CHAPTER XXII.

HOLIDAYS OF THE LONDON POOR.

Food and raiment, household shelter and a grave, are all the Poor-Law allows to the pauper; for there is no clause in that act permitting him the enjoyment of the sweet air of heaven, or the open and unwalled sunshine (the gold which God scatters down for all), beyond what blows and beats upon the narrow court-yard in which he is doomed to walk--the Prisoner of Poverty. The birds he there hears sing are the dirty sparrows that roost under the soot-blackened eaves, and weary the heart with their unchangeable chirrup. The hum of his insects is the buzz of the bloated blue-bottle, ever hovering around, and endeavouring to blow and spoil the morsel of meat that is doled out to him with a niggard hand. The murmur of his streams is heard in the flushing of the poisonous sewers. The waving of his trees, the coarse garments that dangle on the clotheslines--for in such places it is ever washing-day. His blue sky is the little morsel of the face of heaven which (by straining his neck) he can see roofing the tall bare walls that surround him. His flowers are the morsels of chickweed, the two or three dwindling blades of grass, or the dank green moss, that shoot up beside the damp wall, or between the fissures of the pavement. His fragrance, a life-destroying atmosphere, a compound of all unwholesome smells.

Day after day, week after week, month after month--throughout the budding spring--all the while the long-leaved summer reigns--when autumn is throwing her rainbow-hues over the forest, and winter comes forth, blowing his blue nails, and with the snow-flakes hanging on his hair--throughout all these changes he feels but cold and heat: can only tell when it is spring by hearing the cry of "primroses" without the walls; summer, by the hot pavement on which he treads; autumn, by the drawing in of the days and the chilly evenings; and winter, by the cold that seems to eat into his very bones. This is his life; these all the changes he knows, unless the rolling of the monotonous year is varied by the days he never left his sick-bed, or the weeks he spent in the hospital. The weary walls are ever the same; he has counted every fissure in the pavement; almost every morsel of gravel is familiar to his eye: he knows how many slabs are cracked and broken; at what hour he shall have gruel, when a change to potatoes. Meat-days are little feast-days; his spoon and porringer and plate his only comforters, until sleep comes and steeps his senses in forgetfulness. He knows when it is Sunday by receiving his clean shirt, and attending church.

Poverty in the country--however poor it may be, however low it may have fallen--is still surrounded with a few fragments of the Paradise which was once man's possession. There we see the blue of the sky bending and resting upon the dim rim of the horizon, or losing itself in the twilight of other worlds. The bladed green of the refreshing earth lies below like a rich velvet carpet which God hath diapered with flowers of "all hues," and thrown down for man to tread upon. The solemn avenue of stately trees rises like a tall temple, roofed in by his mighty hand; and as we gaze upward, we feel the heart worshipping Him unawares, and walk along surrounded with the awe of an old religion. Every rounded pebble beside which the stream plays and murmurs, sends up its tiny voice through the bubbling silver, and fills up the pause in the great anthem which Nature hymns in His praise. In the greenless and sunless streets of the busy city we see not this God-created life, this old world, which has lived on ever since a broad leaf waved; long perchance before Eve planted her white and naked foot on the rounded daisies that blowed in Eden, when the voice of God was heard "walking in the garden in the cool of the day" (Genesis iii. 8).

The visions which St. John the Evangelist obtained of heaven were of a city whose golden gates were never closed; of a river clear as crystal, and trees bending beneath their load of fruit. Isaiah also saw there "the glory of Lebanon: ... the fir-tree, the pine-tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of [his] sanctuary." And in our own dreams of those immortal realms, we but catch dim glimpses of what is beautiful on earth--a peaceful country, green and flowery; and over the sunshine which sleeps thereon the shadows of angels are ever passing.

Those who never see the beauties which God hath scattered over the face of the earth, can scarcely imagine any thing of heaven, or dream of delights beyond the worship which they join in here below.

Our forefathers were a holiday-loving people. With what delight they set out to bring home May! Herrick has told us, in undying verse: they hung a green bough on every door, and suspended from window to window, in the centre of the streets, endless garlands of flowers. The dance under the May-pole was surely preferable to reeling out of a gin-shop; and the archers practising in the cool of a summer evening, under the trees in Moorfields, much better than a stifling skittle-ground, reeking with tobacco, gin, and beer.

If the country is a little farther from London than it was in those days, we are enabled to reach it as soon as they did, when linked to that space-cleaving thunder-bolt, a railway engine; and quick and far away as the flowers have flown, we can still overtake them in a few minutes.

We have great faith in these holidays of the poor; for whatsoever contributes to their happiness removes a portion of what is evil, and supplies the place with what is good. To make a poor weary heart happy and contented for only a few hours, is to lessen the evils of life--it is a rest in the desert, a spring throwing its "loosened silver" through the arid sand, at which they drink, and taking heart, go on their way again more cheerfully. A more selfish and depraved class live not, than those who only think of their own pleasure; who never dream of the delight there is to be found in making others happy.

How grateful the generality of the poor are for favours! They return the donor thanks, sincere thanks--they can offer God no more.

We pay our poor-rates because we are forced; but is a parochial board to be the limits of our charity, is there nothing required beyond food, raiment, and household shelter, for the poor? Ask Joseph Brown, and he will point with a proud finger towards Bethnal-green, to those whom he led forth like a second Moses, out of a wilderness of bricks, mortar, and ruins, to a land where summer reigns, where he smote the rock, and sent the gushing waters bubbling and sparkling among a thousand brick-dried and dusty hearts.

