The House of Detention, Clerkenwell, a place of imprisonment as old as , was rebuilt in , and also in . This prison was the scene, in , of that daring attempt to rescue the Fenian prisoners, Burke and Casey, which for a day or scared London.

In the course of the day,

a policeman on duty outside the prison had his suspicions so strongly aroused, by seeing a woman named Justice and a man frequently conversing together, that he communicated with one of the prison authorities, who, in consequence, made arrangements for giving an alarm, if it should become necessary. During the day, a warder on duty inside had his attention directed to a man at a window in the upper part of a house in Woodbridge Street, overlooking the prison-yard. He went to bring another warder, and on their return the man had vanished, but was shortly afterwards seen talking to the woman Justice near the entrance to the prison, and to the man who had been seen loitering with her. Later in the day, the warder had his attention called to the same window in the opposite house in Woodbridge Street, overlooking the prison-yard; and there he saw a woman leaning out, and several men inside the room. He distinctly counted five men; but there seemed to him to be more, and they were all looking anxiously in the direction of the place where the explosion occurred almost immediately afterwards.

The explosion, which sounded like a discharge of artillery, occurred at exactly a quarter to four o'clock in the afternoon, when there was still some daylight, and was heard for miles round. In the immediate neighbourhood it produced the greatest consternation; for it blew down houses, and shattered the windows of others in all directions. A considerable length of the outer wall of the prison was levelled with the ground. The windows of the prison, of coarse glass more than a quarter of an inch thick, were, to a large extent, broken, and the side of the building immediately facing the outer wall in which the breach was made, and about 150 feet from it, showed the marks of the bricks which were hurled against it by the explosion. The wall surrounding the prison was about twentyfive feet high, two feet three inches thick at the bottom, and about fourteen inches thick at the top.

The result of the explosion upon the unfortunate inmates of the houses in Corporation Lane and other adjoining buildings was most disastrous. Upwards of forty innocent people-men, women, and children of all ages, some of whom happened to be passing at the time--were injured more or less severely; one was killed on the spot, and three more died shortly afterwards.

Several persons were arrested as having been

the thing went off.

The legends and traditions of this most ancient and interesting district of London all cluster round [extra_illustrations.2.310.1]  (the old south gate of the priory of St. John of Jerusalem), and the old crypt of , relics of old religion and of ancient glory.

For upwards of years [extra_illustrations.2.310.2] , and a brief noteof their origin here becomes indispensable. The order seems to have had its rise in the middle of the century, when some pious merchants of Amalfi obtained leave of the Mohammedans to build a refuge for sick and needy Christian pilgrims, near the church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem. The hospital was dedicated to St. John the Cypriote, Patriarch of Alexandria, a good man, who, in the century, when the Saracens took Jerusalem, had generously sent money and food to the afflicted Christians of Syria. Subsequently the order renounced John the Patriarch, and took up with the more agreeable patronage of St. John the Baptist.

In the crusade, when the overwhelming forces of Christian Europe forced their way into the Holy city, and the streets which Christ had trodden, scattering blessings, floated in infidel blood, the hospital of St. John was filled with wounded Crusaders, many of whom, on their recovery, doffed their mail and put on the robes of the holy and charitable brotherhood. The real founder of the order was Gerard, who, when Godfrey de Bouillon was chosen King of Jerusalem, in , proposed to the brethren a regular costume, and became the rector or master of the order. The dress formally adopted, in , was a black robe and white cross. Raymond de Pay, who succeeded Gerard, took a bolder step. Tired of merely feeding and nursing sick and hungry pilgrims, he proposed to his brethren to make the order a military . By this section of the church militant had whipped off hundreds of shaven heads, and covered themselves with glory.

In , when Saladin retook Jerusalem, he was gracious to the Hospitallers, who had been kind to the wounded and the prisoners, and he allowed of the order to remain and complete their cures. Still indefatigable against the unbelievers, the men of the black robe and white cross fought bravely at the taking of Ptolemais, in , and from them this strong seaport town, which they held for nearly centuries, derived its new name of St. Jean d'Acre.

