Part 13

To render this edifice as perfect as possible, the ceiling is finely painted by the celebrated Sir Peter Paul Rubens, who was ambassador here in the time of Charles I. The subject is the entrance, inauguration, and coronation of King James I. represented by Pagan emblems. It is esteemed one of his most capital performances, and may be justly esteemed one of the finest ceilings in the world. This great apartment is at present converted into a chapel, for the service of which certain select preachers were appointed out of each university, by King George I. to preach here every Sunday; for this each are allowed a stipend of 30_l._ a year.

BANSTED, a village in Surrey, situated between Dorking and Croydon, famous for producing a great number of walnuts; but much more for its neighbouring Downs, one of the most delightful spots in England, on account of the agreeable seats in that neighbourhood; for the extensive prospect of several counties on both sides the Thames, and even of the royal palaces of Windsor and Hampton Court; and for the fineness of the turf, covered with a short grass intermixed with thyme, and other fragrant herbs, that render the mutton of this tract, though small, remarkable for its sweetness. In these Downs there is a four miles course for horse races, which is much frequented.

BAPTISTS, a sect of dissenters, thus denominated from their baptizing by immersing the body all over, and from their not considering infants as proper subjects of baptism. They are principally divided into two classes, termed general and particular. The general Baptists, who with Arminius maintain the doctrine of universal redemption, consist of only six congregations, who have their meeting-houses as follows:

1. Fair street, Horsely down. 2. Glasshouse yard, Pickax street, near Aldersgate bars. 3. Mill yard, Rosemary lane. 4. Pinner’s hall, Broad street, in the afternoon. 5. Paul’s alley, Redcross street, where are two different congregations, who maintain their own Minister. 6. Queen street, in the Park, Southwark.

The particular Baptists, who with Calvin believe that none will be saved but the elect, and that all the rest of mankind are doomed to eternal misery, are much more numerous, and have the following meetings.

1. Angel alley, Whitechapel. 2. Artillery street, Spitalfields. 3. Brewers hall, Addle street. 4. Cherry Garden lane, Rotherhith. 5. Church lane, Limehouse. 6. Collier’s rents, White street, Southwark. 7. Curriers court, near Cripplegate. 8. Devonshire square, Bishopsgate street without. 9. Dipping alley, Horselydown, Southwark. 10. Duke’s street, near Pepper street. 11. Eagle street, Red lion street, Holborn. 12. Flower de luce yard, Tooley street. 13. Glasshouse street, Swallow street. 14. Goat yard passage, Horselydown. 15. Johnson’s street, Old Gravel lane. 16. Little Wild street, Great Wild street. 17. Little Wood street, Cripplegate. 18. Maze Pond street, Southwark. 19. Maidenhead court, Great Eastcheap. 20. New Way, Maze, Southwark. 21. Pennington’s street, Virginia street. 22. Pepper street, Southwark. 23. Rose lane, Limehouse. 24. Rosemary branch alley, Rosemary lane. 25. Rotherhith. 26. St. John’s court, Little Hart street. 27. Sheer’s alley, White street, Southwark. 28. Snow fields. 29. Unicorn yard, St. Olave’s. 30. Union yard, Horselydown lane. 31. Vinegar row, Shoreditch.

BAPTIST _court_, by Boswell court, Carey street.*

BAPTIST’S HEAD _court_, Whitecross street.*

BARBERS. The art of surgery was anciently practised in this city by none but the Barbers, who were incorporated by letters patent granted by King Edward IV. in the Year 1461, and in 1512 an act was passed to prevent any persons besides the Barbers practising surgery within the city of London, and seven miles round. At length several persons, who were not Barbers, being examined and admitted as practitioners in the art of surgery, the parliament united them in the thirty-second year of the reign of King Henry VIII. by the appellation of _the Masters or Governors of the mystery or commonalty of Barbers and Surgeons of the city of London_; and by this act all persons practising the art of shaving, are strictly enjoined not to intermeddle with that of surgery, except what belongs to drawing of teeth. Thus this company obtained the name of Barber-Surgeons, which they continued to enjoy till the eighteenth year of the reign of his present Majesty King George II. when the Surgeons applying to Parliament to have this union dissolved, were formed into a separate company; though the Barbers were left in possession of the hall and theatre, and were constituted a body politic, under the name of _the Master, Governors and Commonalty of the mystery of Barbers of London_.

This company has a Master and three other Governors, a court of Assistants of twenty-four members, and a very numerous livery.

