תמונות בעמוד
PDF
ePub

ciples, was probably of his personal acquaintance. Church Entry leads into Ireland Yard, which takes its name from the William Ireland whose name appears in a deed of conveyance to Shakspeare of a house on that site. Hence, turning to the right, through Glass House Yard (of which the name is the memorial of an attempt by a Venetian in Elizabeth's reign, to introduce one of his native glass manufactories, to the great disgust of London glass-workers) we come to Play House Yard, commemorating the old Theatre where Shakspeare acted. The yard now resounds with the roar of machinery in the Times Printing Office, which has a great new front towards Queen Victoria Street. The principal entrance, however, is in the retired court called Printing House Square, so called from the office of the King's Printer which existed here 1770, in the old building. marked by the royal arms over its entrance. In the square are two rare old trees of much interest to botanists.

The Times Newspaper, the leading journal of Europe, was commenced by John Walter, its first number, of January 1, 1788, being a continuation of the Daily Universal Register. The Times of November 29, 1814, was the first newspaper printed by steam.

"No description can give any adequate idea of one of the Times machines in full work,-the maze of wheels and rollers, the intricate lines of swift-moving tapes, the flight of sheets, and the din of machinery. The central drum moves at the rate of six feet per second, or one revolution in three seconds; the impression cylinder makes five revolutions in the same time. The layer-on delivers two sheets every five seconds, consequently fifteen sheets are printed in that brief space. The Times employs two of these eight-cylinder machines, each of which averages 12,000 impressions per hour; and one nine-cylinder, which prints 16,000" (Ency. Brit.). In addition to these, Howe's American machine, with ten horizontal cylinders, prints 20,000 copies in an hour.

A charming drive along the new Thames Embankment leads from Blackfriars Bridge to Westminster. Its great feature is Waterloo Bridge, the noble work of George Rennie, built 1811-1817 and opened on the second anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. It is built of granite, and has nine arches, one hundred and twenty inches span and thirty-five high. Canova considered it "the noblest bridge in the world-worth a visit from the remotest corners of the earth ;" and Dupin describes it as "a colossal monument worthy of Sesostris and the Cæsars."

1

A

CHAPTER XII.

LONDON BRIDGE AND SOUTHWARK.

T the entrance of London Bridge, upon the right, is the Fishmongers' Hall, rebuilt by H. Roberts in 1831, in the place of a Hall of which Jarnan was the architect after the Great Fire. It is one of those huge palaces of dignified repose which are such a feature of the City. On the landing of the stairs is a statue of Sir William Walworth, 1698, painted, but carved in wood by Edward Peirce the statuary, who died in 1698.* On the pedestal is inscribed

"Brave Walworth, Knight, Lord Major yt slew
Rebellious Tyler in his alarmes.

The King, therefore, did give in liew

The Dagger in the cityes armes.

In the 4th yeare of Richard II. Anno Domini. 1381."

The dagger of Walworth is preserved in the Hall, in a glass-case, and is certainly of the fourteenth century, but unfortunately the so-called "dagger" was borne in the cityarms centuries before the time of Wat Tyler, and represents the sword of St. Paul, the patron of the corporation.

On the Staircase are portraits of

Horace Walpole.

William III. and Mary II. Murray.

George II. and Caroline of Anspach. Shackleton.

In the Court Dining Room are—

Romney. Frederick Christian, Margrave of Anspach, nephew of Caroline, Queen of George II., who sold his principalities to the King of Prussia and came to live in England. Ob. 1806.

Elizabeth, Margravine of Anspach, 1750-1820, daughter of the fourth Earl of Berkeley, married in 1767 to William, sixth Lord Craven, and in 1791 to the Margrave of Anspach. The existence of the pictures here commemorates a fête she gave to the Fishmongers' Company at her residence of Brandenburg House on the Thames.

The Great Banqueting Hall contains portraits of

Queen Victoria, 1840. Herbert Smith.

The Duke of Kent. Beechey.

The Duke of Sussex.

In the Small Meeting Room is a fine portrait of

Earl St. Vincent, by Beechey. The flag presented to him by the crew of the Ville de Paris is preserved here.

In the Waiting Room are some curious old pictures, including a representation of the Pageant of the Fishmongers' Company on October 29, 1616, when Sir J. Leman, Fishmonger, became Lord Mayor. The relics here include

The magnificent Pall, worked by nuns, used at the funeral of Sir William Walworth in 1381.* Its principal subject is our Saviour giving the keys to St. Peter, at the ends are representations of the Deity and Angels.

The Master's Chair, made of oak from the piles of Old London Bridge, with the seat formed from the foundation-stone laid in 1176, and fished up in 1832.

*The palls preserved in many of the old City Halls are relics of the time when the Halls were let out for ceremonies of lying in state.

The Fishmongers' Company were formidable neighbours to Billingsgate, as they had power "to enter and seize bad fish," and they still employ inspectors, who bring in a report of the quantity of unwholesome fish destroyed. A member of the company named Thomas Dogget, who died in 1821, being a determined Whig, left a sum for an orange coat and silver Hanoverian badge to be contended for on the Thames every 1st of August by six young watermen.

London Bridge was built 1825-31 from designs of John Rennie (son of a farmer in East Lothian) and his sons John and George, at a cost of nearly two millions, but is already found insufficient, and will soon (1877) be widened, and probably spoilt.

*

Olaf the king and saint of

There was a bridge here in Saxon times, defended by towers and bulwarks, where, in 1008, was fought "the Battle of London Bridge," in which Norway assisted Ethelred the Unready in defeating the Danes. In 1176 the first stone bridge was built by Peter, priest of St. Mary Colechurch, in which Thomas a Becket had been baptized. Hence, on the central pier, Colechurch erected a chapel in honour of the sainted archbishop, where, when he died in 1205, he was himself buried. This chapel was of great beauty, having a crypt, connected by a flight of stairs with the river. All the other piers were covered with houses, and towards the Southwark side from the end of the sixteenth century stood "Nonsuch House," a fantastic building of wood, said to have been constructed in Holland, with four towers, crowned by domes with gilded The last building on the Southwark side was "the

vanes.

• Commemorated in the singular corrupted name of Tooley (Olaf) Street, on the south bank of the river, where he is patron of the parish.

« הקודםהמשך »