Siege and battle, desert march and hill fights, had, however, now thinned the black mantles, and more men had to be sent out to recruit the little army of muscular Christians. The departure of the reinforcement from Clerkenwell Priory is thus picturesquely described by the old monkish chronicler, Matthew Paris:--

In

1237

the Hos. pitallers sent their prior, Theodoric, a German by birth, and a most clever knight, with a body of other knights and stipendiary attendants, and a large sum of money, to the assistance of the Holy Land. They having made all arrangements, set out from their house at Clerkenwell, and proceeded in good order, with about

thirty

shields uncovered, with spears raised, and preceded by their banner, through the midst of the city, towards the bridge, that they might obtain the blessings of the spectators, and, bowing their heads with their cowls lowered, commended themselves to the prayers of all.

It is said,

that on the return of the English Crusaders to their native country, the Knights Hospitallers and Knights Templars, on the

3rd of October, 1247

, presented King Henry III. with a beautiful crystalline vase,. containing a portion of the blood of our Saviour that he had shed on the cross for the salvation of mankind, the genuineness of the relic being attested by the seals of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, and the archbishops, bishops, abbots, and other prelates of the Holy Land.

In , at the desperate siege of Acre, the fighting of straight sword against sabre was so hot,

The generous concessions of Henry VIII. lasted only as long as the tyrant's purse was full. Having little to say against the Clerkenwell knights, he suppressed the order because it

maliciously and traitorously upheld the

Bishop of Rome

to be Supreme head of Christ's Church,

the good and godly laws and statues of this realm.

being gentlemen and soldiers of ancient families and high spirits,

The rules and privileges of the order of the Knights of St. John,

were as follows. Raymond de Pay made the following rules, which were confirmed by Pope Boniface, in the sixth year of his pontificate :--Poverty, chastity, and obedience; to expect but bread and water and a coarse garment. The clerks to serve in white surplices at the altar. The priests in their surplices to convey the Host to the sick, with a deacon or clerk preceding them bearing a lantern, and a sponge filled with holy water. The brethren to go abroad by the appointment of the master, but never singly; and, to avoid giving offence, no females to be employed for or about their persons. When soliciting alms, to visit churches, or people of reputation, and ask their food for charity; if they received none, to buy enough for subsistence. To account for all their receipts to the master, and he to give them to the poor, retaining only one-third part for provisions, the overplus to the poor. The brethren to go soliciting only by permission, to carry candles with them, to wear no skins of wild beasts, or clothes degrading to the order. To eat but twice a day on Wednesday and Saturday, and no flesh from Septuagesima until Easter, except when aged or indisposed. To sleep covered. If incontinent in private, to repent in privacy, and do penance. If the brother was discovered, he was to be deprived of his robe in the church of the town after mass, severely whipped, and expelled from the order, but if truly penitent, he might be again received, but not without penance, and a year's expulsion. If two of the brethren quarrelled, they were to eat only bread and water on Wednesday and Friday, and off the bare ground for seven days. If blows passed, and to those who went abroad without permission, this discipline was extended to forty days. No conversation when eating, or after retiring to the dormitory, and nothing to be drunk after the ringing of the compline. If a brother offended, and did not amend after the third admonition, he was compelled to walk to the master for correction. No brother was to strike a servant. The twenty-second rule of this monastic code was both revolting and disgraceful to any community. It ordered that if a brother died without revealing what he possessed, his money should be tied about the body's neck, and it was to be severely whipped in the presence of the members of the house. Masses were sung thirty days for deceased brethren and alms given in the house. In all decisions they were to give just judgment. They sung the epistle and gospel on Sundays, made a procession, and sprinkled holy water. If a brother embezzled money appropriated to the poor, or excited opposition to the master, he was expelled. When a brother's conduct was found to be too bad, another was to reprove him, but not to publish his faults. If amendment did not follow, the reprover was to call the assistance of others, and ultimately report his crimes to the master in writing; but those accusations were to be supported by proof. The brothers were universally to wear the cross on their breasts.

