LAMB
A London sign. Used by Veale's bookshop in St. Paul's Churchyard. New Custom was
"Imprinted for Abraham Veale dwelling in Paul's Churchyard at the sign of the
L. 1573." An edition of Colin Clout was also printed here. "The L. in Lombard
St." was the sign of Water-Camlet, the mercer's shop, in Middleton's Quiet
Life ii. 2.
LAMBECHIA
See LAMBETH.
LAMBERT HILL
(Map L56)
St. in Lond. running N. from Thames St. to the W. end of Old Fish St. It was also
called Lambeth H., by which name it is now known. In Yarrington's Two
Trag. i. 4, a neighbour says, "Bring the body unto L. H. Where Beech did dwell."
LAMBETH
(Map C8)
Dist. on the S. side of the Thames, between Battersea and Southwark. Now densely
populated, but in the 16th and 17th cents. it was a low swampy tract of open country,
and was known as L. Marsh. The only buildings of any importance were the palaces
of the Archbp. of Canterbury and the Bp. of Rochester. The former, L. Palace,
stands a little S. of St. Thomas's Hospital, just below L. Bdge. It became the
residence of the Archbps. at the beginning of the 13th cent., but nothing of the
original building remains. The Chapel, the oldest of the present buildings, was
erected by Boniface about 1250. The so-called Lollards Tower was built by Chicheley
1434-1445, and had an image of Thomas à Becket in a niche facing the Thames. The
fine Gate-house dates from about 1500. The Hall is due to Juxon, and bears the
date 1663. The residential portion was built by Howley 1829-1834. In Marlowe's
Ed. II i. 1, the Archbp. of Canterbury
entreats the company "To cross to L. and there stay with me." L. Place, the residence
of the Bps. of Rochester, stood in what is now Carlisle St. It was built about
1200: one of its last occupants was Bp. Fisher. Henry VIII gave it to the Bps.
of Carlisle, and it was thenceforward known as Carlisle House, though none of
them ever resided there. It was pulled down in 1827.
The streets known as L. Upper and Lower Marsh preserve the name of L. Marsh
and indicate its central point. It was notorious as a haunt of thieves, prostitutes,
and other bad characters. Jonson, in Epigram xii., calls Shift "not meanest
among squires That haunt Pickt-hatch, Marsh-L., and Whitefriars." In Fortun.
Isles, Westminster Meg "goes to the stew, And turns home merry By L. Ferry."
In Alchemist i. 1, Doll mentions the
"bawd of L." as one of Subtle's clients. In Barnes' Charter
iii. 5, Bagnioli says of certain disreputable characters: "They, transported
from Lambechia land, Fall anchor at the Stilliard tavern." In Middleton's R.
G. v. 2, Greene says, "That L. Joins more mad matches than your 6 wet towns
'Twixt that and Windsor Bdge." In Dekker's Westward
iv. 1, Birdlime says, "I'll down to Queenhive, and the watermen which were
wont to carry you to L. Marsh shall carry me thither [to Brentford]." In Massinger's
Madam v. 2, Luke says of the gentlemen's
sons who have turned prentices: "When we look To have our business done at home,
they are Abroad in the tennis court, or in Partridge Alley, In L. Marsh, or
a cheating ordinary." In Glapthorne's Hollander
i. 1, Popingate says to Artless, the brothel-keeper, "L. Marsh is held a
nunnery to your college"; and in iii. 1, Sconce speaks of prostitutes as "maids
of L. Marsh." In Field's Weathercock,
iv. 2 is laid in L. Fields. It was customary to fire a salute on the L. bank
of the river when the Lord Mayor came to Westminster on the day after SS. Simon
and Jude to pay his respects to the K. In Sharpham's Fleire
iii. 350, Fleire speaks of "the gunners that make 'em fly off with a train
at L. when the Mayor and aldermen land at Westminster."
LAMBETH HOUSE
(Map C8)
The palace of the Archbp. of Canterbury at Lambeth, q.v. Puritans were often imprisoned there. In Cowley's Cutter iii. 6, Cutter tells of a fifth-Monarchy man, Mr. Feak, who "was prisoner in L.-H."
LANE, THE
See CHANCERY LANE.
LAWRENCE LANE
(Map N4)
A narrow st. in Lond. running N. from Cheapside, W. of King St., to Gresham St., formerly Cateaton St. It was named from the Ch. of St. L. Jewry at its N. end. Here was the well-known Bosom's, or Blossom's, Inn, q.v. It was the way from Cheapside to the Guildhall before King St. was opened out in 1667. In Middleton's Triumphs of Truth, the direction for the procession is: "It goes on from the Standard till it comes to St. L. L. end." In the Triumph of King Charles (1641), "They all entered the city at Moorgate; from which place to Bishopsgate, and so through Cornhill, to St. L.'s L. end in Cheapside."
LAWRENCE (SAINT) JEWRY
(Map N4)
A ch. in Lond. at the corner of Gresham St. and King St. It was so called from
the number of Jews that lived in the neighbourhood. It was destroyed in the Gt.
Fire, and rebuilt by Wren in the Corinthian style with a tower and short spire.
It was the most costly of his city churches. Sir T. More delivered a series of
lectures in the old ch., to which "resorted all the chief learned of the City
of Lond." Here Sir Rd. Gresham was buried. "Robert Wombewell, vicar of St. Laurence
in the J.," was one of the Commissioners who tried Sir John Oldcastle. In More
v. 4, Sir Thomas, at his execution, reminds the Sheriff, "You were a patient
auditor of mine when I read the Divinity Lecture at St. Laurances."
LAWRENCE (SAINT) POULTNEY
(Map P6)
(now POUNTNEY). A ch. in Lond. at the corner of Candlewick St. and L. P. Lane.
It was called after Sir John P., Mayor of Lond. in the reign of Edward III, who
built a chantry chapel in the ch., and in his mansion adjoining founded the College
of Corpus Christi. Latimer was at one time priest of St. L. P. It was destroyed
in the Gt. Fire, the flames bursting out first in the steeple, and was not rebuilt.
In H8 i. 2, 153, the Surveyor
says, "The D. [of Suffolk] being at the Rose within the parish St. L. P., did
of me demand What was the speech among the Londoners Concerning the French journey."
The Crypt of the Rose still remains between Duck's Foot Lane and St. L. P. Hill.
In Middleton's Aries, it is stated, "Sir J. P. founded a College in the parish
of St. L. P. by Candlewick St."
LEADENHALL
(Map Q45)
Originally a mansion belonging to Sir Hugh Nevill, standing at the intersection
of Gracechurch St. and Cornhill at the S.E. corner. It came into the possession
of the City of Lond, during the 14th cent. It was used sometimes as a Court of
Justice, and once, in 1326, the Commons met there. The wholesale poultry market
was held in the Carfax, or meeting of the 4 sts., just opposite, where stood a
conduit with 4 spouts. In 1445 Simon Eyres erected on its site a hall for a granary,
with a chapel on the E. dedicated to the Holy Trinity: it was taken down in 1812.
It was roofed with lead, which according to one legend was dug up in making the
foundations. During the 16th cent. it became a market for meat, poultry, wool,
vegetables, leather, cutlery, and other commodities. It was burnt down in the
Gt. Fire, but speedily rebuilt. In 1730 it was largely rebuilt again, and in 1812
many of the older parts, including the chapel, were removed. The present market
was commenced in 1881. In Three Lords,
Dods., vi. 412, Dissimulation says, "Once in a month I stole in o' th' market-day
to L. and about." Greene, in Quip (Harl. Misc. v. 411), says, "Did you not grease
the sealers of L. thoroughly in the fiste [i.e. bribe them] they would never be
sealed but turned away." The sealers were the inspectors who certified to the
quality of hides and leather by affixing a seal to them. In Dekker's Shoemaker's
v. 5, the King says to Simon Eyre, "That new building Which at thy cost in Cornhill
is erected, Shall take a name from us; we'll have it called The L., because, in
digging, You found the lead that covereth the same." In More
iii. 1, Doll says that but for Master More "We would have locked us up in
L. And there been burnt to ashes with the roof." In Haughton's Englishmen
iv. 1, when Alvaro asks, "What do ye call dis street?" Heigham informs him,
"Why, L., Could you not see the 4 spouts as you came along?" The st. from the
corner, running E. to Aldgate, was, and is, called L. St., and originally L. had
an opening into it, though it now opens into Gracechurch St. only. In W. Rowley's
Match Mid. iv. 2, Sim arranges with
Randall to meet Moll "just at the great crossway, by the Nag's Head Tavern at
L.," and Randall interrupts: "Was high, high pump there as hur turn into Grace's
St.?"-"There's the very place," says Sim. In Shirley's Honoria ii. 1, Phantasm
promises to transmute "dull L. to gold." Greene, in Quip, speaks of leather being
sold there; and Gosson, in Players confuted (1581), says, "This argument cuts
like a L. knife, where, if one pour on steel with a ladle, another comes and wipes
it off with a feather." The Groundwork of Coney-catching was "Printed at Lond.
by John Danter for William Barley, and are to be sold at his shop at the upper
end of Gracious st. over against L. 1592." Straw
was published at the same place in 1593. In T. Heywood's Ed.
IV A. i. 1, Falconbridge, the rebel, says, "At L. we'll sell pearls by the
peck As now the mealmen use to sell their meal."
