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flection chufes this feafon for her vifit; What is he to do to morrow? Where can he raise another fum of money? Unhappy flave! 'tis the bafe imprifonment of the mind thou fuffereft, and Reafon alone can fet thee free; and then, if thou haft only half an acre left, 'twill be a territory to what thou haft now to boast of." Thefe obfervations naturally engaged the attention of the ftranger, who readily entered into con verfation with Moredius." There are but few men in the world," cried he, "whofe minds are not in a complete ftate of flavery, either to pleasure, ambition, felf-intereft, custom, or prejudice; thefe throw their chains about us, and drag us on, leaving us scarcely a moment to wonder at our infatuations, and to call Reafon to our afliftance. Conftrained and fettered, the mind becomes difeafed and impoverifhed; we live active only to common every-day purfuits, and paffive to all that is good and fuperior. This may in fome measure account for the kind of fatality that appears to attend the Great, who owe all their anxieties to a mistaken fyftem of enjoyments, in which the mind has no fhare, and which alone is neglected, though alone capable of beftowing happinefs. Nothing is fown by education or manners but luxuriant weeds of pride and diffipation, that choak up truth and impoverish the understanding."

"The poverty of the mind," cried Moredius," is the most infupportable of any; and the man who has the riches of the understanding can never be truly faid to be poor. Fortune may trip him of the advantages of wealth and power, but the cannot deprive him of that which the never gave. Through all the tricks and chances of life, by which merit may become mif placed or difplaced in the world, a certain character remains, a stamp that thews the value of the coin, and gives it currency with every man of fenfe. Through every viciffitude he is the fame, and he forfakes only the fplendid manfion and gay affembly to take in retirement purer pleafures in a purer air, where, from his cottage window, he may view the unbounded profpects of nature unconstrained, and enjoy, with two or three rational friends, the luxuries of fenfe and taste, the fuperiority of fuch as have minds above thofe who want them.

"The poverty of the mind is most common," replied the ftranger," among

:

the higher claffes, where we might naturally expect finer fenfe and taste, and more cultivation than among others, when we confider the oppor tunities they have from education, and the means of obtaining knowledge but the truth is, they have never had time for improvement; the manners and the mind are at variance. I have a proper refpect for the Great, if they are good, or diftinguished by merit; but as I confider the bufinefs of a fool to be incompatible with the proper employments and character of a man of rank, I always eftimate him accordingly; and a Lord who is a blockhead appears to me to be a much more pitiable object than the blockhead who is not a Lord. This poverty of mind among the Great occafions me to recollect the bon mot of a witty Barrister,' who, being questioned one day on the nature and propriety of hereditary titles, very strongly fupported their validity, particularly (faid he) as every one must admit that it is a kind of fee fimple." I happened the other day (continued the ftranger) to dine with a party of fashionables, who were all fo poor in the article of underftanding, that they were utterly unable to pafs the time with any other than the most infipid and commonplace topics of converfation. There did not appear any one of the whole group who had faved a pittance from education,or experience enough to have lived in the world had they been thrown upon it. I had promifed myfelf that day the highest gratifications from refined taste and manners; though T confefs I was a little confounded at a circumstance which happened before dinner. The Lady of the house, when it was announced, whispered me, as we were going down ftairs, not fo fay a word against cock-fighting. This caution puzzled me very much, as I could not, for the foul of me, recollect that I had offended in any fuch way, particularly as I knew nothing of the fcience. But my doubts and fears were removed as foon as we had faid Grace; for a noble Lord at the upper end of the table, to our infinite amufement, commenced a treatise on the art of cock fighting that lafted till the cloth was removed but my aftonishment was increased when I was told, that it was the only subject on which his Lordship could talk at all." (To be continued.)

VESTIGES,

VESTIGES,

COLLECTED AND RECOLLECTED,

BY JOSEPH MOSER, ESQ.

OLD HOUSES, &c.

BUTCHER-ROW.

NUMBER I.

IN revolving the progrefs of improve. ment, one very prominent object forcibly ftrikes the inquifitive mind, and that is, the dilapidation which muft literally pave the way to convenience and elegance. This is a reflection which very naturally introduces another, namely, the change that must be effected, both with refpect to property and refidence, before any work of public utility can be carried into effect in a crowded city or its immediate environs. Heavens! What an immenfe mafs of buildings, fome indeed old, but many of a very recent date, are crumbling into duft, are vanishing at the word, or receding from the touch, of the furveyor, whofe five foot rod, like the wand of Magician, or the fword of Harlequin, caules edifices to rife and fall, deluges the land with water, floats na. vies upon the fites of streets, houfes, and churches, conveys veffels through woods and forefts, over mountains and under rocks; fets one fhip failing above, another below a bridge at the fame time; and, in fhert, performs those wonders with refpect to docks, aqueducts, tunnels, and canals, which I have a prefentiment will make this ingenious age and country as much the admiration of pofterity for their internal as they certainly are at prefent for their external navigation.

