CAGE
A lock-up for malefactors. There was one such in Cornhill (q.v.), by the Conduit,
made of strong timbers with a pair of stocks and a pillory on the top of it. There
was another in High St., St. Giles' (q.v.). In H6
B. iv. 2, 56, Dick says of Cade, "his father had never a house but the C."
In B.&F.'s Wit Money iv. 4., Luce
says, "Say, he had been in the c., was there no mercy To look abroad but yours?"
CANDLEWICK ST.
See CANWICK ST.
CANNON ROW
(Map B7)
A st. in Westminster running into Bridge St., E. of Parliament St. It led from
the New Palace Yard to the Privy Garden, and took its name from being the residence
of the Dean and Canons of St. Stephen's Chapel. The name was corrupted in the
18th cent. into Channel Row. In Jonson's Staple
iii. 2, Gossip Tattle says she has "all the news of Tuttle St., and both the
Alm'ries, the two Sanctuaries, long and round Wool-staple, with King's St., and
Canon Row to boot."
CANNON ST.
(or CANNING ST.). See CANWICK ST.
CANWICK ST.
(Map OP5)
(originally CANDLEWRIGHT or CANDLEWICK ST.: then it became C. ST., then CANNING ST., and finally, as now, CANNON ST.). A st. in Lond. running from the S.E. corner of St. Paul's Churchyard to the corner of K. William St., parallel to Cheapside. In our period it only went as far as Walbrook: it was extended to St. Paul's Churchyard in 1854. It derived its name from the candlemakers who had their shops there, but as early as the 15th cent. it had passed from them to the cloth-dealers. Lond. Stone was originally on the S. side of the st., but was removed across the road in 1742. It is now [in 1925] built into the wall of St. Swithin's Ch. [ed. note, see "London Stone"], nearly opposite the railway station, 35 ft. N.E. of its original position.
In H6 B. iv. 6, the direction
in F. 1 is: "Enter Jack Cade and the rest and strikes his staffe on Lond.-stone."
Modern editions locate the scene as "Cannon St," but it would be more exact
to say "C. St." In T. Heywood's Prentices,
sc. 4, Eustace cries: "O that I had with me as many good lads, honest prentices,
from Eastcheap, C. St., and London-stone, to end this battle." In Haughton's
Englishmen iv. 2, Pisaro asks Frisco,
"Why led you him through Cornhill? Your way had been to come through Canning-st."
In Lickpenny 72, Lydgate relates, "Then went I forth by Lond.-stone Throughout
all C.-st. Drapers much cloth me offered anon." In Nobody 378, Nobody says,
"If my breeches had as much cloth in them as ever was drawn between Kendall
and Canning-st., they were scarce great enough to hold all the wrongs that I
must pocket." In Deloney's Newberie ix., Jack "took him a shop in Canweek st.
and furnished [it] . . . with a thousand pounds worth of cloth." In his Reading
vi., the clothiers' wives, coming up to Lond., saw "in Candleweeke ste. the
weavers." A ballad follows, with the lines, "The day will come before the doom
In Candleweeke st. shall stand no loom Nor any weaver dwelling there." Stow
testifies, "There dwelled also of old divers weavers of woollen clothes brought
in by Edward the third." In Middleton's Triumph Truth, one of the characters
in the pageant is Sir John Poultney, who "founded a college in the parish of
St. Laurence Poultney by Candlewick st." (see under LAURENCE POULTNEY, ST.).
CARDINAL'S HAT
A tavern on the Bankside, Southwark, between Emerson St. and Moss Alley. The site was long marked by C.-Cap Alley. The name may have been given in honour of Cardinal Beaufort, Bp. of Winchester, whose Lond. palace was on Bankside. Taylor, Works ii. 173, denies the charge that had been made against him that he had been bribed by the players and had had a supper with them "at the C. H. on the Bankside."
CARTER LANE
(Map KL5)
A St. in Lond. running W. from the corner of Old Change and Cannon St. to Water
Lane. The 1st quarto of Henry V
(1600) was "Printed by Thomas Creede for Tho. Millington and John Busby. And are
to be sold at his house in C. L., next the Powle Head." The Paul's Head was at
the corner of Sermon L. and Carter L. One of Tarlton's Jests (1611) begins, "In
C. L. dwelt a merry cobler." Richd. Quiney addressed a letter to Shakespeare "from
the Bell in C. L., the 25 October, 1598."
CASTLE INN
(Map KL5)
(area only; site unmarked)
A tavern on the N. side of Paternoster Row, Lond., near the site afterwards occupied
by Dolly's Coffee House, close to Queen's Head Passage. Later still it became
the Oxford Bible Warehouse. The C. I. was kept at one time by Tarlton; and one
of his Jests relates how 2 of his friends "foxed Tarlton [i.e. made him drunk]
at the C. in Pater Noster Row." There was a C. Tavern on the N. side of Cornhill,
near the R. Exchange. Davenport's New
Trick was "Printed for John Okes for Humphrey Blunden and are to be sold at
his shop in Cornehill next to the C. Tavern. 1639."
CAT AND FIDDLE
The sign of a Lond. ordinary or eating-house, in Cheapside, near the Cross (q.v.).
In Middleton's Witch i. 2, after
the stage direction, "Hecate conjures; enter a Cat playing on a fiddle, and Spirits
with meat," Almachildes remarks, "The C.&F. is an excellent ordinary." The nursery
rhyme, "Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle," does not appear to be earlier
than the 18th cent. Day, in prol. to Law
Tricks , asks, "Must a musician of necessity dwell at the C. & the F.? "
CAT AND PARRETS
The sign of T. Pavier's bookshop in Cornhill, near the Exchange (qq.v). The 1602
quarto of Henry V was "Printed
by Thomas Creede for Thomas Pauier and are to be sold at his shop in Cornhill
at the sign of the C. & P. near the Exchange." The 1602 edition of the Span.
Trag. was published at the same place.
CATARYNA, SANTA
See KATHERINE'S, SAINT.
CATEATON (also CATTE or CATTETON) STREET
(Map N4)
Lond., running from the junction of Old Jury and Lothbury to Lad Lane. It is now
called Gresham St. Stow calls it Catts St. The change of name was made in 1845.
In W. Rowley's Match Mid. iv., Moll,
being surprised by the watch at the corner of Bishopsgate St. and Cornhill, says
to Randall, "Go you back through Cornhill, I'll run round about the Change, by
the Ch. corner, down C. St., and meet you at Bartholomew Lane end." To which Randall
replies, "Cat's St. was call hur?"
CATHARINE WHEEL (1)
An ancient tavern in Southwark, between Union St. and Mint St., opposite St. George's
Ch.: it survived until 1870. The name was corrupted into The Cat and Wheel. Taylor,
in his Carriers' Cosmography, mentions the C. W. in Southwark as the lodging of
the carriers from Tunbridge and other places in Kent. I suspect that it is the
tavern meant by the Cat, or the Cats, in the following passages. In Brome's Northern
i. 5, Pate asks, "Where's the supper? at the Bridgefoot or the Cat?" In his
Moor iv. 2, Quicksands mentions
"the Bridgefoot Bear, the Tunnes, the Cats, the Squirrels" as taverns frequented
by his wife and her gallant.
CATHARINE WHEEL (2)
The sign of Thomas Creed's bookshop in Thames St., Lond. The Tragedy of Selimus
was "Printed by Thomas Creede, dwelling m Thames ste. at the signe of the
Kathern Wheele neare the olde Swanne. 1594."
CATHERINE'S (SAINT) CREE
(Map R4)
A ch. in Lond. on N. side of Leadenhall St. It was built about 1300, but was pulled down, all but the tower, in 1628 and rebuilt. Holbein is said to have been buried here. The churchyard was used in the Middle Ages for the acting of morality plays. In 1565 there is a record of 27/8 being paid by the players for the right to act there.
CHANCERY LANE
(Map G45)
A st. in Lond., running N. from Fleet St., just E. of the New Law Courts, to Holborn.
It was originally called New St.; then, during the 14th cent., Chancellors Lane,
probably from Ralph Neville; then, in Elizabeth's time, it was abbreviated to
C. L. In Wise Men iii. 3, Simplom
tells Antonio, who has sent him to see his lawyer, "Sir, I met him in Chauncery
L." In Dekker's Jests 326, one of the haunts of the foyst, or pickpocket, is "the
dark entry going to the 6 clerks office in C. L." It is sometimes called The Lane
par excellence. In Jonson's Devil iii.
5, Meercraft says that Lady Tailbush lives "here, hard by in the L.": the scene
being in Fitzdotterel's house in Lincolns-Inn. In iv. 5, Fitzdotterel says that
Mr. Justice Eitherside is "A knight here in the L." Merlin
was "sold at the Princes Arms in C.L." Marlowe's Ed.
II, ed. 1612, is to be sold "By Roger Barnes at his shop in Chauncerie L.
over against the Rolles." Machin's Dumb
Knight, ed. 1633, is to be sold by "William Sheares at his shop in C. L. near
Seriants Inn." Middleton's Quiet Life
was "Printed by Tho. Johnson for Francis Kirkman and Henry Marsh and are to
be sold at the Princes Arms in C. L. 1662." Bacon's Essays were "Printed for Humfry
Hooper and are to be sold at the Blacke Beare in Chauncery L. 1597." T. Heywood's
Hogsdon was "Printed by M. P. for
Henry Shephard and are to be sold at his shop in Chancerie-L. at the sign of the
Bible, between Serjeants-Inne and Fleete St. 1638."
CHANGE
See EXCHANGE.
CHARING CROSS
(Map B5)
A cross erected by Edward I in honour of his Queen, Elinor, at the vill. of C.,
between Lond. and Westminster. The Queen died at Herdelie, near Lincoln, in 1290,
and her body was brought to Westminster for burial. Wherever the bier rested the
K. set up a cross. There appear to have been 14 of these crosses, of which those
at Geddington, Northampton, and Waltham alone remain, the last 2 being in Cheapside
and at C. The 1st cr. at C. was of wood, but it was replaced by a fine one in
Caen stone in 1294. This was destroyed by the Puritan Parliament in 1647. It stood
at the W. end of the Strand, at its junction with Whitehall. The present cr. in
front of the C. Cr. Station was erected in 1863 near to the original site, from
a design by Barry based on drawings of the old cr. The only reference to it in
Shakespeare is in H4 A. ii. 1,
27, where the Carrier at Rochester announces that he has "a gammon of bacon and
2 razes of ginger, to be delivered as far as C. cr." The origin of the Cr. is
described in Peele's Ed. 1. v., where
the K. says, "In remembrance of her [Q. Elinor's] royalty Erect a rich and stately
carved cr., Whereon her statue shall with glory shine, And henceforth see you
call it C. Cr." There was a curious legend about this same Q. Elinor and C. Cr.,
which is dramatically rendered in the same play. Elinor is accused of having made
away with the Lady Mayoress of Lond. She exclaims (p. 69), "Gape, Earth, and swallow
me . . . if I were author of That woman's tragedy": she is taken at her word and
sinks into the ground. Her daughter Joan cries out, "Ah, C. Green, for ever change
thy hue . . . But wither and return to stones, because That beauteous Elinor sunk
on thee.'' The engulfed Q. rises up at Potter's Hive, to the consternation of
the Potter's wife, who exclaims (p. 71), "It is the Q., who sunk this day on C.
Cr., and now is risen up on Potter's Hive." Potter's Hive, or Hythe, was therefore
rechristened Q. Hythe, as the title of the play records. In Cartwright's Ordinary
v. 4., Hearsay suggests that the fellows for whom the Watch is searching are
"Sunk, like the Queen; they'll rise at Queen-hive, sure." There is a ballad on
the subject in Evans' Old Ballads i. 237. In Middleton's Witch
i. 1, Almachildes says to Amoretta, who refuses to kiss him, "Amsterdam swallow
thee for a Puritan and Geneva cast thee up again! like she that sunk at C. Cr.
and rose again at Queenhithe.'' In Middleton's Quiet
Life v. 3, Knavesby says, "I will sink at Q. Hive and rise again at C. Cr.,
contrary to the statute in Edwardo primo." In all the above passages C.Cr. is
used proleptically, for the Cross was not erected until after Q. Elinor's death.