LEG
A common hosiers' and bootsellers' sign in Lond. There was also a Leg Tavern in
King St., Westminster. In H4 B.
ii. 4, 271, Falstaff says that the Prince loves Poins because "he wears his boots
very smooth like unto the sign of the Leg." We find the same sign at Foy. In T.
Heywood's Maid of West A. ii. 1,
Clem says, "My father was a baker; [he dwelt] in the next crooked st. at the sign
of the Leg."
LEONARD'S (SAINT)
(Map Q1)
The parish ch. of Shoreditch at the corner of High St. and Hackney Rd. The old
ch., with its square tower and fine peal of bells, was taken down in 1736, and
the present one built on its site. The Theatre and Curtain were in the neighbourhood,
and many actors were buried at the ch., amongst them Will Somers, the fool of
Henry VIII; Richard Tarleton; James Burbage and his son Richard Burbage; Gabriel
Spencer, who was killed in a duel by Ben Jonson; William Sly, and Richard Cowley.
In Wilkins' Enforced Marriage ii.
1, the Clown says, when he starts from Lond. for Yorkshire, "I will cry, and every
town between Shoreditch ch. and York bdge. shall bear me witness."
LIBBARD'S HEAD
(i.e. LEOPARD'S HEAD). A sign in Lombard St., Lond. In H4
B. ii. 1, 30, Quickly says of Falstaff: "He is indited to dinner to the Lubber's
H. in Lumbert St., to Master Smooth's the silkman." Lubber's is Quickly's mistake
for L.
LIMEHOUSE
A dist. on the N. of the Thames, between Wapping and Poplar, opposite to Cuckold's
Haven It got its name from the Lime-kilns, which have been there for the last
6 cents. at least. In Dekker's Edmonton
iii. 1, Cuddy threatens the dog, "I'll throw you in at L. in some tanner's
pit or other." It was, and is; the theatre of a large shipping trade, and riverside
industries are extensively carried on. In Tarlton's Jests, it is said that "at
low fall, the watermen get afraid of the cross-cables by the L." In Launching,
it is said: "The E. Indian gates stand open wide to entertain the needy and the
poor; Lyme house speaks their liberality." In Dekker's Westward
ii. 3, when Sir Gosling proposes to go an excursion to Blackwall or L., Judith
declines: "every room there," she says, "smells too much of tar." Like all waterside
places, its morality was of a low order. In Middleton's Quiet
Life ii. 1, Knavesby says, "We will be married again, wife; which some say
is the only supersedeas about L. to remove cuckoldry." In Webster's Cuckold
ii. 3, Compass, talking of the birth of children, says, "It varies again by
that time you come at Wapping, Radcliff, L., and here with us at Blackwall, our
children come uncertainly": the reason being the absence of the husbands on voyages.
In ii. 3, he mentions L. and Shadwell as amongst "the suburbs of Lond.": where
suburb is used in its common sense of a haunt of immoral women. In H8
v. 4, 63, the porter says of the young fellows who had been throwing stones
at his man: "These are the youths that thunder at a playhouse and fight for bitten
apples; that no audience, but the tribulation of Tower Hill, or the limbs of L.,
their dear brothers, are able to endure." The words "tribulation" and "dear brothers"
suggest a hit at the Puritans, but it is hard to see the relevance of such names
to a Puritan meeting. I am rather disposed to think that these were 2 gangs of
young hooligans which infested Tower Hill and L. respectively, and were known
by these titles, just as in Melbourne we have "pushes" of larrikins, called after
the localities they infest--the Bourke St. push, the Collingwood push, etc. An
audience composed of these fellows would welcome a disturbance.
LIME-STREET
(Map R4/Q5R5)
In Lond., running at the back of Leadenhall market from Fenchurch St. to Leadenhall
St. It escaped the Gt. Fire, and the house numbered 46 had a pair of folding doors
dated 1631. It was pulled down in 1875. In S. Rowley's When
You D. 2, the Cobler speaks of himself as "the merry cobler of Limestreete."
In W. Rowley's Match Mid. iii.,
Alexander says to Moll, "Meet this gentleman at the Nag's Head corner, just against
Leadenhall; we lie in L.-St., thither he shall carry thee." Middleton, in Black
Book, p. 12, says, "hold her that I had a warrant to search from the sheriff of
Limbo."--" How? from the sheriff of L. st.?" replies Mrs. Wimblechin, for so she
understood the word Limbo, as if Limbo had been Latin for L. St. Dekker, in Jests,
speaks of "Milk st., Bread st., L. st., and S. Mary Axe" as the residential quarters
of the merchants of Lond.
LINCOLN'S INN
(Map G4)
One of the Four Inns of Court in Lond. It stands between the N. end of Chancery
Lane and L. I. Fields, S. of Holborn. In 1221 the site was assigned to the Black
Friars on their arrival in England; from them it passed into the hands of the
De Lacies, Earls of Lincoln, hence the name. The lawyers obtained the use of it
about 1300, and in 1580 bought it outright. The gatehouse in Chancery Lane and
the old Hall were erected in the reign of Henry VII, and the buildings facing
into Chancery Lane a little later. The rest of the buildings are comparatively
modern. In More v. 4., More, on the
scaffold, reminds the Sheriff, "When I studied the law in L. I., I was of council
with ye in a cause." Sir Thomas was a bencher of L. I. Richard Edwards, the author
of Damon, also belonged to that honourable body. Fuller tells us that Ben Jonson
helped in the building "of the new structure of L. I.": probably the part in Chancery
Lane. Prynne's Histrio-Mastix is dedicated to "the students of the 4. famous Inns
of Court, and especially these of L. I." Prynne was buried in the vaults below
the old chapel. Jonson, in Devil i.
6, speaks of "The walks of L. I. Under the Elms." In Marston's What
you iii. 1, a lawyer is called "the glorious Ajax [quasi, a jakes] of L.
I., laps up nought but filth and excrements." In Jonson's Devil
ii. 2, Mrs. FitzDottrel sends word to Wittipol "to forbear his acting to me
At the gentleman's chamber-window in L. I. there, That opens to my gallery."
LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS
(Map F4)
The square immediately W. of L. I., Lond. It was at first a mere open piece of
waste ground, but it was laid out in 1618 by Inigo Jones, with the Arch Row on
the W., Portugal Row on the S., and Holborn, or Newman's, Row on the N.; on the
E. were the buildings of the Inn. It was supposed to be the same size as the base
of the Gt. Pyramid, but was actually 12 acres in extent--11/2 acres less. About
1656 there were many proposals to build the whole of the space over, but on the
petition of the Society of L. I. Cromwell stopped them. In Glapthorne's Wit
i. 1, Thorowgood asks whether Valentine and Sir Timothy have come to town
"to see L. I. F. built." The date is 1639. A theatre was opened by Davenant in
Portugal Row in 1662, which is the scene of his Playhouse. In i., the Housekeeper
says, "There are so many Tomtumblers [applying to take the theatre] that you'd
think L.-I.-F. a forest of wild apes." In Nabbes' Bride
ii. 1, Squirrell, the Vintner, says, "The errants of L. I. f. are the best
maintainers of my profit's occasion." In Deloney's Craft ii. 5, Peachy says, "Stutely
and Strangwidge, if you be men, meet me in Lincolnes Inne-f. presently." . . .
"And so into the f. they went" and fought.
LION
A tavern sign. In Dekker's Westward
ii. 2, Monopoly says, "I'm to sup this night at the L. in Shoreditch." Act
iii. 2 is laid outside this Inn. Probably the Red L. is meant: it stood on the
E. side of Bishopsgate St. Without. In Feversham
ii. 1, Black Will says, "Canst thou remember since we trolled the bowl at Sittingburgh
[i.e. Sittingbourne] where I broke the tapster's head of the Lyon with a cudgel-stick?"
In Chapman's May Day i. 1, Quintiliano
says, "The hostess of the L. has a leg like a giant." The scene is in Venice.
LION KEY
(Map Q7)
A wharf or landing-place on the N. side of the Thames in Lond., between Billingsgate
and Lond. Bdge. Stow says it was called after one Lion, owner thereof. In Fair
Women ii. 290, Roger relates that he followed Sanders "to L. quay; saw him
take boat, And, in a pair of oars, as soon as he, Landed at Greenwich." In Underwit
iii. 3, Engine suggests as a useful project "a bridge from L. k. to Flaunders."
In B.&F. Prize v. 2, Jaques says,
"We'll get us to Paris. Away to Lyon-k. and ship 'em presently." In T. Heywood's
Ed. IV A. 64, the disguised King
says, "At L. quay I landed in their view, Yet none of them took knowledge of the
King."
LITTLE BRITAIN
(Map K3L3)
A st. in Lond. running W. from Aldersgate St.,, by St. Botolph's Ch., to the point
at the top of K. Edward St. where the pump used to stand; thence it turns N. along
what was originally called Duck Lane to St. Bartholomew's Hospital. It was named
from the City mansion of the D. of Bretagne, which was situated there. It was
a great st. for booksellers and publishers, especially in the part from the Pump
to St. Bartholomew's. Harman's Fraternitye of Vagabondes was "Imprinted at Lond.
by Iohn Awdeley dwelling in l. Britayne strete without Aldersgate. 1575." He is
described in another imprint as "dwelling by Gt. St. Barthelmewes beyond Aldersgate."