At his bidding the little doubled-up old woman left off roasting chestnuts at the corner of the street, and went out to see them grow; the pale-faced girl for one day ceased her cry of water-cresses, and saw the clear brook in which they stood; while the pretty flower-girl gazed with wonderment over the gardens of Havering Bower, and thought how fresh and beautiful the flowers looked there compared with those she sold in the streets of London. The old man, bent with age, left his box of lucifer-matches (the beggar's last shield) at home, and went to see the butterfly once more alight on the blossoms. And Joseph Brown walked at the head of these immortal souls, these poor outcasts of earth--many of them we trust angels on their march to heaven, whose folded wings may in another state touch our own, when we kneel with bowed head and clasped hands on the star-paved floor of heaven, blushing to think how many tribulations they waded through without a murmur, while we looked on nor extended a helping hand.

The last trumpet, when it awakes the dead, will have no soft and silvery sound for the silken sons and daughters of luxury, but send out the same earth-rending peal, and startle all from their long deep slumber.

These Bethnal-green holiday-people were a poor and homely race, looking what they really are, a badly-fed and badly-housed populace. They are small in stature and limb, and unwholesome in appearance, like flowers crammed into the bit of ground behind the smoky alleys in which they live, that dwindle and pine, and get less and less every year they live: so were these poor people--they had neither bulk, bone, nor muscle: they were like the trees in our city streets compared with the giant oaks of Sherwood Forest. Some of the girls were rather pretty but pensive; they seemed happy, and yet it did not look natural for them to appear so; you could not tell how it was, yet you "felt" it to be so. The ugliest and dirtiest were to all appearance the happiest; they saw only the present, they left the past behind them, quite sure that the old cares, privations, and sorrows would not run away while they were absent. Peace be with them, and all happiness attend such careful pastors as the Rev. Joseph Brown, Rev. Thomas French the curate of Bildeston, the Rev. R. H. Herschell, and all the kind friends who assist them by contributing their mite to these Holidays of the Poor. We place their names in our pages with a feeling of pleasure.

During one of our rural wanderings in summer, we chanced to stumble upon a holiday group of charity-school children, both boys and girls, which had been brought into the quietude of the country by half-a-score of pleasure-vans. They had not all the freedom we should have liked to have seen them enjoy: if one or two straggled a little out of bounds, they were called back. Poor little things! they seemed to envy the bees and birds that flew about, and to wish that they had no teachers to watch over them. We fancied how little some of them had slept on the previous night, through thinking about their country excursion; how often they had looked at the sky, and hoped that it would not rain--that it would surely be fair one day in the year, the only day on which they had a holiday. It made us sigh to look at some of them--they were such little specimens of humanity, especially when, on inquiry, we found that many of them were fatherless and motherless. They seemed to look on Nature with that childish wonder which is pleased with every thing it sees: they gathered the white dead-nettle, the ox-eye, and red poppy, and thought that such were beautiful flowers; little darlings, that could only sob and weep when they were beaten, and nestle closer to one another for comfort, seeming to look about with their pretty eyes as if seeking for some friend to protect them. Others we saw with forbidding countenances, who had no doubt been beaten and starved, and felt a savage satisfaction in punishing such as were less than themselves, as if copying the examples they had suffered under.

Some had eaten their dinners before reaching their journey's end, and gazed with longing eyes on such as had been more provident; though we strongly suspected that many had been tempted by false promises and the hopes of sharing the dinner of their companion--hopes not likely to be realised in many cases, judging from what we saw.

Oh, how we longed to have had those children under our own guidance for the day, to have taken them to one or another of the sweet spots we knew, so different from the dusty patch of green by the road-side, where the pleasure-vans were drawn up! such spots as we have often described--roads and lanes that lead only to fields; green nooks that seem too beautiful ever to be broken up into highways, as if it would be a sin to crush those lines of white daisies that seem to stretch onward and onward, as if trying to find their way to where, in spring, the primroses and violets and blue-bells nestle on the wood-side banks; spots which for ages have formed an old highway of flowers, over which have flown armies of birds and bees and butterflies; places beside which there ever went singing along with subdued voice some little brook, that seemed to chafe if only a pebble checked its course, as if it murmured at being kept away from the flowers that grew farther on, and which it had come a long way down the hills to look at, from whence the breeze had first blown the tidings about the beauty of the spot in which they grew; and ever over the stream the drooping May-buds waved, as if they tried to match their whiteness against the silver cloud that lay mirrored below, while here and there great trees threw their green arms across it, chequering its onward course with cooling shadows, as if for a little time to give it a pleasant resting-place before it went on again to where the unclouded sunshine falls; for where that pleasant stream goes broadening out, the gaudy dragon-flies meet together to play, and where it runs narrowing in, the black bulrushes, the feathery reeds, and the golden-flowered water-flags nod and bend and rustle together, as if they were never weary of telling one another how pleasant is the scenery around which they grow; spots where the birds seem to come for new songs--sweet notes which they gather from the lapping water and the whistling reeds, and these they sing to the blossoms, and the blossoms breathe them back again to the bees, and the bees whisper them into the bells of the flowers they plunge into, and every insect that alights thereon catches the note, and all day long is humming the low tune high up in the air. To such places as these ought the dear children to be taken, while the pleasure-vans await their return beside the dusty high-road, where only the plantain, the ox-eye, the dead-nettle, and the hemlock grow.

