volume i., page 735, calls the next of these engravings ‘a miserable

view,’ since it is certainly as good as the generality of the prints of the period, and is very considerably better than the last. It consists of a large half-sheet, entitled ‘_An Exact View of London Bridge since the Conflagration of the Temporary Bridge_,’ which is a copper-plate of 8 inches by 13-1/4; and beneath it, in letter-press, is ‘_A Chronological and Historical Account from the first building a Bridge across the River Thames from London to Southwark, till the late Conflagration of the Temporary Bridge, the 11th of April, 1758. Sold by William Herbert, under the Piazzas on the Remains of London Bridge. Price One Shilling, Plain. Colour’d, Eighteen Pence._’ The only additional information which we derive from this narrative, is, that ‘as the wind providentially blew the whole time at East,--tho’ all the day before it had blown strong from the Southward,--it did no damage to any of the houses at either end.’ But by far the best representation of the effects of this fire, is a half-sheet copper-plate, entitled, in French and English, ‘_A View of London Bridge, with the Ruins of y^e Temporary Bridge, Drawn the day after the Dreadfull Fire, April the 11th, 1758, by A. Walker. Published according to Act of Parliament, June 28, 1758. London: Printed for John Ryall, at Hogarth’s Head in Fleet Street. A. Walker delin. et sculp._’ All these prospects were taken on the West side of the Bridge, and represent the building horizontally across the picture: Herbert’s extends from Fishmongers’ Hall to the Southwark Gate; but Anthony Walker’s takes in the whole Bridge, and part of the buildings on the Surrey shore.

“Yet, if this fire were sudden, and its destruction extensive, the exertions of the City Corporation were not less prompt and effectual in repairing of the damage. The Common Council, like Bunyan’s Captains in _Mansoul_, being always true lovers of London, like so many Samsons, shook themselves and came together to consult upon and contrive a remedy. The Court of Common Council met by one o’clock on the day after the fire, and was attended by Mr. Dance, Mr. Taylor, and Mr. Phillips, the builder of the Bridge, whom the Lord Mayor had previously ordered to survey it; and their report was, that with a proper number of workmen, who should be allowed to labour on days, they would engage to make the old Bridge passable for carriages by the 1st of May. A new Temporary Bridge was ordered to be immediately erected, and upwards of 500 workmen were constantly employed upon it, by whose means, as it is stated in the ‘_Gentleman’s Magazine_’ for 1758, page 193, the Bridge was re-opened for foot-passengers, on Wednesday, the 19th of April; and the whole of the new wooden edifice was ready for carriages in less than a month after the fire. During the erection of this building, there seemed to be discovered an additional proof that the last conflagration was not accidental; for Daniel Capel, the Inspector of the Bridge, having been informed that Mary Dennis, before mentioned, and John Scott, one of the Bridge Watchmen, had seen lights about the new works at an unseasonable hour in the night of the 23rd of August, brought them to give their evidence before Mr. Alderman Francis Cokayne. The Inspector was then ordered to search if there were any appearance of fire, and make his report to the Lord Mayor; upon which he stated, that having carefully surveyed the Bridge with proper attendants, they found the appearance of an attempt in three places, where the new wood work was scorched quite black; and one of the Watchmen also produced the remains of a link found in the unfinished works of the Bridge. To prevent another conflagration, therefore, says Entick, in his ‘_Continuation of Maitland’s History_,’ page 21, it was ordered that two men, well armed, should be placed every night, from sun-set to sun-rise, in a gallery erected from end to end of the Temporary Bridge, just beneath the centre of the works, with lamps lighted, and a bell, to alarm the neighbourhood in case of an attack. This watch was continued under the direction of Mr. Capel, until the whole of the Temporary Bridge was taken down. Before this, however, as we are informed by ‘_Owen’s Weekly Chronicle, or Universal Journal_,’ for August 26th to September 2nd, 1758, page 173, five watermen, armed with blunderbusses and cutlasses, had watched for a fortnight, from ten at night until five in the morning, in a boat under the great Arch. The opening of the second wooden erection for carriages did not take place until Wednesday, the 18th of October, 1758, as we learn from ‘_Owen’s Weekly Chronicle_,’ October 14th to 21st, No. 29, page 230: on page 206 of a former number of which, the watch is particularly mentioned; and we are also told that there was a convenient pathway for foot-passengers, railed in and elevated above the carriage-road. Pages 183 and 198 of the same authority, shew that the edifice was strewed over with gravel above the planks; that on each side there were uprights for covering it; and that a month intervened between the gravelling and the opening of the Bridge. In consequence, too, of the recent attempt to destroy the New Bridge, this paper likewise informs us, page 238, that orders were issued by the Lord Mayor, that no coaches nor foot-passengers should carry any lighted torches over the Temporary Bridge.

“It was not, however, until the middle of the year 1759, that the new Arch of London Bridge began to assume its intended form; though we can trace its progress only by slight occasional notices contained in the periodicals of the day. Thus we learn from a paragraph in the ‘_London Chronicle_,’ of Saturday, July the 28th, 1759, page 88, that ‘the grand Arch at London Bridge is now completed. It is finished in the Gothick taste, and the ballustrades upon it are fixing. The foot-paths will be rather wider than those at Westminster; and it is proposed to fix posts along them with chains from one post to the other, to secure foot-passengers from any damage which might otherwise happen from cattle.’ The strength and complication of the timber used for forming this Arch, are particularly pointed out in an engraving and letter signed E. M., in ‘_The London Magazine_’ for that year,