Part 5

To this court belong twelve masters in chancery; an accountant general; six head clerks; sixty-two sworn clerks, who purchase their places, and twelve waiting clerks, whose places are given by the six clerks; two chief examiners, with their respective clerks; a chief and four inferior registers; the clerk of the crown; a prothonotary; clerks of the petty bag, subpæna, patent, affidavit, cursitors, and alienation office.

_Masters in_ CHANCERY, are the twelve assistants of the Chancellor or Lord Keeper, the first of whom is Master of the rolls, which is a place of great dignity, and is in the gift of the King. These gentlemen sit at Westminster hall, with the Lord Chancellor, three at a time while the term lasts, and two at a time when the Lord Chancellor sits to hear causes in his own house, and to them he often refers the farther hearing of causes; he also refers to them matters of account, and other things of small moment; but never the merits of the cause.

The salary of the Masters in chancery is 100_l._ to each of them paid quarterly out of the Exchequer, besides robe money.

CHANCERY _lane_, Fleet street, so called from the court of Chancery there.

CHANDLER’S _alley_, Orchard street, Westminster.*

CHANDLER’S _rents_, Black Friars.†

CHANDLER’S _street_, Duke street.†

CHANDOS _street_, Bedford street, Covent Garden.†

CHANEL _row_, New Palace yard. See CANON ROW.

CHANGE, behind Exeter Change in the Strand.

CHANGE _court_, in the Strand.☐

CHANTER _of St. Paul’s_. See the article PRECENTOR.

CHAPEL ROYAL, a chapel in each of the King’s palaces, neatly ornamented on the inside. They are under the government of a Dean, who acknowledges no superior but his Majesty; for the Chapel Royal, or King’s Chapel, is not within the jurisdiction of any Bishop, but is a regal peculiar under the immediate government of the King. By the Dean are chosen the Sub-dean and all the other officers.

These are the King’s Clerk of the closet, a Divine whose office is to attend at his Majesty’s right hand during divine service, to wait on his Majesty in his private oratory; and to resolve all his doubts relating to religious subjects.

Forty-eight Chaplains in Ordinary, who are generally Doctors of Divinity distinguished for their learning and other accomplishments. Four of whom wait at court every month, to preach in the chapel on Sundays, and other Holidays before the King, and early in the morning on Sundays before the houshold; to read divine service to his Majesty every morning and evening during the rest of the week in his private oratory, and to say grace at the table in the absence of the Clerk of the closet.

The other officers are, a Confessor of the King’s houshold, whose office is to read prayers every morning to the family, to visit the sick, to examine and prepare communicants; and to inform such as desire advice in any case of conscience or point of religion. Ten Priests in Ordinary, sixteen gentlemen of the Chapel Royal, who with the Priests perform in the chapel the office of divine service, in praying, singing, &c. a master of the singing boys, of whom there are ten for the service of the chapel; a composer, two organists, a lutenist, a violist, and other officers.

CHAPELS. Though there are 115 churches within this city, and the bills of mortality, and above 120 meeting houses of dissenters, yet the chapels of the established religion are very numerous, as will appear from the following list.

