Part 15

A landskip, by Claude Lorrain, near four feet wide; the subject is a warm evening; it is in the highest preservation, not in the least turned black, and in his very finest taste and manner of painting: the keeping, and that harmony and tenderness of tints, for which that master was so famous, are remarkably conspicuous in this picture, and the figures, which are but few, are much better than one generally sees in his works.

A præsepe, by Pietro da Cortona: the composition and the harmony of colours in this picture are very fine.

The entombing of Christ, by Federico Barocci: the dead body is rather disagreeable, but some of the characters are very fine. This was out of the Duke D’Auvergne’s collection at Paris.

The adoration of the Magi, by Rubens: this is only a sketch for a large picture, yet it is so finished, that at a proper distance the characters are as expressive, and the colouring as rich as in a finish’d picture.

St. Thomas, who disbelieves putting his finger in the wound in Christ’s side, by Michael Angelo Caravaggio. This is also a sketch, but the dignity in the characters, and the fine large folds of drapery, shew it to be the work of a great master. Mr. Barnard has a print of this picture etch’d by the master himself, which is extremely scarce.

The stoning of St. Stephen, by Filippo Lauri. Though the figures in this picture are rather larger than those which are in his very best manner, yet they are finely drawn, and the gaiety and beauty of the colouring, together with the fine keeping observed in the distant figures, make it a very pleasing and fine picture.

Christ’s agony in the garden, by the same master. The figures in this are smaller than in the preceding; and the fine characters, and correctness of drawing of the figures, joined to the beautiful colouring, have always made this picture, though a very small one, esteemed by the greatest judges as one of his best.

The same subject in a round, about a foot diameter, by Carlo Maratti; the angels heads are fine, and the colouring pleasing. This picture belonged to Mr. Jarvis the painter, who had a companion to it by the same hand, the subject a dead Christ; he valued them very highly.

A holy family, by the same master, about one foot seven inches high; this is painted in his best time and finest colouring.

A Silence, by Nicolo Poussin: the subject a landskip, the evening, in which a little boy is running away with a Satyr’s musical instrument as he lies asleep; other figures are lying and leaning in a reposed manner. Though this picture is only about seventeen inches wide, and the figures but small, yet they are as genteel, and as correctly drawn, as in any of his finest pictures.

The woman taken in adultery, by Sebastian Ricci. The greatness of the design the dignity and propriety of the characters, particularly the woman, and the harmony of the colours, shew him to be (tho’ a modern master) equal to most of the greatest that went before him.

Two misers counting and setting down their money; the same subject, but with some variation as that at Windsor, by Quintin Matsys of Antwerp, who repeated this picture several times.

An old man’s head with a ruff, painted by Rembrant. It is thought to be the portrait of Ephraim Bonus the Physician, as it bears a great resemblance to the print of him engraved by Rembrant himself, but in the picture he is much older. The light and shade in this picture is extremely fine. Mr. Houston, an excellent engraver in mezzotinto, has engraved a very fine print after this picture.

A fine landskip with Tobit and the Angel, near three feet wide, by the same master; the effect of colours in this picture is surprising.

A Magdalene’s head, by Guido.

An historical subject, a woman and three children, _&c._ by Solimene. This is better coloured, and more finished, than one generally sees of this master.

Angels holding a mitre over St. Ambrose, a finished sketch for a large picture, by the same master. The character of St. Ambrose is very fine, and the draperies are in a great style of painting.

Susannah and the Elders, by Le Moine. The colouring of the woman, who is near naked, is very fine, and the composition and the landskip are very agreeable.

A little boy and girl naked in a landskip of a garden, by Albano, in his richest colouring.

A battle, by Bourgognone, about two feet wide; this is clearer and better coloured than most of his pictures usually are.

Two landskips, by Gaspar Poussin, about two feet two inches wide each. They are in his finest green manner, and extremely well preserved.

Another landskip, by the same master, a little larger but upright, and also in his richest and best manner.

A landskip with rocks, and a man lying reading, by Salvator Rosa, about two feet two inches wide. This is one of those pictures that were engraved and published by direction of Mr. Pond some years ago: it belonged then to Mr. Kent.