But while the railway rushes on in its lightning-like speed, and the steam-boat tosses the water aside with proud disdain, as if angry that it should for a moment check its course, the slow moving canal-boat, drawn leisurely along by horses, has also its crowd of holiday-people. This is, no doubt, one of the cheapest and safest methods of spending the day after all. Here there is no rushing and thronging as on the railway, no dashing and rocking as in the steam-packet, nor any shaking in going over the ground as in the pleasure-vans. The ripple the boat makes is scarcely heard. You can even distinguish the rustling of the tiny waves among the sedge that sways idly to and fro on the banks of the canal. It is a beautiful sight to see these boats full of holiday passengers, gliding slowly along within a yard or two of the shore in the summer sunshine; to look down and see them all mirrored in the water, even to the little girl that is leaning over the side, and rippling the surface with her hand, beside the woman in the red shawl, that deep down is clear-shadowed. Pleasant it is to stand a little way off; and, while the boat is towed lazily along, to hear some old solemn hymn chanted: low at first, then gradually swelling higher, and to distinguish the children's voices mingling with those of men and women; and nothing to drown the harmony saving the measured tramp of the horses which haul the boat, the creaking of a gate, or the short sharp crack of the driver's whip--sounds which disturb not your thoughts. Not that we would have them always singing hymns, or listening to pious addresses, but leave them a little breathing-time to look on nature, to "commune with their own hearts," to enjoy themselves on the lawn (as the kind curate of Bildeston allowed them to do a year or two ago, after giving them a hearty meal of plum-cake and tea; and, when wearied with their sports and pastimes, sending home, as he did, every poor child with a huge lump of plum-cake in its hand).

In the north of England the school-feasts are called "Potations," for so is the word sounded, the origin of which we have never been able to discover, nor to find any other meaning for it than that of drinking; yet it signifies a childish feast or holiday in the midland counties. We want a better compound word than "Pic-nic" for these Holidays of the Poor, and hope that some of our learned readers will help us to one.

INDEX.

Abercrombie, 36.

Adelphi, by whom built, 205; on what ground built, 205; connected with it Lady Jane Grey, 206; neighbourhood of it between Strand and river, 206; to what purposes used, 207; descriptive notes of, 208, descriptive notes of neighbourhood in old times, 208.

Addle-hill, 37.

Aedd the Great, 18.

Aldgate, 26.

Alfred, 24.

Algigiva, 201.

Allhallows Church, 76.

Ancient bridge, 25; only highway to Kent and Surrey, 25; by what parties traversed at different times, 25.

Ancient lamp, 49.

Ancient names of headlands and harbours, hills and valleys, 18; endeavour to discover language by, 18, 19; mixture of sounds in, 19.

Andrew's-hill, 37; church and monument on it, 37.

Angel Inn, old, from whence Bishop Hooper was taken to martyrdom, 201; where situated, 201.

Anthony, St., church of, built by Wren, 54.

Apothecaries' Hall, 37.

Appearance of spot in ancient times where Westminster stood, 23.

Apsley House, 225.

Augusta, 17.

Bartholomew's Church, 27.

Bartholomew Fair, 27.

Bartholomew, 79.

Basing-lane, 62; Roman tessalated pavement discovered in, 62; extent and composition of pavement, 62; in what embedded, 63; building and wall exposed by cutting, 63; vessels discovered, 63; circular shaft discovered, 63; remains of piles discovered, 64; site of these discoveries that formerly occupied by fortress of Tower Royal, 64.

Baynard's Castle, 26; various historical associations connected with detailed in 26 and 27.

Baxter, author of "Saints' Rest," where buried, 173.

Ben Jonson, 27.

Bennet's-hill, 37.

Billingsgate, 79; free trade in, 500 years ago, 80; laws connected with fishmongers in, 80; punishment for infringement of, 80; stalls in, 80; houses originating from, 81; various descriptive notes of, 81, 82; hawkers connected with, 82; supplies from, 82; railways in connexion with, 85; old Billingsgate pulled down, 85; new pile erected, 85; allusion to Mayhew's work, in connexion with it, 86.

Bird, sculptor, 35.

Bishopsgate-street, 149; old-fashioned inn in, 153; details and characteristics of, 153.

Bow Church, old, 54, 55.

Bridge, ancient characteristics of, 24, 25.

Broadway, 37.

Bucklersbury, 60; descriptive details of, 60.

Canterbury Tales, 250.

Canute, 24.

Carter-lane, 44.

Catherine of Spain, 76.

Cheapside, 56; effects of it on a countryman, 56; splendid shops in, 56; rent paid for, 56; articles sold in, 56; difference of London in the present day from that of old, manifested by shops, 57; various characters described, 57, 58; accident described, 58; vehicles described, 58, 59.

Christ's Hospital, 166; custom connected with, 166; allusion to founder of, Edward VI., 166; monastery of Grey Friars repaired for reception of children, 166; costume worn by, 167; Stowe's account of the origin of Hospital, 167; Ridley Bishop of London, his connexion with, 167; Lord Mayor's connexion with, 168; picture illustrative of 168; sum voted by king for relief of hospital, 168; notices connected with, hospital, 168, 169; abuses incidental to, 169; quotation from _Illustrated London News_ of supper given in, 169, 170; quotation from "London Spy" illustrative of hospital and its approaches, 171; Christ's church, 172; story connected with hospital, 173; illustrious parties there educated, 173.

