St. Bernard: a celebrated brother of the Cistercian Order (born 1091, died 1153).

28. THE LONDON CHURCHES.

St. Augustine was sent by Pope Gregory the Great in 597 to convert the heathen English: he was the 'Apostle of the English,' and first Archbishop of Canterbury.

St. Dunstan, who became Archbishop of Canterbury and died in 988, was not only a zealous priest but a great statesman and ruler.

St. Alphege: an Archbishop of Canterbury murdered by the Danes in 1012 A.D.

Sise Lane: a lane in the City, near Cannon Street.

The Basings: an old City family whose name also survives in the 'Bassishaw' ward of the City, and in Basinghall Street.

Bread Street, turning out of Cheapside, shows where the bakers chiefly dwelt in Old London.

John Milton (born 1608, died 1674) wrote 'Paradise Lost,' 'Paradise Regained,' and some beautiful shorter pieces.

Three Poets: i. the Greek Homer, reputed author of those noble epics the 'Iliad' and 'Odyssey' (about 1000 B.C.); ii. the Roman Virgil, who wrote the 'AEneid' (born 70 B.C.); iii. the English Milton. The famous epitaph was written by John Dryden.

William Tyndal assisted the Reformation by translating the New Testament into English (1526), and part of the Old Testament. He was burnt as a heretic at Vilvoorde, near Brussels, in 1536.

William Cowper (born 1731, died 1800), the author of 'The Task' and other beautiful poems.

29. THE STREETS.

Plantagenet: Henry II., 1154-1189, was the first of the line of kings bearing this name, so called from the badge worn by Henry's father, a sprig of broom.

Chesel was the Anglo-Saxon for pebble, and Kiesel is the German for the same. The Chesil Beach, near Weymouth, is a remarkable bank of shingle joining Portland Bill to the mainland.

Somerset House, in the Strand: the palace of the Protector Somerset has been pulled down, and public offices erected on its site.

Northumberland House, now demolished, has given its name to Northumberland Avenue, near Charing Cross.

Southwark ... many Inns: in particular the Tabard, where Chaucer's pilgrims assembled.

mediaeval: living in the middle ages, that is, some time before about 1500 A.D.

ironmongers in their Lane: that is, Ironmonger Lane, turning out of Cheapside.

30. WHITTINGTON. PART I.

Mercer: a merchant who sells silken or woollen goods.

executors: those who are appointed to carry out the last will and testament of a dead man.

Levantine, in the Levant, or eastern part of the Mediterranean.

Guinea, on the west coast of Africa.

Pizarro: a Spanish adventurer who conquered Peru from its native rulers or Incas, and was murdered in his palace at Lima in 1541.

a piece of eight (dollars), that is, about 30s.

assessment: the value put upon house or property in order to fix the amount of taxes to be paid.

31. WHITTINGTON. PART II.

Vintner: a wine-seller.

Wycliffe, born about 1324, was a learned theologian and rector of Lutterworth, in Leicestershire. For preaching Protestant doctrines he was summoned to appear at St. Paul's to answer a charge of heresy in 1377.

John of Gaunt thus made the second attempt to deprive London of its liberties and charter; Matilda, the opponent of Stephen, had tried long before, but it ended in her overthrow (see p. 45).

The Marshal was the commander of the Royal forces. To put London under him was to destroy its liberty. This office is hereditary in the family of the Duke of Norfolk, and like other royal offices became unimportant when it became hereditary.

rebellion of the peasants, 1381, against over-taxation and being bound to the soil as serfs by their landlords. John Ball, the popular preacher, used to ask:

'When Adam delved and Eve span, Who was then a gentleman?'

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Simon of Sudbury, had as chancellor proposed the taxes complained of; therefore the peasants murdered him.

rescinding: repealing of a law.

32. WHITTINGTON. PART III.

Burning of heretics and Lollards: in 1401, in the reign of Henry IV., an Act of Parliament was passed for burning heretics.

Lollards were those who differed from the Church before the Reformation. The name comes from a German word lollen, to sing—from the custom of these reformers.

Mansion House: the official home of the Lord Mayor. The present building was begun in 1739; previously a house in Cheapside was used for the purpose.

bond: a written obligation binding someone to pay a sum of money. When money was needed the King used to borrow from wealthy citizens and give a bond or promise to repay.