The order was that of St. Augustine. He who wished for admission came before the Chapter on Sunday, and humbly expressed his hope that he might be received. If no objection was made, a brother informed him that numbers of men of consequence had preceded him, but that he would be entirely deceived in supposing that he should live luxuriously; for that instead of sleeping he would be required to wake, and fast when desirous to eat, to visit places he would rather have avoided, and, in short, have no will of his own. The exordium concluded with a demand whether he was willing to do these things. Upon answering in the affirmative, an oath was administered, by which he bound himself never to enter any other order, declared himself a bachelor without having promised marriage, that he was free from debt, and a free- The Original Priory Church Of St. John, Clerkenwell. man, that he would live and die under the superior whom God should place over him, to be chaste and poor, and a servant to the sick. He who received the new brother then promised him bread and water, and coarse garments, and a participation in all the good works of the order.

Whoever wished to be received into the brotherhood was required to prove his nobility for four descents, on his mother's as well as his father's side; to be of legitimate birth (an exception being made only in favour of the natural sons of kings and princes); to be not less than twenty years of age, and of blameless life and character.

The following ceremonies were performed at the creation of a knight:-- 1. A sword was given to the novice, in order to show that he must be valiant. 2. A cross hilt, as his valour must defend religion. 3. He was struck three times over the shoulder with the sword, to teach him patiently to suffer for Christ. 4. He had to wipe the sword, as his life must be undefiled. 5. Gilt spurs were put on, because he was to spurn wealth at his heels. 6. He took a taper in his hand, as it was his duty to enlighten others by his exemplary conduct. 7. He had to go and hear mass, where we will leave him.

In the season of its prosperity this renowned order included in its fraternity men of eight different nations, of which the English were the sixth in rank. The languages were those of Provence, Auvergne, France, Italy, Arragon, England, and Germany. The Anglo-Bavarian was afterwards substituted for that of England, and that of Castile was added to the number. Cowardice on the battle-field involved the severest of all penaltiesdegradation and expulsion from the order. We place this cross on your breast, my brother, says the ritual of admission, that you may love it with all your heart; and may your right hand ever fight in its defence and for its preservation. Should it ever happen that, in combating against the enemies of the faith, you should retreat and desert the standard of the cross, and take flight, you will be stripped of the truly holy sign, according to the customs and statutes of the order, and you will be cut off from our body as an unsound and corrupt member. A knight, when degraded, had his habit torn from off him, and the spurs which he received at his investiture were hacked off.

Between the years and , says Mr. Pinks, there was an attempt in London to revive

the Langue of England,

About the knights adopted a red cassock, and a white cross as their military dress, reserving the black mantle worn in imitation of the Baptist's garment in the wilderness for hospital use. Their standard was red, with a white cross. The Hospitallers' churches were all sanctuaries, and lights were kept perpetually burning in them. The knights had the right of burying even felons who had given them alms during life.

The Hospitallers had also the privilege of administering the sacrament to interdicted persons, and even in interdicted towns; and they were also allowed to bury the interdicted in the churchyards of any of their commanderies.

The order began, like the Templars, in poverty, and ended in luxury and corruption. The governor was entitled, at ,

The Servant to the Poor Serviteurs of the Hospital of Jerusalem.

Brave as the Hospitallers of Clerkenwell always remained, they soon, we fear, grew proud, avaricious, and selfish. Edward III. had to reprove the brotherhood for its proud insolence. When Henry III. threatened to take away their charter, the prior told him that a king who was unjust did not deserve the name of monarch. In the English prior, Thomas l'Archer, raised by cutting down woods round all the commanderies; he also sold leases and pensions for any terms of ready money, and by bribes to the judges, he procured for the order forfeited lands of the Templars.

