was born there;

and when, at seventy-one, he was ordered to go to Chislehurst for a change of air, he could not sleep in the country, for want of the noise,'— the roaring and rushing of the tide beneath the Bridge, — he had been always used to hear.' My good friend, Mr. J. T. Smith, too, in his very interesting volume of the Ancient Topography of London,' which you have already quoted, p. 26, has also the following observations concerning the modern use of this Chapel. By the Morning Advertiser,' says he, for April 26th, 1798, it appears that Aldermen Gill and Wright had been in partnership upwards of fifty years; and that their shop stood on the centre of London Bridge, and their warehouse for paper was directly under it, which was a Chapel for divine service, in one of the old arches; and, long within legal memory, the service was performed every sabbath and Saint's day. Although the floor was always, at high-water mark, from ten to twelve feet under the surface; yet such was the excellency of the materials and the masonry, that not the least damp, or leak, ever happened, and the paper was kept as safe and dry as it would have been in a garret.' In that 'Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster,' printed in 1734, and purporting to have been compiled by Robert Seymour, Esq., but which was in reality the production of the Rev. John Motley, the famous collector of Joe Miller's Jests, it is stated in vol. i. book i., p. 48, that at that time one side of the Nonesuch House was inhabited by Mr. Bray, a Stationer, and the other by Mr. West, a Dry-Salter. So much then, Mr. Barnaby, for the few anecdotes which I have been able to collect of the dwellings and inhabitants of old London Bridge.”

“And a very fair Memorial too, Master Geoffrey," answered the Antiquary, "especially when we consider the extreme difficulty of procuring such information as this is: but, to carry on our history, I must now enter upon a less amusing subject; the summary of the Bridge

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Accounts for the years 1624 and 1625, taken from the printed sheet which I have so often cited. 1624. To John Langley, and Richard Foxe, Bridge-Masters, half a year's fee at our Lady-day, 501.: and for the other half year augmented by order of the Court of Aldermen, 661. 8s. 4d., and for their Liveries, &c. 61. Total 1221. 88. 4d. Rental 2054l. 4s. 2d.-1625. To the said Bridge-Masters, 1337. 6s. 8d., Liveries, &c. 61. Total to each of them, 691. 3s. 4d. Rental, 2054l. 4s. 2d.' These notices of the prosperity of this edifice, conduct us down to the time when so much of its glory was lost in devastating flames and mouldering ruins.

The year 1632-33 must be ever memorable in the history of London Bridge: for scarcely, in the awful conflagration which consumed almost the whole City, did our brave old edifice suffer so severely. And now, Mr. Barbican, you must forgive me, if I be a little prolix in describing that desolating fire; since it not only destroyed more than a third part of the Bridge Houses, but, at one time, its ravages were feared even in the City itself. I shall commence my account, then, by reminding you that Richard Bloome, one of Stow's continuators, on p. 61 of his 'Survey,' thus speaks of the calamity. 'On the 13th day of February, between eleven and twelve at night, there happened in the house of one Briggs, a Needle-maker, near St. Magnus Church, at the North end of the Bridge, by the carelessness of a Maid-Servant setting a tub of hot sea-coal ashes under a pair of stairs, a sad and lamentable fire, which consumed all the buildings before eight of the clock the next morning, from the North end of the Bridge to the first vacancy on both sides, containing forty-two houses; water then being very scarce, the Thames being almost frozen over. Beneath, in the vaults and cellars, the fire remained glowing and burning a whole week after.'