St. Michael's Paternoster Royal is in College Hill, near Cannon Street. The church was so called from the Tower Royal given by Edward III. in 1331 to his queen, Philippa, for her wardrobe.

33. GIFTS AND BEQUESTS.

Mark: a coin, now obsolete, worth 13s. 4d.

interdicted: forbidden, prevented.

technical school: where useful and practical arts and trades are taught.

aqueduct: an artificial channel for water.

Sevenoaks, in Kent.

Higham Ferrers is a small town in Northamptonshire.

34. THE PALACES AND GREAT HOUSES.

The King Maker: Warwick was so called because he helped Edward IV. to become king in 1461, and restored Henry VI. for a time in 1470. He was slain at the battle of Barnet, 1471.

quadrangle: an open court, square, with buildings all round it.

College of Heralds: a Government office under the Earl Marshal which looks after pedigrees and armorial bearings.

Hampton Court: a Royal palace begun by Cardinal Wolsey.

St. James's Palace: the official residence of the Queen in London, Buckingham Palace being her private residence.

buttery: a storeroom where liquors and other provisions were kept.

Baynard's Castle has given its name to one of the City wards.

The Duke of Buckingham secured the crown for Richard III., and then being insufficiently rewarded rebelled against him, and was executed in 1483.

George, Duke of Clarence, brother of Edward IV., first sided with his father-in-law, the Earl of Warwick, then joined his brother in 1471. With justice, therefore, Shakespeare called him 'false, fleeting, perjured Clarence. He was accused of treason and found dead in the Tower in 1478.

35. AMUSEMENTS.

Tournament: a sham fight at which knights, mostly on horseback, used to show their skill.

Twelfth Day: twelve days after Christmas, formerly an occasion of great festivities, which have now nearly died out.

Morris-dance: a Moorish dance to an accompaniment of bells and tambourines.

cresset: a kind of lantern formed of an open brazier filled with combustible materials.

demilance: a kind of horse-soldier armed with a short lance.

mummeries: entertainments performed by men in masks.

Curfew: the bell rung at eight o'clock at night as a sign to put out all lights. Ancient towns having much wood were liable to serious fires.

36. WESTMINSTER ABBEY.

Thorney, Isle of Thorns; ey and ea meaning island, as in Anglesey, Chelsea, Winchelsea.

precinct: the limit of the ground belonging to a church or other institution.

commissioner: appointed to see that the work was carried out.

Sir G. Gilbert Scott, born 1811, died 1878, was the greatest modern English architect.

took sanctuary: fled for shelter to the abbey, whence she could not be taken without violating the privileges of the Church.

William Caxton set up in 1476 the first printing press in England.

coronation chair: under this is the famous stone brought from Scone by Edward I., over which all the Scottish kings had been crowned since about 800 A.D.

37. THE COURT AT WESTMINSTER.

Star Chamber Court, in which cases were tried before some members of the Privy Council and two judges without a jury. This was established in 1487 to restore order because great lords and landowners used to frighten juries from giving true verdicts.

bear and ragged staff: the arms of the Earl of Warwick consisted of a bear erect and hugging a rough stake. (See pictures on pp. 111, 113.)

arras: tapestry for hanging; so called from Arras, in the north of France, where it was made.

refectory: the hall where the monks or nuns took their meals.

38. JUSTICE AND PUNISHMENTS.

executive officers: those whose duty it is to enforce the law.

contrition: repentance.

securities: stocks and shares; papers which can be of no use to the ordinary thief.

Bridewell: the site of a prison, now demolished. It adjoined Whitefriars, and may be seen in the map to the west of Blackfriars.

amende honorable (French): when one who has done wrong gives satisfaction without loss of honour.

pillory: a framework supported by an upright pillar. In it were holes through which the head and hands of offenders were thrust. In this uncomfortable position they had to stand exposed to the insults of the mob.

cogged: loaded so as always to fall in a certain way.

title deeds: writings drawn up in proper legal form to prove the possession of property.

39. THE POLITICAL POWER OF LONDON.

Froissart: an early French chronicler or historian who visited England in the reigns of Edward III. and Richard II., and died in 1401.

besotted with: stupidly and excessively fond of.

commonalty: the common people.