1. Archbishop of Canterbury’s chapel, at Lambeth. 2. Ask’s almshouse chapel, at Hoxton. 3. Audley street chapel. 4. Bancroft’s almshouse chapel. 5. Banqueting house chapel, Whitehall. 6. Berwick street chapel, Old Soho. 7. Bridewell hospital chapel. 8. Charter house chapel. 9. College almshouse chapel, Deadman’s place. 10. Conduit street chapel. 11. Coopers almshouse chapel, Ratcliff. 12. Curzon street chapel. 13. Dacre’s chapel, Westminster. 14. Draper’s almshouse chapel, Blackman street. 15. also at Newington Butts. 16. Duke’s street chapel, Westminster. 17. Ely house chapel, Holborn hill. 18. Fishmongers almshouse chapel, Newington Butts. 19. Fleet Prison chapel. 20. Foundling hospital chapel. 21. Gray’s Inn chapel, Gray’s Inn. 22. Great Queen street chapel, Lincoln’s Inn fields. 23. Gresham College chapel, Bishopsgate street. 24. Grosvenor square chapel, Audley’s street. 25. Guildhall chapel. 26. Guy’s hospital chapel, Southwark. 27. Hill’s chapel, Rochester row, Westminster. 28. Jeffries’s hospital chapel, Kingsland road. 29. Kensington palace chapel. 30. King’s bench prison chapel, Southwark. 31. Kingsland hospital chapel, Kingsland. 32. King’s street chapel, Oxford street. 33. Knight’s-bridge chapel, Knight’s-bridge. 34. Lamb’s chapel, Monkwell street. 35. Lincoln’s Inn chapel, Chancery lane. 36. Lock hospital chapel, Southwark. 37. Long Acre chapel, Long Acre. 38. London infirmary chapel, Whitechapel. 39. London workhouse chapel, Bishopsgate street. 40. Ludgate prison chapel. 41. Magdalen hospital chapel, Goodman’s fields. 42. May fair chapel, May fair. 43. Mercers chapel, Cheapside. 44. New Chapel, Westminster. 45. Newgate prison chapel. 46. New street chapel, St. Giles’s in the fields. 47. Owen’s almshouse chapel, Islington. 48. Oxendon chapel, near the Haymarket. 49. Oxford chapel, Marybon fields. 50. Palmer’s hospital chapel, Westminster. 51. Petticoat lane chapel, Whitechapel. 52. Poultry Compter chapel. 53. Queen square chapel, Westminster. 54. Queen street chapel, Bloomsbury. 55. Ram’s chapel, Homerton, Hackney. 56. Rolls chapel, Chancery lane. 57. Russel court chapel, Drury lane. 58. St. James’s palace chapel. 59. St. John’s chapel, Clerkenwell. 60. St. John’s chapel, near Red Lion street. 61. St. Margaret’s chapel. Chapel street. 62. St. Martin’s almshouse chapel, Hog lane. 63. St. Thomas’s hospital chapel, Southwark. 64. Serjeants inn chapel, Chancery lane. 65. Skinner’s almshouse chapel, Mile end. 66. Somerset house chapel. 67. Spring garden chapel, Charing Cross. 68. Staple’s inn chapel, Holborn. 69. Trinity almshouse chapel, Mile end. 70. Vintners almshouse chapel, Mile end. 71. Whitechapel prison chapel. 72. Whitington’s college chapel, College hill. 73. Wheeler’s chapel, Spitalfields. 74. Wood street Compter chapel, Wood-street.

_French_ CHAPELS. 1. Black Eagle street chapel, Spitalfields. 2. Berwick street chapel, Old Soho. 3. Brown’s lane chapel, Spitalfields. 4. Castle street chapel Green street. 5. Crispin’s street chapel, Spitalfields. 6. Friery chapel, Pallmall. 7. Hog lane chapel, Soho. 8. Little Chapel street chapel, Old Soho. 9. Little Rider’s court chapel, Little Newport street. 10. Mary le Bon chapel, St. Mary le Bon. 11. Milk alley chapel, Wapping. 12. Orange street chapel, Hedge lane. 13. Petticoat lane chapel. 14. St. John’s street chapel, Swanfields, Shoreditch. 15. St. Martin’s lane chapel, Canon street. E. 16. Savoy chapel, in the Savoy. E. 17. Slaughter’s street chapel, Swanfields, Shoreditch. 18. Spring garden chapel, Charing Cross. 19. Threadneedle street chapel. E. 20. Three crown court chapel, Spitalfields. 21. West street chapel, Soho.

_German_, _Dutch_ and other CHAPELS. 1. Danish chapel, Well close square. 2. Dutch chapel, St. Augustine Friars. 3. and in the Savoy. 4. German chapel, in St. James’s Palace. E. 5. and in the Savoy. E. 6. German chapel, in Trinity lane. E. 7. Swedish chapel, Prince’s square, Ratcliff highway.

The chapels of the French, Dutch, and Germans, might perhaps with greater propriety be placed among the meeting houses of the Protestant dissenters, except those mark’d with an E, which properly belong to those of the established religion; the Common Prayer being read in French or German, and worship performed nearly in the same manner as in the national church.

_Popish_ CHAPELS _of Foreign Ministers_. 1. French Ambassador’s in Greek street. 2. Imperial Ambassador’s, Hanover square. 3. Portuguese Ambassador’s, in Golden square. 4. Sardinian Ambassador’s, Lincoln’s Inn fields. 5. Venetian Ambassador’s, Suffolk street.

