cloister and appurtenances, it was granted, on the 29th of May, 1 Mariæ, to George Cotton and Thomas Reeve, in soccage, who let the premises upon building leases; and in the third year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the yearly - value of the tenth belonging to the rectory, was granted to the archbishop of Canterbury, and his successors. Having been new roofed in the year 1621, at the ex- pence of 500l. it shared the common calamity of 1666; but was re-edified in 1688, and finished in 1698, by Sir Christopher Wren. The body of the church is enlightened by a series of large arched windows. The tower is carried square a considerable height; and the uppermost window in the centre of each face, is ornamented with a head and handsome festoons. Hence, instead of a balustrade, is a range of open work of the Gothic kind, with vases at the corners. From within this part the tower ascends circular, diminishing in three stages, with an open buttress rising from each corner of the square tower, to the top of the first stage; above this buttress is a large scrole to the top of the second, and a smaller to the top of the third stage: above which is a short round spire, of a peculiar kind, swelling out at the bottom, and then rounding off, to a small height; where it is terminated by a gilt ball and vane*. It has a square roof covered with lead. The floor is of stone, the chancel being one step higher than the other parts of the fabric, which is without columns, but with arches, and imposts. A cornice of crocket work + extends round the roof; the side walls are handsomely wainscoted; the pews are of excellent oak, well finished. The south and west door cases are of the same kind of timber, and ornamented with pilasters of the. Corinthian order. The altar is very neat, adorned with four columns and entablature, of the Corinthian order. The intercolumns are filled by the Decalogue, Creed, &c. each under a gilded Many of the ornaments of this steeple were blown down by the great storm of wind which happened on the 27th of November 1703. Plaistering in imitation of pannels. cherub, cherub, and has enrichments of lamps, fruit, leaves, &c. and these words of our Saviour, in St. John's Gospel, are under the Decalogue: "A new Commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another." Stow mentions the following monuments: Simon Mordon, mayor, 1368. John Finkall, sheriff, anno 1487. Sir John Patesley, mayor in 1441, Master of the Mint at the Tower. Sir Henry Amcoats, mayor, 1548. John Gurney, alderman, and his wife Anna. Here lyeth wrapt in Clay The Body of William Wray; I have no more to say. There are no modern monuments worthy of peculiar no tice. The church has no galleries, except at the west end, in which is a good organ. Among the rectors is recorded John Poynet, D.D. who held this living in commendam with the see of Rochester, till he was translated to the bishopric of Winchester, in 1551, upon the degradation of bishop Gardener. Being a Protestant, upon the accession of Mary I. he fled to Strasburg, and died an exile in 1556, being scarcely forty years of age. He was a prelate of extensive erudition, and an excellent mathematician, having presented to Henry VIII. a dial of his own invention, which shewed the hour, day of the month, sign of the sun, planetary hour, change of the moon, ebbing and flowing of tide, &c.. These accomplishments, and his excellent sermons, were certain means of the preferments he obtained; but were no security or shields against the unrelenting shafts of persecution, The dimensions of St. Michael's church are, length seventy-eight feet, breadth forty-six, altitude thirty-two, and that of the steeple to the top of the pinnacle, one hundred feet. The principal part of the building is hid from the strect, A very shocking accident occurred to the old church on the 5th of July 1560. Two men came to Crooked Lane to purchase guns, one of which burst, and some of the sparks passing into the house of Adrian Arter, a Dutchman, set fire to a barrel of gunpowder, the explosion of which destroyed five houses, threw down great part of the church wall, and broke all the windows; besides killing eight men and one woman, many others, being severely wounded, died within a week. Turning from Crooked Lane to Fish Street Hill, towards the bridge, was a large house, of stone, formerly the town residence of Edward the Black Prince. It was afterwards a common inn, and was levelled by the Great Fire. The south side of Thames Street, was anciently called STOCK-FISHMONGER Row, which extended as far as Ebgate Lane, now Old Swan Lane. FISHMONGERS' HALL. This elegant building, erected by Sir Christopher Wren, as a specimen of his grand intention to ornament the bank of the river Thames, had his plan for rebuilding the City taken place, commands a fine view of the river and the bridge. It is a stately and capacious edifice of brick and stone; and may be said to have two handsome fronts. The grand or fore front entrance is from Thames Street, by a handsome passage, that leads into a large square court, paved with flat stones, and encompassed by the great hall, the court room for the assistants, and other grand apartments, with galleries. These are of an handsome construction, and are supported by Ionic columns, with an arcade, 1 The back front, or that