By the beginning of the 17th cent. the cr. had fallen into a very ruinous
condition, and early in the reign of James I it was proposed to take it down,
and, indeed, the different parts of it were bespoken by various people. It was
not, however, till 1643 that it was finally condemned, and the actual destruction
was not carried out till 1647. The author of Old Meg (p. 11) speaks of "Charing
Cr . . . . losing his rotten head, which (through age being windshaken) fell
off, and was trod upon in contempt." In Dekker's Westward
ii. 1, Honeysuckle says, "They say C. Cr. is fallen down since I went to
Rochelle; but that's no such wonder. 'twas old and stood awry." In Peacham's
Dialogue between the Crosse in Cheap and C. Cr. (1641), C. Cr. says, "The greatest
danger of all I was in was in the time of K. James." In Dekker's Satiro.
iii. i. 235, Tucca calls Miniver "my mouldy decayed C. Cr." In Dekker's Dead
Term (1608), Westminster laments the decay of "that ancient and oldest son of
mine [C. Cr.] with his limbs broken to pieces, his reverend head cut off, the
ribs of his body bruised, his arms lopped away, his back almost cleft in sunder."
In Day's Law Tricks iv. 2, Joculo
tells a cock-and-bull story about a dispute between Westminster and Winchester,
and goes on: "In parting the fray C. cr. got such a box o' the ear that he will
carry it to his death day." In Wise
Men iv. 2, the Puritan wife of Hortano says of her hopeful son, "He never
sees the relics of C. cr. but wisheth he were on horseback with a lance in his
hand in full speed to bear it down." Taylor, Works ii. 1. has a poem on the
"Dismal Downfall of Old C. Cr.," and there is a ballad on the subject in Percy's
Reliques beginning, "Undone, undone the lawyers are; They wander about the town;
Nor can find the way to Westminster Now C. Cr. is down." This last ballad refers
to the final destruction of 1647. The equestrian statue of Charles I at the
head of Whitehall is on the actual site of the old cr. It was set up just before
the beginning of the Civil War, but taken down by the Parliament and sold to
a brazier named Rivett to be broken up. He concealed it, however, in the vaults
of St. Paul's, Covent Garden, and it was re-erected in 1674.
Donne, Satire iv. (1597), speaks of "Those Ascaparts, men big enough to throw
C. Cr. or a bar." In Dekker's Northward
i. 2, Doll, the courtesan, says, "I'll change my lodging, it stands out
o' the way; I'll lie about C. Cr., for if there be any stirrings, there we shall
have 'em." In Phillips' Grissil 50, Politick Persuasion tells how he fell from
heaven, "but C. Cr. was my friend and caught my leg in his hand." In Chaunticleers
v., Welcome says of Bung, "He has tricks enou' to furnish all the tapsters between
C. Cr. and Fleet Bdge." In Killigrew's Parson
ii. 7, the Capt. says, "Any porter at C. Cr. may take you like a letter
at the carrier's." Taylor, in Carriers' Cosmography, mentions the Chequers near
C. Cr. as a carriers inn.
In Day's B. Beggar iv., young
Strowd says, when he is asked to go and see the motion of Norwich in the corner
of a little chamber, "I had as lieve thou hadst told me C. Cr. stood in Cheapside,"
i.e. he does not believe it possible. In Brome's Northern
ii. 5, Pate promises Humphrey, "thou shalt instantly start up as pretty
a gentleman Usher as any between Temple Bar and C. Cr.; marry, further I cannot
promise you." In his Antipodes i.
6, the Dr. says that foreign travel "is not near so difficult as for some man
in debt and unprotected to walk from C. Cr. to th' Old Exchange." In T. Heywood's
I.K.M.A. 225, a Spaniard kills
an Englishman at C. Cr., and is sentenced by K. Philip to be hanged there. In
Nobody 1145, No-body, being driven
out of Fleet St. by 2 swaggerers, goes down to the Thames and "desired a waterman
To row me thence away to C. Cr." In Nash's Penn. Parl. 38, it is enacted that
"the images in the Temple ch., if they rise again, shall have a commission to
dig down C. Cr. with their fauchions." In Shirley's Lady
of Pleasure i. 2, Celestina, who lives in the Strand, intends to have her
house so frequented that "the horses shall be taught, with frequent waiting
upon my gates, to stop in their career toward C.-cr." In Randolph's Muses'
ii. 2, Deilus has seen a comet which "reached from Paul's to C." He is probably
referring to Halley's comet, which was visible in 1608. In Lupton's London Carbonadoed
(1632), it is predicted that when "the women are all fair and honest, then Cheapside
shall stand by C. Cr." In Shakespeare's time the King's Mews, then used as stables,
stood to the N. of C. Cr.; and there were shops in the neighbourhood, for in
Harman's Caveat (1567) ) C. 12, the author speaks of a seal which he bought
"beside C.-crosse," and the bookseller Robert Wyer dwelt "in St. Martin's parish
in the D. of Suffolk's rents, beside Ce. Cre." (Title page of The Booke of Fortune.)
Milton lived for a few months in 1649 "at one Thomson's, next door to the Bull
Head Tavern at C. Cr.; opening into the Spring Garden."
CHEAP-GATE
(Map L4)
(area only; site unmarked)
A little gate at the N.E. corner of St. Paul's Churchyard, Lond., leading into Cheapside. Sidney's Apology for Poetry was "Printed for Henry Olney and are to be sold at his shop in Paul's Churchyard, at the sign of the George, near to C.-g., anno 1595."
CHEAPSIDE
(Map LN4)
(CHEAP, or WEST CHEAP); Cp. = Cheap. As its name implies, the old Market Place
of Lond., extending from the N.E. corner of St. Paul's Churchyard to the Poultry.
The names of the sts. running into it indicate the points where the various wares
were exposed for sale, e.g. on the S. side, Friday St., where fish was sold, and
Bread St.; on the N., Wood St., Milk St., Honey Lane, and Ironmongers Lane. At
first the N. side was open ground, and when buildings were erected they were on
the line of the old market stalls, and left the st. as it now became, the widest
in old Lond. "'Tis thought," says Lupton, in London Carbonadoed (1632), "the way
through this st. is not good, because so broad, and so many go in it; yet though
it be broad, it's very straight, because without any turnings." There were 4 erections
down the centre of the market or st.: at the W. end, near the ch. of St. Michael
le Quern, was an old cross, sometimes called the Brokers' Cross, which was taken
down in 1390; on its site was erected in 1442 a conduit, known as the little,
or pissing, conduit; opposite the end of Wood St. was the Cross, one of those
set up by Edward I at the place where the body of Q. Elinor rested on its way
from Lincoln to Westminster. The others were at Lincoln, Grantham, Stamford, Geddington,
Northampton, Stony Stratford, Woburn, Dunstable, St. Albans, Waltham, and Charing.
Those at Geddington, Northampton, and Waltham still remain (as of 1925). It was
re-edified in 1441, and often regilded and otherwise restored during the Tudor
period. The Puritans, however, regarded it with detestation as a Romish symbol,
and the images of the Virgin and Saints were constantly defaced by them; and in
1596 a naked figure of Diana with water trilling from its breasts was put in the
place of the image of the Virgin: it must have been a poor piece of work, for
Stow says it was decayed in 1603. Probably this is the Diana referred to by Rosalind
in As You Likeiv. 1, 154, "I will
weep for nothing, like Diana in the fountain." On May 2, 1643, the Cross was pulled
down by order of Parliament to the sound of drums and trumpets, and amid the shoutings
of the Puritan crowd. A little further to the E., opposite the end of Milk St.,
was the Standard, a square pillar with a conduit, statues round the sides, and
an image of Fame on the top. At the E. end of Cheapside, at its junction with
the Poultry, was the Gt. Conduit, to which water was brought in lead pipes from
Paddington, set up in 1285 and new-built in 1479. Walking down the S. side of
Cp. from the W. end, Shakespeare would first pass Old Change, where bullion was
received for coining; then the Nag's Head Inn at the corner of Friday St and the
Mermaid at the W. corner of Bread St., then Goldsmiths Row, consisting of "10
fair dwellings and 14 shops, all in one frame uniformly built 4 stories high";
then the Ch. of St. Mary de Arcubus, or Bow Ch., standing 40 ft. back from the
st. with a stone pavilion in front of it, called Crown-sild, or Seldam, from which
the kings and queens used to watch the tournaments and pageants which were held
in the Cp, and which is now represented by a stone gallery on Sir Christopher
Wren's steeple: beyond the ch. were shops, chiefly occupied by mercers and drapers.
Crossing Sopar's Lane, now Queen St., he would reach the end of Bucklersbury,
where the grocers and druggists had their headquarters. Crossing over by the Gt.
Conduit and turning back towards the W., on the N. side of Cp., he would pass
the Mercers' Chapel and Hall on the site of the old Hospital of St. Thomas of
Acon, and cross in succession Ironmongers Lane, Lawrence Lane (New King St. was
not cut through to the Guildhall till after the Gt. Fire), Milk St., Wood St.,
Gutter Lane, and Foster Lane, and so into St. Paul's Churchyard to the booksellers'
shops.
In H6 B. iv. 2, 94, Cade boasts,
"In C. shall my palfrey go to grass"; and in iv. 7, 194, Dick asks Cade "My
lord, when shall we go to C and take up commodities upon our bills?" C. was
the scene of all the City pageants. In Chaucer's C T. B. 4377, it is said of
the prentice Perkyn, "Whan then any ridyng was in Chepe, Out of the shoppe thider
wolde he lepe." It was also a promenade for people of fashion In Jonson's Devil
iii. 1, Meercraft advises Gilthead to buy his son a Captain's place and
"let him with his plumes and scarfs march through C. and draw down a wife there
from a window." In Davenant's Wits
i., Thwack "will match my Lord Mayor's horse, make jockeys of his hench-boys,
and run them through C." In Barry's Ram
iii., Throate promises himself: "My coach shall now go prancing through
C." Hall, in Satires v. 4, 14, ridicules the farmer's son, who "hires a friezeland
trotter . . . To drag his tumbrell through the staring Cp." Public proclamations
were usually made at the Cross, and executions were often carried out at the
Standard. In More iii. 1, the Sheriff
gives orders that "a gibbet be erected in C., hard by the Standard, whither
you must bring Lincoln . . . to suffer death." Taylor, ii. 311, says, "The rebels
beheaded the Lord Say at the Standard in Cp." Harman, in his Caveat i. 1, tells
of a "crafty Crank" who for his offence "stood upon the Pillory in C." In Mayne's
Match ii. 1, Dorcas refers to Prynne's
Histriomastix as "a book that suffered martyrdom by fire in C." It was burnt
there by order of the Star-chamber. Drayton, in Barons' Wars iv. 43, tells how
Stapleton "Beheaded was before the Cross in Cp."
References to the Cross are plentiful. In Elynour Ramming iv., drunken Alice
comes in with tales "how there hath been great war between Temple-Bar and the
Cross in Cp." Earle, in Microcosmus 1xviii., says of the Lond. citizen, "The
gilding of the Cross he counts the glory of this age." This refers to the gilding
of the Cross in 1600. In Marston's Mountebanks, the Mountebank says, "I could
encounter thee . . . with Cheape Crosse, though it be new gilt." In Randolph's
Muses' v. 1, Mrs. Flowerdew, the
Puritan, says that Mediocrity "looketh like the Idol of C." Lupton, in London
Carbonadoed (1632), says, "Puritans do hold it [C.] for a fine st. but something
addicted to popery for adorning [? adoring] the cross too much." There was an
abundant crop of pamphlets in regard to the destruction of the Cross, such as
The dialogue between the Cross in Chepe and Charing Cross; Articles of High
Treason Exhibited against C. Cross; The Downfall of Dagon, or The Taking down
of C. Cross, and many more. The Cross was one of the best-known objects in old
Lond. In T. Heywood's Hogsdon v.
1, Old Chartley, returning from his travels, says, "This 7 years I have not
seen Paul's steeple or Cp. Cross." In Shirley's Riches
iii., Gettings swears by "C. Cross and loud Bow-bell."
The Conduits were utilised in the pageants for decorative purposes and speeches
were delivered from them. In the Ovatio Carolina, describing the entry of Charles
into Lond. in 1641, it is recorded that "the great conduit in C. ran with claret
wine." When Anne Boleyn went from the Tower to Westminster just before her coronation
"at the Little Conduit of C. was a rich pageant"; and when Elizabeth entered
the City on her accession there was a grand Allegory of Time and Truth at the
Little Conduit (see also s.v. CONDUIT). The Lord Mayor's show went along C.
on St. Simon and Jude's Day, Oct. 28th. In Dekker's Westward
ii. 1, Justiniano says, "Men and women are born and come running into the
world faster than coaches do into C. upon Simon and Jude's day." In Shirley's
Riches, Clod says, "The next day
after Simon and Jude you go a feasting to Westminster; you land in shoals and
make the understanders in C. wonder to see ships swim upon men's shoulders."
