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Sarum, 721.; and the others smaller sums down to 41. Of the clergy, the

The revenue consisted of

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Bishop of Winchester, Cardinal of England, subscribed the enormous sum of *9,9501, 1s. ; the Prior of St. John of Jerusalem, 3331. 6s. 8d.; and several others contributed smaller sums. John Cornwall was the only lay indivi2,438 9 1 dual whose subscription was so high as 500l. † (Fædera, Vol. X, p. 461.)

£. 8. d. 3.976 1 2 ...... 26,035 18 8

Daty of 12 pennies on the pound in the value of goods (the whole amount of which thence appears to have been 164,750. 15s. 10d.)....

Casual revenues paid into the Exchequer

40,676 19 9

Sir

lions and Constable of the Tower, Artillery. the King's prisoners, Ambassadors, Messen8,237 10 9 gers, Parliament, &c., the Duchess of Holland. There remained unprovided for, old debts for Harfienr and Calais, the King's wardrobe, and Clerks of the King's Ships and Works, Arrears to Annuitants, Debts of King Henry the IVth, and of Henry the Vth, when Prince of Wales.--( Federn, Vol. X, p. 113, er MS. Bib. Cott. Cleop. F. in.)

1

15,066 11

Total revenue

55,743 10 10

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Total expenditure †..............

Surplus of revenue

5 10

19.500 0 0 1,666 O 0

666 13 4

3,002 17

6

547 O

0

7,751 12 7

4,374 4 3

271 3 4

52,235 16 10%

3,507 13 1 out of which were to be defrayed the charges of the King's and Queen's household and wardrobe, (camera--hospita--garderoba,) the King's works, the new Tower at Portsmouth, Clerk of the King's ships, the king's

The Marches of Scotland (or what was at that time termed debatcable ground,) were attended with an intolerable expense, without being productive of any thing but subjects for historical ballads. Berwick alone is stated to have cost at this time 10,000 marks annually.

t In this account there is a disagreement betwixt the totals and the particular numbers in the record, but it is impossible to trace the

error.

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King Henry. How fares my Lord? Speak,
Beaufort, to thy Sovereign.
"Car. If thou beest Death, I'll give thes
England's treasure,

Enough to purchase such another island,
So thou wilt let me live, and feel no pain."

Henry the 1th, Part II, Act in, Scene 3.

+ Although this subscription was ostensibly raised to defray the expenses of the corona tion, there seems, from the largeness of the sum, to have been a design more latent, but certainly more importan', which extended itself into two branches; the one was in presents to the French nobility, the other pay to the soldiers; of which a large army was, from the circumstances of the times, obliged to be kept on foot. The King's uncles, the Dukes of Bedford and Gloucester, had never very sanguine expectations of the benefit of Gallic conquest; while the Cardinal, who opposed them in every thing, and who probably foresaw it advantages to himself in his design upon the papal crown, used all the means that his power, his influence, and his wealth, supphed, to promote the scheme. This may probably serve as a reason why neither the names of these royal Dukes, nor of any of their adherents, appear to the subscription, while that of Beaufort is so ostentatiously displayed. London, ever too fond of war, and, at that moment, elated with the idea of becoming the metropolis of a Visionary empire on the continent, (which must have included the subversion of the Low Countries, her rivals in commerce,) gave with a liberality which she had soon after reason to repent, but which at that time, in the list of British cities, distinguished her as supereminently opulent.

Passing over the dreadful contention to which this coronation was the precursor, we come to an era when the mechanic arts were called into operation to confer immortality upon the efforts of genius.

About A.D. 1440, the mental, the moral systems, were in a considerable degree changed by the discovery of the art of printing. Upon this subject having already observed, we shall only add, that its contemplation involves circumstances in the history of human nature as singular as they are striking: first,

that such an immense benefit should so long have been concealed from the European world; secondly, that the productions of the press should, in process of time, have become of such incalcuJable advantage to every class of society; and, finally, that they should, in point of revenue, make so astonishing a figure in the great scale of national resources as they do at present.

Having observed upon the religion and the commerce, let us now turn to the architecture of this period, as displayed in new erections, and, connected with these and the two subjects we have mentioned, as its effusions began more fully to cover the ground within the walls, and a little to extend the sub urbs of the metropolis.

In contemplating this subject, it is pleasing to reflect how many of the Chief Magistrates have been anxious to improve and to adorn the city over which they presided. We have already mentioned Hende and Wittyngton; in addition to whom we find, that in the mayoralty of Sir John Shadworth, or Chadworth, Mercer, 1401, the castellated conduit upon Cornhill, which was first built of stone, A.D. 1282, by Henry Wallis, Mayor, and which was the most ancient Cage in London, was made a reservoir of sweet water, conveyed by pipes of lead from Tyburn; on the top of which was placed a pillory for bakers offending in the assize of bread, for millers stealing of corn, for bawds, scolds, and other of fenders.