BARBERS HALL, a fine edifice on the west side of Monkwell street, consisting of a spacious hall room, a court room, theatre, library, and other commodious offices. The grand entrance from Monkwell street is enriched with the company’s arms, large fruit, and other decorations. The court room has a fretwork ceiling, and is also adorned with the pictures of King Henry VIII. and the court of Assistants, in one fine piece; a portrait of King Charles II. and other paintings. The theatre contains four degrees of cedar seats, one above another, in an elliptical form, and the roof is an elliptical cupola; this room is adorned with a bust of King Charles I. the figures of the seven liberal sciences, and the twelve signs of the Zodiac; the skins of a man and woman on wooden frames, in imitation of Adam and Eve; the figure of a man flayed, done after the life, all the muscles appearing in their due place, and proportion; the skeleton of an ostrich; an human skeleton, with copper joints, and five other skeletons of human bodies. But as this furniture was introduced by the Surgeons, it is now of no use, and the theatre is entirely deserted.

This Hall is one of the works of that great architect Inigo Jones, and is a masterpiece in its kind, that elegant simplicity which characterises all his works, giving the spectator the highest satisfaction.

BARBER’S _alley_, Brown’s lane, Spitalfields.*

BARBER’S POLE _alley_, St. Margaret’s hill, Southwark.*

BARBICAN, Aldersgate street, so called from a high watch tower which stood there, from which a view might be taken of the whole city. Barbican, according to Camden, being an Arabic word signifying a watch tower.

BARE _lane_, Gravel lane.

BAREMERE’S ALMSHOUSE, in Almshouse yard, Hoxton, which was built about the year 1701, by the Rev. Mr. Baremere, a Presbyterian Minister, for eight poor women, who have no other allowance but half a chaldron of coals each _per annum_. _Maitland_.

BARE _yard_, Bucklersbury.

BAREHOUSE _yard_, Silver street, Wood street.

BARKER’S _rents_, Paul’s alley, Red cross street.†

BARKING, a large market town in Essex, situated ten miles from London, on a creek that leads to the Thames, from whence fish is sent up in boats to London, the town being chiefly inhabited by fishermen. The parish has been so much enlarged by lands recovered from the Thames, and the river Rothing, which runs on the west side of the town, that it has two chapels of ease, one at Ilford, and another called New chapel, on the side of Epping forest, and the great and small tithes are computed at above 600_l._ _per annum_. At a small distance from the town, in the way to Dagenham, stood a large old house, where the gunpowder plot is said to have been formed.

BARKING _alley_, Tower street, by Tower hill, so called from the church of Allhallows, Barking.

BARLAM’S _mews_, New Bond street.†

BARLOW’S _court_, Coal yard, Broad St. Giles’s.

BARNABY _street_, Tooley street, Southwark.

BARNES, a village in Surrey, almost encompassed by the Thames. It lies between Mortlake and Barn Elms, and is seven miles from London, and five from Kingston.

BARNET, a market town in Hertfordshire, situated in the road to St. Alban’s, eleven miles from London, on the top of a hill, whence it is called High Barnet, and also Chipping, or Cheaping Barnet, from King Henry the Second’s granting the monks of St. Alban’s the privilege of holding a market here; the word Cheap, or Chepe, being an ancient word for a market. As this place is a great thoroughfare, it is well supplied with inns. The church is a chapel of ease to the village of East Barnet. Here is a free school founded by Q. Elizabeth, and endowed partly by that Princess, and partly by Alderman Owen, of London, whose additional endowment is paid by the Fishmongers company, who appoint 24 governors, by whom the master and usher are chosen to teach seven children gratis, and all the other children of the parish for 5_s_ a quarter. Here is also an almshouse founded and endowed by James Ravenscroft, Esq; for six widows.

This place is remarkable for the decisive battle fought there between the houses of York and Lancaster, on Easter day, 1468, in which the great Earl of Warwick, stiled _the Setter up, and Puller down of Kings_, was slain, with many others of the principal nobility. The place supposed to be the field of battle, is a green spot, a little before the meeting of the St. Alban’s and Hatfield roads: and here, in the year 1740, a stone column was erected, on which is inscribed a long account of that battle.

BARNET (EAST) a pleasant village in Hertfordshire, near Whetstone and Enfield Chace, formerly much frequented on account of its medicinal spring, which was discovered in a neighbouring common about an hundred years ago. The church is a mean edifice; but the rectory is very beneficial.

Here is the fine seat of the Lord Trevor, to which Queen Elizabeth gave the name of Mount Pleasant.

BARNET’S _yard_, Mill bank.†

BARON’S ALMSHOUSE, in Elbow lane, Shadwell, was founded in the year 1682, by George Baron, for fifteen poor women, who also endowed it with 5_l._ 4_s._ _per annum_ for bread.