These obfervations occurred to me the other day, as I was, as I have hinted, confidering devaltation as the precurfor of improvement, and contemplating the fite on which the Butcher Row had till lately, for feveral centuries, impeded the way. Why it was not deemed a nuifance till within thefe twenty years it would be a waste of time to endeavour to conjecture: "Better late than never," faith the proverb. We are inclined to view every step toward the amendment of our ways as an object of fuch general ad

VOL. XLII. JULY 1802.

vantage, that fo the end is gained, we are not difpofed to criticife the means: yet it occurred to me, that if our anceftors had done what I am now doing,

i. e. preferved veftiges of the numerous buildings (I mean, more minute veftiges than are to be found in Stow and our other civic hiftorians), that have either been crushed by time, confumed by fire, or have, like thofe on the fpot alluded to, been facrificed to public conveni. ence, with fome traits of the occupation and mode of life of their inhabitants, the changes they had undergone, &c. it would, though perhaps not a pre-eminently ufeful, have been certainly a very curious fpeculation.

Butcher Row, which has flowly receded before the ftill (in this refpect) flower progrefs of refinement, was once, indeed till a period much within living memory, a place of confiderable traffic. The ftack of houfes, which lately occupied the fpot which now forms a wide opening on the weft fide of Temple Bar, was, with respect to the ground plan, in the form of an obtufangular triangle, the eastern line of which was formed by a fhoemaker's, a fishmonger's, and another fhop, with wide-extended fronts, and its western point blunted by the interfection of the veftry-room and alms-houfes of St. Clement's parifh; both the fides alfo contained hops of various defcriptions; the South (Strand), a number of refpectable tradefinen, fuch as bakers, dyers, dry-falters, fmiths, tin-plateworkers, &c.; the North (Butcher Row) was, as its name implied, really a fleth market, it was at first wholly occupied by butchers, who had, from a very early period, brought their meat in carts from the country, and fold it juft without the civic liberties, for the fupply of the western parts of the city. Thefe foreign butchers, as they were termed, were confidered fo extremely ufeful in repreffing the exorbitant de. mands of the native butchers, and lowering the prices in the London markets of thofe days, that the com

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petition was encouraged, and their dealings attended with fuch fuccefs, that I fear the defire of immoderate profit operated upon them as it has upon their defcendants in the prefent age, and induced them to become ftationary; perhaps to go hand in hand with the people they had formerly oppofed. Be this as it may, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, Butcher

Row, which had, for the purpose I have fpecified (the convenience of foreign butchers), been, in the twentyfirst of Edward the First, granted to Walter le Barbur, took the form of an eftablished market; in process of time, other shops, befides butchers, fifhmongers, and green-grocers, were opened. Many, I prefume, can remember a scalemaker's, tinman's*, fir.:-drawer's, Betty's

The house, or rather houses, exhibited in the Frontispiece of this Magazine (for they as well as feveral others in Butcher Row had been divided), are a very accurate fpecimen of the tile of building which pervaded the whole pile. They seem of about the age of Edward the Sixth, as we may judge from many of the fame date ftill extant, and probably were ornamented with the fleur de lis and coronets, in compliment to the Count Beaumont †, who when they were one manfion was its inhabitant, at the time the Marquis of Rofny arrived in England. It appears from Sully's Memoirs (pages 91 and infra), that the Marquis was appointed Ambassador from the King of France (Henry IV.), 1603, to congratulate the King (James I.) upon his acceffion to the English crown. His account of this embaffy is curious. He ftates, among other particulars, that the beginning of June he fet out for Calais, with a retinue of upwards of two hundred Gentlemen; that he had exprefs orders from the King his master that he should appear in mourning with all his train at his firft audience; but was afterwards told, that this affectation of forrow, for the death of Queen Elizabeth, would disoblige that Monarch, who would, doubtless, look upon it as a reproach to him for not having put on mourning on the fame melancholy occafion. For the more folemn reception of this and other Ambaffadors, it alfo appears, that at this period a new office was inftituted, with a falary of two hundred a year, namely, that of Mafter of the Ceremonies ; the first of whom was Sir Lewis Lewkenor, whofe debut in this fituation was, accompanied by Count Beaumont, the meeting M. Rolny at Dover.