CHAPEL _alley_, 1. near Oxford street.☐ 2. Long Acre.☐

CHAPEL _court_, 1. Audley street.☐ 2. Gilbert street, Bloomsbury.☐ 3. Henrietta street, Cavendish square.☐ 4. Lincoln’s Inn.☐

CHAPEL _passage_, Gray’s Inn.☐

CHAPEL _street_, 1. Audley street.☐ 2. Broad Way, Westminster.☐ 3. Long Acre.☐ 4. Red Lion street, Holborn.☐ 5. Wardour street.☐

CHAPMAN’S _court_, George street, Tothill side.☐

CHAPMAN’S _rents_, Barnaby street.☐

CHAPMAN’S _yard_, Goodman’s fields.☐

CHAPTER HOUSE, on the north side of St. Paul’s church yard. This is a handsome building, belonging to St. Paul’s, in which the Convocation of the province of Canterbury sat to consult about ecclesiastical affairs, and to form canons for the government of the church: but tho’ the upper and lower house are called by the King’s writ at every session of parliament, they are now constantly prorogued, and dismissed by his Majesty’s authority.

CHAPTER HOUSE _court_, St. Paul’s church yard.☐

CHARING CROSS, opposite the west end of the Strand, is so denominated from a village called Charing, in which Edward I. caused a magnificent cross to be erected in commemoration of his beloved Queen Eleanor, part of which continued till the civil wars in the reign of Charles I. when it was entirely destroyed by the populace, as a monument of popish superstition. _Stow._ However, after the restoration an equestrian statue of King Charles I. was erected on the spot where this cross stood, which is still, tho’ very improperly, called Charing Cross. This statue has the advantage of being well placed; the pedestal is finely elevated, and the horse full of fire and spirit; but the man is not perhaps equally well executed: so that upon the whole it can neither be generally condemned, nor universally admired.[2] Its situation is shewn in the view of Northumberland House.

Footnote 2:

It is said that Oliver Cromwell after King Charles I. was beheaded, ordered this statue to be taken down and sold to a founder to melt, but that a royalist contrived to get it, and kept it concealed till the restoration, when it was again set up.

CHARING CROSS _court_, Charing Cross.

CHARING CROSS _yard_, Forest street, Lambeth.

CHARITABLE CORPORATION OFFICE, Spring Garden, Charing Cross. This Society was incorporated by Queen Anne in the year 1708, for the relief of the industrious poor, by assisting them with small sums, lent upon pledges at legal interest. For this purpose the corporation were impowered to raise a fund not less than 20, nor more than 30,000_l._ but this sum being afterwards increased by additional grants to 600,000_l._ was, instead of being employed to the mutual advantage of the poor, and of the proprietors, villainously embezzled by the company’s cashier, warehouse keeper, and others, the two former of whom fled to France to shelter themselves from justice. Upon this the proprietors applied to parliament, and had a lottery granted for their relief; while those who had fled were invited to return and produce the books and effects of the corporation; and on their not complying were declared felons.

This corporation were by their charter enjoined not to interfere with the Bank of England by discounting of bills; nor to trade in any other business but that of lending money upon pledges, which they were to advance upon legal interest, and a reasonable allowance for charges. Their affairs were under the direction of a committee of seven of the proprietors, three or more of whom constituted a court, impowered to make by-laws for the better government of the company, and to appoint their cashier, warehouse keepers, accomptant, clerks, &c.

During the prosperity of this corporation they had two offices, one in Spring Garden, and the other on Laurence Poulteney’s hill; but their misfortunes occasioned that in the city to be laid aside.

CHARITY _alley_, near St. Thomas street Southwark.

CHARITY _court_, Aldersgate street.

CHARLES _court_, 1. Bartholomew close. 2. Near Hungerford market. 3. In the Strand.

CHARLES’S _rents_, St. George’s fields.

CHARLES’S _square_, a small neat square near Pitfield street, Hoxton: a grass plat in the area is surrounded with wooden rails, and a row of trees on each side, all cut in the manner of a cone, or sugar loaf. The houses, which take up only two sides and a part of a third, are handsome buildings; and the rest of the square is separated from the neighbouring gardens by rows of pales.