A landskip, its companion, by Bartolomeo, a disciple of the above master. The figures and water in this picture are remarkably fine.

A landskip, a warm evening, about the same size, by Jean Asselin, commonly called Crabacci, with cattle in the water by Berchem in his finest manner. Mr. Major, an engraver of great merit, has made a very capital print from this picture.

A landskip with cattle and figures, by Cuyp, its companion. The sun-shine, for which this master is so famous, is particularly fine in this picture.

Venus and Adonis with Cupids, by Van Baelen, in a landskip about the same size as the above, by Velvet Brughell, who has introduced dogs, _&c._ painted with the utmost life and spirit. This is as fine a coloured picture as can possibly be met with.

A landskip about the same size, with a flock of sheep, _&c._ by Francesco Mille. The composition is fine, and this is one of his richest pictures.

A piece of ruins, by Viviano, about the same size.

A piece of ruins, by Ghisolfi, with a man sitting by the side of the Tiber.

A sea calm with English yachts, by William Vandevelde. The keeping, the figures, and the water, are uncommonly fine in this picture.

A canal with boats on it, and a bridge at the end, with buildings on each side, by Canaletti. This picture, for the fineness of the water, and the justness of the perspective, is allowed to be one of the very finest of this master.

A landskip with figures, fishing, &c. by Zuccharelli, about 2 feet 9 inches wide. This picture from the fineness of the figures, and the uncommon richness of the colouring, has been always deemed at least equal to any thing this great master ever painted.

A holy family, with a little St. John sitting on a lamb, by Scarcellini de Ferrara, after a design of Augustine Caracci; it is a small picture, but the characters and colouring are remarkably sweet in it.

A very masterly sketch of the miraculous cross of St. Antonio de Padua, by Seb. Ricci. This at a little distance, has all the effect of a finish’d picture.

Christ and the two disciples at Emaus, by Elsheimer. The story is finely told, and there is great expression in the figures: this picture is a curiosity, not only from the great scarceness of the works of this master, but there are in it two different candle lights, and a moon light, which have an uncommon, and yet pleasing effect.

The Virgin supporting a dead Christ, by Lubin Baugin, called in France, Le Petit Guide, from his happy manner of imitating the stile of that great master, of which this little picture, among others, is a proof: this was out of the Duke de Tallard’s collection.

A sea monster swimming away with a woman, by Albert Durer, who has engraved a print of the same subject: this is extremely well preserved, and there is a much better keeping observed in it than is usual in pictures of that age.

A camelion with a thistle and flies, most exquisitely painted after the life, by Van Aelst.

A group of various flowers with insects in a glass of water, by a master who has mark’d the picture with [Albrecht Durer’s mark] This in point of finishing, is perhaps carried as high as art, colours, and the finest pointed pencils can possibly arrive.

A man sitting smoaking, and other back figures, by David Teniers. This is in his finest stile, both for colouring and expression.

Two men with a little dog going to enter a cottage; a smaller picture by the same master. Mr. Major has engraved a print from this, and call’d it the Friendly Invitation.

There are other smaller pictures, good in their kind, such as the Virgin and Child, by Rottenhammer, highly finished and coloured.

The same subject, the school of Caracci, if not of him.

The Virgin and Child with a bird, and a little St. John, by Sebastian Bourdon, richer coloured than common of this master.

A holy family and St. Catherine, by Schidoni.

An angel drawing an arrow from the side of St. Sebastian, finely coloured by Gerrard Seghers.

Alpheus and Arethusa, Glaucus and Scylla, by Filippo Lauri, in his best manner.

A ship on fire, by Vandevelde: the effect surprizingly fine.

A landskip, by Wynants, highly finish’d, &c.