Originally the Lord Mayor went to Westminster by land; but Sir John Norman in
1485 went in a barge rowed by silver oars, and this practice continued for 4
centuries. On the return journey he landed at Paul's Wharf and went by C. to
the Guildhall, the oarsmen carrying their boats on their shoulders. In Phillips'
Grissil 54, Politick Persuasion tells how, when he was saved from destruction
as he fell from the sky, "The Cross in Cp. for joy did play on a bagpipe and
the Standard did dance." In Glapthorne's Wit
ii. 1, Thorowgood says, "The cross and standard in C. I will convert into
Hercules' pillars; and the little conduit that weeps in lamentation for the
Ch. removed that it did lean on, it shall be still filled with wine and always
running. The great Conduit shall be a magazine of sack." In Jonson's Devil
i. 1, Iniquity promises Pug, "I will fetch thee a leap From the top of Paul's
steeple to the Standard in Cp." In Nature (Lost Plays, 98), Lust says he knocked
so hard at Margery's door that "a man might have heard the noise from Poules
to the farthest end of Cp. "
In the neighbourhood of C. were the 2 City counters, or lock-ups, in Wood
St. and the Poultry. In Wilkins' Enforced
Marriage iii. 1, Ilford talks of being arrested by a couple of sergeants
and falling "into one of the unlucky cranks about C., called Counters." In Lyly's
Bombie v. 3, the Sergeant threatens
the Hackneyman "with such a noverim as C. can show none such." "Noverim" is
a mistake, or misprint, for "Noverint," the first word in a writ. The shops
of C. furnished a large number of prentices, who formed a compact body capable
on occasion of causing no little trouble. In More
ii. 1, the scene is laid in C. and is opened by the entrance of "3 or 4
Prentises of trades with a pair of cudgells." The cry of "Clubs!" brought these
young fellows out in a swarm ready for any kind of mischief. The Black May-Day
riot directed against the Lombards started with the prentices of C., and forms
the subject of Acts II and III of More. In T. Heywood's Prentices,
sc. iv., p. 82, Charles cries: "Oh for some C. boys for Charles to lead!" Their
work ceased when Bow-bell rang the curfew: hence the old rhyme in which the
apprentices address the clerk of the ch., "Clerk of the Bow bell with thy yellow
locks, For thy late ringing thy head shall have knocks." To which he replies:
"Children of Chepe, hold you all still; For you shall have Bow bell rung at
your will." The mercers' shops were mostly in the E. end of Cheap. In Jonson's
Barthol. i. 1, Littlewit challenges
"all C. to show such another" habit as his wife is wearing. In Massinger's Madam
iv. 2. Goldwire promises Shav'em, "The tailor and embroiderer shall kneel to
thee; C. and the Exchange shall court thy custom." In T. Heywood's Hogsdon
iii. 2, Chartley tells Luce, "There are brave things to be bought in the
city; C. and the Exchange afford variety and rarity." In Jonson's Underwoods
ix., "Another answers, 'las, those silks are none . . . as he would deride Any
comparison had with his C." In Lydgate's Lickpenny, the author says: "Then to
the Chepe I began me drawn, Where much people I saw for to stand; One offered
me velvet, silk and lawn, Another he taketh me by the hand, 'Here is Paris thread,
the fin'st in the land.'" In Mayne's Match
i. 4, we are told of a mercer who "lives in C." In Brome's City
Wit iii. 3, Crack says, "All the sattin in C. were not enough to make you
a wedding-gown.'' In T. Heywood's Ed.
IV A. 10, Spicing says, "You know C.; there are the mercers' shops Where
we will measure velvet by the pikes And silks and satins by the st.'s whole
breadth" Donne, Satire iv. (1597), says of the courtiers, "Whoe'er looks . .
. o'er C. books, Shall find their wardrobe's inventory." In Deloney's Reading
vi., Simon's wife would swear it was quite spoiled "If she thought a tailor
of C. made not her gown."
Between Bread St. and Bow Ch. was Goldsmiths' Row. In Richard the Redeless
iii. 139, the poet complains that the young lords "Kepeth no coyne that cometh
to here hondis But chaunchyth it ffor cheynes that in Chepe hangith." In Nobody
441, the Clown tells Nobody, "Go into C. and Nobody may take up as much
plate as he can carry." In Field's Amends
ii. 1, Proudly says to the Page, "What said the goldsmith for the money?"
And having heard the answer: "How got that wit into C., trow?" In the prologue
to Marston's Malcontent, Sly says,
"Ill lay a hundred pound, Ill walk but once down by the Goldsmiths' Row in Cp.,
take notice of the signs, and tell you them with a breath instantly. They begin,
as the world did, with Adam and Eve; there's in all just five-and-fifty." In
Eastward v. 4, Quicksilver sings, "In
C., famous for gold and plate, Quicksilver I did dwell of late." In T. Heywood's
Prentices, sc. vii., p. 90, Guy
speaks of the time "When once I was a goldsmith in C." In More
iii. 2, Faukner says, "If the locks were on again, all the goldsmiths in
C. should not pick them open.'' In Dekker's Northward
ii. 1, Hornet, who is wearing a copper chain round his neck, explains: "Your
right whiffler hangs himself in St. Martin's, not in C." St. Martin's (q.v.)
was a sort of Alsatian market for finery of the second class, like this copper
chain: C. sold the genuine article. In Marston's Courtesan
ii. 1, Mulligrub "will to C. to buy a fair piece of plate." In Eastward
v. 4, Quicksilver sings, "Farewell, C.! farewell, sweet trade Of goldsmiths
all, that ne'er shall fade." In Glapthorne's Wit
v. 1, Husie promises Mendwell, "Thou shaft be a constable, carry thy staff
with the red cross and dagger, in as much state as the best goldsmith that ere
bore office in C." In Brome's Couple
ii. 1, Bellamie says, as he gives Alicia a ring, "I would not that he should
know for all the rubies in C. where I bought this but now.'' In T. Heywood's
Ed. IV A. 10, Falconbridge says,
"We'll shod our coursers with no worse than the purest silver that is sold in
C." In Nabbes' C. Garden iv. 4,
Ralph says, "'Tis a fine chamber, it shines like a goldsmith's shop in C." In
Deloney's Craft ii. ii, Anthony says that his ballad "hath made me as well acquainted
in C. as the cat in the cream-pan; for as soon as the goldsmiths' wives spy
me, and as I pass along by the merchants' daughters, the apes will laugh at
me.'' In his Reading vi., the clothiers' wives "when they were brought into
C., there with great wonder they beheld the shops of the Goldsmiths; and on
the other side, the wealthy Mercers, whose shops shined with all sorts of coloured
silks." Herrick, in Tears of Thamesis (1647), relates that he was born in "the
golden C."
There were, of course, other things sold in the market. In More
i. 1, Caveller enters with a pair of doves and says, "I bought them in C."
Dove Court, running from Old Jewry to Grocers' Hall Court, still preserves the
name of the place where doves were sold. In Cartwright's Ordinary
v. 3, Shape, relating Bitefig the miser's confession, says, "I've often
bought a C. custard, and so refreshed my soul under my cloak." In Jonson's Epicoene
iv. 1, Truewit advises: "Give cherries at time of year or apricots; and say
they were sent you out of the country, though you bought them in C." In Webster's
Weakest i. 3, Bunch says to Smelt,
"Ye Smelt, your kinsfolks dwell in the Thames and are sold like slaves in C.
by the hundreth, two pence a quartern." In Jonson's New
Inn i. 1, the Host guesses that "C. debt-books" are weighing on Lovel's
spirits. In Jonson's Eastward iv. 4,
Touchstone speaks of himself as "a poor C. groom." "A rakyer [scavenger] of
Chepe" is one of the merry party in Piers B. v. 322. In Lupton's London Carbonadoed
(1632), he says, "If all the men be rich and true, and the women all fair and
honest, then C. shall stand by Charing Cross for a wonder." In Day's B.
Beggar iv., young Strowd, hearing of what he regards as an impossibility,
says, "I had as lieve thou hadst told me Charing Cross stood in C." C. is used
for the shopkeeping class, as when in Glapthorne's Wit
i. 1, Clare says that young Holdfast, fresh from Cambridge, "is learned
enough to make C. a college"; and in iii. 1, Knowell speaks of "Illustrious
names, the glory of C., Stars of the City."
The Dagger Inn, famous for its pies, was at the corner of Foster Lane. In
T. Heywood's I.K.M.B. 257, a prentice
says, "I must need step to the Dagger in Cheape, to send a letter into the country
unto my father." C. is mentioned by Dekker, in Bellman 158, as a favourite haunt
of foysts, or pickpockets.
CHEAT-LOAF
A sign in Holborn, Lond. (q.v.) C.-bread was bread of the 2nd quality, somewhat
coarser than manchet. In Middleton's Quarrel
iv. 1, an advertisement is read setting forth that those who wish to be instructed
in the art of "roaring" should "repair into Holborn to the sign of the C.-l."
Chough comments, "Now your bill speaks of that I was wondering a good while at,
your sign; the 1. looks very like bread, i' faith, but why is it called the C.-1.?"
To which the first speaker replies: "The house was sometimes a baker's, Sir, that
served the Court, where the bread is called c." "Ay, ay," says Trimtram, "'twas
a baker that cheated the court with bread."
CHICK LANE
(Map J3)
(also CHICKEN LANE per Stowe). A st. in Lond., otherwise known as West St., running
from Field L. to the Sheep Pens in Smithfield. It was near a timber bdge. crossing
the Turnmill Brook, as the upper part of Fleet Ditch was called, N. of the Holbourn
Bdge. No. 3 was the infamous Red Lion Inn, which abutted on the Fleet Ditch at
the back, and was a notorious haunt of thieves and ruffians. It was at the corner
of Brewhouse Yard, a few steps from Saffron Hill. The whole dist. had a most evil
reputation. The Red Lion was pulled down in 1844, and the improvements made in
1857 swept away C. L. altogether. In Middleton's R.
G. iii. 1, Moll, dressed as a man, tells Trapdoor she is one of the Temple;
but, she adds, "Sometime I lie about C. L."
[ed. note: another Chick Lane existed on Tower Hill. It ran from Barking to Woodroffe Lane and skirted just south of the scaffold and gallows. This Chick Lane can be seen at (Map S5)]
CHINA-HOUSES
The name given to shops in Lond. where Chinese silks and porcelain were sold.
They were a favourite resort of women of fashion, and were often used as places
of assignation: hence the word came to mean in the later 17th cent. a brothel.
In Jonson's Epicoene i. 1, Sir La-foole
"has a lodging in the Strand to watch when ladies are gone to the c: h. or the
Exchange, that he may meet them." In the same scene La-foole says that Otter's
wife "was the rich c. woman, that the courtiers visited so often"; and in iii.
1, Lady Haughty comes to Mrs. Otter's "to see some C. stuffs." In iv. 2, she invites
the heroine to "go with us to Bedlam, to the c: h., and to the Exchange." In his
Alchemist iv. 2, Subtle promises Dame
Pliant "6 mares to hurry her through Lond., to the Exchange, Bethlem, the c.-h."
In Brome's Sparagus ii. 2, Moneylack
says, "Though now you keep a c.-shop, and deal in brittle commodities, pots, glasses,
pusslane dishes, and trinkets, you must not forget your old trade."
CHRIST-CHURCH, LONDON
(Map K4)
At the dissolution of the monasteries Henry VIII gave the monastery of the Grey
Friars on the N. side of Newgate St. to the City of Lond., and made the old ch.
the head of a new parish to be called C. Ch., the monastery itself being at the
same time dedicated to the purpose of the education of poor children (see CHRIST'S
HOSPITAL). The graveyard of the old Ch. was invested with a peculiar sanctity
in the popular imagination, and a large number of distinguished people had been
buried there, including Margaret, wife of Edward 1, Isabella, wife of Edward II,
Roger Mortimer, John, D. of Bourbon, who was taken prisoner at Agincourt, and
Sir T. Malory. The ch. was destroyed in the Gt. Fire and rebuilt by Wren. In Eastward
i. 1, Quicksilver says of Touchstone, "His mother sold gingerbread in C. Ch.";
and in Taylor's Works ii. 234, he says, "The world runs on wheels like the great
gridiron in C: ch." In both cases the reference is to the school. The old lady
doubtless came to sell gingerbread to the boys; and the great gridiron would be
used for cooking their meals. In Heywood's Captives
iv. 1, a document is produced stating that Mirable was "born in C: ch., Lond.,
anno 1600." In T. Heywood's I.K.M.B.
320, Lady Ramsie says, "I have known old Hobson sit in Christs Ch. morn by morn
to watch poor couples that come there to be married and give them some few angels
for a dower." Armin, in Ninnies, mentions "a cobler, next to C.'s Ch. gate in
Newgate Market." Burton, A.M. Intro., says, "Had I been as forward as some others
I might have haply printed . . . a sermon at C: ch."
