pitee maistre, WILLIAM LYCCHEFELD, person of the parich church of Allhallowen the More in London, Maistre GILBERT, person of Saint Andrew, Holbourne, in the suburbs of the said citie, Maistre JOHN COTE, person of Saint Peter, Cornhill, of London, and JOHN NEEL, Maistre of the hous or hospital of Saint Thomas of Acres, and person of Colechirche, in London, to compleyne unto you, and for remedie besechyn you to pray the kyng, our sovereign lord, that he, by the advys and assent of the lords spiritual and temporal in this present parliament assembled, will provide, ordeyne, and grant to the said Maistre William and his successors, that they, in the said parish of Allhallowen, to the said Maistre Gilbert and his successors, that they, in the said parish of Saint Andrew, to the said Maister John and his successors, that they, in the said parish of Saint Peter, and to the said John, maister of the said hospital, and his successors, that they, within the foresaid parish of our Ladie of Colchirche, in the which the said house of Saint Thomas is sette; may ordeyne, create, establish, and lett a person sufficientlie lerned in gramer, to hold and exercise a schole in same science of gramer, and it there to teche all that will lerne.

"And that everiche of the said maistres, Maistre William, Maistre Gilbert, Maistre John, and John Neel, Maistre; such schole maistre, so bi him sett, and everiche of their successors, such schole maistre bi him, or bi any of his predecessors to establish and sett, speciallie as is above rehercid, may in his own parish or place remove, and another in his place substitute and sett, as often as any of the said persons, or their successors, seemith (and) the cause reasonable so requireth.

"And so to do ich of the said persons, and their successors, as often as happeny the any of the said scholes to be void of a schole maistre in any wyse to the honour of Gad and encreasyng virtue. Responsio. The kyng will that it be do, as it is desired, so that it be done bi th' advyse of the ordinary therelles of the archbishoppe of Canterbury for the tyme being."

This petition, which was addressed to the parliament of 1456,

* Corrupted now into "parson," politely called minister or clergyman.

was productive of considerable benefit, and the archbishop of Canterbury, and Kemp, bishop of Londor, obtained the king's letters patent, nine years afterwards, for the foundation of other seminaries of learning in St. Paul's Church Yard, the collegiate church of St. Martin's-le-grand, St. Martin le Bow, St. Dunstan's in the East, and the hospital of St. Anthony.

*

These schools were not on a scale so liberal as those of later times, for, although public and common, they could not be called free, inasmuch as such boys only were admitted as were of good talents, and whose schooling was paid by the nobility and the richer citizens: the latter are the benevolent institutions of well-intentioned persons, who took care that an adequate sum should be assigned to the teachers" on condition to teach such a number of children of the parish where they are built, freely, without taking any salary or reward from their parents or friends."

Though other scholastic establishments ceased, the Mercers' Company, on their purchase of the dissolved hospital of St. Thomas, continued this school, which, after the fire of 1666, was, with the contiguous buildings, confirmed to them by Act of Parliament, in the 22nd of Charles II. The school is now held at College-hill; it has been recently taken down, the whole of the building materials sold by public auction, and the edifice is now rebuilding.

Sir John Frederick, son of Christopher} Frederick, citizen and barber-surgeon, having been educated at Christ's Hospital, was lord-mayor in 1662, and built a stately mansion in Frederick Place, Old Jewry, after the great fire. It was afterwards used as the Excise Office, until 1768, when the business of that department of government revenue was removed to Broad-street, (vide Broadstreet Ward).

At the bottom of Ironmonger-lane, is Cateaton-street, antiently called Catte-street, part of which is in this ward.

* Subsequently added to the collegiate church of St. Peter, Westminster, (vide Aldersgate Ward.)

A List of Aldermen of Coleman-street Ward, from 1690, to the present time.

Sir William Gore, knight, elected in 1690, sheriff in 1699, lordmayor in 1702.

Sir S. Bateman, knight, elected in 1708, sheriff in 1702, lordmayor in 1717.

Sir H. Masters, elected in 1718, sheriff in 1718.

Robert Alsop, esq. elected in 1746, sheriff in 1747, lord-mayor in 1752.

Robert Peckham, esq. elected in 1773, sheriff in 1777, lordmayor in 1783, resigned.

G. M. Macaulay, esq. elected in 1786, sheriff in 1790.
Richard Lea, esq. elected in 1802, resigned.

Sir William Plomer, knight, elected in 1808, sheriff in 1810. William Heygate, esq. elected in 1812, sheriff in 1811, lordmayor in 1822, is the present alderman of the ward.

END OF COLEMAN-STREET WARD.

Cordwainers' Ward

DERIVES its name from the Cordwainers, who were shoemakers, curriers, or workers of leather, dwelling there, for it appears in the records of Henry VI., in the ninth year of his reign, that an order was taken then for cordwainers and curriers, in Corney-street, Sopar-lane, and the neighbourhood. The word cordwain, or cordovan, is derived from the Spanish Cordovan, and Cordova, as Morocco from the Moors. The Saracens were also denominated Cordouans,

in the middle ages, because Cordova was the metropolis of their kingdom. It is supposed that the art of shoemaking was introduced from that people, and thus originated cordonaner or cordwainer.

The principal streets in this Ward, are Bow-lane, (formerly Cordwainer-street), Queen-street, Budge-row, Great and Little St. Thomas Apostle, Pancras-lane, parts of Watling-street, and Basing-lane, comprised within the following eight precincts, of St. Mary Aldermary upper and lower; Allhallows, Bread-street; St. Mary le Bow; St. Antholin upper and lower; the precinct of St. Pancras, St. Bennet and St. John; and that of St. Thomas the Apostle and Trinity. It is under the local government of an alderman, eight common-councilmen, and has eight constables, fourteen inquest-men, and a ward-beadle.

This ward, beginning from the eastward at the end of Budgerow, from Wallbrook, extends northward to Pancras-lane, whenc in a direct line westward it cuts across Queen-street, the north portion of which in this ward; thence ouwards includes Bow-lane, and the church and church-yard of St. Mary le Bow, together with a few houses (east and west) in Cheapside, which is the extreme boundary north and west, and from the west side of this

church,in a straight line running from north to the end of Horn-alley, Trinity-lane south, are the boundaries of this Ward, including Watling-street as far west as Allhallows Church in that street. There are three churches in this Ward; St. Mary le Bow, St. Mary Aldermary, and St. Antholin.

On the south side of Cheapside is the

PARISH CHURCH OF ST. MARY-LE-BOW.

This Church, supposed to be first erected in the reign of William I., being the first in this city built on stone arches, was called the New Mary Church, to distinguish it from the Alder or Elder Mary Church: St. Mary de Arcubus, or le Bow, from its