It is further hinted, in the work to which I have alluded, that Sir Lewis had either exhausted his stock of politeness at his reception of the Ambassador, or was alarmed at the numerous train of his attendants, for he gives him occafion to complain of his rudeness and parfimony with respect to horfes and carriages, even before he fet out for London, and there is no queftion but that there were cogent reafons for his difguft, as we find that he was obliged to procure a conveyance in the carriage of Count Beaumont, while his retinue were almoft fuffered to take the chance of the road; that is, to make the best bargain they could with the Kentifh innkeepers, from whom the Dover landlord, and thofe others who, in the year 1762, furnished accommodations for the Duke de Nivernois and his fuite, feem to have been the legitimate defcendants.

Of the neglect of the Mafter of the Ceremonies, or rather the Court, with respect to the Marquis of Rofny, there is a ftriking instance, in fuffering him to refide, even for a night, in the house which we are now confidering, and which, as I have obferved, forms the Frontispiece to this volume: at the fame time his mode of treating it would have done honour to the school of Chesterfield. He ftates, without feeming offended, "As to myfelf, I fup'd and lay at Beaumont's, and din'd there the next day, for fo fhort a time had not been fufficient to procure and prepare me lodgings until the Palace of Arundel, which was deftin'd for me, could be got ready but this greatly embarras'd my retinue, which could not all be lodg'd at Beaumont's Houle, and, therefore, appartments were fought in the neighbour

hood."

To any one who remembers the structure of these old houses, or who refers to the

print,

There were two families of the Beaumont's: the first defcended from Roger de Bellamont of the Norman race, Earl of Warwick; the other Viscounts Beaumont, ftill older.

↑ Stow. page $24. Rymer's Fœdera, tom. 16. page 637. Sully's Memoirs, page roi.

Betty's chop-houfe, cheesemonger's, grocer's, &c.; the houfes of the whole ftack were originally of wood, one story hanging over the other; and indeed the style of building, ornaments, &c. Grongly indicated the date of its erection.

1 have been informed, that the large old houfe which was formerly at the back of the Swan public-houfe, and upon the fite of which, and its garden, Crown Place is built, was once occupied by the Bishop of Bath and Wells, perhaps after Admiral Lord Thomas Seymour had obtained from Edward the Sixth Hampton Place, wherein the Bishops of that See formerly refided, and on the fite of which Arundelstreet, &c. was erected. This palace was within these thirty years in exiftence; it was let out in tenements; a leather-dreffer occupied a confiderable portion of it; in one fuit of rooms refided the parish-clerk of St. Clement's Danes; another part of it was devoted to the purposes of a billiard table,which was much frequented. In this apart ment the Mitre ftill remained over the chimney. Close to this palace, and on the fite of Crown Court, was the Crown Tavern; perhaps the prefent Crown and Anchor arofe upon its dilapida tion. More eastward, the Ship Tavern, of which some veftiges are till to be feen; and more weitward the Robin

Hood, in which a debating fociety, about the middle of the last century, was a fource of confiderable amusement, and has by fome of its members or vifitors been refcued from the stream of oblivion which has fwept every trace of the building away.

I was informed by a Gentleman about twenty years fince, who was then near ninety, that within his memory all thofe back-houfes that have a long narrow paffage, for entrance, in the Strand, Fleet-ftreet, and all our other public treets, were once taverns t. This I firmly believe, because I can ftill remember, and indeed have had pointed out to me, the veftiges of a clufier of them on this fpot, the Star, the Swan, the White Hart, the noted Bear and Harrow. How fond were our ancestors of bacchanalian conviviality! Of this propenfity numberless inftances may be difcerned in the old comedies, and the periodical writings of former ages. By thefe it should feem that all the bufinefs of life was tranfafted, and great part of its pleasures were to be found, in taverns, which on many occafions were frequented by ladies as well as gentlemen. It feems ftrange to us that fuch a loose kind of morality fhould ever have existed; that fuch an indifcriminate mixture of the fexes, of the modeft and immodeft, the grave and the gay, the fober and

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print, it will appear difficult to conceive how the Ambassador himself, the reprefentative of Henry the Great, could, in those days of fate and splendor, be, even tor a fhort period, accommodated in this place. The reader, glancing his eye upon its external appearance, will immediately judge that its internal (as was actually the cafe, for I obferved the demolition of the whole pile) must have confifted of fmall incommodious rooms, four, nay fix, or eight, upon a floor, a well stair-cafe running up the middle in the rudeft ftile, lighted by a sky-light which only diffuted a dark nefs visible over the upper ftories, while the lower were, as Dr. Johnson fays, "totally obumbrated." The ceilings of thefe apartments were low, tranfverfed by large unwrought beams in different directions, and lighted, if that phrase could with propriety be applied, by finall cafement windows: yet here we find that Gallic complaifance induced the Marquis to refide without murmuring; though I believe before his fettlement in Arundel Palace, as he terms it, he, as will be fhewn in the third number of thele Veftiges, removed to Crosby Houle, in Bishopfgate-treet; though how long he continued there is uncertain.