The 1609 edition of Shakespeare's Sonnets "Are to be sold by John Wright, dwelling at C. Ch. Gate." The Booke of Mery Riddles, to which Slender refers in M.W.W. i. 1, 209, was "Printed by Edward Allde, dwelling in Little Saint Bartholomewes, neere C: ch. 1600." Chapman's Caesar was "Imprinted by G. E. for John Wright, and are to be sold at his shop at C: ch. Gate."
CHRIST'S HOSPITAL
(Map K4)
(site of Christ's Church)
Lond., on the N. side of Newgate St., a little to the E. of the Old Bailey. It is on the site of Christ Ch., q.v. In 1552 Edward VI, at the instigation of Ridley, founded and endowed it as a school for poor children. Two or three arches on the S. side of the quadrangle are all that remains of the original building, which was destroyed in the Gt. Fire. The scholars were dressed in blue, hence the popular name "The Bluecoat School." In 1902 the school was removed to W. Horsham, and one of the most interesting buildings in Lond. was swept away. The new buildings of the G.P.O. occupy the site.
In Awdeley's Fraternity of Vagabonds (1575), he describes the Cheatour, or
Fingerer, as walking "in such places whereas gentlemen and other worshipful
citizens do resort, as at Poules, or Christen H., and sometime at the Royal
Exchange." In Middleton's Widow ii.
1, Valeria's suitor congratulates himself that his 2 bastard children "are well
provided for, they're i' the H." In Jonson's Ev.
Man I. ii. 1, Kitely explains that he picked up Cash as a child at his door,
and "bred him at the H." In Ford's Queen
i. 1, 99, Muretto says, "A H. boy in a blue coat shall transcribe as much
in 6 hours." Armin, in Ninnies 50, says, "Write the sermon, boy, as the H. boys
do." Machin, in his Diary 33, speaks of "all the children, both men and women
children, all in blue coats, and wenches in blue frocks." Armin's Moreclacke
has for a 2nd title, "The Life and Simple Maner of John in the H." The direction
on the 1st entry of John is, "Enter John, Nurse, Boy, all in blue coats"; and
later, "Enter John o' th' H. and a blue-coat boy with him." In Brome's City
Wit iii. 1, Tryman says of his brother, "He has been one of the true Blue
boys of the H." In T. Heywood's Ed.
IV A. 57, Sir John Crosbie soliloquizes: "I do not shame to say the H. of
Lond. was my chiefest fostring place. The Maisters of the H. bound me apprentice
to the Grocer's trade, and to the H. an hundred pound a year I give for ever."
The poet is guilty of a slight anachronism here, for the H. was not in existence
as such in the reign of Edward IV. In T. Heywood's I.K.M.B.
319, Lady Ramsie tells of one Master Rowland, "now an able citizen, late chosen
a master of the H." Armin, in Ninnies, says, "On Easter Sunday the ancient custom
is that all the children of the h. go before my Lord Mayor to the Spittle" (see
SPITTLE). The Anatomy of a Woman's Tongue was "Printed for Richd. Harper and
are to be sold at his shop at the H: Gate. 1638." The Gate was opposite Warwick
Lane. In Wise Men i. 1, Proberio
says of Antonio's writings, "We'll put them in print and set them up to be sold
at the H. porch near St. Nicholas Shambles."
CLARE'S ORDINARY
An eating-house in Lond.: possibly that which afterwards became Jonson's Hotel
in Clare Court, on the E. side of Drury Lane next to Blackmoor St. In Barry's
Ram iii. 1, Ruff, describing what
he would do if he could get a rich wife, says, "I would eat at C. o. and dice
at Antony's."
CLEMENT DANES (ST.).
(Map F5)
A ch. in Lond. at the E. end of the Strand, in the middle of the rd. and slightly
athwart the direction of it owing to its exact orientation E. and W. The origin
of the suffix D. is variously explained as due to the burial there of Harold Harefoot,
the illegitimate son of Canute; or to a defeat of the D. by the Londoners in the
reign of Ethelred; or to a small settlement of D. who were allowed to remain after
the expulsion of the rest from England. The 1st ch. was built somewhere about
A.D. 1000. It was repaired at various times during the 17th cent., and was finally
pulled down in 1680 and rebuilt by Wren, the steeple being added in 1719. It was
repaired and restored in 1839. It has a fine peal of 10 bells, cast in 1693, to
replace those whose chimes Falstaff and Shallow "heard at midnight" when they
were students in C.'s Inn (H4 B.
iii. 2, 228). They figure in the nursery rhyme, "Oranges and lemons, Say the bells
of St. Clemens." Dr. Johnson occupied a pew in the N. gaffery, indicated by a
brass plate affixed in 1851. Stow tells of the disturbances caused in the neighbourhood
of the church by the "unthrifts of the Inns of Chancery." In Jonson's Augurs,
the bearward sings, to the dancing of his bears, "Nor the Vintry-Cranes, nor St.
C. D., Nor the Devil can put us down." The point would seem to lie in the opposition
to bear-baiting by the players, who found that that sport diminished their houses:
doubtless the young lawyers supported them in their protest. In Middleton's Five
Gallants, the 1st Gallant is "of St. C. 's parish"; and in v. 1, we learn
that young Franklin's tailor is "Master Weatherwise by St. C.'s ch." In Dekker's
Northward v. 1, Bellamont advises
Kate to setup as periwig maker in the Strand, and promises, "You shall have as
good a coming in by hair and by other foolish tiring as any between St. C.'s and
Charing." Swetnam was "Printed for
Richd. Meighen and are to be sold at his shops at St. Cs. Ch., over-against Essex
House, and at Westminster Hall. 1620."
CLEMENT'S INN
(Map G4)
One of the Inns of Court in Lond., lying immediately W. of the New Law Courts,
and near the Ch. of St. C. Danes on the N. of the Strand. Near by was C Well,
which in Shakespeare's time was paved and curbed and always full of water. It
was connected with the Inner Temple, and was an I. of Chancery before the reign
of Edward IV. These Inns were places of residence for students of the Law, and
resembled in many ways the colleges of the universities. Shallow, in H4
B. iii. 2, indulges in some pleasant reminiscences of the time when "I was
once of C. I., where I think they will talk of mad Shallow yet." It was "55 year
ago," and Jane Nightwork "had Robin Nightwork by old Nightwork before I came to
C. I." He remembers being Sir Dagonet in Arthur's show, "when I lay at C. I."
Falstaff was his fellow student there: "I do remember him," says the Fat Knight,
"at C. I. like a man made after supper of a cheeseparing: when he was naked, he
was for all the world like a forked radish with a head fantastically carved upon
it with a knife." Harman, in his Caveat ii., tells of a counterfeit crank who
begged about the Temple the most part of the day, "unless it were about xii of
the clock he went on the backside of C. I. without Temple Bar; there is a lane
that goeth into the Fields; there he renewed his face again with fresh blood which
he carried about him in a bladder."
CLEMENT'S (SAINT) LANE
(Map P5)
(now C. LANE). A st. in Lond. running from 28 Lombard St. to K. William St., just above its junction with East Cheap. In Deloney's Craft i. 10, Mrs. Eyre says, "We'll dine at my cousin John Barber's in St. C. L., which is not far from the George in Lumbard-st. "
CLERKENWELL
(Map J2)
A dist. in Lond., N. of C. Rd., between Gray's Inn Rd. and Goswell Rd. So named
from a well at the S.E. end of Ray St., which was used by the Brothers of St.
John and the Benedictine nuns. The dist. shared with Hockley-in-the-hole and Turnmill
St. a particularly bad reputation as a haunt of thieves and loose women. In Middleton's
Mad World iii. 2, the Courtesan, supposed
to be on her deathbed, sends her commendations "to all my good cousins in C. and
St. John's." In Randolph's Muses' iv.
3, justice Nimis reckons, "The yearly value of my fair manor of C. is pounds so
many," and adds Turnbal, Pickthatch, and Shoreditch as other contributors to his
income. In T. Heywood's Hogsdon ii.
1, the Wise Woman, in a list of female quacks and fortune-tellers, says, "There's
a very reverend matron on C. Green, good at many things." In Dekker's News from
Hell, we are told of the "whores and thieves that live in C." Taylor, Works ii.
102, speaks of a certain lady as "the honestest woman that dwells between Smithfield
Bars and C." In Marston's Courtesan
i. 2, Cocledemoy says, "They [bawds] must needs both live well and die well, since
most commonly they live in Clerkenwell and die in Bridewell." In Middleton's No
Wit i. 1, Weatherwise says, "Some lousy fiddler run away with your daughter;
may C. have the first cut of her and Houndsditch pick her bones!" In Brome's City
Wit ii. 2, Crack says of Mrs. Tryman: "She was born in Clearkenwell and was
never half a day's journey from Bridewell in her life." There was an annual wrestling
match at C. which was attended by competitors from all parts of the country. Hentzner
tells how he saw the Lord Mayor present at it in all the glory of his state robes.
CLIFFORD'S INN
(Map H5)
Originally the town house of the Cliffords, leased to the students of Law by Isabel,
widow of Robert de Clifford, in 1344. It lies on the N. side of Fleet St., between
Chancery Lane and Fetter Lane, behind St. Dunstan's Ch. It was the oldest of the
Inns of Chancery. The Honourable Society of C. I. was dissolved in 1902, and the
hall and some of the buildings have been recently acquired by the Society of Knights
Bachelors. In Middleton's R. G. iv.
1, Moll, disguised as a man, pretends to be a teacher of music "right against
C. I." Andromana was "Printed for John Bellinger and are to be sold at his shop
in C. I. Lane in Fleet St. 1660." C. I. Lane was the entrance to the I. from Fleet
St., by St. Dunstan's Ch.
CLINK
(Map O8)
A prison on the Bankside, Southwark, W. of Winchester House, at the corner of
Maid Lane. C. St. still preserves the name. It was removed to Deadman's Place
in 1745 and was burnt down by the Gordon rioters in 1780. Bp. Hooper was committed
"from the Counter in Southwark to the C." (Works ii. 18 1). After Bradford's excommunication
in St. Mary Overies, he was "delivered to the sheriffs of Lond., and so had to
the C." (Works i. 492). In T. Heywood's Fortune
iii. 4, the Clown, who is making a proclamation at the dictation of the Pursevant,
changes "Purser and Clinton" into "Lost their purses at the C." In verses prefixed
to Coryat's Crudities (1611), Vadianus says, "I have . . . left my wits fast fettered
in the Ce." C. is used to-day as a slang term for prison.
CLOTH-FAIR
(Map KL3)
(area only; site unmarkedsee area of Bartholomew Fair)
A st. in Lond. running from the E. side of W. Smithfield, parallel to and just
S. of Long Lane it formerly went right through to Aldersgate St., but now stops
at Kinghorn St. It is one of the last surviving bits of mediaeval Lond. It was,
as the name implies, the resort of drapers and clothiers. In Jonson's Barthol.
Ind., the Stage-keeper regrets that Tarleton had not lived to have played in Bartholomew
Fair: "You should have seen him come in, and have been cozened in the c.-quarter
so finely!"
COCK
A well-known tavern in Fleet St., Lond., near the corner of Chancery Lane (q.v.). It was originally called the C. and Bottle. It escaped the Gt. Fire and can be traced back to the time of Elizabeth, when John Garlak wrote to Mr. Latimer "at the sign of the C. near St. Dunstan's Ch." It was pulled down to make room for a branch of the Bank of England in 1887, but was reopened under the old name on the opposite side of the rd. in 1888. The old sign, said to have been carved by Griming Gibbons, is preserved in the house: the sign outside is modern. Everyone knows Tennyson's lyrical monologue to Will Waterproof, "the plump headwaiter at the C." There were other C. Taverns in Tothill St., Westminster, pulled down in 1873 to make room for the Aquarium; in Bow St.; and on the S. side of Old St. Harman, in Caveat, speaks of another in Kent St., in Southwark. It was also a bookseller's sign Arthur of Litil Bretaygne was "Imprinted at Lond. in Powles Ch. yard at the sign of the Ce. by Roberte Redborne."
COCK AND HEN
A tavern in Highgate. Highgate, being the last stage on the way to Lond., had
a great many taverns. Hone, in Every-Day Bk. (1826), enumerates 19 in the High
St. In Jonson's Tub i. 2, we are
told of Sim Valentine, who "kept brave house at the C.-and-Hen in Highgate."
COCK LANE
(Map J4)
A st. in Lond. running E. from Snow Hill to Giltspur St., in W. Smithfield. Pie
Corner is at the corner of Giltspur St. and Cock L. It is mentioned in 1383 as
the only allowed place of abode for courtesans on that side of the city; and Clarice
of Cokkeslane is one of the merry company of Glutton's fellowship in Piers B.
v. 319. In Whetstone's Promos iv. 1, Gresco orders the beadles to "search Ducke
Alley, Cockelane, and Scouldes corner" for lewd persons. There was another C.