next the Thames, has a grand double flight of stone steps, by which is an ascent to the first apartments from the wharf. The door is adorned with Ionic columns, and these support an open pediment, in which is a shield, with the arms of the company. The windows are ornamented with stone cases, and the quoins of the building are wrought with a handsome rustic and in the whole of this front there is a fine assemblage of solid. beauty. beauty. Within the great hall is the statue of Sir William Walworth, knt. fishmonger; and another of St. Peter, the patron saint of the company. The arms of the various benefactors are also beautifully displayed in painted glass on the windows round the Hall Room. And in the Court Room are several pictures of the various sorts of vendible fishes, of which a catalogue of the species and varieties, with their seasons, have been printed. THE FISHMONGERS' COMPANY. This is the fourth upon the list of the city corporations, and have at all times been remarkable for their riches, their patriotism, and their public spirit, as may be seen in our history, They were originally two bodies, viz. stockfishmongers and salt-fishmongers; and both of them had no less than six halls; two in Thames Street, two in New Fish Street, and two in Old Fish Street; and were in such reputation for valuable members, or, as Stow denominates them, "jolly citizens," that six lord mayors were chosen out of them in twenty-four years. But being charged with forestalling, contrary to the laws and constitutions of the City, they were fined five hundred marks by Edward I. in 1290; they were afterwards detected of such frauds in their dealings, that the parliament, in 1382, enacted, “That no fishmonger should for the future be admitted mayor of this city." However, this prohibition was taken off the very next There seems to have been a premeditated spirit of persecution exerted against these companies in antient times, which proceeded from a jealousy of their great wealth, power, or number; but it is evident that in the above year, through the counsels of John Northampton, mayor, William Essex, John More, and Richard Northbury, the said fishmongers were greatly troubled for their greetings, hindered of their hiberties, and almost destroyed by congregations made against them; so that in a parliament at London, the controversy depending between the mayor and aldermen of London, and the fishmongers there, Nicholas Exton, speaker for the fishmongers, prayed the king to receive him and the company under the immediate royal protection, lest they might receive corporal hurt. Whereupon it was commanded either party to keep the peace, upon pain of losing all they had: hereupon a fish monger next year. But, in 1384, these, as well as all others concerned in furnishing the city with provisions, were put under the immediate direction of the lord mayor and aldermen by another act of parliament; an act still in force. The salt-fishmongers were incorporated, A. D. 1433. The stock-fishmongers not till 1509. But this separation proving prejudicial to both, they united, and obtained a charter from king Henry VIII. in 1536, by which they were incorporated by the name of The Wardens and Commonalty of the Mystery of Fishmongers of the city of London; and it was established at the same time that one hall should serve the two companies; and this was appointed to be in the house given to them by Sir John Cornewall, lord Fanhope, monger starting up, replied, "That the complaint brought against them by the movers, &c. was but matter of malice, for that the fishmongers, in the reign of Edward III. being chief officers of the city, had for their misdemeanours then done, committed the chief exhibitors of those petitions to prison." In this parliament the fishmongers, by the king's charter patents, were restored to their liberties: notwithstanding, in the next year, 1383, John Cavendish, fishmonger, craved the peace against the chancellor of England, which was granted, and he put in sureties the earls of Stafford and Salisbury, Cavendish then challenged the chancellor for taking a bribe of 101, to favour his case, which the chancellor refuted by an oath on the Sacrament; it was however proved that the chancellor's man, without his master's privity, had accepted the bribe; yet Cavendish was committed to prison, and adjudged to pay one thousand marks for the slander. The above Northampton, was a troublesome magistrate, and aimed at reformation by means of riot and disturbance; to suppress his seditious spirit, the principal nobility assembled at Reading, where, for his contumacy and rebellion, he was convicted and committed to perpetual imprisonment, and his goods confiscated to the king. His troublesome abettors were sentenced to similar punishments, and the fishmongers were thus enabled to enjoy themselves in peace.-Stow. Peni nant relates that there was a desperate feud between this and the Goldsmiths' Company about precedency. The parties grew so violent, that the mayor and aldermen, by their own authority, were obliged to pronounce them rebels, and even bannifiati, banishing the city such of them as persisted in their contumacy. "I fear," says he, "in old times, the goldsmiths were a pugnacious society; for I read of a desperate battle in 1269, between them and the taylors.” 3 P VOL. II. No. 47. of |