Many, I think most, of these passage entrances are now converted into shops, &c. of which the Globe Coffee-house and the late Mr. Macklin's print warehouse, Fiectstreet, are fathcient instances, these being formerly the Globe and Mitre Taverns.

†The ichnography of thefe taverns, as may be seen in the few fpecimens that fill remain in the metropolis, was a long paffage like entrance, great part of it latticed over. The bar, for good reafons, fronting the great ftair-cafe; the kitchen open fr the reception of cultomers, who used to be termed Dumplin-Dampers, Sippers, and Wbetters, and the whole terminated by a garden, or iometimes a court fuirounded by Small apartments, which might have been anciently called Cubicolas, or, in more refined language, Cafinas.

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the diffipated, should ever have been allowed in the private way in which it was conducted.

It may feem trifling to be fo particular with refpect to a place never very important, and which, like most of its inhabitants, has vanished. But fhould an objection of this kind be made, it may easily be answered, by ftating, that, in fact, the furveys to which I have alluded were compofed of fuch kind of materials. No enquiry that has for its object either local or moral information, can, in my opinion, be deemed trifling or unimportant, as things apparently frivolous have, by the belt writers, been frequently made the vehicles of ingenious and useful reflections. In endeavouring to imitate thofe, it therefore strikes me, that this fpot of earth, which feems fmall when the number of buildings once upon it, and its confequent number of inhabitants are confidered, might, from the vast variety of tranfactions that, through a long period of ages, have taken place, be deemed a microcofm, a kind of miniature reprefentation of the circumjacent cities of London and Westminster. What for tunes have here been gained, and perhaps diffipated! What joy and forrow have at times prevailed! How have its inhabitants been at different times affected by public events? What attention have they paid to their private concerns? How have they acted collectively as members of the State? How individually as members of the district? Thefe points open a wide field for fpe culation, as we traverse the contracted fpace that gave rife to them, and may frequently, in idea, lead us to reftore the houfes, to repeople the fpot, from which buildings and inhabitants have paffed away. To pofterity, they may ferve as an intimation that fuch things once were, and by the change that a few years has here produced, introduce reflections upon the great changes (it is devoutly to be hoped for the better), which the face of the metropolis, the face of the country, morals, manners, every thing, has undergone in the lapte of ages, and thofe to which property and existence are liable.

ST. CLEMENT'S CHURCH, CLEMENT'S
WELL, &c.

Tracing the ruins and dilapidation
which fo Itrongly mark the progress of
improvement in this parish, we cannot
help obferving, that the church, having
from its erection been, as is the cafe
with many much more elegant fabricks,
encumbered and obfcured by old build-
ings, feems, fince its furrounding space
has been in fome degree cleared, a new
fabrick in feveral points of view we
have never feen it before. The name
of this church (St. Clement's Danes)
has been frequently, as to the latter
part of the appellation, an object of
conjecture. Every one has heard the
ftory of the filver anchor faid to be
found in this place; but it should feem,
that before the arrival of the Danes,
with whom filver was not fo plenty
as to make anchors of it, there was a
church upon this fpot; for William of
Malmesbury faith, that they burnt it,
together with the Monks and Abbot,
and that they continued "their favage,
their facrilegious, fury throughout the
land." "Defirous at length to return
to Denmark (he continues), they were
about to embark, when they were, by
the juft judgment of God, all flain at
London, in a place which has fince
been called the Church of the Danes."
There is also another reafon given for
the denomination of this church, name.
ly, that when most of the Danes were
driven out of this kingdom, thofe few
that remained, being married to Eng-
lith women, were obliged to live be-
twixt the Isle of Thorney (Westmin.
fter) and Carr Lud (Ludgate), where
they built a fynagogue, which was
afterwards confecrated and called "Ec-
clefia Clementis Danorum." This is
the account which Fleetwood, the
antiquary, Recorder of London, gave
to the Lord Treasurer Burghley, who
refided in this parifh *. If I might
hazard a conjecture upon this fubject,
I fhould fuppofe that the church was
originally built by the Danes, who, from
the contention arifing from local cir-
cumftances betwixt them and the Nor-
mans, were banifhed the city, and were
obliged to inhabit this fuburb. The

* Another account is, that Hardicanute, to be revenged of his deceafed brother, Harold, caufed his corpfe to be dug up, and thrown into the Thames, where it remained until a fisherman found it, and buried it in the church-yard of St. Clement without Temple Bar, then called the Church of the Danes. Baker's Chron. p. 17.

church

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