L. in Shoreditch, now called Boundary St., running N. from Church St. to Austin
St. This is the one referred to by Davenant in Wits
v. 3, "O, Sir, 'twill make 'em sing like the silk-knitters of C.-l."
COCKNEY
In the sense of a born Londoner only occurs after 1600. The original meaning is
a cock's egg (cocken-ey) which was supposed to be small and misshapen; then a
milksop, a foolish, affected person. It is in this sense only that Shakespeare
uses the word-Tw. N. iv. 1, 15: "This
great lubber, the world, will prove a c."; and Lear
ii. 4, 123, "Cry to it, nuncle, as the c. did to the eels when she put 'em
i' the paste alive." The 1st example of the localized sense quoted in O.E.D. is
in Rowlands' Lett. Hum. Blood iv. 65 (1600), "I scorn to let a Bow-bell C. put
me down." Minsheu, Ductor (1617), says, "A C., or Cockny, applied only to one
born within the sound of Bow-bell"; and goes on to give an absurd derivation of
it from a young Londoner going into the country and talking about a cock neighing.
In Dekker's Shoemaker's iii. 5,
the Lord Mayor of Lond. says of his daughter, "My fine c. would have none of him."
In Prodigal ii. 1, Oliver, the Devonshire
clothier, in response to Flowerdale's chaff about his provincial pronunciation,
says, "Ay, and well said, cocknell, and Bow-bell too." In Dekker's Westward
ii. 2, Birdlime says, "As Frenchmen love to be bold . . . so cs., especially
she-cs., love not aqua vitae when 'tis good for them." In Day's B.
Beggar v., Strowd says, "I think you be sib to one of the London-cs. that
asked whether haycocks were better meat boiled or roasted." In Brome's Northern
ii. 1, Widgin says, "I am a C. and was never further than Hammersmith." In
his Ct. Beggar iii. 1, Swaynwit
says to Citywit, who has just been boasting that he was born in the City, "Darst
thou tell me of clowns, thou c. chicken-hearted whelp thou?"
COCKPIT
Properly an enclosed circle for the sport of cock-fighting: then applied to a
theatre, especially to the pit. So Shakespeare, H5
prol. 11, says, "Can this C. hold The vasty fields of France?" L. Digges,
in Steaks. Suppl. i. 71, says, "Let but Beatrice and Benedict be seen; lo! in
a trice The C., galleries, boxes, all are full." The name was then appropriated
to one particular theatre, erected on the site of a c. in Drury L. about 1615
(Map E3). It was sacked by the prentices
in 1617 and reopened under the name of the "Phoenix.'' [ed. note: here Sugden
is mistaken. The apprentices' vandalism probably had nothing to do with the name.
The theatre was more likely built on the site of a former cockpit that had burned
and was therefore named The Phoenix but continued, albeit atavistically, to be
referred to as The Cockpit. The apprentices did not burn the building in 1617.]
In Dekker's Owl's Almanac (1618), we read: "Shrove Tuesday falls on that day which
the prentices pulled down the C."; and in Middleton's Inner Temp. 174, Dr. Almanac
says, "Stand forth, Shrove Tuesday! 'tis in your charge to pull down bawdy-houses;
ruin the C.! the poor players never thrived in it." [ed. note: the players
never thrived in the Cockpit probably because it had just been erected in 1617
when the apprentices pulled it down.] It may fairly be regarded as the progenitor
of the famous Drury Lane. In Jonson's Epicoene
iv. 2, Centaure talks of the lovers who "invite us to the C. and kiss our hands
all the play-time." L. Digges, in Steaks. Suppl. i. 71, says, "May the Bull or
C. have Your lame blank verse to keep you from the grave." The actors, in their
Remonstrance (1643), say, "It is not unknown to all the audience that have frequented
the private houses of Blackfriars, the C., and Salisbury Court, without austerity
we have purged our stages from all obscene and scurrilous jests." Brome, in a
note at the end of the Antipodes, says, "It was at first intended for the C. stage."
In Dekker's Babylon 214, Plain Dealing
says, "This one little C. is able to shew all the follies of your kingdom, in
a few apes of the kingdom." In Nabbes' C.
Garden i. 1, Ralph is delighted that his master is coming to live in Covent
Garden: "we shall then be near the C., and see a play now and then." In Cockayne's
Obstinate iii. 2, Lorece says, "I
at any time will carry you to a play either to the Black Friar's or C." In the
1st Folio (preface) of Shakespeare, the authors address the critics as you that
"Sit on the stage at Blackfriars or the C. to arraign plays daily." Glapthorne's
Hollander was "acted at the C. in
Drury Lane"; and his Argalus "at
the private house in Drury-Lane," which is obviously the C.
COCKPIT-IN-COURT
(Map A6)
See under WHITEHALL.
CODPIECE ROW
A court in Westminster on the S. side of Petty France (q.v.), now York St. It
was notorious as a haunt of women of bad character, from which it doubtless gained
its name. In Middleton's Inner Temp. 173, Dr. Almanac says, "Stand forth, Shrove
Tuesday! 'Tis in your charge to pull down bawdy-houses: deface Turnbull and tickle
C. R." The reference is to the annual attack made by the prentices on houses of
ill-fame on Shrove Tuesday. In Brome's Covent
G. i. 1, Nicholas addresses the prostitute Damaris as "old Countess of C.
R."
COLD HARBOUR
(Map P6)
or COLDHARBOROUGH: often spelt COLE HARBOUR (Ce. H. = Cole Harbour). Originally
a fine mansion in Upper Thames St., Lond., next door to Allhallows Ch., on the
site where the City of Lond. Brewery now stands. It is first mentioned in the
reign of Edward II. It became a little later the property of Sir John Poultney,
and was called Poultney's Inn. After passing through many hands it was pulled
down about 1570 by the Earl of Shrewsbury, and a number of small tenements was
built on the site. In some obscure way it had acquired the right of sanctuary.
In Middleton's Trick to Catch iii.
1, a plot is laid to abduct the Courtesan "by boat to Ce.-H., have a priest ready,
and there clap it up instantly." In iii. 3, Lucre, being told that "they have
took Ce.-H.," exclaims: "The devil's Sanctuary!" In his R.
G. iv. 2, Goswell, punning on the word, says, "I sweat; would I lay in C.
H.!" In his Black Book 1, 14, we find, "Is not our house our own Ce. H.?" ie.
sanctuary. In Jonson's Epicoene ii. 3,
Morose, cursing his nephew, says, "It knighthood shall take sanctuary in Ce.-h.
and fast." In T. Heywood's Hogsdon
ii. 1, the Wise Woman, in a list of female quacks and fortune-tellers, says, "There's
another in Ce.h., that's skilled in the planets." T. Heywood and Rowley, in Fortune
iii. 1, say, "C. H., where, of 20 chimnies standing, you shall scarce, in
a whole winter, see 2 smoking." In Dekker's Westward
iv. 2, Justiniano says, "You swore you would build me a lodging by the Thames
side with a water gate to it, or else take me a lodging in Ce. H." In Middleton's
Quiet Life ii. 3, young Franklin
says, "Go, take water at Ce. H." In his Hubburd, p. 96, he says, "Shoreditch was
the only Ce. H. (i.e. sanctuary) for wenches and soldiers." Hall, in Satires v.
1, 99, satirizes the man who let his "starved brother live and die Within the
cold Coal-h. sanctuary." Healy, in Disc. of New World, p. 182, says, "Here is
that ancient model of Coal H., bearing the name of the Prodigal's Promontory,
and being as a sanctuary for banque-rupt debtors."
COLDHARBOUR
See under TOWER.
COLEMANHEDGE
(or COLEMANHAWE). A garden on the S. side of Fenchurch St., Lond, near the Ch.
of St. Katharine Coleman (q.v.). In Barnes' Charter
iii. 5, Frescobaldi calls the leader of a gang of prostitutes "the grand Capt.
of Coleman-hedge."
COLEMAN STREET
(Map N3O4)
A st. in Lond., running N. from the E. end of Gresham St. to Fore St. It probably got its name from the charcoal dealers who lived there. It was a haunt of Puritans, and the Star Inn in C. St. was a meeting-place for Oliver Cromwell and his friends. It was there that the 5 members (Pym, Hampden, etc.) took refuge when Charles I came to demand them from the H. of Commons (Jan. 1642).
In Jonson's Ev. Man I. iii. 2,
Brainworm speaks of "Justice Clement's house here in C. St." Cash later (iii.
2) specifies that it was "in the middle of C. St."; iii. 3, and v take place
there. In Prodigal ii. 4, Lancelot
is led to believe that Flowerdale has left him "2 housen furnished well in Cole-man
St" The Bell in C. St. was the inn used by the Cambridge carriers (Taylor's
Cosmographie 1637). In Middleton's Five
Gallants iii. 5, Pursenet tells of a wound he had received "in a paltry
fray in C. St." Cowley transformed his play, The
Guardian , into The Cutter of C. St., the scene of which is in Lond. in
the year 1658. In iv. 5, Tabitha says, "Brother Abednego, will you not pronounce
this evening-tide before the congregation of the Spotless in C.-st.?" Dekker,
in Seven Sins, tells how Lying "musters together all the hackney-men and horse-coursers
in and about Colman-st." Abington was
"Imprinted at Lond. for Joseph Hunt and William Ferebrand, and are to be sold
at the corner of Colman St., near Laathburie. 1599."
COMBE PARK
See COOMBE HOUSE.
CONCORDIA
A legendary Temple of C. in Lond., at which Locrine intended to marry Estrild.
In Locrine v. 4, 81, Locrine says
to Estrild after their defeat, "Ne'er shall we view the fair C. Unless as captives
we be thither brought.''
CONDUIT
(pronounced Condit). The water-supply of Lond. was at first obtained from the
Thames and the streams which ran into it from the N., and from the wells which
were sunk successfully, as Stow tells us, "in every st. and lane of the city."
The largest of the tributaries of the Thames was that which ran into the r. between
Bridewell and the Blackfriars, and which was known first as the Wells river, then
as Turnmill Brook, and finally as Fleet Ditch. It was bridged at the bottom of
Fleet St. and at Holborn, and was navigable up to the Holborn Bdge. Above that
point it was called the Old Bourne, the Hole Bourne, or the Hil-Bourne. It had
become in Shakespeare's time a noisome open sewer, as described by Jonson in the
Famous Voyage. It is now conveyed underground into the main sewer of the Embankment.
Further W. was the Tye-bourne; and to the E. Walbrook and the Langbourne, both
of which had been undergrounded by the beginning of the 17th cent. The principal
wells were Holy Well, Clement's Well, Clerken-well, Skinner's Well, Fagges Well,
near Smithfield, Tod Well, Loder's Well, Radwell, Dame Annis le Clere, the Horse
Pool in Smithfield, and the Pool by St. Giles' Ch. The water from these various
sources was conveyed to the houses by water-carriers, one of whom is sketched
by Jonson in Ev. Man I. in the person
of Oliver Cob. During the 14th cent. the practice became common of erecting conduits,
or fountains, in the principal sts. to which the waters from the sources to the
N. of the City were conveyed in leaden pipes, and so made available for the use
of the citizens. The 1st and most famous of these was the Great C. at the E. end
of Cheapside (1285), to which the water was brought from the Tye Bourne, in Paddington.
The convenience was appreciated and, partly by private benefactions, partly by
the city authorities, many similar cs. were set up. Amongst them were
- the Standard in Cheapside (13th cent.),
- the Tun in Cornhill (1401),
- the Little C. (or Pissing C.) at the W. end of Cheapside (1442),
- the Standard in Fleet St., which was adorned with the image of St. Christopher and surmounted by angels who chimed the hours on bells (1471),
- cs. in Aldermanbury (1471),
- Grace St. (1491),
- Holborn Cross (1498), repaired and adorned by William Lambe (1577),
- Stock's Market (1500),
- Bishopsgate (1513),
- Lond. Wall (1528),
- Aldgate Without (1535),
- Lothbury (1546),
- Coleman St. (1546), and
- Dowgate (1568).
There were also bosses, or fountains, projecting from the wall, in - Billingsgate,
- Paul's Wharf, and
- St. Giles without Cripplegate.
These cs. were often adorned with sculptured figures, and formed striking architectural features in the sts.; and when pageants traversed the City they were utilized for the exhibition of masques, and on great occasions were made to flow with claret instead of water. The water was mostly brought from reservoirs constructed at Highbury, Pentonville, Bayswater (i.e. Baynard's Watering), and other N. suburbs, and these c.-heads became favourite summer evening resorts. An important development took place in 1582, when Peter Moris, a Dutchman, set up a force-pump, worked by horse-power, near Lond. Bdge., to pump Thames water into the houses of the City: other forciers, as they were called, were soon erected, and with the extension of this system of private supply the cs. became less necessary; so that when they were destroyed in the Gt. Fire they were not re-erected, and a very characteristic feature of Elizabethan Lond. disappeared. But in those days the sound of running water must have formed as delightful an accompaniment to the open-air life of the City as it does in Rome to-day. In the dramatists the cs. are often specifically mentioned; and figures drawn from the pipes that brought water to them, and the statues that adorned them, are of frequent occurrence.
