At Messrs. Hoare's banking house, in Fleet Street, there is the leathern bottle still remaining. The two fish at Messrs. Rundle and Bridge's; the bible and crown, at Messrs. Rivington's, &c. &c. But signs are now principally confined to public houses, and in general are merely written up, and the effigies are fallen into disuse, and in a few years will possibly only exist in the records of the antiquarian, or the collection of a virtuoso.

A list of Aldermen of Bread Street, Ward, from 1689 to the present time.

Sir Henry 'Fulse, knt. elected in 1673; served the office of sheriff in 1674, and that of lord-mayor in 1684.

Sir Edward Clark, knt. elected in 1689; served the office of sheriff in 1691, and that of lord-mayor in 1697.

Sir Richard Hoare, knt. elected in 1703; served the office of sheriff in 1710, and that of lord-mayor in 1713.

Sir Robert Baylis, knt. elected in 1719; served the office of sheriff in 1725, and that of lord-mayor in 1729.

Sir Stephen Theodore Janson, bart. elected in 1748; served the office of sheriff in 1750, that of lord-mayor in 1754, and on being chosen chamberlain, resigned.

Brass Crosby, esq. elected in 1765; served the office of sheriff in 1764, and that of lord-mayor in 1770.

Sir J. Langton, knt. elected in 1793, and served the office of sheriff in 1796.

C. Hammerton, esq. elected 1797, and served the office of sheriff in 1793.

John Ansley, esq. elected in 1800; served the office of sheriff in 1805, and that of lord-mayor in 1807; is the present alderman of this ward.

END OF BREAD STREET WARD.

Bridge Ward Within,

TAKES its name from London Bridge, which, when covered with buildings, formed three of the fourteen precincts into which the Ward was divided. It is bounded on the south by Southwark and the river Thames; on the east by Billingsgate Ward; on the north by Langbourn Ward; and on the west by the Wards of Candlewick and Dowgate.

The Ward commences at the southern extremity of the bridge, and extends northward up Fish-street Hill and Gracechurch-street, to the corners of Lombard and Fenchurch-streets, including all the bridge, the greater part of the alleys and courts on the east side, and all the alleys, courts, and lanes on the west side of Thames-street, (called Upper Thames-street), as far as the east side of Old Swan Lane inclusive; part of Michael's, or Miles Lane, and part of Crooked Lane. It is divided into fourteen precincts, viz. the three of London Bridge, three in Thames-street, three in Fish-street Hill, the upper and lower precincts of St. Leonard Eastcheap, the upper precincts of St. Benedict, or Ben'et Gracechurch-street, and Allhallows Lombard-street. It is governed by an alderman, fifteen common councilmen, fourteen constables, fifteen inquest men, and a ward beadle.

The principal streets are Fish-street Hill and Gracechurch-street, and the principal structures the parish churches of St. Magnus and

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St. Bennet, the Monurnent, Fishmongers' Hall, and London Bridge.

At the north-east corner of the bridge, at the west end of Lower Thames-street, stands the parish church of St. Magnus, so called from the saint to whom it was dedicated, who suffered martyrdom at Cæsarea in Cappadocia, A.D. 276, during the reign of the emperor Aurelian. Alexander, the Roman governor of the province, after exposing the martyr twice to be consumed in the flames of a furnace, and thrice to be devoured by wild beasts, because he would not sacrifice to idols, at last commanded him to be stoned to death; and when the spectators thought he was dead, he suddenly called out from under the heap (so say the legends! and who ventures to doubt such authority ?) and called on the Lord to take his soul in peace. The date of the foundation of this church is not known, but the chapel of St. Thomas the Martyr, built upon the bridge by Peter of Colechurch before 1209, was in this parish.

In ancient records this church has the addition of, "at the foot of London Bridge." It is a rectory, the patronage of which was anciently in the abbots and convents of Westminster and Bermondsey, who presented alternately, till the general suppression of monasteries, when it fell to the crown. In 1553 queen Mary, by letters patent, granted it to the bishop of London and his successors, in whom it still remains vested, subject to the archdeacon.

