Nature in her hand with her numerous breasts ready to give assistance to all; the second is Architecture, with a plan in one hand and a square and pair of compasses in the other; and the third is Liberty waving a hat in the air, shewing her joy at the pleasing prospect of the City's speedy recovery: behind the king stands his brother, the Duke of York, with a garland in one hand to crown the rising city, and a sword in the other for her defence. And the two figures behind are Justice and Fortitude; the former with a coronet, and the latter with a reined lion; and under the royal pavement, in a vault, lieth Envy gnawing a heart, and incessantly emitting pestiferous fumes from her envenomed mouth. And in the upper part of the plinth the reconstruction of the city is represented by builders and labourers at work upon houses.

On the north side of the pedestal is a Latin inscription, thus rendered: "In the year of Christ, 1666, September 2, eastward from hence, at the distance of two hundred and two feet, (the height of this column), a terrible fire broke out about midnight; which, driven on by a high wind, not only wasted the adjacent parts, but also very remote places, with incredible crackling and fury. It consumed eighty-nine churches, the city gates, Guildhall, many public structures, hospitals, schools, libraries, a vast number of stately edifices, thirteen thousand dwelling houses, and four hundred streets. Of the twenty-six wards it utterly destroyed fifteen, and left eight others shattered and half burnt. The ruins of the city were four hundred and thirty-six acres, from the Tower by the Thames side to the Temple Church, and from the north east along the wall to Holborn Bridge. To the estates and fortunes of the city it was merciless, but to their lives very favourable, that it might in all things resemble the last conflagration of the world. The destruction was sudden; for in a small space of time the city was seen most flou

rishing, and reduced to nothing. Three days after, when this fatal fire had baffled all human counsels and endeavours, in the opinion of all it stopped, as it were, by a command from heaven, and was on every side extinguished."

The inscription on the south side is translated thus: "Charles the Second, son of Charles the Martyr, king of Great-Britain, France, and Ireland, defender of the faith, a most gracious prince, commisserating the deplorable state of things, whilst the ruins were yet smoking, provided for the comfort of his citizens, and ornament of his city, remitted their taxes, and referred the petition of the magistrates and inhabitants to Parliament; who immediately passed an act, that public works should be restored to greater beauty with public money, to be raised by an impost on coals; that churches, and the cathedral of St. Paul's, should be rebuilt from their foundations with all magnificence; the bridges, gates, and prisons, should be new made, the sewers cleansed, the streets made straight and regular; such as were steep, levelled, and those too narrow, to be made wider. Markets and shambles removed to separate places. They also enacted, that every house should be built with party-walls, and all in front raised of equal height, and those walls all of square stone or brick; and that no man should delay building beyond the space of seven years. Moreover care was taken by law, to prevent all suits about their bounds. Also anniversary prayers were enjoined; and, to perpetuate the memory hereof to posterity, they caused this column to be erected. The work was carried on with diligence, and London is restored; but whether with greater speed or beauty, may be made a question. At three years time the world saw that finished, which was supposed to be the business of an age."

Turning into Little Eastcheap, on the left hand we

D

come to Pudding-Lane, where, at a baker's shop, the great fire, in 1666, broke out. Butcher's Hall is in this lane.

Further, on the same side of Little Eastcheap, is the King's Weigh-House, erected on the site of the church of St. Andrew Hubbard, and called the King's WeighHouse, because all goods from beyond sea were appointed to be weighed here by the king's beam, to prevent fraud. Mr. John Clayton's congregation now occupy a part of this building.

At the corner of Rood-Lane, is the parish church of St. Margaret Pattens, so named from patten-makers in this neighbourhood, built by Sir Christopher Wren.

Mincing-Lane, is so called from several tenements belonging to the minchins or nuns of St. Helen's, Bishopsgate-Street. In this lane are very good specimens of the stile of building, used by Sir Christopher Wren, for the principal citizens. Here the elegant structure, lately the Commercial Sale-Rooms, is used for transacting some of the concerns of the CustomHouse, till the latter is rebuilt.

Mark or Mart-Lane.-Here is The Corn Exchange. Three steps from the street lead to a range of eight lofty Doric columns, those at the corners being coupled; between the pillars are iron rails, and three iron grates. These columns, with two others in the inside, support a plain building two stories high, containing two coffee-houses, to which there are ascents by a flight of handsome stone steps on each hand. Within the iron gates is a quadrangle paved with broad flat stones: this square is surrounded by a colonade, composed of six columns on each side, and four at the ends. Above the entablature is a handsome balustrade surrounding the whole square, with an elegant vase placed over each column. The space within the colonade is very broad, with sashed windows on the top, to give the

greater light to the corn-factors, who sit round the court below each has a kind of desk before him, on which are several handsfull of corn; and from these small samples are every market day sold immense quantities. The markets are on Mondays and Fridays; and, according to the prices of the Monday markets, the Lord Mayor used to assize the bread for the ensuing week, the disuse of which has given rise to the most scandalous imposition on the public. Nearly opposite is a neat structure, denominated, The New Exchange for Corn and Seed.

Seething-Lane was anciently Sydon-Lane, in which, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, were the residences of Sir Francis Walsingham, secretary of state; the Earl of Essex; and other eminent personages. The ground is now occupied by extensive warehouses, rented by the East India Company, for indigo, &c.

Crouched, vulgarly called Crutched-Friars, was so denominated from a religious foundation dedicated to the Holy Cross, and built about the year 1298. The indecent conduct of one of the last priors was destructive to the whole fraternity, and ultimately formed one of the pleas for the dissolution of monasteries in England.

At the corner of Seething-Lane and Hart-Street, is the parish church of St. Olave, Hart-Street, a very handsome Gothic structure, and internally is worth seeing.

Proceeding along Fenchurch-Street westward, at the north end of Mincing-Lane is Clothworker's Hall, in which are carvings, as large as life, of James the First and Charles the First. The court-room is very hand

some.

At the southern part of Lime-Street is Pewterer's Hall: it is a substantial brick edifice enclosing a small The Company's arms and a dial, with the motto, Sic vita, and a spider and a fly crawling on it,

court.

painted on glass, are in one of the windows. In the court-room are some ancient portraits. Cullum-Street is built on the site of a house and garden of a knight of the same name.

Philpot-Lane was built on the mansion of Sir John Philpot, the patriotic citizen, who, in the reign of Richard the Second, manned a fleet at his own expence to scour the English seas of foreign pirates.

At the west end of Fenchurch-Street, as before observed, is the parish church of St. Bennet, GracechurchStreet, situated in what was formerly a Grass-market. Hence returning to Cornhill, concludes the first walk.

WALK II.

From the Royal Exchange to Aldgate, Duke's Place, Whitechapel Bars. Return to Houndsditch, Bishopsgate-Street to Norton Falgate, Wormwood-Street to Broad-Street, and back to the Royal Exchange.

Having already noticed whatever is remarkable in Cornhill, Leadenhall-Street, and the south side of Aldgate, the first object of attention on the north side is Duke's Place.

Aldgate formerly stood between the street called Houndsditch on the north, and the Minories on the south. It was one of the principal gates of the city, and was pulled down with Aldersgate, Cripplegate, &c. about the year 1760. Near Aldgate Church is Sir John Cass's school, with his statue in the front. Aldgate Church, dedicated to St. Botolph, and rebuilt in 1741, is a plain but capacious edifice of brick, with a lofty and well-proportioned steeple.

A little to the westward of this, we find the area, the alleys, &c. which bear the general name of Duke's