In Shakespeare's Err. v. 1, 313,
old AEgeus speaks of the "cs. of his blood" being frozen up by age. In Cor.
ii. 3, 250, Brutus recalls the names of Publius and Quintus Marcius, "That our
best water brought by cs. hither." Brutus speaks prophetically, for the Aqua
Marcia at Rome only dates from 144 B.C., but the allusion would be congenial
to the Londoners, who would think of men like William Lambe, who magnificently
repaired the c. in Holborn, which bore his name, and Barnard Randulph, who had
quite recently (1583) made the munificent gift of £900 for the City cs. In Lucr.
1234, Lucretia's weeping maidens are compared to "Ivory cs. coral cisterns filling."
In W.T. v. 2, 60, the old shepherd
stands by, weeping for joy "like a weather-bitten c. of many kings' reigns."
In Tit. ii. 4, 30, Marcus compares
the wounded body of Lavinia to "a c. with 3 issuing spouts." In Rom.
iii. 5, 129, Capulet, finding Juliet weeping, exclaims, "How now? a c., girl?
What, still in tears?" In A.Y.L.
iv. 1, 155, when Rosalind says "I will weep for nothing, like Diana in the fountain,"
there is probably an allusion to the figure of Diana, with water trilling from
its breasts, which was set up on the Cheapside Cross in the place of the image
of the Virgin Mary in 1596, but was decayed in 1603: if so, it is decisive as
to the date of the production of the play, which on other grounds appears to
be about 1600. In More ii. 1, Robin
says to his fellow prentice, "The head drawer at the Miter by the great C. called
me up and we went to breakfast into St. Anne's Lane." This is the Mitre Tavern,
at the corner of Bread St. and Cheapside (see MITRE). In Mayne's Match
ii. 6, Timothy professes to have made some speeches "which have been spoke
by a green Robin Goodfellow from Cheapside C." The allusion is to the practice
of having complimentary orations, or verses, spoken at the Great C. on the occasion
of pageants and processions. The name "Pissing C." seems to have been applied
to more than one of the smaller cs. Stow definitely states that the c. by the
Stocks mkt., which was at the N. end of Walbrook, near the present Mansion House,
was so called. The name seems to have been suggested by the slenderness of the
stream of water. But when, in H6
B. iv. 6, 3, Cade commands that "the pissing c. run no thing but claret
wine this 1st year of our reign," it is more likely that he is thinking of the
Little C. at the W. end of Cheapside. Similarly, in Middleton's Chaste
Maid, Allwit, whose house is in Cheapside, says to the gossips, "Come along
presently by the Pissing-C." (iii. 2): where the Cheapside c. seems the one
intended. The word, however, is generic rather than specific in some passages.
Thus, in Haughton's Englishmen iv.
1, Frisco, wandering about Fenchurch St. in the night with Delion and Alvaro,
says, "Now for a dirty puddle, the pissing c., or a great post, that might turn
these 2 from asses to oxen by knocking their horns to their foreheads." In B.&F.
Mad Lover ii. 1, Memnon is giving
directions to Chilar for a pageant. "Make me," he says, "a heaven, for here
shall run a constellation." "And there," interjects Chilar, "a pissing c . .
. . with wine, Sir." In Nash's Wilton A. 4, the hero says, "I have wept so immoderately
that I thought my palate had been turned to Pissing C. in Lond." In Nice
Wanton iii. 1, Thirsty says, "Your miserable churl dribbles like the Pissing
C." In Dekker's Shoemaker's iv.
5, Firk says, "[I am as sure of it as I am sure] that the Pissing C. leaks nothing
but pure Mother Bunch." Mother Bunch was a tavern-keeper whose ale was of the
weakest: hence pure Mother Bunch means "nothing but water." In B. & F. Women
Pleased i. 2, Penurio, when his miserly master gives him for his dinner
the water he has boiled an egg in, says, "I shall turn pissing-c. shortly."
In Nabbes' Totenham iii. 5, George
having hidden in a tub, one of the maids pours a bucket of water over him, and
cries: "Mischief on you, Sir; you have spoiled me a pail of c.water, cost me
many a weary step the fetching." In T. Heywood's Hogsdon
v. 1, Charley says he can be found "at Grace Ch. by the C." Stow says there
was a c. in Grasstreet erected in 1491. In Ovatio Carolina (1641), we are told
that on the entry of the K. into Lond. "the c. in Cornhill and the great c.
in Cheapside ran with claret wine"; and in the afternoon "the little c. in Cheapside
and the c. in Fleet St. ran with wine as the other 2 cs. had done in the morning."
In Massinger's Madam iv. 1, Hoist
predicts that on Luke's return "all the cs. [will be] spouting canary sack."
The names of benefactors to the City appear to have been inscribed on the cs.
In Eastward iv. 4, Touchstone predicts
that Gresham and Whittington shall be forgotten, and Golding's name "shall be
written upon cs." The cs. were great gathering places for the prentices who
came to get water for then masters' households, and all the gossip of the town
was retailed there. In Dekker's Shoemaker's
v. 1, Eyre says, "I promised the mad Cappadocians [his fellow rentices]
when we all served at the C. together, that if ever I came to be Mayor of Lond.
I would feast them all." In Massinger's Parl.
Love iv. 5, Chamont says to Perigot, "Live to be the talk of the c. and
the bakehouse." In Trouble. Reign
ii., we have c. as a verb: "My eyes should c. forth a sea of tears." In
Nash's Summers', Haz. viii. 83, Christmas complains of the extortionate rates
of the water-carriers "These water-bearers will empty the c. and a man's coffers
at once." In Glapthorne s Hollander
iv. 1, Sconce says, "This cup was as deep as Fleet-st. C." In Jonson's
Ev. Man I. i. 2, Knowell says to
Stephen, "A gentleman of your sort to talk o' your turn i' this company, and
to me alone, like a tankard-bearer at a c.! Fie!" Of course, the tankard-bearer
had to take his turn at the c., but Stephen is such a wit that he can speak
when he likes. In Nabbes' Bride i.
2, Theophilus says that the cook's taunts "Will be the sts.' discourse, the
cs.' lecture." Woodes' Conf. Cons. was "Printed by Richard Bradocke dwelling
in Aldermanbury, a little above the Conduict. 1581." Three
Ladies was "Printed by Roger Warde dwelling near Holburne C. at the signe
of the Talbot." In Marston's Courtezan
ii. 1, Cocledemoy mentions "the C. at Greenwich, and the under-holes that spouts
up water." This c. was in Greenwich Park, and was still in existence in 1835.
Phillip's Grissil was "Imprinted at Lond. in Fleetestreat beneath the C. by
Thomas Colwell."
COPPERSMITHS' HALL
There was no company of Coppersmiths in Lond., nor was there any such Hall. The
phrase is coined from the analogy of Goldsmiths' H.; and is used humorously for
a tavern, where the topers' noses became copper-coloured through their drinking.
In Greene & Lodge's Looking Glass i.
3, 202, the Clown says, "His nose . . . was so set with rubies that after his
death it should have been nailed up in C. H. for a monument." In Greene's Friar
ii. 2, 537 Edward asks, "Where is Brasen-nose College?" And Miles answers: "Not
far from Coppersmithes H." Nash, in Prognostication ii. 165, speaks of drunkards
as "knights of Coppersmith"; and Middleton, in Black Book prol., calls them "copper
captains."
COPTHALL
Two blocks of houses in Lond.: (1) on the W. side of Dowgate Hill, (q.v.) now
the Hall of the Skinners' Company; (2) in an alley running N out of Throckmorton
St. (q.v.), close to Drapers' Hall. In Brome's Sparagus
iii. 10 a gentleman, who is being dunned for his bill by the keeper of the
Garden, says to the servant, "Tell your mistress that the Countess of Copt Hall
is coming to be her neighbour again and she may decline her trade very dangerously."
CORNHILL
(Map Q4)
A st. in Lond., running E. from the end of the Poultry past the Royal Exchange
to Leadenhall St. It was originally the Corn Market for Lond., and in 1310 had
the privilege granted of holding a market after noon, all the other markets being
closed at noon. Later it came to be mainly occupied by drapers. In C. were a stocks
and pillory, a prison called the Tun, a conduit, and a standard erected in 1582
to supply water pumped up from the Thames. In Piers C. vi. 1, the author says,
"Ich wonede on Cornehulle, Kytte and Ich in a cote, clothed as a lollere." Lydgate,
in Lickpenny, says, "Then into Corn-hyl anon I yode, Where was much stolen gere
amonge; I saw where honge myne owen hoode, That I had lost amonge the thronge."
In Fair Women ii. 278, Roger tells
how he followed Sanders from his own door to C., where he stayed an hour and then
went directly to the Burse. In More ii.
3, the Lord Mayor commands, "Gather some forces to C. and Cheapside" to quell
the riot of the prentices. In Haughton's Englishmen
iv. 2, Frisco explains, "when we came from Bucklersbury into C. you should
have turned down on your left hand." And Pisaro exclaims, "You ass! You dolt!
why led you him through C.? Your way had been to come through Canning St." In
Jonson's Devil iii. 1, Meercraft
exhorts Gilthead to buy his son a capt.'s place, "and let him with his plume and
scarfs march through Cheapside or along C." In Dekker's Shoemaker's
ii. 1, we learn that Sybil, the maid of the Lord Mayor's daughter, watched Lacy
pass in his scarf and feathers "at our door in C.": where evidently the Lord Mayor
lived. In the same play (v. 5), the K. says to Simon Eyre, "that new building
Which at thy cost in C. is erected Shall take a name from us; we'll have it called
The Leadenhall, because in digging it You found the lead that covereth the same."
The Leadenhall, which was built by Eyre on the site of an old mansion belonging
to Sir Hugh Neville and presented by him to the City as a storehouse and market
for grain, was not actually in Cornhill, but on the E. side of Gracechurch St.,
near the corner of Fenchurch St. (see LEADENHALL; for reference to C. in W. Rowley's
Match Mid., see under CATEATON ST.).
In the list of taverns in News Barthol. Fair, we find "the Mermaid in C." This
is not the famous Mermaid Tavern, which was at the corner of Bread St., in Cheapside.
In Three Lords (Dods., vi. 397),
Simplicity says of Tarlton, the actor, that in his youth he was a water-bearer,
"and hath tossed a tankard in C. ere now." In W. Rowley's Wonder
iii. 1, Mrs. Foster says, "It is my gossip, the rich widow of C." Ford's Heart
was "Printed by J. E. for Hugh Beeston and are to be sold at his shop near
the Castle in Corn-hill. 1633." Gresham's Royal Exchange was built in C. In T.
Heywood's I.K.M.B. 289, Ramsie says
to Gresham, "We have determined of a place for you In C., the delightful of this
city, Where you shall raise your frame." In his F.M.
Exch. 38, Anthony says, "In C. by the Exchange Dwells an old merchant, Flower
they call his name." Sidney, in Remedy for Love, speaks of "C.'s square Exchange."
COUNTER
(Map links in text below)
(or COMPTER). The latter is the official spelling since the 17th cent. A prison
for debtors connected with the City court in Lond. There were 2 cs. in Lond. in
the 16th cent.: the Poultry C. (Map O5),
taken down in 1817, and the Bread St. C., transferred in 1555 to Wood St. (Map
M4). This last was transferred to Giltspur St. in 1791, and the Giltspur St.
C. was closed in 1854. The Poultry C. was on the N. side of the st., 4 doors W.
of the Ch. of St. Mildred, which stood at the corner of the Poultry, opposite
to Walbrook. The Bread St. C. was on the W. side of the st.: it was transferred
to Wood St. because of the cruelty of the keeper, one Richd. Husband, to the prisoners;
and also because he had allowed thieves and strumpets to lodge there at 4-pence
a night, in order to escape arrest. The Wood St. C. was on the E. side of the
st., N. of Lad, or Ladle Lane, now Gresham St. There was also a C. in Southwark
on the site of the old Church of St. Margaret, q.v.
The only references to the cs. in Shakespeare are the punning one in Err.
iv. 2, 39, where Dromio describes a sheriff's officer as "a fellow all in buff,
A backfriend, shoulder-clapper . . . A hound that runs c. and yet draws dry-foot
well" (a hound is said to hunt c. when he goes back on the scent and so pursues
the game in the opposite direction to that which it is taking: to draw dry-foot
is to follow the game by the scent alone); and Falstaff's remark in M.W.W.
iii. 3, 85, "Thou mightst as well say I love to walk by the C.-Gate, which
is as hateful to me as the reek of a lime-kiln."