"There are not wanting several general views of London taken before this fire, by which we are made

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acquainted with those extensive piles of dwellings it destroyed; several of which I have already mentioned to you. Another also, which is most excellent and rare, is that entitled in Latin, London the most flourishing City of Britain, and the most celebrated emporium of the whole world.' It was engraven by John Visscher in 1616, and published in Holland, by Jud. Hondius at the sign of the Watchful Dog;' a four-sheet print measuring 7 feet 1 inch by 1 foot 4 inches, with an English description beneath it.' 'A Capital View,' adds Gough, in his British Topography,' alreaded cited, vol. i. p. 749, the plates destroyed in Holland about twenty years ago. T. Davies sold the only impression of it to the King for ten guineas.' There is, likewise, a variation of this view, without a date, having eight Latin verses at either corner, with the name of Ludovicus Hondius Lusitt.' It is, says Mr. J. T. Smith, in his 'Ancient Topography of London,' p. 25, 'extremely well executed, and exhibits a wind-mill standing in the Strand, very near where the New Church is now erected; and another above the Water-works at Queenhithe.' He considers it as earlier than the productions of Hollar, from the circumstance that the Palace of Whitehall appears in its original state, before the Banqueting House and York and Somerset Water gates were erected by Inigo Jones. It is also shown to be a view of the time of King James I., by a royal procession being introduced on the water, in which the royal barge is surmounted by the thistle. London Bridge forms a very large and important feature in this engraving; and I have been informed, that the edifice alone was copied in quarto, for the work entitled 'London before the Great Fire;' but, as that publication stopped with the second number, it was never exhibited for sale.

"Of the very curious print by Visscher, however,— and I must not forget to observe that a fine impression of it is in the possession of John Dent, Esq.-there

was also an imitation of the same size, but somewhat inferior, called, from the place where it was engraven, 'the Venetian copy of Visscher's view.' It is, like its prototype, entitled in Latin, London the most flourishing City in Britain,' &c.; to which is added, Printed in Venice, by Nicolo Misserini, 1629, Franco Valegio fecit:" it also contains a Latin dedication, and a description in Italian. There is an impression, probably, of this latter print, preserved in volume xiii. of the famous illustrated Pennant's London, bequeathed by the late Charles Crowle, Esq., to the British Museum; but all the inscriptions have been cruelly cut away, and the print itself doubled in numerous folds, to make it fit to the size of the volume! This engraving, however, bears the name of Rombout

don Bridge, burned down in 1632-33, which extended to the first opening, and which, from the very appearance which they present, must have contained a considerable number of inhabitants; but of the fire itself, and of all the distressing events attending it, I am about to give you a very particular and interesting account, from the pen of an eye-witness of the conflagration. This narrative is contained in a coarse paper Manuscript volume, of a small quarto size, written in the print-hand of the 17th century, with some lines of faded red ink and chalk interspersed. The volume contains 517 pages in all, and is entitled 'A Record of the Mercies of God; or, a Thankefull Remembrance;' it being a collection, or journal, of remarkable providences and reflections, made by one Nehemiah Wallington, a Puritan Citizen and Turner, who lived in Little East-cheap, and who was evidently a friend of Burton and Bastwick, he having been several times examined concerning them before the Court of Star-Chamber. In this most singular record then, at pp. 479–488, is an article entitled 'Of the great fire. vpon the Bridge;' preceded by Mottoes from Psalms lxvi. 5; lxxi. 17; cxi. 2; Isaiah xlv. 7 ; and Amos iii. 6; which runs in the following terms.

"1633. It is the bounden dutie of vs all that haue beene the beholders of the wonderfull workes of the Lord our God, his mercyes and iudgements shewed heretofore; and now of late of a fearefull fire, wee should not forgett itt ourselues, and we should declare it to all others, euen to ye generations to come.-On the xi. day of February (being Monday, 1633) began, by God's iust hand, a fearefull fire in the house of one Mr. Iohn Brigges, neere tenn of the clocke att night, it burnt down his house and the next house, with all the goods that were in them; and, as I heere, that Briggs, his wife, and childe, escaped with their liues very hardly, hauing nothing on their bodies but their shurt and smoke: and the fire burnt so fearcely, that itt could not be quenched till it had burnt downe all the houses on both sides of the way, from S. Magnes Church to the first open place. And although there was water enough very neere, yet they could not safely come at it, but all the conduittes neere were opened, and the pipes that carried watter through the streets were cutt open, and the watter swept down with