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the street, 20 feet; and the depth of the houses on each side, 53 feet, or 73 feet in the whole. One of the last fires which happened on London Bridge, took place on the 8th of September in this year, during the Mayoralty of Sir George Mertins, Knight; and, as Motley tells us, in his Seymour's Survey,' vol. i. p. 49, commenced at the house of a brush-maker, near St. Olave's, Tooley Street, through the carelessness of a servant. It burned down all the houses on that side of the way as far as the Bridge-Gate, with several of the buildings on the other; and Mist's Weekly Journal,' of Saturday, September the 11th, describes it in the following words :- On Wednesday night, between eleven and twelve o'clock, a fire broke out at a Haberdasher's of Hats, on the Bridge foot in Southwark, which burnt on both sides of the way with great violence for four or five hours. We hear that about sixty houses are consumed, some upon the first and second arch of the Bridge; and had it not been for the stone gate which stopp'd the fire very much, the rest of the houses on the Bridge had in all likelyhood been down the Bridge for some time was, by the fall of the timber and rubbish, render'd impassable for coaches, waggons, and carts, which were oblig'd to cross over at Lambeth Ferry. The damage done amounts to many thousands of pounds, but no just computation can yet be made.' The old Bridge-Gate was so much damaged by this conflagration, that in 1726 it was taken down and re-built, being finished in the year 1728. THE NEW SOUTH GATE ON LONDON BRIDGE (see engraving opposite) was furnished with two posterns for foot-passengers, and was decorated with the Royal Arms, under which was inscribed, 'This Gate was widened from eleven to eighteen feet, in the Mayoralty of Sir Edward Beecher, Knight, S. P. Q. L.' The medalet, with a representation of this edifice, I have already mentioned to you, and it may now be stated that it was taken down in the year 1760, with all the other buildings on the Bridge, and the materials

sold by auction. At which sale, the fine old sculpture of the Royal Arms was bought, with some other articles, by a Mr. Williams, a stone-mason of Tooley Street; who being soon after employed to take down the gateway at Axe and Bottle Yard, and to form the present King Street, in the Borough, introduced several of the old

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Bridge materials in erecting it. The ancient Royal Arms, too, are yet to be seen on the front of a small publichouse, on the right-hand side of the Western end of the same street, between the numbers 4 and 67; with the inscription 'G. III. R. 1760, King Street,' carved around them. Mr. Williams also bought several of the facing stones of the old London Bridge, of which he built a very curious house, the roof being of the same stone, and which, about three years since, was standing in Lock's Fields, near Prospect Row, Newington, usually known

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by the name of 'Williams's Folly.' The new BridgeGate stood near the corner of Pepper Alley Stairs, and you will find a representation of it in the Frontispiece to the first volume of Maitland's History.' I imagine, that upon the removal of the old gate, the custom of erecting the heads of traitors there was discontinued, as I find no subsequent notice of it; and the last heads which, probably, were placed upon its towers, are said to have been those of the Regicides in 1661, as I have shown from Monconys, though, in the numerous pamphlets of their Trials, &c., I find no account of their being thus disposed. From The Traytors' Perspective Glass,' London, 1662, 4to, we learn, however, that the heads of Cromwell and Ireton were set over Westminster Hall; and of the others, it is said, 'their heads, in several places, are become a spectacle both to angels and men, and a prey to birds of the air.'

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In Maitland's 'History,' vol. i. p. 49, we are furnished with a brief state of the Bridge Account, from Ladyday 1726 to ditto 1727, by the Bridge-Masters, Matthew Snablin and John Web.

• Charge.

By Money in the Bridge-Masters' hands, at the foot

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'Discharge.

To Rents and Quit-Rents

To Taxes and Trophy-Money

To Weekly Bills, Expenses, and Emptions
To Timber and Boards

To Stones, Chalk, Lime, Terrass, and Bricks
To Iron-work

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On Wednesday, the 26th of December, 1733-40, commenced another Frost, the most severe which had occurred since 1716. The Thames, as we are told by the 'Gentleman's Magazine,' of 1740, volume x. p. 35, January 31, floated with rocks and shoals of ice; and when they fixed, represented a snowy field, everywhere rising in masses and hills of ice and snow. Of this scene, several artists made sketches; whilst tents and printing-presses were erected, and a complete Frost-fair was again held upon the River, over which multitudes walked, though some lost their lives by their rashness. It was in this fair that Doll, the Pippin-woman, whom I before mentioned, lost her life, as Gay relates it in the Second Book of his 'Trivia,' verses 375-392; the last line of which seems to be an imitation of that song which we formerly considered, and which was extremely popular even in the time of Gay himself. The passage I particularly allude to is this:

'Doll every day had walk'd these treacherous roads;
Her neck grew warp'd beneath Autumnal loads
Of various fruit: she now a basket bore;
That head, alas! shall basket bear no more.
Each booth she frequent pass'd, in quest of gain,
And boys with pleasure heard her thrilling strain.
Ah, Doll! all mortals must resign their breath,
And industry itself submit to death!
The crackling crystal yields; she sinks, she dies,
Her head, chopt off, from her lost shoulders flies;
Pippins she cried, but death her voice confounds,
And pip-pip-pip, along the ice resounds.'

"Mr. J. T. Smith, in his 'Ancient Topography of London,' page 24, states that another remarkable character, called Tiddy Doll,' died in the same place and

manner.

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"In the treasures of Mr. Crowle's Illustrated Pennant, are several contemporary memorials of this Fair; which I shall very briefly mention, and give some specimens of the poetry attached to them.

"A coarse copper-plate, entitled 'The View of Frost Fair,' 101 inches by 12, scene taken from York-buildings Water-Works; twelve verses beneath.

"A copper-plate, 71⁄2 inches by 5, representing an altar-piece with the ten commandments, engraven between the figures of Moses and Aaron; and beneath, on a cartouche, Printed on the Ice on the River of Thames, Jan'y 15, 1739.'

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"A coarse copper-plate engraving, looking down the River, entitled Frost Fair,' with eight lines of verse beneath; and above Printed upon the River Thames when Frozen, Janu. the 28, 173 9 inches by 124.

"A copper-plate 5 inches by 81, representing an ornamental border with a female head, crowned at the top; and below, two designs of the letter-press and rolling press. In the centre in type, Upon the Frost in the year 1739-40;' six verses, and then Mr. John Cross, aged 6. Printed on the Ice upon the Thames, at Queen-Hithe, January the 29th, 1739-40.'

'Behold the Liquid THAMES now frozen o'er !
That lately SHIPS of mighty Burden bore.

Here You may PRINT your Name, tho' cannot Write,
'Cause numb'd with Cold; 'Tis done with great Delight.
And lay it by; That AGES yet to come

May see what THINGS upon the Ice were done.'

"A copper-plate, representing a view of the Thames at Westminster, with the tents, sports, &c., and alphabetical references, entitled Ice Fair. Printed on ye River Thames, now frozen over, Jany 31, 1739-40; 7 inches by 121.

Amidst ye arts yt on ye Thames appear,

To tell ye Wonders of this frozen Year.
Sculpture claims Prior place, since yt alone
Preserves ye Image when ye Prospect's gone.'

"An altered copy of these verses was printed upon the Thames in the great Frost of 1814; and from an

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