In 1302 Hugh Pourt, one of the sheriffs, and Margaret his wife, founded a perpetual chantry here. In 1623, 24, 25, the church underwent repairs, amounting to £500. and upwards, and in 1629 it was again repaired at the expence of the parish; but in 1633 a dreadful fire destroyed a third part of the parish, which so greatly decreased the tithes, that three years afterwards, from £109. they were reduced to £83. The general conflagration in 1666 destroyed this church.

In 1676 the present structure was erected by the incomparable sir Christopher Wren, though the steeple was not completed till 1705, and it had a very narrow escape of being again destroyed by fire in 1827, the premises and large warehouses immediately behind it being entirely consumed. It had been repaired in 1825, and

from the injury the building sustained from the fire, divine service was necessarily suspended until the commencement of the present year (1828).

The fabric is substantially built of stone; the corners have rustic coins, and the body was ornamented with tall arched windows, which were afterwards filled up so as to appear circles. The roof is hid by a kind of attic course, from which the tower rises square and plain, whence a dial projects over the street; the course above this is adorned at the corners with coupled pilasters of the Corinthian order, supporting an open work in place of a balustrade, with large urns at the corners. Hence rises a beautiful octagonal temple or lantern, ornamented with light composite pilasters, and arched windows in the intercolumniations; on these pilasters rests the cupola, from the summit of which rises a spire supporting the fane, and surrounded by a neat and elegant balustrade. The clock, which projects from the front, was the gift of sheriff Duncombe, alderman of this ward in 1700, and is said to be in an exact level with the ground at the end of Cornhill.

Within the church is highly though properly decorated, being ornamented with arched work, and handsomely paved and wainscoted. There is an excellent organ, and the whole interior is in the chastest and most suitable style for a place of divine worship, being elegant without gaudiness, and imposing withont finery. Much of the interior carving was done by the celebrated Gibbons.

The church was built on the present footway, and abruptly projected into the street; it continued in this state till the fire in 1759, the church being damaged, and a great portion of the adjacent houses consumed. When the confusion had in some measure subsided, and the parishioners began to rebuild their houses, it was suggested that a footway would be a vast improvement, but to this the steeple seemed to present an insurmountable obstacle, and the parishioners were unwilling to deface or destroy so beautiful a specimen of architecture. A surveyor was employed, however, who with great ingenuity suggested, and in fact discovered, that sir Christopher Wren, foreseeing that such a convenience would be indispenble at some future time, (for his was a mind that looked beyond the

present), had so contrived the arch on which the steeple stood, that it required only to pierce the lower part of the tower, when the desired alteration was effected. This being done, St. Magnus' steeple and porch exhibited another proof of the extensive abilities of this great man.

The monuments are not of particular note.

There was a famous guild dedicated to Our Lady de salve Regina, in the church of St. Magnus, an account of which was brought to king Edward III., when an inquisition was taken of all guilds of fraternities throughout England; the certificate of which is to be found in the Tower Records.

On the side where now stands "the Monument," previously to the great fire of 1666, was the parochial church of St. Margaret on Fish-street Hill, formerly called New Fish-street, from the number of fishmongers who dwelt there. The patronage of this church, which was a rectory, was in the abbot and convent of Westminster, and was (after falling with that convent to the crown) after the Dissolution, given by queen Mary in the first year of her reign to the bishop of London, and his successors, with whom the advowson still continues. The first mention of this church is in 1328, before which time Roger de Bredefield and Edward de Hoseland had been rectors thereof.

At the south-west corner of Fenchurch-street stands the parochial church of St. Benedict, or Benét Gracechurch-street, called St. Benét Grass-church, from its vicinity to the grass market, which was anciently held before its west door, and the saint of that name born in the province of Umbria, one of the Italian states, in 480, who was patriarch of an order of monks called from him the Benedictines, or black friars, from the colour of their habits; of which order were all the English cathedrals, except Carlisle. From the Benedictines have sprung many lesser orders, who took rules of the first founder. Saint Benedict lived in retirement at the monastery of Casino, which he had founded, till A.D. 543, where he died at the age of sixty-two.

The advowson of this church is a rectory in the gift of the dean and chapter of St. Paul's since the year 1190. It is uncertain when the church was first built, but Stow says, "It was repaired and