CHARLES _street_, 1. Black Friars. 2. Bridgewater gardens. 3. Covent garden. 4. St. James’s square. 5. Grosvenor square. 6. King’s street, Westminster. 7. Long Acre. 8. Old Gravel lane. 9. Oxford street. 10. Pitfield street, Hoxton. 11. Russel street, Covent garden. 12. Westminster.

CHARLTON, a pleasant well-built village in Kent, on the edge of Blackheath; famous for a very disorderly fair held in its neighbourhood, on St. Luke’s day, when the mob who wear horns on their heads, take all kinds of liberties, and the lewd and vulgar among the women give a loose to all manner of indecency. This is called Horn Fair, and there are sold at it, Rams horns, horn toys and wares of all sorts. Of this fair a vulgar tradition gives the following origin: King John having a palace at Eltham, in this neighbourhood, and being hunting near Charlton, then a mean hamlet, was separated from his attendants, when entering a cottage he admired the beauty of the mistress, whom he found alone, and debauched her; her husband, however, suddenly returning, caught them in the fact, and threatening to kill them both, the King was forced to discover himself, and to purchase his safety with gold, besides which he gave him all the land, from thence as far as the place now called Cuckold’s Point, and also bestowing on him the whole hamlet, established a fair, as a condition of his holding his new demesne, in which horns were both to be sold and worn. A sermon is preached on the fair day in the church, which is one of the handsomest in the county, and was repaired by Sir Edward Newton, Bart. to whom King James I. granted this manor. This gentleman built his house at the entrance of the village: it is a long Gothic structure, with four turrets on the top; it has a spacious court yard in the front, with two large Gothic piers to the gates, and on the outside of the wall is a long row of some of the oldest cypress trees in England. Behind the house are large gardens, and beyond these a small park which joins to Woolwich common. This house now belongs to the Earl of Egmont.

On the edge of the hill, and at a small distance from the church, are two fine houses, one of which was in the possession of the late Governor Hunter, and the other was erected by the late Lord Romney. The gardens being on the side of the hill, slope down towards the river, and render the prospect very delightful in summer, from the extensive view they afford of the country, and of the great number of ships that are generally sailing by every tide: but being fully exposed to the north wind, the fruit trees are generally blighted; and in winter time the air is said to be made unwholesome by the water which frequently overflows the neighbouring plains.

CHARTERHOUSE. This edifice was originally a religious foundation. In the year 1349 a terrible pestilence swept off more than half the inhabitants of London; and the church yards being unable to contain the dead, Sir Walter Manny, Bart. a foreign gentleman, who had been honoured with the order of the Garter by King Edward III. for his bravery in the field, purchased for a burial ground a spot of thirteen acres, where the Charterhouse now stands, and 50,000 persons are said to have been buried there in the space of that year.

The following year that public benefactor built a chapel upon the spot, according to the religion of those times, for prayers to be said for the souls of all who had been interred there, and afterwards founded a monastery of the Carthusians in the same place. This monastery, by the corruption of the word _Cartreux_, by which the French mean a Carthusian house, obtained the name of Charterhouse.

This monastery being dissolved at the reformation, at length fell to the Earl of Suffolk, who disposed of it to Thomas Sutton, Esq; a citizen of London, for 13,000_l._ The latter then applied to King James I. for a patent for his intended charitable foundation, which was readily granted in the year 1611, and confirmed by parliament in 1628. The expence of fitting up the house for the reception of his pensioners and scholars amounted to 7000_l._ which added to the purchase money, made 20,000_l._ But this was not all, he endowed his hospital and school with fifteen manors, and other lands, to the value of above 4490_l._ _per annum_. And the estate is at present improved to above 6000_l._ a year.

In this house are maintained eighty pensioners, who, according to the institution are gentlemen, merchants, or soldiers, who are fallen into misfortunes. These are provided with handsome apartments, and all the necessaries of life, except cloaths, instead of which each of them is allowed a gown, and 7_l._ _per annum_.