Clement Danes, St., why so called, 201; church of, by whom built, 201; under whose guidance, 201; old church, when pulled down, 201; neighbourhood of, 202; subjected to London cries, 202; various ones noticed, 202; diminution of them, 202; noise of vehicles one cause of this, 202.

Clement's Inn, where situated, 201.

Cloth Fair, 27.

Coal Exchange, new, 85, 87; descriptions connected with the opening of the building quoted from the _Illustrated London News_, 87, 88, 89, 90; coloured decorations of, worthy of admiration, 89; various subjects forming them, 89; architect of, 90; builder of, 90; decorator of, 90; furnishers of ironwork for, 90; Roman hypocaust found in connexion with, 90.

Cock Tavern, 200; Tennyson's, the poet's connexion with, 200; currency connected with, 200.

Coins of conquerors, where lying, 22.

College-hill, descriptive notice of, 59; name derived from a college founded by Whittington, 59; who resided there, 60; Strype referred to, 60.

Country of Sea Cliffs, name of England, 18.

Covent Garden, 209; flowers collected there in season, 209; feelings awakened by a walk through it, 210; images recalled by such, 210; supplies furnished by, 210; parties frequenting it, 210; itinerant dealers connected with, 211; places in which they grow flowers, 211; enjoyment afforded to various parties by Covent Garden, 211; portresses connected with, 211; their honesty and strength, 211; characteristics of, 211, 212; hours at which Covent Garden market is attended, 212; historical associations, 212; original name, 212; belonged to Westminster Abbey, 212; walk to it a few centuries ago, 212; walled round within three hundred years, 213; description of its neighbourhood, 213, foundations of old convent from which it is named exist still in Mr. Bohn's house, 213; Inigo Jones connected with first advances to improvement, 213; under the direction of the Earl of Bedford, 213; specimens of the architecture of the period in Lincoln's Inn, 213; supply of vegetables in old times, 214; love of flowers habitual to Londoners, 214; Henry VIII's. visit to Shooter's Hill in illustration of this, 214; quotation from _Illustrated London News_ describing the church of St. Paul's, Covent Garden, 215.

Coverdale, Miles, associated with earliest printed translation of the Bible, 78.

Crosby-place, 25; one of the few places in the city where deeds historically recorded were plotted, 149, 150.

Crosby-hall, by whom built, 149, lease obtained from prioress of convent, 149; progress of purchaser, 149; monument of same, 149.

Custom House, where situated, 90; mention of in the reign of Elizabeth, 91; long room in, 91; parade of the quay, 91; revenue derived from, 91.

Delware, statue of, 37.

Description of street across the Thames, 24.

Descriptive details of Canterbury settlement, 136.

Descriptive details of the borough, 25.

Dispensary poem, cause, and by whom written, 37.

Dissenting ministers, vindication of themselves, 76.

Doctors Commons, 37; approach to, 37; feelings of parties passing it, 37; various parties described, 38, 39; description and characteristics of, 37, 38, 41, 42, 43, 44; prerogative and will office, 38; detailed description of court of arches, 44; court of faculties and dispensations, 44; consistory court of the Bishop of London, 44; high court of Admiralty, 44; Herald's College, 44.

Docks, 126; Blackwall reach, 126; neighbourhood of Tower, and state of society in, 126; quotation from "London Spy," illustrative of the same, 127; description and characteristics of, 127; origin of rural cemeteries in connexion with making the docks, 128; hospital of Queen Matilda demolished, 128; size of St. Catherine's and London Docks, 128; amount of ships capable of containing, 128; West India Docks, 128; value deposited in, 128; wealth of London contained in docks, 128; cost of walls surrounding, 131; East India Docks, Blackwall, 131; mast-house, 131; time taken in delivering cargo of vessel, 131; method of doing so, 131; river robbery, 131; opposition to docks in consequence of, 131; also by Trinity House, 131; difficulties met with in making docks, 131; emigrants departing from, 132; descriptive details of, 132, 133, 134; Canterbury Association in connexion with, 135; description and characteristics of, 136.

Dowgate, 26.

Eastcheap, 93.

East India House, 96; where situated, 96; when built, 96; purpose of, 96; court-room in, 96; ornaments and size of, 96; Tippoo's elephant Howdah, 97; statues of Clive, Hastings, Cornwallis, Coote, Lawrence, and Pococke, 97; Library and Museum, where contained, 97; latter is open on Saturdays, 97; and well repays a visit, 98; articles contained in, 98; Tippoo's Tiger, 98; Hindoo idols, Chinese curiosities, 98; description of Ajunta caves in India--copies of which have been lately added to the museum--taken from _Illustrated London News_, 98.

Edward I., 79.

Edward VI., 168.

Eels, rent of land paid in, 81; not as good as formerly, 85; affected by poisonous state of the Thames, 85; evidence of Mr. Butcher in connexion with, 85.

Egbert, 24.

Elphitt's dialogues, implements mentioned in, 81.

Emigration, 139.

England, description of at Aed's landing, 21.

Erkennin, the Saxon, 23.

Etheldred, 24.

Ethelstane, 81.

Ethelwulf, 24.

Fat Ursula, 181; still lives in the pages of Ben Jonson, 181; in the same pages is memory kept of Bartholomew fair, 181.