Rawlins's Rebellion was "Printed
by I. Okes for Daniell Frere, and are to be sold at the sign of the Red Bull in
L. Brittaine. 1640." Middleton's Old
Law was "Printed for Edward Archer at the sign of the Adam and Eve in L.
Britaine. 1656."
LOLLARDS' TOWER
A tower at the S.W. corner of Old St. Paul's, Lond., which was used as the Bp.
of Lond.'s prison. It was here that Richard Hunne was murdered by the officers
in charge of him in 1514. There was another L. T. at the W. end of the chapel
of Lambeth Palace, but it is doubtful whether this was ever used for the confinement
of Lollards. In Jonson's Staple v.
1, Pennyboy, the usurer, goes mad, and arrests and imprisons his 2 dogs in a couple
of closets, "the one of which he calls his Lollard's T., t'other his Blockhouse,
'cause his 2 dogs' names are Block and Lollard."
LOMBARD STREET
(Map P5Q5)
Lond., running from the Mansion House, on the S. of the Royal Exchange, to Gracechurch
St. It took its name from the, L. merchants who settled there in the 13th cent.:
in 1318 a grant to them of a messuage abutting on Lombard St. on the S. and toward
Cornhill on the N. was confirmed by Edward II. They were money-changers, bankers,
agents for foreign traders, and money-lenders. The meetings of the merchants were
held in the st. until the building of the Burse, afterwards the Royal Exchange,
by Gresham. Gresham lived at No. 68, now Martin and Co.'s; the Goldsmiths Company
were at No. 67. The Cardinal's Cap and the Salutation Taverns were in the st.
On the S. side is the noble ch. of St. Mary Wolnooth, on the N. Allhallows and
St. Edmund King and Martyr. In Davenant's Wits
ii. 4, Palatine says, "All gold? the stalls of L. st. poured into a purse?"
In T. Heywood's I. K. M., B. 1, 264,
Ramsie, meeting Dr. Nowell, exclaims: "Master Dean of Paul's, 'Tis strange to
see you here in Lumber st, This place of traffic, whereon merchants meet." In
Fair Women ii., Sanders, coming
home late, explains that he has been at a friend's "in Lumberd St. at sypper."
Mercers as well as bankers lived in the st. in H4
B. ii. 1, 31, the Hostess informs Snare that Falstaff "is indited to dinner
to the Lubber's Head in Lumbert st., to Master Smooth's the silkman." The Lubber's
Head is Quickly's way of saying the Libbard's, or Leopard's, Head. In Middleton's
Quiet Life ii. 2, we learn that
Water-Camlet, the mercer's, shop is "the Lamb in L. st." In T. Heywood's Ed.
IV, A. i. 64, 2 other signs are mentioned: the K. says, "Here s L. st.,
and here's the Pelican; And there's the Phoenix in the Pelican's nest." The
Phoenix Fire Office is still there at No. 19, and the Pelican at No. 70--next
to Change Alley. In Ibid. B. 145, Jane Shore orders her trunks to be conveyed
"To Mrs. Blage, an Inn in L. St., The Flower-de Luce." In Deloney's Craft i.
10, Mrs. Eyre speaks of "the George in Lumbard st. where the merchant strangers
lie." In Brome's Couple ii. 1,
Alicia says, "All Cheapside and L. st. could not have furnished you with a more
complete bargain, you will find it in the wearing." In T. Heywood's Ed.
IV A. 26, Falconbridge cries to the rebels, "The Mint is ours, Cheape, L.
St., our own." Thersites was "Imprinted
at London by John Tysdale and are to be sold at his shop in the upper end of
L. St. in Alhallowes ch. yard near unto Grace ch." In T. Heywood's I.
K. M. B 295, one of the Lords says that the Exchanges of Frankford and
Embden "have sts. and penthouses Like Lumber St. before this Burse [Gresham's]
was built." The Lumbard is used for the Exchange. In Ibid. B. 269, Gresham says,
"We'll stay here on the Lumbard till thou com'st." From Tarlton's Jests we learn
that Armin's master was "a goldsmith in L. st."
LONDON
(Key Map)
(Ler. = Londoner). The capital of England, on the Thames, some 50 m. from its mouth. The original site was on the N. bank of the river, but it gradually extended to the S., or Surrey, side. No attempt will be made to give any account of the history of L., but some points may be set down to help the student to form a correct idea of the city in which Shakespeare and his fellow-dramatists lived and worked. The old Roman city was surrounded by a wall, stretching like a bow from the Tower to a point near Blackfriars Bdge., and along the r. side back again. The r. wall had completely disappeared by Shakespeare's time, but Billingsgate and Dowgate still indicate where entrance was gained to the city from the r. On the land side the gates ran in order, E. to W.: - the Tower Postern,
- Aldgate,
- Bishopsgate,
- Moorgate,
- Cripplegate,
- Aldersgate,
- Newgate,
- Ludgate.
All these gates have now disappeared, but a correct idea of their form may be gained from St. John's Gate, Clerkenwell, which happily still remains, or from the gates of York. In Shakespeare's time they were used both as dwelling-houses and as prisons. The establishment of the Inns of Court in the 14th cent. led to the extension of the city westward along Fleet St. and Holborn, and Temple Bar indicated its new limit, so that the phrase "from Tower to Temple" was used for the whole town. The Strand was, as the name implies, near the river, with the houses of the great nobles on its S. side. From Charing Cross, King St. led down to the quite separate city of Westminster. On the E. and N., too, there had been some extension beyond the walls, but the modern suburbs of Bromley, Bow, Hackney, Islington, and Kensington were still a ring of separate villages, and beyond them again lay Barking, Tottenham, Highgate, Hornsey, Hampstead, and Hammersmith. Crossing the r. by the Bdge., a little E. of the present L. Bdge., we find the Ch. of St. Mary Overy, the palace of the Bp. of Winchester, and stretching W. the houses of the Bankside, the Theatres and Paris Garden, and little more.
Within the city everything has to be reconstructed, for the Gt. Fire swept it from Pudding Lane to Pie Corner, and hardly anything of Shakespeare's L. remains except the old lines of the sts., which, luckily for the antiquarian, were not altered in the rebuilding. The sts. must be imagined lined with gabled and timbered houses, like Staples Inn or Crosby Hall (now re-erected at Chelsea). For Wren's churches we must substitute Gothic buildings, and we must almost double the number, for 89 were destroyed by the Fire and only 45 were rebuilt. Fortunately the old type of ch. is still represented by the Savoy Chapel, All Hallows Barking, St. Andrew's Undershaft, St. Giles Cripplegate, St. Helen's Bishopsgate, St. Margaret's Westminster, St. Saviour's Southwark, and the noble conventual ch. of St. Bartholomew the Great, Smithfield, all of which escaped the Fire. The dome of St. Paul's must be replaced by a gothic tower, which formerly had a lofty steeple, destroyed by lightning in 1561 and not rebuilt. Altogether there were about 109 churches within the city area, and the air must have been continually throbbing with the sound of their bells. Old L. was a city of running waters. In almost every st. of importance there was a conduit, or water-standard, and on these the citizens were dependent for their water supply. All these have disappeared. There were, of course, no trams or cabs or omnibuses: only a few private carriages, drawn by heavy Flanders mares. The sts. were badly paved, and consequently the river was the pleasantest and most-frequented thoroughfare from one part of the city to another, as well as to Greenwich and Westminster. The houses and shops were distinguished not by numbers, but by signs, which must have added much to the picturesqueness of the sts. The houses were all inhabited, the shopkeepers living at their shops and the merchants at mansions in the city. It must be remembered that the city was hardly lighted at all at night, and that there was no system of drainage: all the sewage of the town ran down the st. channels into the Fleet Ditch or the Thames.
The principal buildings of Shakespeare's time which still remain, apart from the churches mentioned above, are the Tower, the Temple with its church and hall, Lincoln's Inn and Gray's Inn, the Guildhall, Staples Inn, Crosby House, the Charterhouse, St. John's Gate; and, further afield, Westminster Hall, parts of St. James's Palace, and Lambeth Palace. The main thoroughfares into L. were Oxford Rd. from the W., the Gt. North Road from the N., and the Old Kent Rd., or Pilgrims Rd., from Kent and the Continent. According to Heylyn, the city in 1621 was "wondrous populous, containing well nigh 400,000 people, which number is much augmented in the Term time." Shakespeare never mentions L. outside of his historical plays, and even in them there is very little specific notice of L. streets or buildings. On the other hand, Jonson, Massinger, Beaumont and Fletcher, Field, Middleton, Shirley, Dekker, Nash, Haughton, Marmion, Heywood, Barry, Rowley, and Glapthorne place the scenes of many of their comedies in L., and show a minute knowledge of every detail of its topography. There is hardly a st. or ch. or public building or tavern which is not mentioned in one or other of their plays.
General references
In Ret. Pernass. v. 4, Furor exclaims:
"Farewell, musty, dusty, rusty, fusty L. That cheatest virtue of her due desert
And sufferest great Apollo's son to want." In York.
