measure has tended to the cleanliness or improvement, we will leave to those who have most experience of it, only reserving to ourselves the right of thinking, that a little additional noise, occasioned by the rattling of carriages over the stones, is preferable to the accumulation of dirt, and the oceans of mud which must be waded through, to cross the road in winter, or the whirlwinds of dust to be encountered in summer.

A list of Aldermen of Bishopsgate Ward, from 1681 to the present time.

Sir Jonathan Raymond, elected in 1681; but not being elected lord-mayor, resigned his place.

Sir Owen Buckingham, elected in 1718, served the office of sheriff the same year, and that of lord-mayor in 1705.

Sir Joseph Lawrence, elected in 1713.

Sir Edward Beecher, elected in 1718; served the office of sheriff in 1722, and that of lord-mayor in 1728.

Sir Robert Godshall, elected in 1732; served the office of sheriff in 1736, was chosen lord-mayor for 1742, but died in the office.

Sir Samuel Pennant, elected in 1742; served the office of sheriff in 1745, was chosen lord-mayor for 1750, but died in the office.

Sir Matthew Blakiston, elected in 1750; served the office of sheriff in 1754, and resigned.

James Townsend, esq. elected in 1769; served the office of sheriff in 1769, and that of lord-mayor in 1772.

Samuel Swain, esq. elected in 1787.

Sir Robert Carr Glyn, bart. elected in 1790; served the office of sheriff the same year, that of lord-mayor in 1798; is the present alderman of this Ward.

END OF BISHOPSGATE WARD.

Bread Street Ward,

WHICH is nearly in the centre of the city, took its name from its principal street, where formerly was held the Bread Market, in which, by order of Edward I., in the 30th year of his reign (1302), the bakers of London were compelled to sell bread in the open market only, and not in their shops or houses; and to have four hall-motes in the year, at four several terms, to❝ determine of enormities belonging to the said company."

It is bounded on the north and north-west by the ward of Farringdon Within, on the west by Castle-Baynard ward, on the south by Queenhithe ward, and on the east by Cordwainers ward. It comprises Bread Street, Friday Street, Distaff Lane, parts of Basing Lane and Watling Street, with the east side of Old Change, from the corner of St. Augustine's church to Old Fish Street, and the north side of Old Fish Street and Trinity Lane, with that part of the south side of Cheapside between Friday Street and the corner of St. Mary-le-Bow churchyard; and is divided into thirteen precincts, governed by an alderman, twelve common councilmen, thirteen constables, thirteen inquest-men, and a ward beadle.

There are two churches in this ward, Allhallows and St. Mildred's, both in Bread-street, which is a well-built open street, running nearly due south from Cheapside; on the east side of which, where it is intersected at right angles by Watling Street, is the parish church of Allhallows Bread Street, which received that name from its being dedicated to all the Saints, and from its local situation. It is a rectory of very ancient foundation; the patronage of which was originally in the prior and canons of

BB

Christ Church, who presented Watkin de Sonnebres to it in 1284, and in 1365 conveyed it to Simon Islip, archbishop of Canterbury, in consequence of favours conferred on them, and it has ever since continued a peculiar attached to that see.

On the 5th of September 1559, the stone spiral steeple was broken down by a violent storm of thunder and lightning, about nine or ten feet from the top, which very nearly crushed a man to pieces, and killed a dog he was playing with. The spire was entirely taken down, to save the parish the expence of the repairs. John Dunston gave £200 towards rebuilding the church in 1620, and £12 per annum for ever. It was demolished by the fire in 1666, rebuilt by sir Christopher Wren in 1684, and the tower completed in 1697, at the expence of the public; and serves not only for the inhabitants of its own parish, but for those of St. John the Evangelist, annexed to it by act of parliament.

Allhallows church consists of a plain body of the Tuscan order, seventy-two feet in length, thirty-five in breadth, and thirty in height to the roof, with a square tower of the Doric order eightysix feet in height, divided into four compartments, with arches near the top, and surrounded by pyramidal pinnacles. The keystones over the windows are formed into carved heads, and between each is a large festoon.

The interior is paved with Norway oak: the pulpit carved and enriched with cherubims, and the sound-board veneered. In the gallery, at the west end, is a fine organ, and the altar is well adorned and beautified. It is of the Corinthian order, with architrave, cornice, and pediments, fluted columns, and freize. Under the large cornice is a radiance, and at each end of the cornice a lamp with flaming tapers, carved in wainscot; above the whole are the armorial bearings of England in fretwork.