BARRAT’S _rents_, Stepney Causeway.†

BARRET’S _court_, Horselydown, Fair street.†

BARROW’S _rents_, Windmill hill.†

BARTHOLOMEW _close_, near Smithfield, so called from its being situated near the church of St. Bartholomew the Great.

BARTHOLOMEW _court_. 1. Houndsditch. 2. Throgmorton street.

_St._ BARTHOLOMEW’S _Church_, situated at the south east corner of Bartholomew lane, behind the Royal Exchange, was one of the churches consumed in the general conflagration in 1666, and this structure arose in its place. It consists of a very irregular body, with a tower suited to it, the top of which, instead of pinnacles, a spire, or turrets, is crowned with arches, supported by columns of the Corinthian order. It is a rectory, in the gift of the Crown, and the Rector receives 100_l._ a year in lieu of tithes.

BARTHOLOMEW _lane_, extends from Threadneedle street to Lothbury, and is so named from St. Bartholomew’s church at the corner.

_St._ BARTHOLOMEW _the Great_, situated near the east end of Duck lane, on the north east side of Smithfield, escaped the flames in 1666, and is a large plain church, with a tower crowned with a turret. It is a rectory in the patronage of the Earl of Holland, The Rector’s profits, besides casualties, amount to about 60_l._ _per annum_.

_St._ BARTHOLOMEW _the Less_, is seated on the south east side of Smithfield, adjoining to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital. It was founded in the year 1102, and belonged to the neighbouring convent of the same name; but as it was not destroyed by the fire in 1666, it remains in the same state it was in before that dreadful calamity. It is a low building, composed of brick and rough stone plaistered; and consists of a roofed body with Gothic windows, and a tower with a corner turret. This church is a vicarage, in the gift of the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council, who upon receiving the grant of the church and hospital, covenanted to pay the Vicar 13_l._ 6_s._ 8_d._ _per annum_, which, with an allowance from the hospital, and casualties, amounts to about 120_l._ _per annum_.

_St._ BARTHOLOMEW’S HOSPITAL, on the south east of Smithfield, for the cure of the poor, sick and lame, formerly belonged to the Priory of St. Bartholomew in Smithfield; but both the priory and hospital being dissolved by K. Henry VIII. that Monarch, in the last year of his reign, founded the hospital anew, and endowed it with the annual revenue of 500 marks, upon condition that the city should pay the same sum, which proposal was readily embraced, and the managers of this foundation were incorporated by the name of _The Hospital of the Mayor, Commonalty and Citizens of London, Governors for the poor, called Little St. Bartholomew’s, near West Smithfield_. Since that time the hospital has received prodigious benefactions from great numbers of charitable persons, by which means not only the poor of London and Southwark, but the distressed of any other parts of the King’s dominions, and from foreign countries, are taken in, whether sick or maimed, and have lodging, food, attendance, and medicines, with the advice and assistance of some of the best Physicians and Surgeons in the kingdom, who belong to the hospital, and attend the patients as occasion requires; they have also matrons and nurses, to look after and assist them; and at their discharge when cured, some, who live at a considerable distance, are relieved with money, cloaths, and other necessaries, to enable them to return to their several habitations. Pity it is that so noble and humane a foundation should want any thing to render it perfect, and that every sick person who is admitted, except such as have suffered by sudden accidents, as the fracture or dislocation of a bone, should be obliged to deposit or give security for the payment of a guinea, in case of death, in order to defray the expence of the funeral; for by this some of the poorest and most miserable, and consequently the most proper objects, are unhappily excluded from reaping the benefit they might otherwise receive from it: but this is also the case of several of the other hospitals of this city; however many thousands of persons labouring under the most dreadful diseases and wounds, are annually cured at this hospital, and in those of Kent street in Southwark, and the Lock at Kingsland, both of which are dependent on it. Besides all this, there are great numbers of out-patients, who receive advice and medicines gratis.

The ancient hospital which escaped the fire of London becoming ruinous, it was found absolutely necessary in the year 1729 to rebuild it; a plan for that purpose was formed, and a grand edifice erected, by subscription, which was designed to be only one out of four noble detached piles of building, to be afterwards raised, about a court or area 250 feet in length, and 60 in breadth.

The original design is now nearly compleated, and this hospital altogether forms a very elegant building, or rather buildings, for the sides which compose the quadrangle do not join at the angles, as is usual, but by four walls, each having a large gate which admits you into the area, as may be seen in the print. Here is a staircase painted and given by Mr. Hogarth, containing two pictures with figures large as the life, which for truth of colouring and expression may vie with any thing of its kind in Europe. The subject of the one is the Good Samaritan, the other the Pool of Bethesda.