Tragedy i., Samuel, the serving man, says, "Anything is good here that
comes from L." In More iii. 3,
More says, "Of all people that the earth affords, The Lers. fare richest at
their boards." In Greene and Lodge's Looking
Glass , Oseas proclaims, at the end of Act I: "Sin reigns in thee, O L.,
every hour." The whole play is an attempted parallel between Nineveh and L.
In Three Ladies (which is also
a satire on L. manners) ii., Simplicity says, "No biding in L. for Conscience
and Love." In World Child 180,
Folly says; "In L. is my chief dwelling." In J. Heywood's Weather,
p. 100, Report claims to have been "at Louvain, at L., and in Lombardy." In
Davenant's Rutland iii. 214, the Parisian says, "A Ler.'s opinion of himself
is no less noted than his opinion of his beef before the veal of Italy." The
whole description of L. by the Parisian in this Masque should be read. In T.
Heywood's Captives v. 3, Ashburne
says, "You shall see what welcome Our L., so much spoke of here in France, Can
give to worthy strangers." In Wager's The Longer, D. 5, Discipline prays: "God
preserve L., that noble city, where they have taken a godly order for a truth."
London as the capital of England
In R2 iii. 4, 97, the Q. says, "Come,
ladies, go To meet at L. L.'s King in woe." In R3
iii. 1, 1, Buckingham says to young K. Edward, "Welcome, sweet Prince, to
L., to your chamber." In H4 B.
v. 3, 64, Davy says, "I hope to see L. once ere I die." In Dekker's Northward
i. 1, Greenshield quotes a proverb: "Lincoln was, L. is, and York shall
be." Nash, in Pierce, D. 3, says, "The poets have cleansed our language from
barbarism and made the vulgar sort here in L. (which is the fountain whose rivers
flow round about England) to aspire to a richer purity of speech than is communicated
with the communality of any nation under heaven."
London as the centre of trade
In H4 A. i. 2, 140, Poins tells of "traders riding to L. with fat purses." In
Marlowe's Jew iv. 1, Barabas has debts
owing in "Florence, Venice, Antwerp, L., Xeville." In T. Heywood's I.
K. M. B. 301, Gresham boasts of the wealth of the L. merchants: he drinks
a pearl to the health of the Q., and says, "A L. merchant thus treads on a K.'s
present." In Dekker's Northward v.
1, Kate says, "[I travel] to L., Sir, as the old tale goes, to seek my fortune."
The sub-title of B.&F. Pestle is
"The L. Merchant." The 12 principal City Companies or Trade-guilds, with the
date of the foundation of each and the location of its Hall, are as follows:
- Mercers (1393), Cheapside;
- Grocers (1345), Poultry;
- Drapers (1374), Throgmorton St.;
- Fishmongers (1363), Upper Thames St.;
- Goldsmiths (1327). Foster Lane;
- Skinners (1327), Dowgate Hill;
- Merchant-Taylors (1466), Threadneedle St.;
- Haberdashers (1448), Gresham St.;
- Salters (1530), St. Swithins Lane;
- Ironmongers (1464), Fenchurch St.;
- Vintners (1363). Upper Thames St.;
- Clothworkers (1480), Mincing Lane.
In B.&F. Pestle ii. 3, the Citizen's
Wife says of Ralph: "The 12 Companies of L. cannot match him."
London measure
= full measure with a little over, as the L. mercers used to give. In Middleton,
Quiet Life iii. 2, George says
to Water-Camlet, "Your wife says that you give not L. measure." Brome, in Prol.
to Covent G., says, "'Tis not in
book as cloth; we never say, ' Make L. measure' when we buy a play." Suckling,
in Aglaura, Prol., says, "Men
ever get All they can in; will have L. measure." In Cartwright's Ordinary
iii. 5, Rimewell says to Catchmey, with his long beard, "I say you are too
forward By the length of your L.-measure beard." In Middleton's R.
G. ii. 1, when Moll asks, "Was he any more than a man?" Laxton replies:
"No, nor so much by a yard and a handful, L. measure." The Author of Reasons
in a Hollow Tree (Harl. Misc., iv. 179) thinks that the Lord's Prayer "should
have been two yards and a half longer, by L. measure."
London pins
In Skelton's Elynour Rummin vii., Sibbill gives Elynour "a clout of L. pins in payment for her quart of ale": the clout being a definite measure for pins and needles.
London roads
(i.e. roads to London). In H4 A.
ii. 1, 16, the carrier complains of the inn in Rochester: "I think this
be the most villainous house in all L. road for fleas." This is the Old Kent
Rd. In H4 B. ii. 2, 184, Poins
says that Doll Tearsheet is "as common as the way between St. Albans and L.,"
i.e. the Gt. North Road. In Eastward
ii. 2, Quicksilver says that villainy is "the L. highway to thrift," i.e. the
common and easy way. In Wilkins' Enforced
Marriage ii. 2, Robin says, "The dust upon L. way was so great that not
a lord, gentleman, knight, or knave could travel, lest his eyes should be blown
out."
London pageants, festivals, etc.
The Chorus, in H5 v. 24, tells how,
on Henry's return, "L. doth pour out her citizens, The mayor and all his brethren
in best sort, With the plebeians swarming at their heels, Go forth and fetch
their conquering Caesar in." In R2
v. 5, 77, the Groom says, "O how it yearned my heart when I beheld In L.
sts., that coronation day, When Bolingbroke rode on roan Barbary."
London atmosphere
In Davenant's Rutland, p. 228, there is a song: "L. is smothered with sulphurous fires; Still she wears a black hood and cloak Of sea-coal smoke."
London churches
In Abington i. 2, Coomes says that
Francis has as many whores as there are churches in L.: "Why," says Philip,
"that's a hundred and nine." Stow reckons 114 parish churches in L. and Southwark:
5 of these are in Southwark, so that Philip's count exactly agrees with Stow.
London gates
In H6 B. iv. 8, 24, Cade asks,
"Hath my sword therefore broke through L. gates, that you should leave me at
the White Hart in Southwark?"
London prisons
Taylor, in Works, says, "In L. and within a mile, I ween, There are of jails or prisons full 18, And 60 whipping-posts, and stocks and cages."
London taverns
In R2 v. 3, 6, Bolingbroke directs
the lords to "Inquire at L., 'mongst the taverns there," for his unthrifty son
Henry. In H5 iii. 2, 12, the Boy,
at the siege of Harfleur, says, "Would I were in an ale-house in L."
London walls
In Fair Women i. 169, Drury says
that "Roger is trusty As any fellow within L. walls." In Brome's Couple
ii. 1, Alicia says to her customer, "You could not have been so fitted on
the sudden else within L. walls." In B.&F. Pestle
ii. 1, the Citizen's Wife says of Humphrey: "I believe thou hast not thy fellow
within the walls of L.; an I should say the suburbs too I should not lie."
The Bishop
In H8 iv. 1, 102, the 2 prelates
who walk on each side of the Q. are "Stokesly and Gardiner: the one of Winchester,
the other L." John Stokesly was Bp from 1529 to 1539.
The Lord Mayor
In Trag. Richd. II i. 1, 113, Woodstock says, "Me thee, good Exton: Good Lord
Mayor, I do beseech ye, prosecute With your best care a means for all our safeties.''
The date is 1387, as stated in ii. 1, iii. Nicholas Exton was Lord Mayor in
1386 and 1387, so that "Good Lord Mayor" must be taken as addressed to him.
In Fam. Vict., Haz., p. 331, the
Lord Mayor and Sheriffs commit Prince Henry to prison for rioting in Eastcheap.
The date is given as the 14th year of Henry IV (p. 333) i.e. 1412. The Mayor
that year was William Waldren, mercer; the Sheriffs, Ralph Lovenhinde and William
Sevenocks. The Mayor of L. comes to welcome Henry V on his return from Agincourt
(H5 v. Chorus 25). This was Nicholas
Wotton. In H6 A. 1, 3, 57,
the Mayor enters to stop the fight between Gloucester and Winchester, and humorously
remarks: "Good God, these nobles should such stomachs bear! I myself fight not
once in 40 year." This was probably John Coventrie, a mercer, who was Mayor
in 1425. In H6 B. iv. 5, 4,
the Lord Mayor craves aid from Lord Scales to defend the city from Cade. His
name was Thomas Chalton, also a mercer. In R3
iii., the Mayor is cajoled by Buckingham into coming in deputation with
the citizens to ask Richd. to accept the crown. He was Edmond Sha, a goldsmith.
In H8 ii. 1, 15 1, we are told
that the K. has directed the Lord Mayor to stop the rumour about his intended
divorce from Catherine of Arragon. But this is a slight anachronism: the scene
takes place in 1521; and it was not till 1527 that there was any thought of
the divorce. The Mayor comes 5th in the coronation procession of Anne Boleyn
(H8 iv. 1, "bearing the mace." This was Sir Stephen Pecocke, haberdasher. The
Lord Mayor is also present at the christening of Elizabeth (H8 v. 5) in the
same year. In Peele's Ed. 1, the
Mayoress of L. is poisoned by Q. Elinor by means of a snake: in dying she calls
on her husband, "John Bearmber, Mayor of L." There is no such name in Stow's
list; indeed, the whole story is an absurd legend. In More
i. and ii., the Mayor plays a considerable part: it was in the year when
More was under-sheriff and the May Day riots took place, i.e. 1517. The Mayor
was John Rest, a grocer. In Youth.
ii. 100, Riot says, "The Mayor of L. sent for me forth of Newgate for to come
for to preach at Tyburn." In Bale's Johan 272, Verity says, "The City of L.
through his [John's] mere grant and premiss was first privileged to have both
Mayor and Shrieve, where before his time it had but bailiffs only." The 1st
Mayor was Henry Fitz Alwin, elected in 1189, in the reign of Richard I, but
John granted several charters to the city confirming its right of self-government.