The same Gentleman has also a collection of about twelve thousand prints, engraved and etched by the most celebrated masters of the three last centuries, much the greatest part of which are not only in the highest preservation, but also of the finest impressions; and of many of the matters, there are either all, or very near the whole work; they are contained in about 50 large volumes, besides above 60 volumes in sculpture and architecture. The principal part of this collection of prints are engraved and etched by Andrea Mantegna, Marco Antonio Raimondi, Ugo da Carpi, Silvestra and Marco de Ravenna, Julio Bonafoni, Augustino Venetiana, Martinus Rota, Adamo of Mantua, Andrea del Sarto, Parmegiano, Primaticcio, Schidoni, Sisto Badalocchi, Baroccio, Carnillo Procaccino, Michael Angelo Caravaggio, Guercino, Spagnoletto, Paulo Veronese, Palma, Giulio Carpioni, Domenico Canuti, Odoardo Fialetti, Paulo Farinati, Ventura Salembeni, all the Caracci’s, Battista Franco, Guido Rheni, Simone Cantarini, Elisabetta Sirani, Claude Lorrain, Gaspar Poussin, Crescentio, Horizonti, Francesco Bolognese, Paul Brill, Both of Italy, Salvator Rosa, Pietro Testa, Castiglione, Bourgognone, Carlo Maratti, Luca Jordano, Rubens, Vandyck, and others, after him the whole work, Jordaens Rombouts, Cornelius de Wael, Vosterman, Martinus Secu, Albert Durer, Lucas Van Leiden, Hisbin, Geo. Pens, the Visschers, Rembrant near the whole work, Ostade, David Teneirs, Both, Bega, Berchem, Paul Potter, Stoop, Ad. Vandevelde, Bamboccio, Hondius, Fyt, Jean Miele, Molenaer, Hollar, Bloemart, Sebastian Bourdon, Le Brun, La Hyre, Mignard, Della Bella, Callot, Mellan, Spierre, Perelle, Coypel, Pittau, Morin, Edelinck, Masson, Drevet, Nanteuil, and many other excellent masters: also a very considerable collection of original drawings by most of the greatest Italian, and some of the best Flemish and Dutch masters.

BERKLEY _street_, Hyde park road; thus called from its being near the Lord Berkley of Stratton’s mansion house.

BERMEETER’S ALMSHOUSE, in St. John street Bethnal green, was founded by Mr. Bermeeter, for six poor women, and by him endowed with 30_l._ _per annum_.

BERMONDSEY SCHOOL, was founded in the year 1718, by Mr. Josiah Bacon, who bequeatheth the sum of 700_l._ for purchasing land, and erecting a school upon it, which he endowed with 150_l._ a year, for educating sixty poor children of the parish of St. Mary Bermondsey street, called by corruption Barnaby street. See _St._ MARY MAGDALEN’S BERMONDSEY.

The district of Bermondsey appears in William the Conqueror’s survey to have been a royal manor, in which were twenty five husbandmen, and twenty-three cottagers. _Maitland._

BERNARD’S or BARNARD’S INN, situated on the south side of Holborn, near Fetter lane, was anciently called Mackworth’s Inn, and is one of the Inns of Chancery. This Society consists of a Principal and twelve Antients, besides other members, who are obliged to be in commons a fortnight in two terms, and ten days in each of the other two, on the penalty of forfeiting five shillings a week.

BERRY _court_. 1. Liquorpond street.†. 2. Love lane, Wood street, Cheapside.† 3. St. Mary Ax.

BERRY _street_. 1. Piccadilly.† 2. Near St. Mary Ax, Leadenhall street.†

BERWICK _street_, Old Soho.

BETHLEHEM _court_, Old Bethlehem.†

BETHLEM, or BEDLAM HOSPITAL, originally a priory, was founded in the year 1247, by Simon Fitzroy, of London, or according to Stow, Simon Fitz Mary, Sheriff of London, on the east side of the place now called the quarters of Moorfields, and of the burial ground of Old Bethlem. This priory consisted of brothers and sisters, who wore a star upon their copes and mantles, probably in commemoration of the star that guided the wisemen in their visit to our Saviour at his birth; and these monks were to receive the Bishop and the Canons of Bethlehem, whenever they should come to England. But King Henry VIII. giving this house to the city of London, it was converted into an hospital for the cure of lunatics; but not without a certain weekly expence, paid either by their relations or the parish.