Every preceptory of the Hospitallers paid its own expenses, except that of Clerkenwell, where the grand prior resided, and had many pensioners to support, and many courtly and noble guests to entertain. In the year this priory spent more than its entire revenue, which was at least .

The consumption,

of the good things of the earth in the preceptory of Clerkenwell by the brotherhood, the pensioners, guests, and servitors was enormous. In

one

year, besides fish and fowl from its demesnes, it expended

430

quarters of wheat,

413

quarters of barley,

60

quarters of mixed corn (draget),

225

quarters of oats for brewing,

300

quarters of oats for horse-feed. They used

eight

quarters of oats and

four

quarters of peas for pottage, and laid out

in expensis coquinae

(in the expenses of the kitchen)

£ 121

6s. 8d.

The next item shows that in the midst of all their excesses they had not forgotten to be hospitable. For

twenty

quarters of beans distributed among the poor on St. John the Baptist's Day, according to custom, at

3s.

per quarter,

60s.

The prior of St. John of Jerusalem ranked as the baron of England,

a kind of otter,

a knight half-spiritual, half-temporal.

Sane Baro

Sir William Weston, the last prior but of St. John, distinguished himself during the siege of Rhodes. His father's brothers were also knights of the order, and of them had been Lord Prior of England and General of the Galleys. At the dissolution King Henry awarded Sir William a pension of a year; but the suppression of the order in England broke his brave heart soon after. Sir Thomas Tresham, the last prior, died a year or after his investiture. A Sir William Tresham was residing at in . He was of the same family as Sir Francis Tresham, whose mysterious letter to his friend Lord Monteagle led to the fortunate discovery of the Gunpowder Plot. It will not be forgotten by our readers that a Protestant band of the Knights Hospitallers still exists in Prussia, rich and numerous.

The Priory of St. John of Jerusalem, at Clerkenwell, was founded by Lord Jordan Briset, in the reign of Henry I. He founded also the Nuns' house at Clerkenwell. In the church was consecrated by Heraclius, Patriarch of Jerusalem. In the reign of Edward I. further additions were made to the priory; the preceptory was burned by Wat Tyler's rabble, and it was not till that the hospital was restored to its full grandeur, and the grand south gate erected by Sir Thomas Docwra. Camden says of the building, admiringly, that it resembled a palace, and had in it a very fair church, and a tower-steeple raised to a great height, with so fine workmanship that it was a singular beauty and ornament to the city.

At the dissolution Henry VIII. gave the priory church to John Dudley, Viscount Lisle, Lord High Admiral of England for ; and the church and priory were used by that bloated Ahab, Henry, as a storehouse for his toils and hunting-tents. Edward VI., as careless of confiscating sacred things as his tyrannical father, gave away the remaining land.

But in the

third

year of Edward VI.,

the church for the most part, to wit, the body and side aisles, with the great bell-tower (a most curious piece of workmanship, graven, gilt, and inameled, to the great beautifying of the city, and passing all other that I have seen), was under. mined and blown up with gunpowder; the stone thereof was employed in building of the Lord

Protectors house in

the Strand

(old

Somerset House

).

The curse of sacrilege, in Spelman's opinion, fell on the Protector. He never finished his Strand house, nor did his son inherit it, and he himself perished on the scaffold. The stones of Priory went to build the porch of the church of Allhallows, in . The choir, in Fuller's time, was in

a pitiful plight,

On Mary's succession, Cardinal Pole, on the revival of the order, built a west front to the priory church, and repaired the side chapels. We find on the day of the decollation of St. John the Baptist, that the Merchant Taylors came to celebrate mass at the priory church, when the choir was hung with arras, and every made offerings at the altar.