In Nobody i. 307, an unnamed
person says, "I am, Sir, a Keeper of the C., and there are in our wards above
100 poor prisoners that are like ne'er to come forth without satisfaction."
In Ret. Pernass. iv. 2, Ingenioso
tells how "the silly Poet goes muffled in his cloak, to escape the C." In More
ii. 3, More reports that the "captains of this insurrection . . . came but
now To both the Cs. where they have released Sundry indebted prisoners." In
Jonson's Ev. Man I. ii. 1, Downright
declares, "an he [Wellbred] think to be relieved by me, when he is got into
one of your city-pounds, the Cs., he has the wrong sow by the ear." In Ev.
Man O. Ind., Asper speaks of the Puritan (or Non-Conformist) conscience:
"[It] is vaster than the ocean and devours more wretches than the Cs." In v.
4, Brisk is arrested and taken to the c.; and in v. 7, Fallace visits him there
and opens the scene by exclaiming, "O Mr. Fastidius, what pity 'tis to see so
sweet a man as you are in so sour a place!" [kisses him]. Cordatus, who is watching
the play along with Mitis, says to him, "As upon her lips, does she mean?" To
which Mitis, "O, this is to be imagined the C., belike." The passage is interesting,
for it shows that no scenic devices were used to indicate that the actors were
in the c.: it had to be inferred from the dialogue. In Eastward
ii. 2, Quicksilver exhorts Sir Petronel, "Put 'em in sufficient sureties; let
'em take their choice; either the King's Bench, or the Fleet, or which of the
2 Cs. they like best." In Wilkins' Enforced
Marriage iii. 1, Ilford says, "So sure will I be arrested by a couple of
serjeants, and fall into one of the unlucky cranks about Cheapside, called Cs."
In Barry's Ram iii. 3, Mrs. Taffeta
cries: "Run to the C., fetch me a red-bearded serjeant.'" In Middleton's R.
G. iii. 3, Wengrave makes an elaborate comparison between the c. and the
university: "A C.! Why, 'tis an University, who not sees? As scholars there,
so here men take degrees. Scholars learn first Logic and Rhetoric; So does a
prisoner; with fine honeyed speech At 's first coming in, he doth persuade,
beseech, He may be lodged with one that is not itchy, To lie in a clean chamber,
in sheets not lousy: But when he has no money, then does he try, By subtle Logic
and quaint sophistry, To make the keepers trust him. Say they do, Then he's
a Graduate. Say they trust him not, Then is he held a freshman and a sot, And
never shall commence; but, being still barred, Be expulsed from the Master's
side to the Twopenny ward, Or else in the Hole beg place. When he can get out
clear, he's then a Master of Arts. Sir Davy, send your son to Wood St. College:
A gentleman can nowhere get more knowledge." The accommodation afforded to the
prisoners depended on what they could pay. There seem to have been 4 grades:
- (1) the Master's side;
- (2) the Knights' Ward;
- (3) the Two-penny Ward; and
- (4) the free Quarters, or the Hole.
In Cooke's Greene's Tu Quoque, p.
563, Holdfast, the servant of the Master of the C. in which Spendall is lying,
asks him for money, and says, "If you have no money, You'd best remove into some
cheaper Ward."-"What ward should I remove in?" asks the debtor. "Why," replies
Holdfast, "to the two-penny ward; or, if you will, you may go into the Hole, and
there you may feed for nothing."-"Aye," says Spendall, "out of the alms basket."
The poor wretches in the Hole used to hold a basket out to the passers-by through
a grating and beg for food. We have an interesting picture in Eastward
v. 2, where Wolf, the officer of the c., explains to Golding, "The knight will
be in the knights' ward, do what we can, Sir: and Mr. Quicksilver would lie i'
the Hole, if we would let him. I never knew or saw prisoners more penitent or
more devout. They will sit you up all nights singing of Psalms and edifying the
whole prison. Only Sincerity sings a note too high sometimes; because he lies
i' the two-penny ward far off, and cannot take his tune. And he has converted
one Fangs, a serjeant: he was called the Bandog o' the Counter, and he has brought
him already to pare his nails and say his prayers." In Jonson's Ev.
Man O. v. 4, Carlo says, "He walks as melancholy as one o' the Master's side
in the C." In Dekker's Westward
iii. 2, Monopoly asks, "Which is the dearest Ward in prison, serjeant the Knight's
Ward?"-" No, Sir," is the answer, "the Master's side." In Wilkins' Enforced
Marriage iii. 1, Ilford declares, "I, Frank Ilford, was in forced from the
Mitre in Bread St. to the Compter in the Poultry. If you shall think it meet to
submit myself from the feather-bed in the Master's side, or the flock bed in the
knights' ward to the straw-bed in the Hole, I shall do 't." In the Puritan iii.
4, Puttock says, "These maps are pretty painted things: they say all the world's
in one of them, but I could ne'er find the C. in the Poultry." Nash, in his Prognostication,
predicts that the stones in Cheapside will grow so hot "that divers persons should
fear to go from Paul's to the C. in the Poultry." The lawyers who touted for clients
at the Cs. were naturally of an inferior class. In Barry's Ram
iv., justice Tutchin says to Throate, "You, some common bail, or C.-lawyer,
marry my niece!" In Dekker's Westward
iii. 1, Tenterhook says to his wife, "Buy a link and meet me at the C. in
Wood St." In 1598 Henslowe provided 40/- to secure Dekker's release from "the
C. in the Poultrey." In W. Rowley's Wonder
v., the Sheriff orders, "See your prisoners presently conveyed From Ludgate
unto Newgate and the Cs." In Middleton's Inner Temp., Fasting Day says that Plumporridge
"moves like one of the great porridge tubs going to the C.": presumably for the
feeding of the prisoners. In Wapull's Tarrieth F. 2, the Sergeant says to the
Debtor, "10 groats thou shalt pay, or else to the C. we must out of hand." In
Dekker's Northward i. 3, Philip
says that he has come "from the house of prayer and fasting, the C." In Fam.
Vict., p. 330, the boy says that as the result of a street fray, "the young
Prince was carried to the C." by the mayor and sheriffs. In B. & F. Mad
Lover i. 1, the Fool says to Chilax, "I'll have a shilling for a can of wine,
When you shall have 2 sergeants for a c.": where a pun is intended between counter
and shilling.
COVENT GARDEN
(Map CE4)
(or more properly CONVENT G.) was so called from the fact that it belonged originally
to the Abbey of Westminster. It lay N. of the Strand at the back of Burghley House,
now Exeter Hall. In the 16th cent. it was a large enclosed g., with no buildings
on it except a cottage or two. At the dissolution of the monasteries it came to
the Crown and was given to the D. of Somerset: at his execution it reverted to
the Crown, and in 1552 was granted to the Earl of Bedford. The square, with piazzas
on the N. and E. sides and the Ch. of St. Paul on the W., was built about 1631
from designs by Inigo Jones. The flower and fruit market began about the middle
of the 17th cent. in a small way, but its real foundation was in 1678. It soon
became a resort of women of loose character, and is frequently mentioned by the
restoration dramatists. In Davenant's Wits
iv. 2, Thwack says, "A new plantation [i.e. colony] is made i' the C. G. from
the sutlery o' the German camps and the suburbs of Paris." In News from Hell C.
G. is mentioned in a list of places where whores and thieves live. St. Hilary's
Tears (1642) are "shed upon all professions from the C.-G. Lady of Iniquity to
the Turnbull-st. Trull." In the London Prentice Declaration (1642), it is stated
that they met "at the piazza's in C. G." In Shirley's Ball
(licensed 1632) v. 1, Freshwater invents a story that when he was in Venice
"2 or 3 English spies told us they had lain lieger for 3 months to steal away
the Piazza and ship it to C. G." In Killigrew's Parson
iv. 3, the Widow says, "We'll go to my nephew's at C. G." For reference to
C. G. in Underwit, see s.v. COCKPIT.
Brome's Covent G. tells of the efforts
of justice Cockbrain to purify the G. from the loose women and profligate men
who were already beginning to haunt it. He exclaims (i. 1), "Here's Architecture
expressed indeed! It is a most sightly situation and fit for gentry and nobility.
Yond magnificent piece, the Piazzo, will excell that at Venice." The New Ch. (St.
Paul's) is spoken of, and the "belconies," which were the first examples of that
feature of domestic architecture in England. The scene of Nabbes' C.
Garden is laid here in i. 3, Mrs. Tongall speaks with enthusiasm of the "balconees";
"they set off a lady's person well when she presents herself to the view of gazing
passengers." The word was accented on the 2nd syllable up to the beginning of
the 19th cent.
COW CROSS
(Map J3)
(site only; cross unmarked)
An old cross in Lond. near Smithfield, in C. C. St., which runs from St. John
St., past the S. end of Turnmill St., to Farringdon Rd. In T. Heywood's Ed.
IV A. 57, Crosby tells how he was picked up as an infant by an honest citizen
"near unto a cross, commonly called C. C., near Islington," and taken to the Foundling
Hospital. Hence he was named John Crosby.
COW LANE
(Map J3J4)
A st. in Lond., now called King St., running from the N.W. corner of W. Smithfield
to Snow Hill. In Jonson's Barthol. i,
1, Mrs. Littlewit tells, "My mother has had her nativity-water cast lately by
the cunning men in C. L., and they have told her her fortune." The 1599 edition
of Span. Trag. was printed by William
White in C. L.; he also published The Fraternitie of Vagabondes in 1663.
CRANE
The sign of a bookseller's shop in St. Paul's Churchyard, Lond. (q.v.). Middleton's
Mad World was "Printed by H. B. for
Walter Burre; and are to be sold in Paule's Church-yard at the sign of the C.
1608." The 4th Folio of Shakespeare's works was "Printed for H. Herringham, E.
Brewster, and R. Bentley at the Anchor in the New Exchange, the C. in St. Paul's
Church-yard, and in Russel-St., Covent Garden. 1685." Massinger's Dowry
was "Printed by John Norton for Francis Constable and are to be sold at his
shop at the C. in Paul's Churchyard. 1632." W. Rowley's New
Wonder was "Imprinted by G. L. for Francis Constable and are to be sold at
his shop at the sign of the C. in St. Pauls Churchyard. 1632."
CREED LANE
(Map K5)
St. in Lond., running from near the top of Ludgate Hill to Carter L. It was originally called Spurriers Row, but the name was changed in the reign of Elizabeth to C. L., from the scriveners who lived there and wrote copies of the Pater Noster, Ave, Creed, Graces, etc. Spenser's Shepherd's Calendar, 1st edn., was "Printed and sold by Hugh Singleton, dwelling at the sign of the Golden Tun, in C. L., near unto Ludgate." An undated edition of Elinor Ramming was "Imprinted at Lond., in Credo L., by John Kyage and Thomas Marches '
CRIPPLEGATE
(Map M3)
One of the N, gates of Lond., between Moorgate and Aldersgate. Stow says it was
so called from the cripples who begged there, but this looks like an afterthought.
It was new-built in 1244, and again in 1491. It was sold and pulled down in 1760.
The name is preserved in C. Buildings, 11 Fore St. In Jonson's Ev.
Man O. Ind., Asper speaks of one "as lame as Vulcan or the founder of C.":
another unlikely suggestion as to the derivation of the name. In T. Heywood's
Woman killed iv. 5, Nicolas says
of the gate, "It must ope with far less noise than C. or your plot's dashed ":
from which it may be inferred that the gate had some reputation for creaking when
it was opened. Taylor, Works i. 87, puns on the name: "Footmen are brought to
anchor 'in the harbour of C." Dekker, in Seven Sins, makes Apishness "come prancing
in at C." because of the lame imitations he gives of those whom he copies. In
his Shoemaker's iv. 3, Firk chaffingly
says to Ralph, "Thou lie with a woman-to build nothing but Cs.!" In Middleton's
Hubburd, p. 96, the soldier says, "I came hopping out of my lodging like old lame
Giles of C." Deloney, in Reading vi., tells a cock-and-bull story of a cripple
who stole the silver weathercock of St. Paul's, and with the proceeds of the theft
"budded a gate on the N. side of the city which to this day is called Criple-gate."
CROOKED LANE
(Map PQ6)
A st, in Lond., which formerly ran from New Fish St. to St. Michael's L. Part
of it was taken down to make the approach to the new Lond. Bdge.: what is left
of it runs from near the corner of Cannon and K. William Sts., S. to Miles L.
Just above the end of it, in Fish St. Hill, was an old inn called the Black Bell,
formerly the house of Edward the Black Prince. In Jonson's Christmas, Christmas
puns on the name: "Last is child Rowlan, and a straight young man, Though he come
out of C. L." In Dekker's Edmonton
ii. 1, the Clown says, in response to Cuddy's request for bells, "Double bells-C.