Berkeley Castle, in Gloucestershire, where Edward II. was murdered in 1327.

a son was born: Edward, Prince of Wales, born in 1453. After the Yorkist victory of Northampton in 1460 Edward's claim to the throne was set aside in favour of Richard, Duke of York, father of Edward IV. The Prince was slain at the battle of Tewkesbury, 1471.

benevolences: loans of money, supposed to be voluntary, really compulsory, made by merchants and other rich men to the king.

charts: papers; blank cheques: orders on the bank for money with all except the amount required filled up and properly signed.

factor: if 2 x 3 makes six, 2 and 3 are each factors of 6; hence it is something which helps to bring about some result.

40. ELIZABETHAN LONDON. PART I.

Stow (born 1525, died 1605): a famous writer in Queen Elizabeth's reign on the antiquities of London and other places.

Whitechapel takes its name from a white chapel-of-ease built to relieve Stepney, in which parish this district was till 1763.

tenters: pegs for stretching cloth. Sometimes hooks were used, from which we get the phrase 'to be on tenter hooks'—to be on a stretch with anxiety.

St. Katharine's has given its name to the great docks east of the Tower.

bull-, bear-baiting: the sport of setting dogs to worry bulls or bears.

Alsatia: for a vivid picture of this haunt of rogues in the reign of James I. the reader is referred to Sir W. Scott's 'Fortunes of Nigel.'

Austin Friars: the space known as Drapers' Gardens (because the hall of the Drapers' Company is adjoining) in Throgmorton Street is on the site of this monastery.

Canwicke (now Cannon) Street was so called because the wax-chandlers and candle-makers lived in that part.

41. ELIZABETHAN LONDON. PART II.

William Shakespeare (born 1564, died 1616): the prince of poets, who lived in the reigns of Elizabeth and James I.

ruins of the monasteries which had been suppressed by Henry VIII. in 1536-1540.

Cold Harbour: a merchant's mansion once standing on the bank of the Thames in Thames Street.

Genevan bands: a kind of collar worn by Protestant clergymen, so called because Geneva, the home of Calvin, was the centre of Protestantism.

palaces along the Strand: if you walk along the Strand you will notice that many of the short streets leading down to the river bear the names of noblemen, such as Arundel Street, Norfolk Street, Salisbury Street, &c. from the old palaces which once stood there.

Staples Inn: a picturesque group of old houses in Holborn was formerly a wool-market (staple means a fixed market). Wych Street is near Holywell Street in the Strand.

Cloth Fair is now a poor neighbourhood near Smithfield.

42. ELIZABETHAN LONDON. PART III.

Impressment: in the absence of some orderly arrangement, such as conscription (where all serve) or a voluntary system (like our own), the press-gang used to kidnap people and force them to serve.

animosity: anger, ill feeling against.

The Steelyard, on the site of which Cannon Street railway station now stands, was the house of the Hanse merchants (see note on Chapter XXII.).

John Colet, Dean of St. Paul's (born 1466, died 1519), was one of the leaders of the revival of learning in England. St. Paul's School, which he founded in 1512, has been moved to Hammersmith.

43. TRADE. PART I.

Forestall their market: that is, to buy things before they arrived at the market, so as to sell them at a higher price.

Luebeck: a large port in north Germany in the Baltic.

staples, originally all kinds of raw produce, came to be applied only to wool. Staples Inn was once a wool-market.

instead of selling our wool: Edward III. brought Flemish weavers into England to encourage manufactures. Till then England produced and exported wool to Antwerp and other manufacturing centres, but did not make it into cloth.

Hamburg was a member of the Hanseatic League.

The screen was presented to the Church of All Hallows the Great, Thames Street, in 1710, by the Hanseatic merchants.

44. TRADE. PART II.

Incubus: something that weighs down and hinders.

religious wars in the Netherlands: between the Protestant Dutch and the Catholic Spaniards, who were oppressing the country through great part of the sixteenth century.

Bourse: the same as Exchange, where merchants meet to transact their business.

English wool in Bruges, because it was much exported thither from England before the growth of home manufactures.

Flemings: the natives of Flanders; who were the chief manufacturers of Europe long before England took the lead.

14 per cent.: the height of this rate may be seen by comparing it with the 21/2 per cent., which is all England now pays as interest upon her debt.