Amongst the monuments mentioned by Stow, was one to the memory of Richard Read, alderman, who served and was made prisoner in Scotland in 1542. Henry VIII. being in distress for money to carry on the war with Scotland, the twelve city companies lent him £21,263. 6s. 8d. on mortgage of the crown lands for that purpose. This not being sufficient, the king afterwards sent commissioners into the city, to assess the Londoners in an arbitrary manner, by way of benevolence. To this proceeding

the above-mentined Richard Read not only objected, but absolutely refused to pay the sum demanded; for which he was pressed, and sent to Scotland to serve as a common soldier, where he was taken prisoner, and after undergoing many hardships was compelled to pay a considerable ransom for his liberty. Heaven be praised, the days of such despotism are over in England!

In the 23d of Henry VIII. two priests quarrelling in this church, the one drew blood from the other, for which all the services of the church were suspended for a month; the priests were committed to prison, and afterwards enjoined the penance to go before a general procession barefooted, barelegged, and bareheaded before the children, with beads and books in their hands, from St. Paul's through Cheapside, Cornhill, and the other public streets of the city.

There have been several eminent rectors of this parish.

At the corner formed by Friday Street and Watling Street, formerly stood the small parish church of St. John the Evangelist. It was also called St. Werburgh. About the year 1361 here was a perpetual chantry founded by William de Angre, citizen and merchant of London, for the souls of himself and Margaret his wife, and also of John Kingston and his wife. It is a rectory, founded about the same time with Allhallows, and was also in the gift of the priory of Christ Church, Canterbury, ftill conveyed with that church to the archbishop of Canterbury, who still retains it as one of the thirteen peculiars.

The site of this church, which was destroyed by the fire of 1666, and not rebuilt, is converted into a burial place for the parishioners, and though the parish contains but very few houses, it has a separate vestry and two churchwardens.

On the east side of Bread Street also, a little to the 'south of Basing Lane, is the parish church of St. Mildred Bread Street; so called from its situation, and its dedication to St. Mildred, niece of Penda, king of the Mercians, who having devoted herself to a religious life, retired to a convent in France, whence she returned, accompanied by seventy virgins, and founded a monastery in the Isle of Thanet, of which she died abbess, in the year 676.

It is a rectory, founded about the year 1300, by lord Trenchart, of St Alban's, but it had neither vestry room nor church yard,

until 1428, when sir John Chadworth, or Shadworth, by his will gave a vestry and church-yard to the parishioners, and a parsonage house to the rector. This worthy knight, who was mayor in 1401, was buried in this church, and has this "obite consecrated to his happy memoriall:

"Here lyeth a man, that faith and works did even,

Like fiery charlots, mount him up to heaven;

He did adorn this church; when words are weak,

And men forget, the living stones will speak.

He left us land, this little earth him keeps;

These black words mourners, and the marble weeps."

The old church was burnt down in 1666, and the present building erected in 1683, by sir Christopher Wren. It consists of a spacious body, enlightened by one large window on each of the four sides, with a circular roof. The length of the church is sixty-two feet, its breadth thirty-six feet, the height of the side walls forty feet, and to the centre of the roof fifty-two feet. At the south-east corner is a light tower, divided into four stages; whence rises a tall spire, the altitude of which is one hundred and forty feet. The front of it is built of freestone, but the other parts of brick; the roof is covered with lead, and the floor paved with purbeck stone. Within is a neat wainscot gallery at the west end, in which is a good organ; and the pulpit is highly enriched with carving: the altar-piece is also handsomely adorned, and the communion table stands upon a foot piece of black and white marble, enclosed with rails and balusters.

The advowson of this church was anciently in the prior and convent of St. Mary Overy's in Southwark, by whom it was granted in the year 1533 to John Oliver and others for a term of years; at the expiration of which it came to sir Nicholas Crispe, in whose family or assigns it still continues.

This worthy baronet and citizen, born in 1598, was bred to business, although heir to a vast estate. He made successful speculations in trading to the coast of Guinea, and was the firm friend and loyal subject of Charles I. and his son, both of whom he aided with money in the most desperate state of their misfortunes. He was a courageous and prosperous man, and lived to enjoy his old