Sir Drew Barentine, Goldsmith, Mayor 1408, built a part of Goldsmiths' Hall, and gave to the Company lands. This edifice was erected upon the site of one still more ancient; it was destroyed in the great conflagration.

1410, began the building of Guildhall upon the foundation of an old edifice, which is supposed, from the circumstance of the Monarch's arms having been displayed in several parts, to have been erected by Edward theConfessor.Though maged by the fire of London, that it was not totally destroyed, it was so much da obliged to be taken down and rebuilt

1669. To the taste of Sir Thomas Raw

linson we owe the two gigantic figures of Gog and MAGOG, which first astonished both city and country in the year 1706. So that it appears that they have stood their century, which in some instances confers immortality, and been PRESENT at a hundred civic feasts; which have, in more senses than one, been frequently deemed aids to mortality.

Sir Thomas Falconer, Mercer, Mayor 1414, built the postern called Moorgate,

Sir Heary Barton, Skinner, Mayor 1416, seems in a very eminent degree to have considered the safety and convenience of his fellow citizens; for he

ordered lanthorns with lights to be hung out on the winter evenings betwixt Hallontide and Candlemas; whereby, in a place so intersected with brooks and open sewers, unquestionably many accidents were prevented

Sir Robert Chichley, Grocer, Mayor 1421, gave a plot of ground whereon to build the church of t. Stephen, Wal

brook *.

1422, the west gate of London was begun to be new erected by the executors of Sir Richard Wittyngton, who was not only in his life, but by his representatives, a great ornamentor of the city; we find, besides his favourite college, his name attached to a number of other public works, and theirs dispensing his liberal donations in the erection or beautifying Guildhall, St. Stephen's above mentioned, Mercers' Chapel, and other fabrics. Perhaps there was no man in the city whose benevolent infiuence was so generally felt in his time; and it is certain, that there never was

It has been stated, that Sir William

Standon, Grocer, Mayor 1399, gave the ground, and that Chichley, who laid the first and second stones, gave 1001., and all the timber work and lead on the procession way, and the roofs of the side aisles. This, except for the sake of correctness, is not very material; they were, unquestionably, both Sir Thomas Knoles, Grocer, Mayor very great benefactors to thus edifice.

one whose life has since been so whimsically represented *.

Sir William Rainewell, Fishmonger, Mayor 1426, made himself extremely popular, by endowing the city with lands and tenements sufficient to discharge three of its wards from their fifteenths, &c.

Sir John de Welles, Grocer, Mayor 1431, subscribed largely towards the new building of the chapel by Guildhall, and of his goods the standard in West Cheap was inade. He also built the south aisle of St. Antholin's church, as by his picture, (strangely there found,) his motto, and arms, do yet plainly appear +.

Sir Stephen Eastfield, Mercer, Mayor 1437, contributed largely to the water conduits, which were at that time not only useful, but highly ornamental, to the wider streets of the metropolis.

The "Comely Cross," in Cheapside, was set up in 1442; to which John Hatherly, Mayor, contributed. At this period many works were carried on, both useful and ornamental.

Sir Simon Eyre, Draper, Mayor 1445, built the Leaden Hall, to be a common garner for the city.

During the civil wars, it appears, that the improvements of the city were suspended: we, therefore, in contemplating those dreadful times, meet with more frequent instances of dilapidation than of building.

There was at the beginning of the last century, on the north side of Pancras-lane, the sign of the Cat. This was near Wittyng ton's mansion, and probably once part of his estate. But whether it bore any allusion to a well known tale, it is now impossible to dis

cover.

+ Stow, Seymour, &c.

Many of the Mayors and Aldermen, with Henry Weaver, one of the Sheriffs, had the distinguished bonour of the knighthood of the Bath conferred on them by Edward the IVth, in the early period of his reign. The citizens of London were, in general, strongly attached to the house of York from principle; though it has, by writers of more ingenuity than candour, been stated, that this predilection was at the instance of their wives, because the representative of that family was the handsomest man of his age. That Edward felt their attachment is certam; for he knighted twelve Aldermen and the Recorder in the field, after the riot excited by the Bastard of Falconbridge was quelled.

In the mayoralty of Sir William Edwards, Grocer, Mayor 1471, the conduit in Aldermanbury, and the standard in Fleet street, works that had probably been suspended, were finished.