Fenchurch-street, 76.

Fish-street Hill, 76; monument on, designed by Wren, 77; height of, 77; distance from the spot where the fire commenced, 77; ascent of 77; interior of column, width of, 77; suicides committed from, 77; view from the summit, 77; characteristics of it, 77.

Fishmongers, ancient, 79; on what occasion they paraded the city, 79; in what numbers and order, 79, 80; manner of selling fish in olden time, 80; characteristics of those engaged in, 80; allusions to fishmongers, 87; by Stowe, quotation, 87.

Fleet-street, 191; characteristics of its neighbourhood, 191; central situation of, 191; Whitefriars in, 192; alluded to by Sir Walter Scott, 192; quotation from "London Spy" illustrative of various features connected with it, 192.

Fog, London, time of its occurrence, 243; nature and characteristics of it, 243; atmosphere of, 243; appearance of city in, 243; variety of accidents occasioned by, 244, 245; appearance of tavern in fog, 245; appearance of London at night in fog, 247; accidents on the river in fog, 248.

Geology, revelations made by, 19; and discoveries attendant on, 19.

Gerard's Hall, mentioned by Stowe, 49; Giant connected with, 49; tale connected with, 50; Gisor's Hall, proper name of, 51; swept away in the Great Fire, 51.

Gibbs, architect of St. Martin's portico, 204.

Gracechurch-street, 76; its conduit mentioned, 76; pageant erected in to Catharine of Spain, 76; primitive way of draining mentioned in connexion with, 76; name changed in Elizabeth's reign, 76; ground for omnibuses at present, 76.

Great Fire, date of commencement, 77; place of likewise, 77; inscription detailing destruction caused by, made on the monument, 77.

Green Park, 224; house of Samuel Rogers in it, 224; parties associating there, 224.

Greenwich, beauty of Park, 283; description of, 283; London seen from One-tree Hill in, 283; appearance of described, 283; chief beauty of park appears in June, 283; crowded by visitors, 283; Observatory, 283; pensioners, 284; characteristics of, 285; various amusements practised, 285; refreshments, appetite for, and cheapness of, 287; Gipsies connected with, 288; characteristics of, 288; advantages derived from the opening of the park, 288; historical associations connected with, 288, 291; Blackheath connected with, 291; view from, 291; palace of Eltham seen from, 291; donkeys to be procured there, 292; appearance of river from London to Greenwich, 292.

Guildhall, 155; scarred by great fire, 155; ancient hall, when erected, 155; first king who dined there, 155; historical associations connected with, 155; descriptive details of the banquet, 156; and procession attendant, plate, flowers, bill of fare, 157, 158; description of Charles First's entertainment, 159, 160, 162; Lord Mayor's election, 162; forms connected with, 162; heavy duties of office, 162; amount of letters received by, 162; crypt of Guildhall, 163; length of Guildhall, 163; architecture of, 163; quotation from "London Spy," illustrative of giants in Guildhall, 163; monuments in, 164; of whom in memory of, 164; picture in Council Chamber, 164; subject of, 164; library, 164; autograph of Shakspeare in, 164.

Hall's Chronicle, description of fête, quoted from, 79.

Harold, 24; notes connected with, 201.

Harrison, William, 76; connected with pamphlet, 76.

Hastings, 24.

Henry VIII., abuse of consecrated vessels, 168.

History, opening of Anglo-Saxon, applicable to origin of London, 17.

History of the past, 17.

History of our island, 18; darkness of early part, 18; first dawning of it by what discovered, 18.

History of life and reign of Elizabeth, 121.

Historical associations connected with houses in Holywell-lane and Wych-street, 208, 209.

Holidays of the London Poor, 293.

Holy Trinity, church of, destroyed by fire, great, 51; Holy Trinity, prior of, 26.

Honey Island, 18.

Houndsditch, 146.

House connected with Black Prince, 26.

House at the entrance of Whitechapel, description of, 25; whose residence possibly, 25; emblems and ornaments on, 25, 26.

House in which Sir Paul Pindar resided, 153.

Hyde Park, 225; Apsley House, and statue of Achilles, 225; character of in season, 225; rural scenery of, 225; in vicinity of "Tyburn tree," 225; Cromwell, Ireton, Bradshaw, in connexion with, 225; escape of Cromwell in Hyde-park, 225, 226; Hyde-park when first mentioned, 226; mustering-ground for "May-day holidays," 226, 227.

Illustrated London News, office of, where situated, 202.

Importation of fruit and cattle, 139.

Inhabitants of our island, early, very doubtful, 19; reasons for this, 19.

Ironside, Edmund, 24.

King William-street, statue of William IV. in, 67; by whom made, 67; aspect of, 67; cost of, and by whom voted, 67; width and beauty of street, 67.

Knight-Rider-street, 44; descriptive details of, 45.

Labour, thoughts connected with, 139, 140; waste land in England and Ireland in connexion with, 139; duty of England in connexion with, 139.

Laud, where beheaded, 148.

Leadenhall-street and market, alluded to by Stowe, 96.

Lodging-houses, 193; variety of, 193; descriptive details of a real lodging-house, 194; various characteristics of the habits of servants in such, 194, 195; various illustrations of diet, tenants, economy, furniture connected with such, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199.