There are also forty-four boys supported in the house, where they have handsome lodgings, and are instructed in classical learning, &c. Besides these, there are twenty-nine students at the universities, who have each an allowance of 20_l._ _per annum_ for the term of eight years. Others who are judged more fit for trades, are put out apprentices, and the sum of 40_l._ is given with each of them. As a farther encouragement to the scholars brought up on this foundation, there are nine ecclesiastical preferments in the patronage of the Governors, who, according to the constitution of the hospital, are to confer them upon those who were educated there.

The pensioners and youths are taken in at the recommendation of the Governors, who appoint in rotation. _Maitland._

The buildings, which are extremely rude and irregular, have nothing but their convenience and situation to recommend them. The rooms are well disposed, and the square in the front is very neat, and kept in as good order as most in town. This square and the large gardens behind, give a free air, and at one and the same time contribute both to health and pleasure.

CHARTERHOUSE _lane_, Charterhouse square.☐

CHARTERHOUSE _square_, near West Smithfield.☐

CHARTERHOUSE _street_, Long lane, West Smithfield.☐

CHEAPSIDE, 1. From St. Paul’s church yard to the Poultry. It derives its name from there being a market there, or in the Saxon language a Cheap. In the year 1331, only the south side of this street Was built, and there being a great opening on the other side King Edward III. held jousts or tournaments there for three days together. _Maitland._ It is a spacious street, adorned with lofty buildings, inhabited by goldsmiths, linendrapers, haberdashers, &c. extending from Paternoster row to the Poultry. 2. There is another street called Cheapside in the Mint, Southwark.

CHEAP WARD, is situated in the very center of the city; it being bounded on the north by Cripplegate ward, Bassishaw ward, and Coleman street ward; on the west by Queenhithe ward, and Cripplegate ward; on the south by Cordwainers ward; and on the east by Broad street ward, and Wallbrook ward: it takes its name from the Saxon word _Chepe_, a market, there being one kept in this division of the city. This market was from its situation known by the name of West Cheap, to distinguish it from the market, between Candlewick street, and Tower street, called East Cheap.

The principal streets in this ward are, Bucklersbury, the north side of Pancras lane, part of Queen street, the Poultry, the south end of the Old Jewry, Ironmonger lane, King street, Laurence lane, the east end of Cheapside, as far as to the midway between the paved passage into Honey lane market and Milk street, and part of Cateaton street.

The most remarkable buildings are, the parish churches of St. Mildred in the Poultry, and St. Mary’s Colechurch; Guildhall, Mercer’s hall, or Chapel, and Grocer’s hall, with the Poultry Compter.

This ward has an Alderman, and his Deputy, eleven other Common Council men, twelve wardmote inquest men, nine scavengers, eleven constables, and a beadle. The jurymen returned by the wardmote inquest, serve in the courts in Guildhall in the month of February.

CHELSEA, a very large and populous village, two miles from London, pleasantly situated on the banks of the Thames almost opposite to Battersea. Here is the physic garden belonging to the company of Apothecaries of London, a particular account of which the reader may find in the article relating to that company. Sir Robert Walpole, the late Earl of Orford, had here for some time a house adorned with a noble collection of pictures, which was afterwards removed to Houghton-hall in Norfolk, and is now thought the finest collection in England[3]. There are several other private buildings worthy of the observation of the curious. I. At this place is the house and fine gardens that belonged to the late Earl of Ranelagh. See RANELAGH GARDENS. Salter’s coffee house here is well known, being much frequented on account of the great number of natural curiosities to be seen there.

Footnote 3:

See an account lately published, entitled ÆDES WALPOLIANÆ.

CHELSEA _Hospital_, a noble edifice erected for the invalids in the land servive. The original building on this spot was a college founded by Dr. Sutkliff, Dean of Exeter, in the reign of King James I. for the study of Polemic divinity, and was endowed in order to support a Provost and Fellows, for the instruction of youth in that branch of learning. The King, who laid the first stone, gave many of the materials, and promoted the work by a large sum of money, and the clergy were very liberal upon the same occasion; but the sum settled upon the foundation by Dr. Sutkliff being far unequal to the end proposed, the rest was left to private contributions; and these coming in slowly, the work was stopped before it was finished, and therefore soon fell to ruin. At length the ground on which the old college was erected, becoming escheated to the crown, Charles II. began to erect the present hospital, which was carried on by James II. and completed by William and Mary.