of Abchurch-lane, subsequently in Pope's-Head Alley,

where it was called New Lloyd's Coffeehouse; but on February 14, 1774, it was removed to the north-west corner of the Royal Exchange, where it remained until the destruction of the building by fire. During the rebuilding the subscribers occupied the South Sea House; but on the reopening of the Royal Exchange they returned to their former locality.

GERARD'S HALL.

In Basing Lane formerly stood a stately stone edifice, belonging to the Gisor family, called Gisor's Hall, but subsequently Gerard's Hall. In 1852 this celebrated inn was doomed to destruction, owing to its standing in the way of the new street from London Bridge to St. Paul's; and its beautiful and much admired Norman crypt would have been destroyed, but for the commendable exertions of Mr. Deputy Lott, to whom the public are indebted for its preservation in the new Crystal Palace at Sydenham.

BAKEWELL, OR BLACKWELL HALL.

This hall, once famed as a cloth hall, was founded by the Mayor and Corporation (20th Richard II.) in the house formerly belonging to the family of the Basings, but subsequently in the possession of Thomas Bakewell, from whom the Hall derives its name. Bakewell Hall was rebuilt in 1588, destroyed in the great fire of 1666; re-erected in 1672, and ultimately taken down to make way for the present Bankruptcy Court in 1820.

HICKS' HALL.

This building formerly stood in Saint John Street, facing West Smithfield; it was built by Sir Baptist Hicks, afterwards Viscount Camden, who was for some time a merchant in Cheapside, and died in 1629. It was named after the builder; and the new building erected as the County Hall of Middlesex, in Clerkenwell Green, still retains its name. William Lord Russell, the patriot, was condemned to death in Hicks' Hall; and Count Koningsmark, the real though not the actual assassin of Mr. Thynne, was acquitted in the same building. The distance on the milestones of the great north road were formerly measured from Hicks' Hall. A few so marked still remain.

SALTER'S HALL.

This hall, which is in the vicinity of St. Swithin's Lane, belongs to the Company of Drysalters. Some imagine that it derives its name from John Salter, who died in 1605. Certainly, the coincidence in name is indisputable, and what is more so, he

was one of the Company, and was a good benefactor to them. It is said, that the beadles and servants of the Worshipful Company of Salters are to attend divine service at St. Magnus' Church, London Bridge, pursuant to the will of Sir John Salter, in the first week in October, and each person is to say three times, "How do you do, Brother Salter? I hope you are well!" The Salters' Company was incorporated in 1558.

GUY'S HOSPITAL.

This celebrated hospital derives its name from Thomas Guy, a bookseller of Lombard Street, who is said to have made his fortune ostensibly by the sale of Bibles, but more it is thought by purchasing seamen's tickets, and by his great success in the sale and transfer of stock in the memorable South Sea Year of 1720. It is said of him, that when consulting with a friend relative to his will, the latter advised him to search the South Sea Books, and return, as had been done by one or two individuals possessing heroic virtues, the money to the perishing families that were undone by the purchase of his stock. This advice he rejected, although by acting upon it, he was told he would have raised a monument to his memory, as much to his glory as the hospital, and added the praise of justice to his fame. The hospital was built 1721. He died 1724.

FOUNDLING HOSPITAL.

The first Foundling Hospital was erected in Paris, in 1677. The London Foundling Hospital, which was projected and endowed by Captain Thomas Coram, was founded in 1739; began to receive children, 1756; let part of their estate in 1797, which yields £2000 a-year in addition to their income. The celebrated Handel used to preside at the organ of the chapel of this institution; and it may not be generally known, that his celebrated "Messiah " was concocted by him in this chapel; and which even now, at the present day, can boast of a musical choir equal to most of our cathedrals.

BONNER'S FIELDS.

Bonner's Fields, so called after the celebrated Bonner, Bishop of London, who had a palace there. He entered at Oxford about 1512; Bishop of Hereford, 1539; Bishop of London, 1540; deprived, May 1550; and died in the Marshalsea Prison, Sept. 5, 1569.

BANCROFT'S ALMS-HOUSES.

Bancroft's Alms-Houses, so called after one Francis Bancroft, who left the sum of £28,000 and upwards to the Company of

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