Lombard-street, 69; aspect of it, 69; for what proverbial, 69; appearance of, different now from what it was three centuries ago, 69; in what respects, 69; bear-baiting in it anciently, 69; related by Ben Jonson, 69; notices, historical incidents, 69; Banks and his horse, 69; opening of Exchange by Queen Elizabeth, 69; details of street cries and various parties incidental to neighbourhood, 69; characteristics of social state in olden time, 70; Bankers of England in connexion with, 70; characteristics of business done by them, 74; and manner of doing it, 74; old-fashioned banker, picture of, 75; church in Lombard-street, built by a pupil of Wren's, 75; entry in old pamphlet connected with, 76.

London, when first peopled, unknown, 21; first probable origin of, 21; appearance of, in early times, 21; during the occupation of the Romans, 21; remains of ancient London, 27; to be found still in neighbourhood of Smithfield, 27; streets of London in olden time, 27; state of roads in, 27; by what evidenced, 27; progress of passenger in, 27; roads of London in William and Anne's time, 28; evidenced by characteristics of coachmen, 28; numbers of lamps then used, 28; old highway to London, poetically called "the road of the swans," 28.

London cemeteries, 269; custom of burying the dead in ancient times, 269; from whence derived, 269; opposite character of present customs, 269; objections to, 270; ashes of the dead only brought within the temples anciently, 270; misplacing of our dead in cities, 270; arguments in favour of open cemeteries, 270; remarks on both, 273, 274; different position of our churches when first built, 274; proposed rating for burial of dead, 274; opportunities offered for suburban cemeteries, 273, 275; death less repulsive in a cemetery, 275; allusion to and description of Joseph's funeral, 276; epidemic referred to in connexion with present subject, 277; various characteristics of, 278, 279, 280, 281; sexton and grave-digger how affected by, 280; pure air to be agitated for in connexion with extra-mural interments, 282.

London poor, characteristics of, 136; habits of life comfortless, 136; neighbourhood of Whitechapel and Bethnal Green, inhabited by, 136; associations connected with "Home" in their life, 136; hunger, and work, and sleeplessness, modes of reckoning time, 137; Mr. Mayhew's work alluded to, 137; their condition reflected on, 137; emigration in connexion with, 138; holidays of the, 293.

London Bridge, old, 25; descriptive and historical references, 25.

Mansion House, 65; when built, 65; before which Lord Mayor resided in his own house, 65; Egyptian Hall, where Lord Mayor entertains his guests, 66; value of plate then used, 66; princely style of Lord Mayor, 66; allowance made him to support the dignity, sword of Lord Mayor described, 66; mace likewise, 66; collar and jewel, description of, taken from _Illustrated London News_, 66; costume of Lord Mayor, 66; Mansion House, where standing, 66.

Market held under name of Farringdon is still held, 66.

Markets, vegetable and fruit, 212.

Mark Lane, 94.

Mary Frith, where buried, 193; her exploits, 193.

Mary Overy, or Mary of the ferry, 249.

May-pole in the Strand, 202; by whom removed, 202; at what time restored, 202, 203; account of in the "City's Loyalty displayed," 203.

Merchant tailors' school, 66; connected with it Duck's foot lane, corruption of Duke's foot lane, 66; eminent men there educated, 67; among whom James Shirley, 67.

Mercers' School, 60; former situation of, 60; said to be one of the oldest schools founded in London, 60; what ground occupied by, 60; by whom founded, 60.

Mermaid tavern, 49; mentioned by Ben Johnson, 49.

Michael's, St., College-hill, 60; by whom built 60; altar-piece contained in, 60; what made by Whittington's executors, 60; who is there buried 60.

Mildred-street church, built by Wren, 49.

Milton's baptism recorded on a stone in the wall beside a door in Allhallows, 48; together with other names, 48.

Mincing-lane, 93.

Monument, descriptive notices of, 77.

Nelson's monument, 36.

New parks, 227; necessity of, illustrated by various details, 228.

New London Bridge, 67.

Newgate, 183; neighbourhood peculiar to, described, 183; crowd assembled to see execution in, 183; of whom composed, 183; time allotted for execution, 183; cries attendant on, and caused by, 183; characteristics of workmen erecting scaffold, 184; characteristics of parties attending executions, 184; exhibition of such devoid of any terror to them, 185; effects of it on them, 185; youthfulness of parties attending, 185; various details illustrative of pernicious effects of thus witnessing, 188; details of prisoner forexecution, 190.

Northumberland, Earls of, 26.

Objects dwelt on in this work, 191.

Octarchy, when and by whom destroyed, 24.

Olave, St., 96.

Old change and Watling-street, 46; church of St. Austin, in connexion with, 46.

Old Fish-street, contains church of St. Mary's Somerset, built by Wren, 46.

Old Mint, 251.

Old city moat, 153; neighbourhood of land in description of, 153.

Paper-staining Hall, 51; pictures and antiquities connected with, 51.

Parks, 222; characteristics and purposes of, 222, 223.

Park, St. James's, 223; in the time of Henry VIII., 223; chase added to it by him, 223; localities comprised in, 223; laws connected with, 223; death of Henry soon after, 223; few features of the old park remaining, 223; connected with it Buckingham Palace, 223; beauty of walks beside the canal, and water fowl nurtured in, 224; fine trees connected with, 224; spot for love-making since the days of Charles II., 224; mention of the "Mall," by Horace Walpole, 224.

Park, Green, 224; possesses little interest--house in it, residence of Samuel Rogers, 224; distinguished men who have been guests there during the last half century, 224.