Bethlehem Hospital, corrupted into Bedlam, is still a hospital, but only for the insane.

45. TRADE. PART III.

Bruges ... civil wars: that is, the religious wars referred to in Chapter XLIV.

Venetians: before the discovery of the sea route to India and the East Venice was the first maritime and commercial power in the world. The route round the Cape of Good Hope was discovered by Vasco de Gama in 1497.

Moluccas: a group of tropical islands between Celebes and New Guinea, rich in pearls, spices, and precious woods.

Calicut: the port in Madras, where Vasco de Gama first landed in May 1498. The cotton cloth called calico was first brought thence.

Moorish pirates: North Africa has always been a haunt of pirates. In 1816 Lord Exmouth had to bombard Algiers, and even as late as 1860 the European Powers had to suppress piracy in Morocco.

Dordrecht: a commercial town in the south of Holland, near Rotterdam.

The South Sea Company is celebrated above the other trading companies for the great speculation in its shares called the South Sea bubble in 1720.

46. PLAYS AND PAGEANTS. PART I.

Mummers: men who played in entertainments masked and in various disguises.

masque: a kind of play in which the actors wore masks. Milton's 'Comus' is a well-known masque of high character.

mystery: a name for a religious play representing some scene from the Bible or scenes from the life of a saint.

admonition: warning.

frescoes: paintings on a wall covered with plaster—done while the plaster is still wet or fresh.

sequence: that is, the connection of one event with another.

properties: the articles used in the play, scenery, dress, &c.

realistic: looking as though they really were the persons represented.

tableau: scene.

lessee: one who rents a theatre or holds it on a lease from the owner.

47. PLAYS AND PAGEANTS. PART II.

Pageants: grand shows, processions.

censers: vessels for burning incense.

conduit: a pipe or channel for leading or conducting water.

Cross of Chepe: a memorial erected in the centre of the chepe, or market, in memory of Queen Eleanor.

jerkins: a kind of jacket often made of leather.

panoply: full armour.

banneret: a little banner.

blackjacks: leather vessels for holding liquor.

malmsey: a strong sweet wine.

marshal: draw up and arrange.

Lord Mayor's Show: on November 9—when the people have an opportunity of welcoming the new Lord Mayor on his entering into office.

48. PLAYS AND PAGEANTS. PART III.

libretto: the words of a masque or play set to music.

scenic: on the stage.

Ben Jonson (born 1574, died 1637): a great English play writer and poet, and a friend of Shakespeare.

Francis Bacon, Lord Verulam (born 1561, died 1626), was Lord Chancellor and a great writer on philosophical subjects.

Oberon: the king of the fairies and husband of Titania, as in Shakespeare's 'Midsummer Night's Dream.'

save James: that is, King James I.; a piece of courtly flattery due to Jonson's connection with the court.

Prince Henry, who is meant by Oberon in the masque, died in 1612, to the great regret of the people.

Phosphorus: Lucifer, the morning star that brings the day.

49. PLAYS AND PAGEANTS. PART IV.

Gammer (i.e. Old Mother) Gurton's Needle is a very rough old play about an old woman who lost her needle while mending a pair of breeches, and, after accusing everyone of stealing it, finds it after all in the garment itself. It was written some time before 1560. ('Gammer,' the French grand'-mere, grandmother, contracted into 'ganmer,' and then 'gammer.')

contortionist: one who twists himself into extraordinary attitudes to amuse the public.

octagonal: with eight sides.

prologue: the verses spoken before a play to introduce it to the audience.

Golden Lane: a street near the Barbican, turning out of Aldersgate Street.

Bankside, in Southwark, on the southern side of the Thames.

50. THE TERROR OF THE PLAGUE. PART I.

Pretensions: ambitious claims.

Wars of the Roses: a civil war lasting 1455-1485. In thinking of the loss of life occasioned by this war, it must be remembered that such loss fell most heavily on the noble families; the mass of the population was not so much disturbed by it.

Long Acre: a street near Drury Lane, now chiefly occupied by carriage-makers.

delirium: a wandering in the mind caused by fever.

51. THE TERROR OF THE PLAGUE. PART II.

Registers: a record of names of persons who have died. Such records are now accurately kept by the registrars of births, deaths, and marriages.