Sir Ralph Joceline, Draper, Knight of the Bath, Mayor 1476, superintended the repairs of the walls of the city.

Sir Edmund Shaa*, Goldsmith, Mayor 1482, rebuilt the postern of Cripplegate.

Sir Thomas Hill, Grocer, was one of the three Mayors that died of the sweating sickness in the course of the year 1484. He appointed, by his festament, the conduit in Grasse-street to

be built.

In the mayoralty of Sir Henry Collet, Mercer, 1486, the cross in West Cheap was rebuilt in a beautiful manner.

William Purchase, Mercer, Mayor 1497, did what we have lately seen repractised; he destroyed all the gardens and walks in Moorfields, and made them plain ground. Whether he had any building scheme in contemplation does not appear +.

From the foregoing list it appears, that the chief magistrates of London were, many of them, anxious for its improvement, and their ideas seem to have been ably seconded and frequently

*This was the magistrate whom we have so often seen represented in Richard the IIId: but Shakspeare certainly never intended to place him in the ridiculous light used to call him his Merchant; and Decemin which he appears on the stage. Richard ber the 1st, in the first year of his reign, sold him some of his plate; of which a variety of arucles are enumerated by Stow, amounting to 275 lbs. 4 oz. Troy weight; which, at Ss. 4d. per ounce, came to 5501. 13s. 4d., and which the King acknowledged to have received by the hands of his trusty Chaplain, Mr. Edward Chatterton. December 23 The affairs of Richard must have been much

deranged, ius pecumary wants exceedingly pressing, before he would, we should have imagined, have parted with his plate, or have thought 5501. an object worthy Ins attention.

+ BETALEM was not, at that period, erected; its site was then occupied by gardens extending from London Wall to the edge of the great fen or moor; round which, as has been before mentioned, there were raised causeways and walls planted with trees. Why these should have been destroyed, as DO Ripley with a rule" seems to have had any concern in it, we are at a loss to conjecture.

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adopted by the other aldermen and citizens. Although the public architecture had not entirely relieved itself from the wight of those Saxon and Gothic incumbrances which gave to buildings the appearance of having been hewn out of solid rocks; yet from Italian models exhibiting the refined taste which at that time pervaded Italy, an ornamental lightness was obtained, which. by adding embellishment to solidity, produced many beautiful structures. These were considered the more perfect, as no attempts had yet been made to blend the Grecian with the Gothic stiles: at such an idea the genius of the people of the fifteenth century would probably have revolted, though it was embodied in subsequent ages.

The domestic architecture of that period, if we can trust to the reputed dates of the few specimens that remain, was of a very singular character. The dwellings of the middle and lower classes of the people were still, in defiance of law and of common sense, mostly of wood; their elevation partaking something of the nature of an inverted pyramid, and their interiors displaying low ceilings, dark stair-cases, irregular floors, and, in short, abounding with all the inconveniences that it was possible for buildings to possess: inconveniences which were continually felt; perhaps, from their effects, frequently lamented; yet patiently submitted to. The architects of those times, thinking more of splendor than of salubrity, it appears, lavished their skill upon ecclesiastical edifices, &c., while they suffered the houses of the middle and lower orders of the citizens to remain in a state that rendered them a kind of passport to the sepulchres or cemeteries which those edifices enclosed, or by which they were surrounded.

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under the Crown*; it therefore he comes necessary that I should state by what accident I have falea from that terse, yet pithy mamer, which made my works as bright and as sharp as a sword, and without much trouble in refining rendered them as pure as granulated copper, and as hard as adamant; to this, in which one conceit is folded over another like a bale of drugget, so fimsy in its fabric that it will not bear perking, and which has, as you must by guping have discovered, so much of the nap upon it, that although it marks the Drapier, it is as destitute of pristine strength as ferret or quality binding compared to cardis or girl-web.

The sensation produced upon human ears, which were always, with me, favourite members of the body corporate, the pithiness of my former stile, and the concomitant advantages it transfused through my writings, were all the emanations of necessity; I was absolutely obliged to defend myself from a number of enemies whom I acquired by the following circumstance:

I had once in my shop a piece of most excellent cloth; so admirable was its texture, and so unblemished its web, that I frequently opened it as a pattern to the people. I determined never to sell any of this; but as I wished to have its fabric more fully displayed, for the imitation of the whole parish, I had it made into three coats; plain, bat

* What a senseless pun! One of the signs Nay, upon second thought, if there was any of the shop of the publisher is the Crown!! merit in this conceit, it would be easy for one of my reading to discover that it was stolen from the story of the Draper, who was hanged by Edward the IVth for saying he would make his son heir to the Crown ;

--" Meaning indeed his house,

To the Editor of the European Magazine. Which by the sign thereof was termed so."

