the gloom of this obscure corner; and it will perhaps never be forgotten, that here a Hans Holbein has painted; and that he lived under the patronage of a ferocious prince who observed, that though he could make as many nobles as he pleased, it was out of his power to make one painter.

Houndsditch is a long street, running into Bishopsgate-Street, and derived its name from running along the city wall, and having formerly been the receptacle for dead dogs and other filth. Hence proceeding eastward, the long street and suburbs of Whitechapel commence, leading to a number of alms-houses and other benevolent foundations, highly indicative of the opulence and benevolence of the country, after having passed a long range of butcher's shops on the south side of this wide street, which altogether form what is called Whitechapel-Market, mostly for carcase butchers.

Returning to Houndsditch, we find, on the south side of this street, and a little to the north of Duke's Place, a street called Bevis Marks, containing a handsome synagogue for the Portugueze Jews. Here too the meeting-house in Bury-Street is still memorable, on account of its having been that in which the celebrated Doctor Watts used to preach, erected in the year 1708.

On the opposite side of Houndsditch a small passage leads to Devonshire-Square, containing Devonshire house, at present one of the principal meeting-houses of the Friends. A very large house on this spot, originally built by one Fisher, who ruined himself, and hence called "Fisher's Folly," became the habitation of several noblemen before and after Queen Elizabeth's time. One of its last occupants was William, the second Earl of Devonshire, who died here in the year 1622.

Nearly opposite to Devonshire-Court, in Bishopsgate-Street, stands St. Botolph's, Bishopsgate.

This fabric, begun upon the site of the old church, in 1725, has a spacious body of brick, and is well enlightened, the roof being also concealed by a balustrade. The steeple exhibits a considerable appearance of grandeur. In the centre of the front is a large plain arched window decorated with pilasters of the Doric order; over this a festoon, and above an angular pediment; on each side is a door crowned with windows, and over these are others of the port-hole kind: above these a square tower rises crowned by a dome with a circular base, surrounded by a balustrade in the same form; on each side of this, at the corner of the tower, are placed urns with flames. From this part rises a series of coupled Corinthian pillars, supporting similar urns to the former, and over them the dome ascends, crowned The structure, with a very large vase with flames. upon the whole, is upon a simple, beautiful, and harmonious plan, and the steeple more in taste than many in the metropolis, notwithstanding a great entrancedoor is wanting in the centre. The inside of the church is commensurate with the exterior, and the pulpit in a grand style. The monument of Sir Paul Pindar is one of the most conspicuous. In the lower church-yard there is another, with an inscription in Persian characters, relative to a secretary to the Persian ambassador, who died here in 1626.

In New-Street, nearly opposite this church, are the East India Company's warehouses, with fronts several hundred feet in length, and in general covering more ground than any of our royal palaces.

From these, during the late war, three regiments of armed men, composed of servants, &c. were in the habit of issuing out two or three times a week to be trained and exercised in a field belonging to the East India Company near the City-Road, and were generally known by the name of the Company's Volunteers.

Returning again to the southward, near Camomile

Street, we observe a stone affixed to a house, with a mitre, as a memorial where Bishopsgate stood. Not far from this is the Marine Society's House, a plain building, only distinguished by the representation of a female figure taking a destitute boy under her care. This institution was first proposed by the late Jonas Hanway, Esq. As an appendage to this plan, the Society have a vessel on the Thames, near Woolwich, for the reception of a hundred boys, who are trained with all possible care for the sea service. Nearly adjoining to this structure is the church of St. Ethelburga: this church, one of the smallest in the city, was built in the reign of Henry the Fifth or Sixth. It has a flat Gothic window, and a plain stuccoed front, having a small turret and a clock. On the same side of the way is St. Helen's-Place. A handsome pile of modern buildings covers the ancient site of the nunnery of St. Helen; a very great portion of its remains was to be seen in Leather-sellers' Hall, which, a few years since, was used as a Dissenters' meeting-house, and other vestiges of this nunnery are still visible in the cellars of some of the houses on this spot.

At a short distance, north of Crosby-Square, is a handsome open place called Great St. Helen's. The church here, one of those that escaped the fire of London, is a Gothic structure of the lighter kind, and contains several curious monuments, particularly that of the singular usurer, Bancroft, who left his ill-gotten wealth to charitable uses, and flattered himself with the idea of opening his coffin, which may be seen furnished with a lock and key for that purpose.

Crosby House in Crosby-Square.-This ancient edi. fice was built by Sir John Crosbie, Sheriff, in 1470; and here Richard, Duke of Gloucester, lodged, after he had conveyed his devoted nephews to the Tower. It is singular, that when Crosby House was first erected it was supposed to have been the highest in London,

and occupied the whole of Crosby Square. Henry the Eighth granted this house to Anthony Bonvica, an Italian merchant, and in Queen Elizabeth's time it was appropriated for the reception of ambassadors; though in 1594, Sir John Spencer kept his mayoralty here..

The hall, the principal of the remains, has been miscalled Richard the Third's chapel; and, for the convenience of the late occupants, has been divided into floors. The building is still majestic; and the west side presents a range of beautiful Gothic windows: here is also a fine circular window. The timber roof, of most exquisite workmanship, is divided by three rows of pendants, ranging along, and connected by pointed arches: the whole has been highly ornamented. This hall has been let to several religious assemblies, and since to tradesmen. This noble room is of stone, fifty-four feet long, twenty-seven feet wide (exactly half its length), and forty feet high. It has eight windows on a side, at a considerable elevation from the ground, each measuring eleven feet six inches high, by five feet six inches wide; in which number may be included a spacious recess, or larger window, towards the north-east, reaching from the floor to the roof. Adjoining this recess, on the north side, is a handsome doorway bricked up, which formerly communicated with the ground floor in the north wing; and nearly opposite, a ponderous stone chimney-piece, calculated to give warmth to so large a space, being ten feet five inches broad, by seven feet high. The floor has been formerly paved with hard stones, seemingly a species of marble, laid diamond-ways, but is much damaged. A number of small square tiles, the former paving of some of the other rooms or passages, were long preserved here with mere lumber. They are extremely hard, glazed, and ornamented with different figures.

The principal remains of Crosby House consist of three large apartments, viz. the hall and two adjoining

chambers, forming the eastern and northern sides of a quadrangle. The former of these sides, which faces Bishopsgate-Street, extends from the entrance of Crosby-Square to Great St. Helen's church-yard, a distance of about eighty-four feet, and contains the hall, a room of one story, together with some smaller apartments at each end. The northern side is about half that length, and is divided into two stories, an upper and a lower one, each containing a large chamber.

The present approach to the hall is from Bishopsgate-Street, or rather from the passage to CrosbySquare, by a modern flight of stone steps: here the only part of its outside is visible, which is not surrounded by houses. It appears of no great length, plastered, and surmounted by a stone parapet, but remarkable for the elegance of its windows. A small fragment of the outside of Crosby House itself, is to be seen likewise in St. Helen's church-yard; but though since serving as an entrance to the hall, it formed no part of it originally. Of the north wing, part of the outside is completely modernized, and the rest hid. The back entrance is represented in the wood engraving.