Many remarkable historical scenes took place at [extra_illustrations.2.315.1] . of the most remarkable of these was the aulic council held by Henry II. and his barons, when the patriarch Heraclius and the grand master of the Hospitallers, came to England to urge Henry to a new crusade. Heraclius brought with him the keys of David's Tower and the Holy Sepulchre, and an offer of the crown of Jerusalem. When the barons agreed that the king should not lead the crusaders in person, the patriarch flew into an inappeasable rage.

Here is my head,

here is my head; treat me, if you like, as you did my brother Thomas (meaning è'Becket). It is a matter of indifference to me whether I die by your orders or in Syria by the hands of the infidels; for you are worse than a Saracen.

In King John, that dark and malign usurper, spent a whole month at the Priory of St. John, feasted by the prior, and on Easter Sunday, at table, he knighted Alexander, the son of the King of Scotland, a ceremony which cost young Sandy In Prince Edward and his loving wife, Eleanor of Castile, were entertained here. The prince had married his wife when she was only years of age, and on claiming her, at , came to Priory for their honeymoon. In we find Henry IV., not yet crowned, coming down Chepe to , and, after lodging with the bishop for or days, staying a fortnight at the priory. In King Henry V., that chivalrous king, says the Grey Friars' chronicler, was

lyvinge at Sent Jones.

In the year a royal council was held at . Public indignation was aroused by a well-founded rumour of the intended espousal by Richard III. of Elizabeth of York, his niece, his queen, Anne, being then lately dead.

Richard, perceiving the public disgust, gave up the idea of marrying Elizabeth, and immediately after the funeral of his wife was over, called a meeting of the civic authorities in the great hall of

St. John's

, Clerkenwell, just before Easter, and in their presence distinctly disavowed any intention of espousing his niece, and forbade the circulation of the report, as false and scandalous in a high degree.

The Princess Mary lived at the priory in much pomp, sometimes visiting her brother, Edward VI., in great state. Machyn, in his curious diary, describes her riding from to , attended by Catholic lords, knights, and gentlemen, in coats of velvet and chains of gold, and on another day returning to ; followed by fourscore Catholic gentlemen and ladies,. each with an ostentatious pair of black beads,

to make a profession of their devotion to the mass.

In Elizabeth's reign, when sacred things were roughly handled, Tylney, the queen's Master of the Revels, resided at , with all his tailors, embroiderers, painters, and carpenters, and all artificers required to arrange court plays and masques. In this reign Master Tylney licensed all plays, regulated the stage for years, and passed no less than of Shakespeare's dramas, commencing with . and ending with ; he might have told us or things about the

great unknown,

During the absurd Sacheverell riots, when a High Church mob turned out to destroy Dissenting chapels, Chapel happening to be near the house of the obnoxious Bishop Burnet, the fanatics gutted the building, and burnt the pews, &c., before Burnet's door. [extra_illustrations.2.316.1]  was a High Church clergyman, who, in a public sermon at , had proclaimed the doctrine of passive obedience, and was, in consequence, sent for trial to Hall, where the Tories triumphantly acquitted him. The chapel was enlarged in , and in was bought for by the commissioners for building new churches.

In the present church, which was restored and improved by Mr. Griffith, in , of the large painted windows at the east end remains in its old state. In the south and east walls are remains of Prior Docwra's perpendicular work, and the pews stand upon capitals and rib mouldings of the former church. There are some few traces of early English architecture. An old gabled wooden building near the south side of the church, as seen in Hollar's view of the priory (), is still standing, says Mr. Pinks, and is occupied by Sunday Schools. Stones of the old church were discovered in , forming sides of. the main sewer through . The arms of Prior Botyler (-), a chevron between combs, are still to be seen in the central east window. The head of the beadle's staff, a Knight Hospitaller in silver, was in use in the time of James II., and belonged to the old church of St. James. The portable baptismal bowl is antique, and once supplied the place of a font. Langhome, the poet, was curate and lecturer at [extra_illustrations.2.316.2] , in . He defended the Scotch against Churchill's satire, and helped his brother to translate Plutarch's A poem of Langhorne's moved Burns to tears, the only night Sir Walter Scott, then a child, ever saw him.