Park, Hyde, various characteristics of detailed, 225, 226.

Park, Regent's, attractions to, 227; Zoological Gardens and Colosseum, 227; old house of Mary-le-bonne in connexion with, 227; bowling-green of the Duke of Buckingham, 227.

Paul's wharf, 44.

Peter House, note connected with, 48.

Peter the Dutchman, 24; works erected by, 24.

Pilgrim fathers, 135.

Poor, holidays of the London, 293.

Prerogative court, 37.

Pudding-lane, 79.

Punch, reference to, 193.

Purveyors of fish to the court, notices of, 80.

Queenhithe quay, 53; notices connected with, 53.

Queenhithe, 79.

Queen-street, notice of, 59.

Queen of Henry VIII., pin-money furnished by customs from Queenhithe, 79.

Rag-fair, 146; price of admission to, 146; details descriptive of, 146; exposure to weather in, 146; scenes occurring in described, 146; various characteristics of, 147.

Richard III. rebuilt the church of Allhallows-Barking, 95, 96; great antiquity of it proved by pillars, inscriptions, monuments, brasses, 96.

Roman lamp, 49.

Roman hypocaust, 22.

Samian ware, where lying, 22.

Seething-lane, 94; church of Allhallows, Barking, connected with, 94.

Shakspeare, 27.

Sheriff's court, descriptive details of, 163, 164.

Shrine, silver-gilt, 95.

Simon's report to commissioners of sewers, allusion to, 86.

Sir John Watts entertained James I., 155.

Smithfield, 174; intended abolishment of market, of, 174; descriptive notices of, 174; eating-houses connected with, 174; drover connected with, description of, 175; dogs connected with, description of, 175; descriptive notices of, 175; characteristics of it on Sunday night, 176; Smithfield butchers, capabilities of, 176; Friday, day on which to see it, 176; haymarket connected with it, 178; characteristics illustrative of it, and incidental to it, 178, 179; illustrative description of it, and connected with it, 179; historical details connected with, 181.

Somerset House, 204; to what purposes used, 204.

Southwark entrance to London, 252; contained in former days Shakspeare's theatre and Bear-garden, 252; different feature presented by it at present day, 252; specially in connexion with vehicles, 252.

Spital Sermons, where preached, 173.

Statue of Queen Elizabeth, anecdote connected with, 199.

St. Andrew's-Undershaft, 147; why so called detailed by Stowe, 148; who is buried there, 147.

St. Catherine-Cree, 147; by whose authority said to be buried there, 147; Hans Holbein and Sir Nicholas Throgmorton, 147; consecration of the same described by Prynne, 147.

St. Clement's, 76.

St. Clement Danes, why so called, 201.

St. Dunstan's church, 92; Mr. Elmes' notice of Sir Christopher Wren in connexion with, 93; quarrel in it described by Stowe, 93.

St. Giles's, Cripplegate, 164, 165.

St. Helen's, 150; monuments in, 150; buried there Sir T. Gresham and the rich Spencer, 150; allusion to nuns connected with, 150.

St. James's and St. Giles's, origin of wooden puppets--_see_ "Douglas Jerrold's Magazine," 199.

St. Magnus, 78.

St. Mary's-Mounthaw--the Saxon name of the hawthorn berry, 46.

St. Mary's-Woolnoth, 75; Dr. Shuite connected with, 75.

St. Mary's church, Abchurch-lane, 76.

St. Maudlin, notice connected with, 47.

St. Michael and St. Peter's churches, Cornhill, 67; notices connected with, 67.

St. Mary-le-Savoy, 205; of what it is the remains, by whom destroyed, 205; present chapel when built, 205.

St. Nicholas's Cold Abbey, 47.

St. Paul's, 29; appearance of, 29; characteristics of, 29; charity children connected with, 30; festival, description of, 30; appearance, contrasted with that of ancient amphitheatres, 34; detailed description of the building, 35; architect, 35; size of clock, 35; bell striking the hour, 35; weight of it, 35; whispering gallery, 35; clock-room, 35; library, 35; model room, 35; monuments in, to Nelson, 36; Abercrombie, 36; Lord Cornwallis, and various others, 36; paintings in it by Sir James Thornhill, 36; door in the dome, purpose of, 36; shadow of St. Paul's indicative of its size, 36; hours of divine service, 36.

St. Paul's school, 46; by whom founded, 46; trustees to it, 46; notice of its connexion with Anne Boleyn, 46.

St. Saviour's church, founded by Mary of the Ferry, a Saxon maiden, 249; legend connected with her, 249; buried there, Gower, Fletcher, and Massinger, 249; Shakspeare attended brother's funeral there, 249.

Stonehenge, 19.

Stone, Mr., 76.

Strand, early appearance of, 22.

Street amusements, 254; a means of livelihood to many, 254; Punch and Judy, 255; illustrative description of their influences, 255; descriptive details of Punch and Judy, 255; descriptive details of spectators, 256; organ-boy and monkey, 256; descriptive details of monkey, 256-259; caravan and fat boy, 259; characteristics of, 259; dancing girl, 259; tumbler, characteristics of, 259; balancers, description and characteristics of, 260; stilt dancers, performances of, 260; street telescopes, 260; Jack-in-the-Green, 261; Guy Fawkes, 261.

Surrey, earl of, where buried, 95.