The King: Charles II., who, whatever his faults may have been, was at least good-natured and averse to suffering.

Samuel Pepys (born 1632, died 1703) was Secretary to the Admiralty in the reigns of Charles II. and James II. His famous diary gives a graphic picture of life during these reigns.

52. THE TERROR OF FIRE. PART I.

Coleman Street runs northward from Lothbury (behind the Bank of England) to Moorgate. The name goes back even to Saxon times, and probably comes from one Ceolmund, who had a farm near.

St. Erkinwald: an early Saxon Bishop of London, who encouraged the citizens to restore their ruined city, and himself built the Bishop's Gate (named after him). His shrine in St. Paul's was long an object of reverence.

Paternoster Row: always a great centre of the book trade: it was a row immediately adjoining the precincts of the Cathedral before encroachments were made. Naturally much of the booksellers' wares was religious—paternosters, aves, credos, &c.

chancel: the east end of a church in which is the altar, separated from the rest of the church by a screen or railings. (Latin cancelli, a grating.)

transept: the part of a cathedral projecting on either side. Cathedrals are generally built in the shape of a cross; the transept is the arms of the cross in the ground plan.

53. THE TERROR OF FIRE. PART II.

Astronomer: one who studies the stars or heavenly bodies.

John Evelyn (born 1620, died 1706), a gentleman of the reign of Charles II., was made one of the commissioners for the restoration of London after the Great Fire. He wrote a diary, which is not so amusing as that of Pepys (see Chapter LI.)

St. Dunstan-in-the-East, in Tower Street, was the first church restored by Wren after the fire.

John Dryden (born 1631, died 1700): one of the greatest English poets. He was a supporter of the house of Stuart, and was made poet laureate.

obnoxious: exposed to.

54. ROGUES AND VAGABONDS.

Vagabonds: wanderers who have no settled home.

Wapping: called Wapping Wash (or Marsh) in the time of Queen Elizabeth, when it was first drained and banked in, lies on the north bank of the Thames, in Middlesex, near the Thames Tunnel.

Lambeth, facing Westminster, on the south bank of the river, is low-lying, and was called in Saxon times Lambhythe, meaning loamy or muddy landing place.

Bermondsey (ey—island), on the south bank of the Thames, one mile S.E. of St. Paul's, is a centre of the leather and wool trade.

Rotherhithe (or Redriff), on the south bank of the Thames, lies east of Bermondsey and faces Wapping. The south end of the Thames Tunnel is in Rotherhithe.

stringent: strict.

impotent: powerless, unable to work.

stocks: a wooden frame in which the legs of criminals were confined.

The Barbican: a street near the site of the old Aldersgate. Barbican means defensive works for a gate. Turnmill Street is near Farringdon railway station.

55. UNDER GEORGE II. PART I. THE WEALTH OF LONDON.

Essayists: people who write essays; that is, short compositions on any subject.

picturesqueness: beauty and grace; qualities which might be supposed to make anything a good subject for a picture.

ruffles: pieces of some white material plaited and attached as a frill to the collar and sleeves of garments.

ostentation: making a great show.

Puritanism: the more sober style of life and thought introduced by the Puritans, who were a religious party in the times of Elizabeth and the Stuarts, and were desirous of a purer and simpler doctrine and mode of living.

56. UNDER GEORGE II. PART II.

Predecessors: those that went before them.

cruciform: in the form of a cross. The ground plan of many churches is shaped like a cross.

St. Stephen's, Walbrook, stands behind the Mansion House, where the Walbrook used to flow.

lectureship: the office of a lecturer, one who gives lectures, discourses, or (as in this case) sermons. Money was left to pay for these sermons, that is, the lectureships were endowed.

harbouring: sheltering.

organisers: those who get up and arrange anything.

Haymarket (obviously once a hay market) is near Trafalgar Square, and Coventry Street near Leicester Square.

innovations: novelties, new things.

57. UNDER GEORGE II. PART III.

Broad Street: between the Royal Exchange and Liverpool Street.

Whitecross Street is near the Barbican, Aldersgate Street; Whitechapel, in which is Middlesex Street (commonly known as Petticoat Lane), is reached through Aldgate.

