PERAMBULATIONS THROUGH LONDON. LETTER IX, To the Editor of the Catholic Miscellany." SIR, I am inclined to believe, that the spot from whence we commence our present excursion, was in the disastrous days of persecution, a station supplied by the Benedictines, and I am strengthened in my opinion from the following entries, which I have extracted from an authentic document now lying before me. "An. 1621. And at Barbican, at London, thro' a cruel fit of ye stone, died ye V. R. F. Vincent Sadler, as he was intending to retire to his Monastery of Diculwart wth his nephew Mr. Thomas Vinsent Sadler, ye last of his many converts, but ye 1st & only of his own family and blood, leaving behind him a great opinion of his sanctity, being a man of most exemplary life, & wonderful industry. President of ye Engh Cong" before the Union."--" An. 1662. And in ye Charter-house-yard at London at my Ld. Dorset's, above four-score years old, died R. F. Will. Johnson, alias, Chambers, a famous Missioner professed in Spain." As we approach towards Morefields, we feel a pleasing recollection, that if we are passing over a site once hallowed by the piety of our early Catholic ancestors, we are also now upon the same ground, where the religious zeal of later Charitable Catholics, has been successfully exerted in promoting several useful and beneficent establishments; and that in this neighbourhood the virtuous and the learned have sought a shelter from persecution and from malice. Not far from thence at Hoxton, the indefatigable and highly-gifted Abraham Woodhead resided; there it was that many of his celebrated controversial works were composed, and there he gained many to the one fold of the one shepherd. In Charles Square, Hoxton, also a Catholic school existed in times when the worthy master risked his all, for merely educating Catholic youth. And in fact he actually suffered from the murderous mob of the year eighty. The Benevolent, a Catholic Charity, eminently useful and deservedly encouraged at the present day, owed its commencement to the unassuming exertions of a few tradesmen, who were occasionally in the habit of spending an evening at a public house near Bunhill Row. Their custom was, to recite together the office of the dead, then for each one to subscribe a trifle towards the funds, and to form plans for the management of their rising charitable association, while they forget the labours of the day in a pint of porter and a pipe. Among these praiseworthy tradesmen, the following seem to have taken the lead: Peter Lyon, whom we have had already occasion to notice: he was a smith and screw-maker in TooleyStreet, and was for some time the senior member or father of the Blacksmiths' company. Joseph Hunt. He wasa glazier in Smithfield, and was also father of the Glaziers company: Mr. Mc'Carthy, a baker in Bunhill-row, and Peter Flarty, whose name is still dear to the society as a most beneficent benefactor. The Associated Charities. Now the most extensive, and more abundant in funds, than any other of the London Catholic Charities, originated in the humble endeavours of several poor men, who assembled in 1797, at the Mariners, a public-house in Fore-street, and subscribed each, one penny per week, towards the education of the poor. They drew up rules for the government of their society, which they denominated the Laudable: numerous associations were afterwards formed upon the same plan, and at length they all merged into the general term of the Associated Charities. Among the first promoters of the Laudable, was a Greenwich Pensioner; who, hearing that the government was in want of men, exclaimed, that it was a shame for any one to be eating the bread of idleness, when his country required his services; he therefore left the college, came to London, paid his pence twelve months in advance, and embarked; but he was never heard of afterwards; probably he perished in the heat of battle. Rope-maker's Alley, a name still dear to the remembrance of many an aged Catholic, was in this neighbourhood; here stood the two Catholic Chapels, from whence the informer Pain, and his guilty associates, dragged to trial the exemplary and virtuous bishop, James Talbot, the Rev. James Dillon, the Rev. Anthony Barnewell, and others; when had it not been for the unbiassed and upright conduct of the judge and of the jury, death, or at least perpetual imprisonment must have been the portion of these respectable ecclesiastics. Nor were the clergy the only objects attacked by this merciless informer; for the laity were frequently seized upon and forced into confinement; this happened to the father of the present very highly respectable clergyman, the Rev. Joseph Hunt; and the same would have occurred to his uncle, had he not saved himself by flight. These chapels were known by the appellations of Messrs. Dillon and Fuller's Chapel; and of Messrs. Barnard and Dunn's Chapel; but they were more generally called Brown and Thompson's Chapels, from the names of the persons who had the care of them. At length, one was closed, and the other was considerably