L.-ye shall have 'em straight in C. L." The reference is probably to the Black
Bell Inn at the corner of the Lane. In Middleton's No
Wit ii. 1, Weatherwise says, "Her crabbed Uncle, dwelling in C. L., crossed
the marriage." In Davenant's Rutland, p. 221, the Parisian, in his account of
Lond., says, "Football is not very conveniently civil in the sts., especially
in such irregular and narrow roads as C. L." In Brome's City
Wit v. 1, the boy sings a song "made by a couple that were lately married
in C.-L." In Urquhart's Rabelais i. 28, Friar John says, "They go into Paradise
as straight as a sickle or as the way is to Faye (like C. L. at Eastcheap)."
CROSBY HOUSE (or CROSBY PLACE)
(Map Q4)
A mansion in Lond. on the E, side of Bishopsgate St. Within, which covered the
greater part of what is now Crosby Sq. It was built by Sir John Crosby about 1470,
and was then the highest house in Land. He occupied it till his death in 1475,
when it was let by his widow to Richd., D. of Gloucester. Sir T. More lived in
it from 1516 to 1523, and after him his friend Antonio Bonvici, an Italian merchant.
Later still it was occupied by the Countess of Pembroke, "Sydney's sister, Pembroke's
mother." In 1672 the great hall became a Presbyterian chapel; and 2 years later
the house was partly destroyed by fire, though luckily the Hall was spared. About
1769 it was converted into a warehouse. It was partially restored by public subscription
in 1836, and from 1840 to 1860 was the home of a Literary and Scientific Institute.
Then it was turned into a restaurant, and-"last stage of this eventful history"-was
pulled down in 1910 and re-erected at Chelsea, near the ch. In R3
i. 2, 213, Gloucester invites Anne to "Presently repair to C. H."; but as
this was in 1471 C. was still living, and it was not till after his death that
Gloucester went to reside there. In i. 3, 345, he bids the murderers of the young
princes, "When you have done, repair to C. Place "; and in iii. 1, 190, he tells
Catesby, "At C. H, there shall you find us both ": himself, that is, and Buckingham.
In T. Heywood's Ed. IV A. 57,
Sir John C. says, "In memory of me, J. Crosbie, In Bishopsgate St. a poor house
have I built And in my name have called it C. H."
CROSS KEYS
A tavern in Cranford, mentioned in Harman's Caveat 24 as a haunt of Morts and their Dories. There was also a C. K. Tavern on the W. side of Gracechurch St., Lond., between Lombard St. and Cornhill (Map Q5), where Henslowe relates that Lord Strange's company played about 1590. Here Banks used to exhibit the wonderful feats of his horse Marocco. In Tarlton's Jests, we read: "There was one Banks who had a horse of strange qualities, and being at the Crosse Keyes in Gracious St., Tarlton came into the Crosse Keyes among many people." It was one of the 5 taverns in which plays were acted before the building of the theatres.
CROW
(Map S4)
(area only; site unmarked)
The sign of an inn in Aldgate. I suspect that it is the same as the Pye Inn in
Aldgate High St., over against Houndsditch. One of the tokens of the Pye Inn is
extant, dated 1648; and The Presbyterian Lash (1661) was "acted in the great room
at the Pye Tavern in Aldgate." In Middleton's Quarrel
i. 1, Russell says that Chough has his lodgings "at the C. in Aldgate."
CROWN (1)
(Map N4)
(area only; site unmarked)
A bookseller's sign in Lond. Look about
was "Printed for William Ferbrand and are to be sold at his shop at the sign
of the C. near Guildhall Gate. 1600." Kinsmen
was "Printed at Lond. by Tho. Cotes for John Waterson; and are to be sold
at the sign of the C. in Paul's Churchyard. 1634." Webster's Malfi
has the same imprint, 1623.
CROWN (2)
A Lond. tavern sign. A C. Tavern is in the list in T. Heywood's Lucrece
ii. 5: "The gentry to the King's Head, the nobles to the C." There were C.
Inns on the N. side of Holborn, near Furnival's Inn(Map H4);
on the E. side of Warwick L., near Newgate St.(Map K4);
on the W. side of Coleman St., about halfway up the st.(Map N3O4);
and on the N. side of Aldgate, near the gate(Map S4).
In Bale's Later Exam. of Anne Askewe (1547), Anne says, "I was sent from Newgate
to the sign of the C.... where the Bp. of Lond. went about to persuade me from
God." This was probably the C. in Warwick Lane. In Glapthome's Hollander
v. 1, Sconce says, "Ere I went to the ch. I had gotten a touch in the C."
CRUTCHED FRIARS
(Map S5)
A st. in Lond., running E. from Mark Lane to Fenchurch Station and then N. to
Aldgate. It was so called from a Convent of C., or Crossed, F. which stood at
its S.E. corner. The C. F. were a minor order distinguished by their wearing a
red cross on the breast of their habit. The convent was founded in 1298, and after
the dissolution of the monasteries was converted into a glass-house, where the
first window-glass was made that was produced in England. In Haughton's Englishmen
i 2, as the company are walking over Tower Hill; Harvey accounts for Heigham's
liking for it because it "leads to C. F. Where old Pisaro and his daughters dwell."
Much fun is gained in iv. 1 from the wanderings about Lond. of the various, foreigners
who are looking for Pisaro's home. In Dekker's Westward
i. 1, Birdlime says, "I keep a hot-house in Gunpowder L., near C. F;" In
Davenport's New Trick, Bernard and
Friar John belong to the C. F. In iii. 1, Friar John says, "We are now at Islington;
what hope have we to get to C. F, before the gates be shut?"
CUCKOLDS HAVEN (or CUCKOLDS POINT)
On the Surrey side of the Thames at the entrance of Limehouse Reach, below Rotherhithe
Ch., and opposite the W. India Docks. The legend goes that the Miller of Chariton,
having discovered K. John kissing his wife, demanded compensation, and was granted
all the land he could see from his door. He therefore claimed all as far as this
point, which was thereafter called C. P. The K., however, added this condition,
that he should walk every 18th of October (St. Luke's Day) to the point with a
pair of buck's horns on his head; and he also gave him the right to hold a fair
at Charlton on that day, which was called Horn Fair; it was kept up till 1872.
A post was erected at the point with a pair of horns upon it. In the Diary of
a Resident of London 283, we read that "the same day [May 25, 1562] was set up
at the Cuckold H. a great May-pole by botchers and fisher-men, full of horns;"
Hentzner, in his Travels, describes "the long pole with rams' horns upon it" on
the opposite shore to Radcliffe. In Eastward
iv., "Enter Slitgut with a pair of ox-horns, discovering C. H. above." He proceeds,
"All hail, fair h. of married men only! For there are none but married men cuckolds.
For my part, I presume not to arrive here, but in my master's behalf, a poor butcher
of Eastcheap, who sends me to set up, in honour of St. Luke, these necessary ensigns
of his honour." He then rescues Security, Winifred, and Quicksilver, whose boat
has been overturned on their way to Drake's ship, where they had proposed to sup
before seeing Sir Petronel off to Virginia. "What!" cries Security, "landed at
C. H.? Hell and damnation! I will run back and drown myself." In Prodigal
iii. 1, Civet says, "My estate is £4o a year ; besides 20 mark a year at C.
H., and that comes to us all by inheritance." In Dekker's Edmonton
ii, 2, Warbeck says, "That confidence is a wind that has blown many a married
man ashore at C. H." In Day's Gulls ii.
1, Manassas says, "Now doth my master long more to finger that gold than a young
girl, married to an old man, doth to run her husband ashore at C. H." In Northward
iii. 2, Squirrel says, "I will tell thee the most politic trick of a woman
that e'er made a man's face look withered and pale, like the tree in C. H. in
a great snow." In Westward iv.
1, Birdlime says, "You went to a butcher's feast at C. H. the next day after St.
Luke's day." St. Luke is usually represented as an ox in ancient symbolism. Taylor,
Works ii. 21, laments the decay of the H.; "Passing further I at first observed
That C. H. was but badly served; For there old Time bath such confusion wrought
That of that ancient place remaineth nought, No monumental memorable horn Or tree
or post which hath these trophies borne Was left" In Wit
Woman 1461, Veronte tells Rinaldo that his wife "will make thy head like
C. H.," i.e. put horns on it. In Dekker's Match
me i. 1, Bilbo says, "If she should drive you by foul weather into C. H. before
St. Luke's day comes, Signor Luco, how then?"In Nabbes' C.
Garden v. 6, Ralph predicts that Worthy will marry a wife in the city; "you
shall then be shipped at C. H. and so transported into Cornwall," i.e. the land
of horns. In Dekker's News from Hell, he says that though hell stands farther
off than the Indies, "yet you may sail sooner thither than a married man can upon
S. Luke's day to C. H. from St. Katherines." Dekker, in Raven's Almanac (1609),
predicts, "Upon St. Luke's day bitter storms of wind and hail are likely to happen
about C H." In Day's Travails, Bullen,
p. 59, Kemp says, "You are in the right way to C. -h. ; St. Luke be your speed!"
In Day's Gulls iii. 1, Basilius says,
"An a duchess long to give her husband the horning let it never grieve butchers
to do homage at c. h."
CUE
See KEW.
CUNNY STREET
See CONEY STREET.
CUPS, THREE
See THREE Cups.
CURRIERS' HALL
(Map M3)
(area only; site unmarked))
Stood in Lond. Wall near Philip Lane. It was destroyed in the Gt. Fire and rebuilt in 1670. It was again re-erected in 1874. For a long time it was used as a meeting-place for a dissenting congregation, and even in the time of James I seems to have been connected with Puritanism. In Jonson's Christmas, Christmas, declaring that he is a good Protestant, says, "The Masque . . . was intended, I confess, for C. H."
CURTAIN
(Map P1)
The second Playhouse built in Lond, the Theatre being the first. It was erected
in 1577 at the point where Hewett St. debouches into Curtain Rd. Shoreditch, on
the opposite side to St. James' Ch., a little to the N. of it. It took its name
from C. Close, a meadow belonging to the Holywell Priory, the C. being some part
of the outworks of the old Lond. walls. Here Shakespeare's Henry
V was probably produced, in which reference is made to its shape and construction:
Prol. 12, "May we cram Within this wooden O the very casques That did affright
the air at Agincourt?" An unsuccessful attempt was made to close it, as the result
of a riot that broke out in the neighbourhood. The riot is described in a letter
from William Fleetwood, the City Recorder, to Lord Burleigh, 1584. Indeed, as
the letter says, "Upon Sunday my lord sent 2 aldermen to the court for the suppressing
and pulling down of the Theatre and C." It was still standing in 1627. John Stockwood,
in a sermon at St. Paul's Cross in 1578, complains, "If you resort to the Theatre,
the C., and other places of plays in the city, you shall on the Lord's day have
those places so full as possible they can throng." In Northbrooke's Treatise against
Dicing (1577), he speaks of "Places builded for such days and interludes as the
Theater and C. is." Wither, in Abuses Stript and Whipt, says, "Base fellow, whom
mere time bath made sufficient to bring forth a rhyme, a C. jig, a libel, or a
ballad." Middleton, in Hubburd, p. 90, adds to its bad reputation: "The camp,"
he says, "was supplied with harlots as well as the C." In Tarlton's Jests a story
is told of how someone in the audience interrupted Tarlton, "he then playing at
the C." Marston, in Scourge of Villainie (1598), says that Romeo and Juliet "won
C. plaudites."
CUSTOM-HOUSE
(Map S7)
On the S. side of Lower Thames St., Lond., E. of Billingsgate. During Chaucer's
tenure of the Comptrollership of Customs, the C. H. was rebuilt, a little to the
E. of its present site, in 1385. In the reign of Elizabeth it was replaced by
a larger building, which was destroyed in the Gt. Fire. It was rebuilt by Wren,
and again burnt down in 1718. The next building was also destroyed by fire in
1814. The present building was then erected, but so badly that extensive repairs
had to be made in 1828. In Jonson's Ev.
Man I. iii., Wellbred, after being taken in by Brainworm, says, "Would we
were e'en pressed to make porters of, and serve out the remnant of our days in
Thames St. or at C. H. Key, in a civil war against the carmen!" In his Devil
i. i. Iniquity says to Pug, "From thence we will put in at C.-H. Key there,
And see how the factors and prentices play there False with their masters and
geld many a full pack." In Dekker's Westward
ii. 1, Honeysuckle says to his wife, "[I am going] to the C. H., to the 'Change,
to my warehouse, to divers places." In W. Rowley's New
Wonder iv., George informs Brewen that his wares have been conveyed "in carts
to the C. H., there to be shipped."