Hogarth (born 1697, died 1764): a celebrated English painter, chiefly famous for moral, satirical and humorous pictures drawn from everyday life.

asphalt: a kind of mineral pitchy substance which melts in heat and can be laid down so as to form a hard, smooth roadway.

Vauxhall: in Surrey, in the parish of Lambeth, on the south of the Thames. There was once an old manor house here called Faukes or Fox Hall.

Bermondsey Spa: so called from a mineral spring discovered there in 1770. (Spa, a place where there is a mineral spring, gets its name from a celebrated watering-place in Belgium of that name.)

punch: a drink containing five ingredients—water, spirits, sugar, lemon-juice, spice.

58. UNDER GEORGE II. PART IV.

Decorous: behaving in a decent and respectable way.

appreciation: estimate, judgment about.

congregation: gathering together.

Benjamin Franklin (born 1706, died 1790): a native of Boston, U.S.A., who lived for some time in England. As a scientist he is famous for electrical experiments; as a politician, for the share he took in upholding the independence of the American States.

transmission: handing down from father to son.

externally: outwardly.

St. Katharine's, Ratcliff, Shadwell, Stepney, are all in the East End of London.

jurisdiction: legal authority.

59. UNDER GEORGE II. PART V.

Lighters: large boats or barges used in unloading ships.

bleaching-grounds: where cloth was laid out to be bleached or whitened by the wind and sun.

hopbines: the stalks of hop plants.

transportation: conveying convicted criminals abroad. Till 1869 convicts were sent to Australia; now they are kept in convict prisons at home.

classification: dividing and arranging into classes.

embezzle: to steal something entrusted to one's care.

press-gang: a party of sailors under an officer who forcibly took men to serve in the Royal Navy.

anarchy: absence of rule, disorder.

Gordon Riots: in 1780, led by the fanatic Lord George Gordon. The mob raised the cry of 'No Popery' on account of a law then proposing to remove hardships from Roman Catholics. Riot and plunder were the real object of the mob. The disorder had to be suppressed by military force.

Police: organised in 1829 by Sir Robert Peel, after whom the members of the force were called 'bobbies' and 'peelers.'

60. THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CITY. PART I.

Denominations: religious bodies or sects, the members of which are all called by the same name. (Latin nomen, a name.)

every conceivable topic: every subject you can think of.

community: a people, the public.

achieved: won by effort.

61. THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CITY. PART II.

Symbol of: the representative of; the presence of a policeman is the outward form taken by the law in the eyes of the people.

mote: meeting; hence folks' mote, meeting of the folk or people; ward mote, meeting of those living in the same ward or city division.

The Companies: such as those of the Goldsmiths, Merchant Taylors, Drapers, &c.

Quarter Sessions: the sessions or sittings of the Law Courts in a county or city held every quarter.

archives: public records.

sergeant means 'servant,' 'officer'—here of the law. Ordinarily it is a rank in the army.

62. THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CITY. PART III.

Advocate: argue in favour of.

tenacity: perseverance, holding on. (Latin teneo, to hold.)

livery: because the members of the different trade companies used to wear a distinguishing uniform or livery.

fletchers: arrow-makers. (French fleche, an arrow.)

trust-money: money entrusted for a certain purpose for which alone it can be used.

technical: where useful trades and sciences are taught.

63. LONDON. GREATER LONDON.

Conservative: preserving, so far as convenient, the present state of things.

functions: powers and duties.

reformatory schools: where boys and girls who have committed some crime are sent to be reformed to better ways.

assets: property actually held, so that it can be set off against a debt.

democratic: giving power and influence to the people.

oligarchic: giving power and influence to the few.

'law worthiness': right to assist in the making of laws.

* * * * *

Spottiswoode & Co. Printers, New-street Square, London

* * * * *

[Transcriber's Note: The following errors have been corrected in this text:

Page 6: Fitzstephen's to FitzStephen's

Page 68: fiteenth to fifteenth

Page 108: SEVENTEENTH to FIFTEENTH

Page 135: Westminter to Westminster

Page 223: alway to always

Page 246: Archishop to Archbishop

Page 256: supressed to suppressed

The following words are inconsistently hyphenated in the original text: folk-mote, folkmote; Lud-gate, Ludgate; pack-horse, packhorse; river-side, riverside.]

THE END