Letter III.

SIR, London, 7th August, 1806. HAVING no doubt but that you, and consequently the public, have already discovered the manifest difference betwixt the stile of my present epistles when brought into comparison with my former, as I have already proceeded two stages in your vehicle, which is, like a mail-coach, most admirably adapted for the conveyance of letters, and also sets off from an office held

Shaksp. WM. WOTTON.

Perking, or examining, the cloth, is

performed by drawing the piece, from end to
end, over two rollers, fixed to the ceding
before a window, the examiner having it
most accurately any faults in the fabric, for
between him and the light; so that he sees

which the seller allows discount at an estab-
lished rate.
M. B.

This unfortunate brother, who suffered for his wit, lived opposite to the Cross in Cheapside.-DRAPIER.

.

of beautiful workmanship. These coats I ove Christmas Day presented to three brothers, who (although I only used to go to church with one of them) were all my intimate friends. How they behaved in these dresses, which I, as one of their father's executors, had given them; how they had them laced, fringed, and otherwise embellished; how they suffered them to be altered till they wanted reformation; how they were after wards ais igured and torn, I have already stated: therefore i shall brietty add, that all the accidents that hap pened to these coals were laid to my charge. I was accused before judges, and obliged to defead myself against critics who were not judges; and, in short, got into such a contention, that my exertions condensed my words, gave energy to my stile, and made it what it was.

If, in the vicissitudes of human affairs, this contention has ceased, the ebullitions of my mind have also subsided. Before I left Dublin, my spirit had in a considerable degree evaporated: I had negiccted my business, phlegm predominated in my corporeal system; while my brain, exsiccated to aridity, became a passive element, a mere caput mortuum. These are phrases which I learned from my apothe cary; therefore I will not answer for their correctness.

In this state I arrived at Chester, where, like my friend the tinker, I amused myself a considerable time in endeavouring to amend copper and

brass.

Having hinted one cause, producing an effect, or rather defect, so visible in my present epistles, I must also observe, that time, or the times, is, or are, apt to corrode the memory: one

* Diogenes Laertius says, that when the people of Agrigentum were afflicted by the (acrary) plaque, they applied to Empedo cles, who had the art of stopping peştilential vapours (whether breathed from the mouths of critics, or issuing from the shops of booksellers,) with a charm, c. g. He took as many asses as he could find, and flayed them: he then hung their hides over those rocks that were most exposed to the passage of the Etesian winds, winch circulating a counter effluvia, had such an effect upon the senses of the inhabitants, that the town was freed. Vit. Empedocles, §. 60.

Here the D has most abominably misquoted, as I could prove-it I was fond of Controversy.WM. WOTTON. 1 Europ. Mag. Vol. LI. Jan. 1807.

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Only possessing, even in my best moments, plain common sense, without the sumilles! pretensions to humour, which I hate, or to wit, which I hate still more, and believing that nine out of ten of my readers were happy in the same antipathies, I had yet, upon reflection, in the busy periods of my life, suflicient penetration to discover, that 1, M. B. 'Drapier, was but a tool, or rather a leasel *, in the hands of the Drapiers' Company in your metropolis, Mr. Editor: who they were, we shall presently see, and that my name, or rather the initials of both my names, had become as conspicuous as the word El upon the temple of Delphit, and were, for a purpose diametrically opposite to the FP's, to be seen in almost every street, as these you know point out where water is to be had in case of conflagrations.

We had once in Dublin a famous quack, who never announced himself on his bills by any other signature than the ominous oce of R. T. This Doctor, close at the head of Nilus ‡, was willing, I suppose, to show the people how well he could keep his own secrets, that they might be induced to trust him with theirs, What this learned member of the faculty did from motives of interest, I was persuaded to do at the suggestions of some of our company. Though the Major'ty had been dispersed, yet I still kept up a correspondence with

the Heads.

How I became FREE I shall now state. Know then, Mr. Editor, that "I was bred at a public school, where I acquired some knowledge of the Latin tangue, I served my apprenticeship in * Here he is right: his works have raised many a nap. W. W.

I wonder that the D- will go out of his way. When he does, he always blunders a he should have said the temple of Apallo, &c. The EI, which points to matters of too deep erudition for him, was written in letters of similitude could be extracted, it must be from gold, and also of brass. If in this case any the latter.--WM. WOTTON.

This was half a century before our great Abyssinian traveller, who could find or ve ↳ water any where, wrote. The allusion nonsense.-B-1-LY,

D

I

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