BARTLET’S _buildings_, Holborn.†

BARTLET’S _court_. 1. Bartlet’s street.† 2. Holborn hill.†

BARTLET’S _passage_, Fetter lane.†

BARTLET’S _street_, Red Lion street, Clerkenwell.†

BARTON _street_, Cowley street, Westminster.†

BARTON’S _rents_, Shoreditch.†

BARTRAM’S _yard_, Nightingale lane.†

BASINGHALL, a very ancient building now called Blackwell hall, which see.

BASINGHALL _court_, Basinghall street.†

[Illustration: _S Wale del._ _B. Green sculp._ _S^t. Bartholomew’s Hospital._]

BASINGHALL _street_, Cateaton street, extends on the east and north sides of Blackwell hall, anciently called Basing hall. Tho’ this street is neither uniform nor regularly built, it has many handsome houses inhabited by merchants. It received its name from its belonging to the family of the Basings. _Stow._ See BLACKWELL HALL.

BASING _lane_, Bread street, Cheapside.†

BASKET _alley_, 1. Golden lane. 2. Goswell street.

BASKET-MAKERS, a fraternity by prescription, and not by charter; however, they have the honour of being reckoned one of the city companies. This community is governed by two Wardens and forty-eight Assistants; but has neither livery nor hall.

BASSHAW’S _rents_, Love lane, Bank side, Southwark,

BASSISHAW _ward_, so called from a corruption of Basinghall, once the principal house in it, is bounded on the north by Cripplegate ward, on the west by that and Cheap wards, and on the south and east by Coleman street ward. See the article BLACKWELL HALL.

This ward is very small, it only consisting of Basinghall street. Its principal buildings are St. Michael’s church, also called Bassishaw church; Blackwell hall; Coopers hall; Masons hall; and Weavers hall.

It is governed by an Alderman, his Deputy, four Common Council men, seventeen wardmote inquestmen, two scavengers, two constables, and a beadle: and the jurymen returned by the wardmote inquest in this ward, serve in the several courts of Guildhall in the month of March.

BATCH’S _walk_, Ratcliff highway.†

BATEMAN’S BRIDGE _yard_, Upper Ground street, Southwark.†

BATEMAN’S _street_, May fair.†

BATTERSBY _court_, near King street, Westminster.†

BATTERSEY, a village in Surrey, situated on the river Thames, four miles from London, and at the same distance from Richmond. The gardens about this place are noted for producing the finest asparagus. It gave the title of baron to the late Lord Viscount St. John, who had a seat here, which is a plain old building. Here Sir Walter St. John founded a free school for twenty boys.

BATES _street_, Ratcliff highway.†

BATH _court_, Queen street.

BATH _street_. 1. Cold Bath fields, thus named from the Cold Bath near it. 2. Welbeck street, thus named from the Earl of Bath.

BATTLEBRIDGE. 1. Gray’s inn lane, 2. Mill lane, Tooley street, Southwark; it was so called from Battle’s abbey; it standing over a water-course, which flows out of the Thames, and formerly belonged to that abbey. This bridge was therefore built and repaired by the Abbots of that house. _Stow._

BATTLEBRIDGE _stairs_, near Mill lane, Tooley street.

BATT’S _rents_, Whitechapel Common.†

BAXTER’S _court_, Church street, Hackney.†

BAYNARD’S CASTLE _lane_, Thames street, so called from a castle of that name built there by William Baynard Lord of Dunmow. _Camden._

BAYNING’S ALMSHOUSE, in Gunpowder alley, Crutched Friars, was erected in the year 1631, by Paul Viscount Sudbury, for ten poor housekeepers; but being surrendered to the parish, they have made it their almshouse.

BEACH _lane_, Whitecross street, Cripplegate‡

BEACONSFIELD, a small town in Buckinghamshire, in the road to Oxford, about 23 miles from London. It has several good inns, and is remarkable for being the birth-place of Mr. Waller, the celebrated poet, who had a great estate, and a handsome seat here, which is still in the possession of Edmund Waller, Esq; his descendant. There is a fine monument erected in the church yard, to the memory of Mr. Waller the poet.

BEADLES _court_, Eagle street, Holborn.

BEAK _street_, Swallow street, Piccadilly, so called from most of the houses belonging to Col. Beak.