Thames-street, 67; notices connected with, and crowds witnessed in, 78; steamers calling at places on Thames, 78; evidencing population of London, 78; Lower Thames-street, description of, 81.

Thames, poisonous state of, for fish, 85; Mr. Butcher's evidence in connexion with, 85; James Newland's evidence in connexion with, 85; description by Stowe, 86; traffic on it opposed to supply of fish, 86.

Three-cranes, Vintry-street, notices connected with, 59.

_Times_' office, Printing-house-square, 37.

Tower, 103; remains of London mentioned in connexion with, 103; ancient foundation discovered in last century, 103; Fitz-Stephen's description alluded to, 103, 104; various notices in connexion with this building; defence of; purposes for which used; money expended on it, 105; wall defended by Edmund Ironside where tower now stands, 104; William the Norman, Rufus, and Henry I. in connexion with, 104; architect of White Tower, Gundulph, Bishop of Rochester, 104; Longchamp held the tower for Richard I.; Henry III. beautified it, 105; strengthened by Edward I., 105; repaired by Edward III., 105; description of by Paul Hentzner, a foreigner in the reign of Elizabeth, 105; Nichols' progress of James I.; description of Lion tower, 106; stories from "London Spy," illustrative of lions' habits, 109; Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, imprisoned in Bell Tower, 110; letter to Cromwell from him, 110; Bloody tower, notices connected with, 111; Salt tower, notices connected with, 111; Bowyer tower, notices connected with, 112; Rats' dungeon, 113; White tower, 113; Jewel tower and description of regalia, 114, 115, 116; description of horse armoury, 116; description of Queen Elizabeth's armoury, 119; chronicle of Queen Jane, 120; "Ende of Lady Jane Dudley." 120; quotations from, 120, 121; names of celebrated persons confined in tower, 121, and anecdotes connected with them, 122, 123; extract from _Illustrated London News_, 124.

Use of donkey, 177.

Various pageants at Lord Mayor's Show in olden times, 160.

Vintners' Hall, notices of, and historical details connected with, 53.

Virgin Mary's Image set up by Edward I., 95.

Walbrook, descriptive notices of, 60; church of St. Stephen's connected with, 61.

Walworth, lord mayor, slew Wat Tyler, 80.

Waste land in England and Ireland, 139; cost of reclaiming, 139.

Wat Tyler, picture of the death of, 160.

Westminster Abbey, associations connected with, and feelings arising from, 217; Pix office, 217; Saxon architecture of, 217; various details, architecture, pavements, and other matters connected with the abbey, 218, 219; its present aspect same as it was before Norman invasion, 218; mosaic pavement, brought from Rome by Abbot Ware, 218; great portion of abbey by Henry III., 218; shrine of Edward the Confessor, 219; tomb of Queen Eleanor, 219; Richard II. and his queen, connected with Shakspeare's mention of him, 219; Bolingbroke, in connexion with, 219; Henry the Fifth's monument, feelings awakened by, 210; want of harmony in monuments, 220; art with reference to them better understood formerly than now, 220; proved by the tombs of our kings in Westminster Abbey, 220; and by the introduction of modern statues and ornaments, 220; screen erected by Blore, 220; monument of Sir Francis Vere in eastern aisle of the transept, 220; Poet's Corner, associations connected with, 220; Chaucer's monument, 220; first poet buried here, 220; Spencer next poet buried here, 221; his funeral, by whom probably attended, 221; Beaumont and Drayton, Ben Jonson, Cowley, Dryden, Gay, Prior, and Addison, buried here, 221; monuments erected to poets buried elsewhere, 221; the author of the "Pleasures of Hope," the last true poet buried here, 221; notes descriptive of his funeral, 221; Henry IV., death referred to, 221; Henry Seventh's chapel, details illustrative of its beauty, 221; brass screen enclosing Henry the Seventh's tomb, beauty of, 222; Cromwell, where buried, 222; to where taken afterwards, 222.

Where horses are kept by owners in London, difficulty of ascertaining, 177.

Whitechapel, 141; number of objects in neighbourhood, and extent of interesting portion, make selection a difficulty, 141; neighbourhood of Whitechapel alluded to in article "Ancient London," 141; contrast between present and past appearances, 141; butchers' shops in, 142; old-school class of butchers, 142; characteristics of, 142; viands sold in, 142; characteristics of dinners there, 142; ham and beef houses, 145; fish sold there, 145; pigeon-fanciers living there, 145; pigeon-keeping practised there, 145; good arising from this taste, 145; details connected with practice, 145; pigeon-decoying practised, 145; means of, explained, 145.

Whitefriars, of what service to traders formerly, 192; privileges taken away by Act of Parliament, 192; situation peculiarly ineligible from local neighbourhood, 193.

William and Anne, 28.

William the Conqueror, 28.

Zoological Gardens, 227; scenery in them described, 227; aviaries containing specimens from Peru and Mexico, 227; aquatic fowls, 227; varieties of every kind there assembled, 227.

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Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber:

King Wiliam IV.=> {pg 67}

more gaceful than swan=> more graceful than swan {pg 158}

Arras rich with hunstman, hawk, and hound=> Arras rich with huntsman, hawk, and hound {pg 158}

the unmannerly mobility=> the unmannerly nobility {pg 160}

our fprincipal vices of the City=> four principal vices of the City {pg 161}

Such as he herds=> Such as the herds {pg 188}

has became a bad word=> has become a bad word {pg 198}