encreased in its dimensions; this last fell a prey to the violence of an infuriated mob, unawed by the presence of the city chief magistrate, who could have prevented the destruction of the building, had he chosen to have done his duty. The Political Magazine, for the year 1780, while recording the depredations committed by the mob at this place, says, A person who saw a crucifix thrown into the flames by the associators, could not help observing, that when the most believing and pious christians burnt Jesus Christ in effigy, there was too much reason to fear the total decline of the christian religion in the metropolis." After this disgraceful event, the Chapel in White Street was erected; and in this chapel, for nearly forty years, the catechumen was washed in the regenerating waters of baptism; the holy sacrifice of the Mass was offered up in propitiation to the God of mercy and justice; the bread of life was delivered to the faithful; and the doctrine of truth and salvation was regularly delivered. At length, the British Catholic, no longer goaded by the penal statutes, or shackled by legal disabilities, dared to propose the erection of a metropolitan chapel. This project first originated with a few individuals, who met on the 23rd day of May, 1816, and formed a sub-committee, empowered to raise funds for carrying the intended undertaking into effect; and on the 20th of June, the first circular was printed and distributed; it was dated from the Chapelhouse, and was signed by the Rev. Joseph Hunt. The pro moters of this pious work were so indefatigable, that they had purchased a plot of freehold ground from the City of London : had approved the plan of the new building, and had accepted of contracts before the spring of 1817; so that on the afternoon of the 30th of April in the same year, the workmen began to excavate the ground for the foundations and vaults; and on the 5th of August following, the first stone was laid by the Right Reverend Dr. Poynter; surrounded by a vast multitude, not only of Catholics, but of persons of various other religious denominations, when the following inscription, engraved on a plate, was inserted in the stone. "Hic Primarius Lapis Sanctæ Mariæ in Amphitheatro de Moorfields ex sumptibus a populo Catholico collectis ERIGENDE A Illmo. ac Rmo. Dno. Gulielmo Epo. Halien Vico. Aplico. Lond. Assistentibus cum populo Capellanis R. R. D. D. Josepho Hunt, Joanne Devereux, Georgeo After which, the late truly pious and zealous missionary, the Rev. George Greenway, delivered a most appropriate discourse. It was on the 20th of April, 1820, that the present superb building, after it had been dedicated to the living God, under the patronage of the Blessed Virgin, was first publicly opened for divine worship, and the concourse of persons present upon this occasion, may in some measure be estimated from the fact, that the collection made on that day towards paying the expenses incurred upon the Chapel, amounted to six hundred and thirty two pounds two shillings. How cheering must have been the thought to our venerated bishop, that on the same spot where persecution had heretofore lighted her torch, he could then address, without fear of pursuivants or informers, an audience composed of Catholic and Protestant nobility and clergy; of Protestant magistrates and citizens, and of a numerous body of Catholics of every rank in society: how pleasing must have been the recollection, that upon the very ground, which had for centuries upon centuries appertained to the devout brethren, dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin; he had been enabled, through the zeal of his clergy, and the liberal support of a religious public, to erect, under the patronage of the same great Protectrice, a metropolitan Chapel, which, for costly ornaments and symmetry of proportion, would not disgrace even a Catholic metropolis. This great undertaking was so pleasing to his late Holiness, that in testimony of his approbation, the holy father bestowed upon the Chapel, a most costly chalice, and other plate of superior workmanship, and of considerable value, the expense of which he defrayed from his own private property. And here we ought to bestow our meed of praise upon the Rev. Joseph Hunt, for the incredible exertions and pecuniary sacrifices, which this zealous labourer in the Lord's vineyard cheerfully underwent, during the whole time that this arduous enterprise was in progress. Quitting this monument of zeal, displayed by living Catholics, we will direct our steps to Bishopsgate Street, and notice a few entries in the register-book of the parish Church of St. Botolph. Of these, the first which attracted our attention is the following: "1586. Paid for bread and drink for the ringers, when they rang for the death of the Queen of Scots." In 1637, is an entry that Sir Paul Pindar had paid two pounds for the last three years past, for permission to eat flesh in Lent; and another entry occurs in 1643, that Sir Paul had again paid two pounds for leave to eat flesh meat. The paying for these protestant |