BEAL’S _wharf_, Mill street, Tooley street.†

BEAR _alley_. 1. Addle hill, Thames street.* 2. Fleet ditch.* 3. London wall.*

BEAR _court_, Butcher row, Ratcliff.*

BEARBINDER _lane_, Swithin’s lane, Cannon street.

BEAR GARDEN, Bank side, Southwark.

BEAR _lane_, Gravel lane, Southwark.†

BEAR KEY, or Bear quay, near the Custom house. There are two streets of this name, Great and Little Bear Key, which lead from Thames street to the water side. On the key opposite to them, are landed vast quantities of corn, and formerly much bear, a small sort of barley, now little used in England; tho’ a great deal of it is brewed into ale and beer in Dublin, and from this grain Bear key undoubtedly took its name.

BEAR _Key stairs_, Bear key.

BEAR’S _court_, Butcher row, Ratcliff cross.

BEAR’S FOOT _alley_, Bank side.

BEAR _street_, Leicester fields.

BEAR _yard_. 1. Fore street, Lambeth.* 2. Long walk, King John’s court.* 3. Silver street.* 4. Vere street, Claremarket.*

BEAR AND HARROW _court_, Butcher row, Temple bar.*

BEAR AND RAGGED STAFF _court_, Drury lane.*

BEAR AND RAGGED STAFF _yard_, Whitecross street, Cripplegate.*

BEARDLEY’S _yard_, Wapping wall.†

BEAUCHAMP _street_, Leather lane, Holborn.†

BEAUFORT’S _buildings_, in the Strand.†

BECK’S _rents_. 1. Ropemaker’s fields, Limehouse.† 2. Rosemary lane, Little Tower hill.†

_Lords of the_ BEDCHAMBER, fourteen officers of great distinction, under the Lord Chamberlain; the first of whom is Groom of the Stole. They are usually persons of the highest quality, and their office is, each in his turn, to wait one week in the King’s bedchamber, and there to lie all night on a pallet bed by the King, and to supply the place of the Groom of the Stole in his absence. They also wait upon the King when he eats in private; for the cupbearers, carvers, and sewers do not then wait. The Groom of the Stole has 2000_l._ a year, and the rest of the Lords of the Bedchamber 1000_l._ a year each. See GROOM OF THE STOLE.

_Grooms of the_ BEDCHAMBER, eight officers of considerable rank under the Lords of the bedchamber, each of whom has a salary of 500_l._ _per annum_.

BEDDINGTON, in Surrey, the seat and manor of the ancient family of the Carews, is a noble edifice; but the wings are too deep for the body of the house; for they should either have been placed at a greater distance, or not have been so long. The court before them is fine, as is the canal in the park, which lies before this court, and has a river running through it. All the flat part of the park is taken up with very fine gardens, which extend in vistas two or three miles. The orangery is said to be the only one in England that is planted in the natural ground, and the trees, which are above an hundred years old, were brought out of Italy by Sir Francis Carew, Bart. They are, however, secured in the winter by moveable covers. The pleasure house, which was also built by Sir Francis, has the famous Spanish Armada painted on the top of it, and under it is a cold bath. The church is a beautiful small Gothic pile, built of stone, in the north and south isles of which are several stalls after the manner of cathedrals: and here is also two charity schools, one for boys, and the other for girls.

BEDFORD _buildings_, near Gray’s inn.

BEDFORDBURY, Chandos street.

BEDFORD _court_. 1. Bedford street, Covent Garden. 2. Red Lion street, Holborn. 3. In the Strand.

BEDFORD HOUSE. See BLOOMSBURY _square_.

BEDFORD _mews_, a street of stables near Grays inn walks.

BEDFORD _passage_, Southampton street.

BEDFORD _row_, near Gray’s inn.

BEDFORD _street_. 1. Covent garden, a handsome broad street. It takes its name from the Duke of Bedford, who is at least ground landlord. 2. Red Lion street, Holborn; a very handsome strait and well built street, inhabited by persons of distinction.

BEDLAM, or BETHLEHEM HOSPITAL. See BETHLEM.

BEDNAL, or BETHNAL GREEN. See BETHNAL GREEN.

BEDNAL, or BETHNAL GREEN road, Mile End.

BEDWARD’S _court_, White street.†

BEEHIVE _alley_, Snow hill.*

BEEHIVE _court_, Little St. Thomas Apostles.*

BEER _lane_, a crooked lane leading from Tower street into Thames street, opposite the Custom house.

BEGGAR’S ALMS _alley_, Rosemary lane.

BEGGAR’S BUSH _yard_, Gravel lane.

BEGGAR’S _hill_, Maid lane, Southwark.