Donne, Elegy i. 34 (1633), says, "We will scorn his household policies . . .
As the inhabitants of Thames' right side Do L.'s Mayor." There was considerable
rivalry between the citizens of the borough of Southwark and the city of L.
London citizens
In Massinger's New Way iv. 1, Lord
Lovell says he will not marry Margaret and so leave his issue "made up of several
pieces, one part scarlet, And the other L. blue." L. blue was a particular dye
for cloth: here it is used depreciatingly of the L. citizen's blood as compared
with the scarlet of the aristocracy. In Eastward
i. 2, Girtred says to her sister, "Do you wear your quoiff with a L. licket;
I must be a lady, and I will be a lady." N.E.D. does not contain licket: it
is clearly some appendage to a lady's headdress, which distinguished a citizeness.
London cooks
A cook, evidently of L., is one of the pilgrims in Chaucer's C. T. In Jonson's
Epicoene iii. 1, Clerimont says, "there's
good correspondence between [the musicians] and the L. cooks." The musicians
learned from the cooks where there was a feast going on, and came to offer their
services.
London prentices
The apprentices of the tradesmen in Cheapside and elsewhere: they were a picturesque
feature m the life of the city, and at the cry of "Clubs" swarmed out of the
shops to protect any of their number who had got into trouble. Chaucer sketches
one of them in the fragment of the Cook's Tale. His name was Perkyn Revelour.
He was a lover of dancing and pageants and dicing, and occasionally found himself
in Newgate. In Scott's Fortunes of Nigel, there is a vivid picture of the life
of these young fellows. There is a contemporary picture, still more vivid, in
Eastward. T. Heywood's Prentices,
he tells how Godfrey of Bulloign apprenticed his 4 sons in L., and how they
went to Jerusalem and helped to take it, and each received as his reward a royal
crown. The hero of B.&F. Pestle is
a L. grocer's apprentice. In Merry
Devil i. 4, Faber speaks of "The frank and merry L. prentices." In Massinger's
Renegado i. 3, when Grimaldi strikes
Gazet the shopkeeper, Gazet exclaims: "The devil gnaw off his fingers! If he
were In L., among the clubs, up went his heels For striking of a Prentice."
In Dekker's Hon. Wh. A. iii. 1,
when Fustigo insults Candido, the mercer, the prentices rush in and belabour
him with their clubs. In iv. 3, when Crambo strikes Candido, George, the prentice,
cries: "'Sfoot, clubs, clubs! Prentices, down with 'em!" and a number of prentices
rush in and disarm Crambo. In T. Heywood's Ed.
IV A. 17, a prentice cries: "L. prentices, be ruled by me; Die, ere ye lose
fair L.'s liberty."
London waits
A body of wind-instrument players, appointed by the city authorities, who played
during the night, especially in the weeks immediately preceding Christmas. In
Jonson's Epicoene i. 1, Cleremont says
of Morose: "The waights of the City have a pension of him, not to come nigh
that ward." The name seems to be connected with the root of watch, and implies
that they kept awake during the night, but it came to be used as a synonym for
the Hautboys, which were their chief instruments. In Famous History of Dr. Faustus
(E. E. Prose Rom. iii. 178), we have "Lastly was heard by Faustus all manner
of instruments of music-as lutes, viols, waits, hornpipes." Butler, in Principles
of Music (1636) ii. 1, 93, speaks of "the waits or hoboys." These town musicians
were hired to play at weddings and other festivities: thus, in Armin's Moreclacke
i. 1, at the wedding of Sir William at Mortlake, Humil asks, "What, are
the waits of L. come?" and goes on: "Play in their highest key then." Whereupon
the serving-man says, "Sound, Hoboyes," and the direction is "Hoboyes play."
London's Joy
The name of a pudding. In Vox Borealis (1641), Jamie says, "They call a bag-pudding L.'s Joy."
London Lavender
(= a pawnshop). Lavender used to be placed amongst clothes which were stored away;
hence to lay in lavender meant to put away for a time: the transition to putting
into pawn is obvious. In Shirley's C.
Maid iii. 1, the Player says, "He wore them [a uniform] that day and sent
them up to taste our L. lavender."
The following is a list of plays the scene of which is laid in London:
Shakespeare: parts of all the English History plays;
Jonson: Ev. Man in Humour , Epicoene,
Alchemist, Bartholomew
Fair , Devil is an Ass , Staple
of News , Magnetic Lady , Tale
of Tub (in northern suburbs);
Beaumont and Fletcher: Scornful Lady
, Wit without Money , Monsieur
Thomas , Knight of Burning Pestle
, Woman's Prize , Coxcomb,
Wit at Several Weapons , Nightwalker;
Massinger: City Madam ;
Marlowe: Edward II (in part);
Peele: Edward 1 (in part);
Field: Woman is a Weathercock ,
Amends for Ladies ;
Ford: Perkin Warbeck (in part);
Middleton: Trick to Catch the Old One
, Chaste Maid in Cheapside , Roaring
Girl , Fair Quarrel , Michaelmas
Term , Family of Love , Your
Five Gallants , Anything for a
Quiet Life , No Wit like a Woman's
;
T. Heywood: English Traveller ,
Fair Maid of the Exchange , Wise
Woman of Hogsdon , Edward IV
(in part), If You Know not Me
;
Dekker: Shoemaker's Holiday ,
Witch of Edmonton , Westward
Hoe , Northward Hoe ;
Chapman, Jonson, Maston: Eastward Hoe
;
Marston: Dutch Courtesan ;
Webster: Sir Thomas Wyatt , Cure
for a Cuckold ;
Cowley: The Cutter of Coleman Street;
Shirley: Witty Fair One , Hyde
Park , Lady of Pleasure ,
Wedding, Love
in a Maze , Ball, Gamester,
Example, Constant
Maid , Honoria and Mammon;
Haughton: Englishmen for my Money
;
Marmion: Fine Companion ;
Davenant: Wits, Playhouse to
Let;
Barry: Ram Alley ;
Mayne: City Match ;
Cooke: Greene's Tu Quoque ;
Cartwright: Ordinary;
Rowley: New Wonder ;
Glapthorne: Hollander, Wit
in a Constable ;
Killigrew: Parson's Wedding ;
Brome: Northern Lass , City
Wit , Sparagus Garden , Covent
Garden Weeded , Mad Couple ,
Court Beggar , Damoiselle,
English-Moor , New
Academy , Antipodes;
Nabbes: Bride, Covent
Garden , Totenham Court ;
Sharpham: The Fleire , Cupid's
Whirligig ;
Anon: Arden of Feversham , London
Prodigal , Puritan, Sir
Thomas More , Thomas Cromwell
(in part), London Chaunticleers, Warning
for Fair Women , Nobody (in
part);
Yarrington: One of the Two Tragedies
.
The Old Chronicle Plays in large part: Trag. of R3, Famous Vict. of H5, King John, Contention of York and Lancaster, Trag. of R2, etc.
LONDON BRIDGE
(Map Q7)
The only b. over the Thames in L. in the Elizabethan period. Dion Cassius speaks of a b. over the Thames in the reign of the Emperor Claudius: it is certain, at any rate, that there was a b. in 1008 which was pulled down by the ships of Olaf the Norwegian. It was at once replaced, but was washed away by a flood in 1090, and its successor, also of wood, was burnt down in the reign of Stephen. The first stone b. was begun by Peter, chaplain of St. Mary Colechurch, a true Pontifex Maximus, in 1176. The legend runs that he founded the arches upon woolsacks, which has been rationalistically explained to mean that the money for the work was raised by a tax on wool. The b. was 33 years in building, had 19 stone arches with a wooden drawbridge to admit of the passage of ships, and was 236 ft. long and 40 wide. There was a chapel to St. Thomas à Becket upon it, and there the builder was buried. Another fire did great damage in 1212, and an order of "Brethren of L. B." was instituted in 1252 to raise money for repairs.
