The present Artillery Ground, together with the land on the north side, as far as Old Street, was antiently denominated BONHILL, or BUNHILL FIELDS *; part whereof, at present called Tindal's, or the Dissenters burial ground, was, by the mayor and citizens of London, in the year 1665, set apart and consecrated as a common cemetry, for the interment of such bodies ás could not be admitted in their parochial grounds. However, it not being made use of for the purpose intended, Tindal took a lease of it, and converted it into a burial ground for the use of the Dissenters. This burial ground contains a prodigious multitude of grave stones with inscriptions, besides a great number of raised monuments, with vaults underneath, belonging to particular families, and eminent persons. Opposite is a very handsome chapel, built by the late rev. JOHN WESLEY, for those of the Arminian persuasion. It is a plain structure of brick; the interior very neat; there is also a spacious court before the building, and uniform houses on each side. This building was erected in place of another, called THE FOUNDERY, which stood on the side of the street, for merly called WINDMILL HILL. Of this foundery it is related, that in the year 1716 it was a place for casting cannon, and that "on the 12th of May that year, about a quarter past nine at night, as the workmen were casting three pieces of cannon of an extraordinary size, soon after the second was poured into the mould, it burst (occasioned by some fmall damp) whereby Mr. Hall, one of the clerks belonging to the ordnance, was so mangled, that he soon died." It was in this foundery that St. Paul's great bell was cast. Further on is a street, formerly calld TABERNACLE WALK, on account of a meeting house for the Methodists, built by the late rev. George Whitfield; it is a large square building without elegance, and appropriated for the numerous congregations with which it is filled. It should be remembered that the great MILTON died at Bunhill + Dawks's News Letter. At At the end of this street, in OLD STREET ROAD, is a famous spring, dedicated to St. Agnes; and from the transparency and salubrity of its waters, denominated ST. AGNES LA CLAIR, or vulgarized to ANISEED CLEAR. It has claims to antiquity; for it appears that in the reign of Henry VIII. it was thus named: "Fons voc' Dame Agnes a Clere;" and among the possessions of the prebendal estate of Halliwell, alias Finsbury, from a survey taken in 1567, it is noticed as "The well called Dame Agnes the Cleere." In 1622, it was valued at forty shillings per annum, and appears to have risen from some small springs at Stoke Newington. It seems to have belonged to the crown; for among the parliamentary surveys taken in 1650, it is stated to have lain upon waste land, and to have belonged to Charles Stuart, late king of England. The spring is eighteen feet deep, and is said to be of great efficacy in all rheumatic and nervous cases, head achs, &c. A good house for the accommodation of visitors and patients, fronts the street; and the spring is divided into two baths, the larger for the use of gentlemen, and the smaller for females. On the opposite side of the road, at the north end of PITFIELD STREET, is situated ASKE'S HOSPITAL, vulgarly called the THE HABERDASHERS ALMSHOUSES. This edifice was erected in 1692, by the company of Haberdashers, pursuant to the will of ROBERT ASKE, Esq. one of their members, who left thirty thousand pounds for the building, and the relief of twenty poor members of the company of Haberdashers, besides the maintenance and education of twenty boys, sons of decayed freemen of the same company. The men, who are all to be single, have each an apartment of three rooms, with proper diet and firing, a gown once in two years, and 31. per annum in money. The boys have also a ward to themselves, with all necessaries: their master, who reads prayers twice a day in the chapel, has, besides a house, 40l. per annum, which, together with the salaries of the clerk, butler, porter, and other domestics, amounts to about 8007. a year. 3 I VOL. IV. No. 95. The The building, which is of brick and stone, is four hundred feet long, with an ambulatory in front of three hundred and forty feet, under a piazza, elevated on stone columns of the Tuscan order. In the middle of the building is a chapel, adorned with columns, entablature, and pediment of the Ionic order; and under the pediment is a niche, with a statue of the founder in his livery gown. Under him is the following inscription: ROBERTO ASKE Armigero, hujus Hospitii Fundatori, Socie. Haberda. B. M. P. C. And one side of him is this inscription: Anno Christi MDCLXXXII. Societas Haberdasherorum de London hoc Hospitium condiderunt, ex Legato & Testamento Roberti Aske Armigeri, ejusdam Societatis; ad viginti Senum Alimenta, & totidum Puerorum Educationem. On the other side the following: The worshipful Company of Haberdashers built this Hospital, pursuant to the gift and trust of R. Aske, Esq. a late worthy member of it, for the relief of twenty poor members, and for the education of twenty boys, sons of decayed freemen of that company. Fronting the entrance of the chapel is a large pair of very handsome iron gates, and at each end of the hospital is a wing of the same height as the chapel. This edifice narrowly escaped destruction by fire, which broke out at a feather manufactory adjoining, on Thursday night, August 6, 1807, which destroyed those premises, and the north wing of the hospital. OLD STREET ROAD continues to the London 'Prentice, a public house, which has borne that sign many years, and is crossed by the CURTAIN ROAD, which received its denomination from one of the most antient theatres in the neighbourhood of the metropolis. It is mentioned as early as 1578, in a sermon at Paul's Cross; and in 1579, in Northbroke's "Treatise against idleness, vain playes, and enterludes." In 1600 the privy council printed an order for restraining the number of playhouses, and the Curtain was |