This hospital being, however, in an incommodious situation, and becoming both ruinous, and unable to receive and entertain the great number of distracted persons, whose friends sued for their admission, the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council, granted the Governors a piece of ground along the south side of the lower quarters of Moorfields, upon which the foundation of the present hospital was laid in April 1675, and notwithstanding its being the most magnificent edifice of its kind in Europe, was only fifteen months in erecting, as appears by an inscription on its front.

This noble edifice is 540 feet in length, and 40 feet in breadth, and is finely situated. The middle and ends, which project a little, are adorned with pilasters, entablatures, foliages, and other ornaments, and rising above the rest of the building, have each a flat roof with a handsome balustrade of stone, in the center of which is an elegant turret. That in the middle is adorned with a clock, and three dials, a gilt ball, and a vane on the top.

This building upon the whole shews more the good intentions, than the good taste of the founders of this charity, the style of architecture being very improper for an hospital for madmen. Simplicity and regularity was all that should have been aimed at, and if there was a necessity for pilasters, those of the Tuscan order would have suited the design much better than Corinthian; but without regarding the application, the middle pavilion, which is elegant, should have certainly been larger and more principal. The entrance is grand, and the figures on the piers, one representing raving, and the other melancholy madness, are finely expressed, and do honour to their author Mr. Cibber, father of the late Poet Laureat. Since the first erecting of this edifice, two wings have been added, in order to contain a number of incurables. And before this fabric is a handsome wall 680 feet in length, which, like the structure itself, is built with brick and stone. It incloses a range of gardens neatly adorned with walks of broad stone, grass plats and trees, wherein those of the lunatics who are well enough to be suffered to go about, are allowed to walk there and enjoy the benefit of the fresh air. In the middle of this wall is a large pair of fine iron gates, and by them a small entrance for the admission of those who come out of curiosity to visit this hospital; on each side towards the top of these gates are placed the two statues, in the manner represented in the print.

The expence of erecting this edifice, besides that of building the wings, amounted to near 17,000_l._

The inside chiefly consists of two galleries one over the other, which cross the wings, and are 193 yards long, thirteen feet high, and sixteen feet broad; without including the cells for the patients, which are twelve feet deep. These galleries are divided in the middle by two iron grates, by which means all the men are placed at one end of the house, and all the women at the other, and in each gallery servants lie, to be ready at hand on all occasions. In the middle of the upper gallery is a large spacious room, where the Governors, and, in the lower, where the weekly Committee meet, and the Physician prescribes for the patients; besides, above there are convenient apartments for the steward of the house, the porter, matron, nurse and servants; and below stairs all necessary offices for keeping and dressing the provisions; for washing, and other necessary offices belonging to so large a family; and also a bathing place for the patients, so contrived, as to be an hot or cold bath, as occasion requires.

There are generally above 200 lunatics maintained in this hospital, each of whom has a small room or cell to himself, where he is locked up on nights, and in this room is a place for a bed; but where the patients are so senseless as not to be fit to make use of one, they are every day provided with fresh clean straw. Those are judged the fittest objects that are raving and furious, and yet capable of cure.

As to the method of admitting them, they are brought on Saturday, when the Committee meets, to be viewed by them and the Physician; and if a person be judged a fit object, a warrant is drawn up for his admission by the clerk of the hospital, to be signed by the President, or, in his absence, by the Treasurer. Those who put in the patient are obliged to give a bond, signed by two persons, to take him away when discharged, or if he dies, to be at the expence of burying him. Their friends, who put them in, are obliged to provide them with cloaths; but there is a wardrobe from whence they are supplied, when neglected by those friends: for though, when raving and furious, they suffer but little from the weather; yet in their intervals, they frequently contract other distempers, care of which is also taken, as well as of their lunacy, whether those distempers be external or internal; and though formerly every patient paid 5_s._ a week, they now not only pay nothing, but after their recovery and leaving the hospital, are furnished with medicines to prevent a relapse. When a patient is cured, he is called before a Committee of the Governors and Physicians, who examine him, and being found fit to be discharged, the Physician gives a certificate to that purpose, and then the steward of the house takes care to have him delivered to his friends.