There was a gate at each end over which the heads of traitors were exhibited in terrorem. During Elizabeth's reign a new gate and tower were erected at the Southwark end, and the famous Nonsuch House, 4 stories high, over the 11th and 12th arches. Houses and shops ran along the whole length of the B. on each side. The B. gradually became unsafe, and, after many attempts at repairing it, was replaced in 1824 by the present structure, which is 100 ft. W. of its predecessor. Hentzner, in his Travels (1612), describes it as follows: "On the S. is a b. of stone 800 ft. in length of wonderful work; it is supported upon 20 piers of square stone, 60 ft. high and 30 broad, joined by arches of about 20 ft. diameter. The whole is covered on each side with houses so disposed as to have the appearance of a continued st., not at all of a b. Upon this is built a tower on whose top the heads of such as have been executed for high treason are placed on iron spikes: we counted above 30." Fynes Moryson, in Itinerary (1617), says, "The B. at L. is worthily to be numbered among the miracles of the world . . . The houses built upon the B. [are] as great and high as those of the firm land, so as a man cannot know that he passeth a b., save that the houses on both sides are combined in the top, making the passage somewhat dark, and that in some few open places the r. of Thames may be seen on both sides." Lupton, in London and the Country Carbonadoed (1632), says, "It may be said to be polypus, because it is so well furnished with legs: every mouth is 4 times filled in eight-and-forty hours, and then as a child it is still, but, as soon as they be empty, like a lion it roars and is wondrous impatient . . . . It is some prejudice to the water-man's gains: many go over here which otherwise should row or sail." Spenser, F. Q. iii. 9, 45, says of Troynovant (L.): "that with the waves Of wealthy Thamis washed is along, Upon whose stubborn neck (whereat he raves With roaring rage and sore himself does throng) . . . She fastened hath her foot, which stands so high That it a wonder of the world is song In foreign lands; and all which passen by, Beholding it from far, do think it threats the sky." Boorde, in Intro. of Knowledge i. 119, says of L.: "There is such a b. of pulchritudeness that in all the world there is none like."
In Jonson's Tub i. 2, To-Pan
boasts that his ancestors came over with Julius Caesar, "vore either L., ay,
or Kingston B., I doubt, were kursin'd." In Bale's Johan 292, Verity says of
John: "In his days the B. the citizens did contrive." In B.&F. Pestle,
Ind., the Citizen suggests, as subjects for a play, "The story of Q. Elinor;
or, The Rearing of L. B. upon woolsacks." In Chaunticleers viii., Curds recalls
the days "when we danced The building of L. B. upon woolpacks." In H6
B. iv. 4, 49, it is reported: "Jack Cade hath gotten L. B.," and in iv.
5, 3, "They have won the b., killing all those that withstand them." This was
in 1450. In T. Heywood's Ed. IV
A. i., the Recorder says, "The rebels will either make assault at L. B.
or else at Aldgate, both of which entrances should be strongly fortified."
The arches often needed repairing. In Jonson's Staple
ii. 4, Shunfield says that old Pennyboy "minds a courtesy no more Than L.
B. what arch was mended last." In Dekker's Satiromastix
iii. 1, 278, Tucca says to Mrs. Miniver, "Thy teeth stand like the arches
under L. b.," i.e. there are frequent gaps between them. Dekker speaks of "your
stiff-necked rebatoes [ie. ruffs] that have more arches for pride to row under
than can stand under 5 L. Bs." The gates were seldom free from the ghastly ornaments
of traitors' heads. In R3 iii.
2, 72, Catesby affirms that the princes make high account of Lord Hastings:
"For they account his head upon the B." In B.&F. Pestle
ii. 8, Merrythought soliloquizes: "I have seen a man come by my door with a
serious face, in a black cloak, without a hatband, carrying his head as though
he looked for pins in the st.; I have looked out of my window half a year after,
and have spied that man's head upon L. B." In Wilkins' Enforced
Marriage ii. 1, Word tells Wentloe that his face looks "worse than a knave's
head shook 7 years in the weather upon L. B." Lyly, in Pappe with an Hatchet
(Eliz. Pamphlets, p. 73), hopes to see Martin Marprelate "look over all the
city at L. B." In Bale's Johan 289, Imperial Majesty orders Sedition to be executed,
"And on L. B. look ye bestow his head." In Nash's Wilton A. 2. the Hero says,
"In a camp be many quarters, and yet not so many as on L. B." B.&F., in Corinth
iv. 1, transfer the B. to Corinth and speak of "the poles on Corinth b.
That bear the traitors' heads." In Trag. Richd. II i. 2, 115, Nimble hopes "that
when I have passed the L. B. of affliction I may arrive . . . at the Westminster
Hall of promotion."
As the piers occupied quite one-half of the breadth of the r., the banking
up of the tide caused a difference of level on the 2 sides of the B. of as much
as 4 ft.: hence there was great danger in trying to "shoot the b.," and the
noise of the rushing water was loud. The figure in Cor.
v. 4, 50 was no doubt suggested to the poet by what he had often seen as he
crossed the B. on his way to the Bankside theatres: "Ne'er through an arch so
hurried the blown tide As the recomforted through the gates." There is a similar
allusion in Lucr. 1667: "As through an arch the violent roaring tide Outruns
the eye that doth behold his haste, Yet in the eddy boundeth in his pride Back
to the strait that forced him on so fast: In rage sent out, recalled in, rage
being past." Shirley, to Brothers,
Prol., appeals to his audience: "As you were shooting the B., let no man shift
or stir." In his Gamester iii.
3, the Gamester "desperately will shoot the B. at midnight Without a waterman."
In Jonson's Devil i. 1, Iniquity
promises to take Pug to Billingsgate: "From thence shoot the B., child, to the
Cranes in the Vintry." In Eastward iv.
1, Slitgut, watching the r. from Cuckolds Haven, exclaims: "Lord, what a coil
the Thames keeps! it runs against L: b., as it were, even full-but." Trimtram,
in Middleton's Quarrel iv. 4, says,
"I'll practise to swim too, Sir, and then I may roar with the water at L. B.:
he that roars by land and by water both is the perfect roarer." In Shirley's
Pleasure iv. 2, Fred, who is going
to the Bear at the B.-foot, says, "We'll have music; I love noise. We will outroar
the Thames and shake the B., boy." Morose, in Jonson's Epicoene
iv. 2, mentions L. B., along with Paris Garden, Billingsgate, and other places,
as a locality "where the noises are at their height and loudest." In B.&F. Prize
i. 3, Sophocles says that Maria is such a talker that "The noise of L. B.
is nothing near her." In Middleton's Quiet
Life iv. 1, George says, "There is such a noise as if it were a tenement
upon L. B. and built upon the Arches": with a pun upon the Court of Arches,
where divorce cases were tried. In Nabbes' Totenham
i. 1, Worthgood, approaching London, says, "Sure I hear the B.'s cataracts."
People crossed the river to Southwark by the B. instead of taking the ferry.
Overbury, in his Character of a Waterman (1614), says, "L. B. is the most terrible
eyesore to him that can be." In World Child i. 180, Folly says, "Over L. B.
I ran And the straight way to the Stews I came." The Stews were on the Bankside,
Southwark. Suicides were sometimes committed from the B. True-wit, in Jonson's
Epicoene ii. 1, wonders that Morose
is still alive when there is "L. B. at a low fall with a fine leap to hurry
you down the stream." In Davenant's Wits
iii. 1, the elder Palatine says, "You may as soon Take me for a whale, which
is something rare, you know, o' this side of the B." Whales were occasionally
stranded below the B., but not above it. In Jonson's Volpone
ii. 1, Sir Politick regards the appearance of "3 porpoises above the B."
as a serious portent. This was on January 19th, 1605. But in Eastward
iii. 3, the Drawer takes the fact that "there was a porpoise even now seen at
L.-B." as merely an indication of a coming tempest. In Middleton's Quarrel
ii. 2, "as long as the water runs under L. B." is used to mean "for ever." In
Gamester iii. 3, Dwindle says
of a great glutton: "Would he had L. B. in his belly too! "In Nash's Lenten,
p. 326, mention is made of a "Bedlam hatmaker's wife by L. B.," who claimed
to be the Messiah. The Bear at the Bridgefoot was a famous tavern (see under
BEAR). During the reign of Elizabeth a Dutchman, Peter Morris, set up waterworks
at the N. end of the B. for the pumping up of the river-water and the supplying
of it to the citizens' houses. In Nash's Wilton, A. 4, Jack says, "The wheel
under our city b. carries not so much water over the city as my brain hath welled
forth in gushing streams of sorrow." So much for "that brave B., the bar that
thwarts the Thames," as it is called in Peele's Alcazar.
LONDON STONE
(Map O5)
One of the most venerable relics in L. It was probably the Roman miliarium, which
stood in the centre of the city, and from which the miles on the roads out of
L. were numbered. It used to stand on the S. side of Canwick (now Cannon) St.,
but was shifted to the N. side in 1742; and again in 1792 it was removed as an
obstruction, and would have been destroyed but for the exertions of Mr. Thomas
Maldon. It was then built into the wall of St. Swithin's Ch. in Cannon St., set
in stone and protected by an iron cage, where it may still be seen[ed. note:
the stone may still be viewed behind a white grating (in 2001) at approximately
the site Sugden describes, but St. Swithins is gone and is remembered only in
the name of the nearby lane]. The original position was 35 ft. S.W. of its
present location. In H6 B. iv.
6, the direction is: "Enter Jack Cade and the rest, and strikes his staff on L.
S." Then he says, "Now is Mortimer Lord of this city. And here, sitting upon L.
S., I charge and command that the Pissing Conduit run nothing but claret wine
this first year of our reign." According to Hall, he struck it with his sword.
Lydgate, in Lickpenny 71, says, "Then went I forth by L. S., Throughout all Canwick
St., Drapers much cloth me offered anon." In T. Heywood's Prentices,
p. 82, Eustace says, "Oh that I had with me As many good lads, honest prentices,
From East Cheap, Canwick-st., and L. S." In Middleton's Aries, one of the worthies
celebrated is "John Hinde, a re-edifier of the parish ch. of S. Swithin by L.