The hospitals of Bethlem and Bridewell being made one corporation, they have the same President, Treasurer, Governors, Clerk, Physician, Surgeon, and Apothecary; yet each hospital has its proper steward and inferior officers, and a particular committee is chosen out of the Governors for each. Out of that appointed for Bethlem, there are six who meet every Saturday, to examine the steward’s account of expences for the preceding week, and to sign it after it is approved; they also view the provisions, examine the patients that are to be received or discharged, and have the direction of other affairs belonging to this hospital.

BETHNAL GREEN, a village near Mile End, and lately one of the hamlets of Stepney, from which parish it was separated by an act of parliament in the 13th year of his present Majesty’s reign. The old Roman way from London led thro’ this hamlet, and joining the military way from the west, passed with it to Lea Ferry at Old Ford. Within this hamlet, Bonner, Bishop of London, had a palace, and the Trinity House have a hospital for twenty-eight decayed seamen, who have been masters of ships or pilots, or their widows. See TRINITY HOSPITAL.

The church built pursuant to the above act, is placed at the north east corner of Hare street, Spitalfields, and is a neat, commodious edifice, built with brick coped and coined with freestone; and the tower, which is not high, is of the same materials. It is remarkable, that though the village of itself is small, yet as part of Spitalfields anciently belonged to that hamlet, this parish contains 1800 houses, and the parishioners are computed to amount to above 15000.

BETT’S _alley_, Anchor street.†

BETT’S _street_. 1. By Knockfergus.† 2. Ratcliff Highway.†

BEVIS _lane_, Duke’s place.

BEVIS MARKS, St. Mary Ax. Here was once a very large house with several courts and gardens, which belonging to the Abbot of Bury in Suffolk, was called Bury’s Marks, corruptly Bevis Marks. This house being demolished, the ground has many houses built upon it, and among the rest a synagogue of Jews. _Stow._

BEVIS MARKS SCHOOL, was founded in the in the year 1731, by Isaac de Costa Villa Real, a Portuguese Jew, who also endowed it with the annual sum of 80_l._ for cloathing and educating twenty Jew girls of his nation.

BEWLEY’S _rents_, Holiwell court.†

BIGG’S _alley_, Thrall street, Spitalfields.†

BIGG’S or BETT’S _rents_, Rosemary lane, Tower hill.

BILL _alley_, Billiter lane.

BILLET _yard_, Billiter lane.

BILLINGSGATE, a great fish market in Thames street; which is only a large water-gate, port, or harbour, for small vessels, laden with fish, oranges, lemons, Spanish onions, and in summer, with Kentish cherries; here the Gravesend boats wait to take in their fare; and here the woodmongers and coalmen meet at about eight or nine o’clock every morning, this being a kind of exchange for those concerned in the coal trade.

Billingsgate is however most famous for being the greatest fish market in England, and the only port for fish in London, which has occasioned several acts of parliament, to prevent the fishmongers monopolizing that considerable article of food. By these acts it is made lawful for any person to buy fish in that market, and to sell it again in any other market or place in the city of London, or elsewhere, by retail; but no fishmonger, or other person, is to engross or buy more than shall be for his own sale or use, on pain of forfeiting 20_l._ for every such offence, and no fishmonger, or other person, is to expose to sale any fish at Billingsgate by retail that was before bought in the same market.

BILLINGSGATE _dock_, Thames street.

BILLINGSGATE _ward_, is situated on the side of the Thames, and is therefore bounded by that river on the south; as it is on the east by Tower street ward, on the west by Bridge ward, and on the north by Langbourn ward. It contains a part of Thames street, and Little Eastcheap, which lie in the same direction, and those leading from one of those streets to the other, as St. Mary at hill, Love lane, Botolph’s lane, Pudding lane, and on the other side of Little Eastcheap, a considerable part of Rood lane, and Philpot lane. The most remarkable buildings are the churches of St. Mary at hill, St. Margaret Pattens, and St. George, Botolph lane; Butchers hall, and the King’s weigh-house.

This ward is governed by an Alderman, and ten Common Council men, one of whom is Deputy, eleven constables, six scavengers, fourteen wardmote inquestmen, and a beadle.