S." In Glapthorne's Wit ii. 1, Valentine
speaks of "Torn, the draper's man at L. S." In Dekker's Shoemaker's
iv. 5, Firk, being asked if he is sure of his news, replies: "Am I sure that Paul's
steeple is a handful higher than L. S.?" In Haughton's Englishmen
iv. 1, Frisco, leading the unhappy foreigners round L. in the night, says,
"I have the scent of L. S. as full in my nose as Abchurch Lane of Mother Wall's
pasties." In the list of Taverns in News Barthol. Fair, we have "the Bores Head
near L. S." This is the famous Boar's Head in Eastcheap, a few yards E. of L.
S.
LONDON WALL
(Map M3P3)
The old wall of the city of L. ran in a circle from the Tower, by way of Aldgate,
Bishopsgate, Aldersgate, Newgate, and Ludgate, to the Bridgegate at the entrance
to L. Bdge. Posterns were afterwards broken through at Moorgate and Cripplegate,
and at Christ's Hospital. Water-gates at Dowgate and Billingsgate gave admission
to the city from the r. The circuit was a little over 2 m. The wall, built in
Roman times, was from 9 to 12 ft. thick, and 20 ft. high. The portion along the
river-side from the Fleet R. to L. Bdge. had been subverted long before the reign
of Henry II, according to William Fitzstephen's evidence, but the part on the
land side, with its gates and ditch, was kept in repair, and the gates closed
at night, until the 17th cent. Since then it has gradually disappeared until none
of the gates are now left, and the only fragments of the wall still visible are
in the churchyard of St. Alphege, L. Wall; a bastion at St. Giles, Cripplegate;
a small portion in St. Martin's Court, Ludgate Hill; and another in George St.,
Trinity Sq., Tower Hill. The st. called L. Wall runs W. from Bishopsgate St. to
Wood St., along the S. side of the wall, which was still standing in a ruinous
condition along the N. side of the st. in 1761. In Shirley's Riches
iii., Gettings swears, "By the Hall ycleped Guild, and L. Wall." In Brome's
Wit iii. 3, Crasy says he met Dol
Tryman "about L. Wall." In Jonson's Ev.
Man I. iv. 4, Brainworm tells us that Cob, the water-bearer, "dwells by the
Wall."
LONG ACRE
(Map C34/D34)
A st. in Lond. running N.E. from St. Martin's Lane to Drury Lane. It was first called the Elms, then Seven Acres, and finally L. A. from a narrow strip of land on the N. side, which belonged to the Abbot of Westminster. The name occurs as early as 1556, when Machyn relates in his Diary that one Rechard Eggylston was killed "in the L. Acurs, the back side of Charyng Cross." It seems to have been from the time of Charles I a favourite haunt of coachmakers, but it shared the bad reputation of its neighbours, Drury Lane and Covent Garden. In Spiritual Courts Epitomized (1641), Scrape-all, the proctor, says, "All Bloomsbury, Covent-Garden, L.-a., and Beechlane were as fearful of me as of a constable." In St. Hilary's Tears (1642), the author speaks of "CoventGarden, L.-a., and Drury-Lane, where those doves of Venus, those birds of youth and beauty (the wanton ladies) do build their nests." In Alimony ii. 1, the Boy says, "She [Lady Alimony] will make a quick despatch of all his L.-a.," i.e. of his estate.
LONG LANE
(Map K3, L3)
A st. in Lond. running E. from W. Smithfield to Aldersgate St. on the N. side
of the old Priory of St. Bartholomew. It was chiefly occupied by pawnbrokers and
old-clothes dealers. In Val. Welsh. v.
4, Morgan says, "Cornwall, you are as arrant a knave as any Proker in Longlanes."
This was in the time of Caractacus! In Dekker's Northward
ii, 1, Doll says to Jack Hornet, "If all the brokers in L.l. had rifled their
wardrobe, they would ha' been damned before they had fitted thee thus." In Dekker's
Westward ii, 2, Birdlime says, "She
searched the middle aisle in Paul's and pressed 3 knaves, hired 3 liveries in
L. L., to man her." In Shirley's Pleasure
iv. 2, the Steward says to Littleworth, "Your coat and cloak's a brushing
In L.-l. Lombard": where Lombard means pawnshop. Nash, in Pierce, C. 3, laments
that "swords and bucklers go to pawn apace in L. L."
In 1634, Cromes, a broker of L. L., was imprisoned for lending a ch. robe
with the name of Jesus upon it to the players in Salisbury Court. Taylor (Works
ii. 3) couples L. L. with Houndsditch and Bridewell as places of ill-fame. In
Shrew iv. 3, 187, Petruchio, after
dwelling on the poor clothes that he and his wife are wearing, says, "Bring
our horses unto L. L. End." The scene is in N. Italy, but probably the mention
of the old clothes suggested to Shakespeare the name of the lane: certainly
an Elizabethan audience would not be slow to take the point. In Nabbes' C.
Garden i. 1, Ralph says of the players at the Cockpit: "They are men of
credit; they make no yearly progress with the anatomy of a sumpter horse, laded
with the sweepings of L.-L., purchased at the exchange of their own whole wardrobes."
In ii. 1, Warrant says to Spruce, "Thou buyest thy laundry in L.-l. or Hounsditch."
In Dekker's Last Will, the Devil writes: "Item, my will is that all the brokers
in L.-l. be sent to me with all speed possible, because I have much of them
laid to pawn to me." In Puritan i.
2, Pyebord says, "Where be your muskets, calivers, and hot-shots? In L. L.,
at pawn, at pawn." Fuller, Church Hist. (1656) vi. 1, 5, speaking of his work,
says, "My wardrobe . . . will be but as from the second hand fetched from L.-l.,"
and in vi. 4, 2, he says, "Brokers in L.-L, when they buy an old suit, buy the
linings together with the outside." Richard Olive, the printer, dwelt in L.
L. and published, for Thomas Creede, Lyly's Maid's
Meta. and Greene's Groatsworth of Wit (1596). The imprint of the latter
describes Richard Olive as "dwelling in long l. L.": the repetition is probably
a misprint, not a description.
LORD MAYOR'S BANQUETING HOUSE
A house erected near the Tyburn conduit-head in Lond. for the entertainment of
the Lord Mayor and Aldermen when they came out to inspect the source of their
water-supply. It stood N. of Oxford St., where Stratford Pl. is now. It was a
rustic building with gables and a thatched roof, and was taken down about 1750.
In Jonson's Devil v. 1, Ambler tells,
"I got the gentlewoman to go with me And carry her bedding to a conduit-head,
Hard by the place toward Tyburn, which they call My Lord Mayor's banqueting house."
LOTHBURY
(Map O4)
A st. in Lond., N. of the Bank of England, running E. from the corner of Moorgate
St to Throgmorton St. Stow says, "This st. is possessed for the most part by founders
that cast candlesticks, chafing dishes, spice mortars, and suchlike copper or
laton works, and do afterwards turn them with the foot, making. a loathsome noise
to the by-passers, and therefore by them disdainfully called Lothberie." One can
hardly believe that this derivation was seriously suggested. When Hotspur, in
H4 A. iii. 1, 131, says he "had
rather hear a brazen canstick turned" than a ballad-singer, he was probably thinking
of a L. experience. In Jonson's Alchemist
ii. 1, Mammon, in the expectation of getting the philosopher's stone, says, "I
will send to L. for all the copper." In Gipsies, Patrico prays that the K. may
be delivered "from the candlesticks of L.." amongst other disagreeable noises.
In Davenport's New Trick ii. 1,
Mrs. Changable threatens to make her husband's house as noisy "As if you were
to lodge in L., Where they turn brazen candlesticks.'' Amongst the taverns mentioned
in News Barthol. Fair is "the Windmill in Lothburry." There were also booksellers
in the st. Youth was "Imprinted in L. over against St. Margaretes Ch. by me Willyam
Copland." He also printed an edition of Howleglas in 1548. Abington
was "Imprinted for Joseph Hunt and William Ferbrand and are to be sold at
the corner of Coleman st. near Loathburie." There was a conduit at the corner
of L. and Coleman St. In Armin's Moreclacke,
C.3, Ferris says to John,"Your nose is like L. conduit that always runs waste."
LOTTERY HOUSE
The first English public lottery was drawn on 11 January 1569, in a wooden shed
at the W. door of St. Paul's. Wager's The Longer was "Imprinted at Lond. by Wyllyam
How for Richarde Johnes, and are to be sold at his shop under the Lotterie H."
It is undated, but was published just about 1569. In The Great Frost (1608), the
Countryman speaks of the L. "in the 11th year of Q. Elizabeth. It was held at
the W. door of St. Paul's Ch." In Induction to Jonson's Barthol,
the Book-holder says of the would-be critic of the Play: "He shall put in for
censures here, as they do for lots in the L.; marry, if he drop but 6d. at the
door, and will censure a crowns-worth, it is thought there is no conscience or
justice in that."
LOUNDRES
Flemish for Lond.; Cf. French Londres. In Webster's Weakest
iii. 4, Jacob van Smelt says, "For England, for L., they segt."
LOVE LANE
(Map R6)
A st. in Lond. running S. from Eastcheap to Lower Thames St., a little E. of Pudding
Lane. There is also a L. L. running from Wood St. to Aldermanbury, (Map M3) but in the following passage the mention of Pudding L. would seem
to indicate that the former is intended. In Jonson's Christmas, Venus says, "I
am Cupid's own mother: I dwell in Pudding L. ay, forsooth, he is prentice in L.
L., with a bugle-maker, that makes of your bobs, and birdbolts for ladies."
LUBBER'S HEAD
See LIBBARD'S HEAD.
LUCRECE
A bookseller's sign in Lond. The Trial of Treasure was "Imprinted in Paules churchyard at the sign of the Lucrece by Thomas Purfoote. 1567."
LUDGATE
(Map K5)
One of the old gates of the City of Lond., overstriding L. Hill just W. of St. Martin's Ch. Tradition assigned its building to a fabulous K. Lud in the year 66 B.C. The old wall came down from New-gate to L., and went on to the Thames. The gate was rebuilt by the Barons, who were opposed to K. John, in 1215, the stones being taken from the Jews' houses which they had pulled down. In 1260 it was repaired and adorned with statues of K. Lud and his sons: the heads of the statues were knocked off by the Puritans in the reign of Edward VI, but replaced by Q. Mary. In 1586 the old gate was taken down and a new one erected with K. Lud and his sons on one side and Q. Elizabeth on the other. It was gutted, but not destroyed, in the Gt. Fire. In 1760 the materials were sold to a certain Blagden, a carpenter, and the venerable building was removed. The statue of Elizabeth was placed on the tower of St. Dunstan's in Fleet St., and when the ch. was rebuilt in 1830 was let into the wall over the vestry porch, where it still stands. K. Lud and his sons were stored away in the bone-house, but in 1830 they were bought, along with the old church clock, and set up by Lord Hertford on his new house in Regent's Park, which he called St. Dunstan's. The gate was guarded by a Watch and closed every night: it was not till 1753 that the postern was allowed to be kept open all night.
In the 1st year of Richd. II Ludgate was made into a prison for debtors and
bankrupts. In 1419 it was disqualified as a prison and the inmates were removed
to Newgate, but so many of them died there of gaol-fever that those who survived
were brought back to L. a few months later by order of Sir Richard Whittington
and the debtors' prison re-established. According to the story, which was dramatized
in W. Rowley's New Wonder , a certain
Stephen Forster was in his youth confined is L., but was released by the generosity
of a rich widow whom he afterwards married. He became Lord Mayor in 1454, and
his widow in 1463 enlarged the prison by adding a quadrangle and a chapel, and
also laid on water for the prisoners and had the roof leaded. It remained a
prison to the end, when the prisoners were removed to the Lond. workhouse. In
More ii. 2, Williamson reports,
"Shreve More an hour ago received Some of the Privy Council in at L." This was
on the occasion of the prentices' riot. In Webster's Wyat,
p. 47, Wyat says, "Soft, this is L.: stand aloof! I'll knock." This was in the
rebellion of 1554, when Wyat led his followers up Fleet St. to L., but Lord
William Howard closed the gate against him and answered his knock with "Avaunt
thee, traitor, thou shalt not come in here." He then fell back to Temple Bar,
where he was arrested.
"From Aldgate to L." is used, like "from the Tower to the Temple," for the
whole of the city. Lyly, in Pappe with an Hatchet (Eliz. Pamphlets, p. 73),
says, "We hope to see him (Martin] stride from Aldgate to L. and look over all
the city at Lond. Bdge." In Dekker's Shoemaker's
i. 1, Eyre adjures his prentices, "Fight, by the Lord of L.!" i.e. K. Lud. In
Mayne's Match i. 4, Newcut, the
Templar, says, in reference to Plotwell, the mercer, "Sirrah Bright, Didst look
to hear such language beyond L.?" and Bright rejoins: "I thought all wit had
ended at Fleet-Bdge." The Fleet St. lawyers and wits regarded the citizens beyond
(i.e. to the east of) L. with contempt. In Puritan
i. 3, Frailty, catching a whiff of the Corporal's breath, exclaims, "Foh!
I warrant, if the wind stood right, a man might smell him from the top of Newgate
to the leads of L.," i.e. a furlong off. There appears to have been a clock
on the gate, for, in Middleton's R.
G. ii. 2. Sebastian says, "The clock at L., Sir, it ne'er goes true." In
B.&F. Pestle iii. 2, the Citizen's
wife cries, "Away, George, away! raise the watch at L.!" In Glapthorne's Wit
iv. 1, Busie says, "A sedan shall carry them unseen through the watch at
L. into Whitefriars."
Allusions to L. as a debtors' prison are numerous. In Jonson's Ev.
Man O. v. 7, Fallace says her husband "kept a poor man in L. once 12 years
for 16 shillings." In Rowley's New
Wonder i. 1, Brewen says of Forster: "He's now in L., Sir, and part of
your treasure lies buried with him." In Act V we have the account of Stephen
Forster's purpose to enlarge the prison. He gives directions that the prisoners
should be conveyed "From L. unto Newgate and the Counters," in order that he
may "take the prison down and build it new, With leads to walk on, chambers
large and fair"; and later he says, "The plumbers and the workmen have surveyed
The ground from Paddington; whence I'll have laid pipes To Lond. to convey sweet
water into L."
In Massinger's Madam i. 3, Frugal
says that to borrow money at interest is "The certain road to L. in a citizen."
Taylor (Works ii. 38) calls it "K. Lud's unlucky gate," and (ii. 91) he says,
"The ocean that Suretyship sails in is the spacious Marshalsea; sometimes she
anchors at Newgate rd., sometimes at L. Bay." In Dekker's Westward
iii. 2, Monopoly says," If I could meet one of those sergeants I would make
them scud so fast from me, that they should think it a shorter way between this
[Shoreditch] and L. than a condemned cut-purse thinks it between Newgate and
Tyburn." In Glapthorne's Wit ii.
1, Valentine says that wives, by their extravagance, "see their husbands lodged
in L." In Dekker's Satiro. iv.
3, 107, it is said of Horace (Ben Jonson): "He talks and rants for all the world
like the poor fellow under L.," i.e. the prisoner who clapped his dish and kept
up a monotonous cry of "Pity the poor prisoners," in order to get alms from
the passers-by. In Jonson's Ev. Man
O. i. 1, Cordatus says, "Beware you commerce not with bankrupts or poor
needy Ludgathians," i.e. people who have been in L. for debt. In Brome's Northern
iii. 3, Luckless says, "If she be not mistress of her art, there is no bankrupt
out of L. nor whore out of Bridewell."
In Hycke, p. 99, Frewyll tells
how Imagynacioun "to L. took the way," and there went into an apothecary's shop
and stole a bag of gold. In Nabbes' C.
Garden iv. 3, Dasher says, "A country gentleman to sell his land is, as
it were, to change his copy; which changing of copy ends many times in the city
freehold at L." Dekker, in Seven Sins, makes Politicke Bankruptism enter the
City by L. and receive a welcome "by a bird picked out of purpose amongst the
Ludgathians." In Bellman, he speaks of "Citizens that have been blown up [i.e.
made bankrupt] without gunpowder, and by that means have been free of the Grate
at L." The grate was the opening through which the prisoners solicited alms
from the passers-by. In verses prefixed to Coryat's Crudities (1611), Vadianus
says of the author: "L., the floodgate of great Lond.'s people, With double
doors receives a Wight so dapper."
LUDGATE HILL
(Map J5K5)
Originally L. stood across the st. just W. of St. Martin's, Lond.: the st. as far as L. was called Fleet St., and that from L. to St. Paul's Bowyer Row or L. St. Later, the part between the Fleet Bdge. and L. was called L. Hill, and when the gate was removed the whole st. from the Fleet Bdge. to St. Paul's took that name. Barclays Lost Lady was "Imprinted at Lond. by Jo. Okes for John Colby and are to be sold at his shop at the sign of the Holy Lamb on L. H." The date is 1639.
LUD'S TOWN
An affected archaism for Lond., in reference to the legend that a mythical king,
Lud, repaired the city, which had been built by Brute under the name of Troynovant
(i.e. New Troy), and gave it his own name, L. T., which was also preserved in
Ludgate, q.v. In Cym. iii. 1, 32,
the Q. recalls how Cassibelaun "Made L. T. with rejoicing fires bright." In iv.
2, 99, Cloten threatens to set the head of Guiderius "on the gates of L. T.":
referring to the practice of fixing the heads of traitors on the gates of Lond.
In v. 5, 481, Cymbeline gives order to "march through L. T." to ratify the peace
with the Romans.
LUMBER, or LUMBERT, STREET
See LOMBARD STREET.
LYON KEY
See LION KEY.
LYON'S INN
(Map F5)
An Inn of Chancery in Lond., belonging to the Inner Temple. It was originally
a tavern with the sign of the Lion, and was converted into an Inn of Chancery
in the reign of Henry VIII. It stood on the site of the Globe Theatre in Newcastle
St., off the Strand: it was sold by the members in 1863, and the theatre was
erected in 1868. The now defunct Opéra Comique occupied a part of the site.
In a letter from W. Fleetwood to Lord Burghley in 1584, he relates how a tailor,
having quarrelled with a clerk, raised the prentices, and "thinking that the
clerk was run into L. I., brake down the windows of the house." In Brome's Moor
iii. 1, Phillis says, "I have a cousin that is a Retorney of L. I., that
will not see me wronged."