In the vaults of this church the celebrated

Cock Lane

Ghost

Through the dull deep surrounding gloom,

In close array, t'wards Fanny's tomb

Adventured forth; Caution before,

With heedful step, a lanthorn bore,

Pointing at graves; and in the rear,

Trembling and talking loud, went Fear.

At length they reach the place of death.

A vault it was, long time apply'd

To hold the last remains of pride.

Thrice each the pond'rous key apply'd,

And thrice to turn it vainly try'd,

'Till, taught by Prudence to unite,

And straining with collected might,

The stubborn wards resist no more,

But open flies the growling door.

Three paces back they fell, amazed,

Like statues stood, like madmen gazed.

How would the wicked ones rejoice,

And infidels exalt their voice,

If M-e and Plausible were found,

By shadows aw'd, to quit their ground?

How would fools laugh should it appear

Pomposo was the slave of fear?

Silent all three went in; about

All three turn'd silent, and came out.

The church is, in fact, chiefly remarkable for its crypt, the descent to which is at the north-east angle, under the vestry. It seems originally, by Hollar's view of the east end of the church, in , to have been then above ground. Though years old, the crypt of is in good preservation. The chief portion consists of bays, semi-Norman and early English, the ribs of the latter bays springing from triple clustered columns, with moulded capitals and bases. From each keystone hangs an iron ring. On each side of the western bays are pointed window openings, now blocked up. The central avenue of the crypt is feet wide, and feet high, and there are corresponding side-aisles. At the entrance of the vault is a place where the gardener used to keep his tools, and where, for many years, stood a coffin said to have been arrested for debt. The coffins used to stand in rows, or deep, covered with dust, and shreds of black cloth. The ends of some had fallen out, and the bony feet had protruded. In a committee of gentlemen reporting on repairs found a sheet of cobweb hanging from the upper coffins to feet long, and in parts nearly as broad. In the coffins were piled up in the aisles, that of

Scratching Fanny,

Many years ago workmen making a sewer beneath the square, nearly in a line with Jerusalem Passage, came on a chalk and flint wall feet thick, and Mr. Cromwell decided that this was part of the foundation of the stately tower described by Stow. It is supposed that the church was

That fine specimen of Sir Thomas Docwra's perpendicular, [extra_illustrations.2.317.1] , is built of brick and freestone. The walls are about feet thick, and are built of brick, faced with Ryegate stone, the same as used for Henry VII.'s Chapel. The famous gate and its flanking towers, formerly much higher than they are now since the soil has risen around them, are pierced with numerous windows, the principal being a wide Tudor arch, with mullions and many coats of arms. Beneath this window are several shields, set in Gothic niches. In the centre are the arms of France and England, surmounted by a crown; on each side are the arms of the priory. Outside these are shields, bearing the founders' arms impaling the arms of England, the other emblazoning the insignia of Sir Thomas Docwra. Underneath these last shields were formerly the initials

T. D.,

Prior.

Ano.-Dni.,

1504

.

The entrance to the west tower, says Mr. Pinks, from the north side of the gate, now no longer used, once led to a staircase, the entrance to Cave's printing-office. The carvings on the spandrils of the doorcase, now decayed, are described in as representing a hawk and a cock, a hen and a lion, supporting the shield of the priory, and that of Sir Thomas Docwra. The old stone floor is feet below the present surface. The round tower internally contains remains of the old well staircase (half stone, half oak) which led to the top of the gateway. The upper part was made of blocks of oak inches thick. The east tower had probably a similar staircase. The stone staircase in the north-west tower was removed in . The entrance to the east tower, on the north side the gate, has been long ago blocked up.

In Hollar draws the gate as blocked up with a wooden structure, beneath which were distinct passages. This was removed in . The roof of the now dwarfed archway is, says an able historian of Clerkenwell,

a beautiful example of the groining of the

fifteenth

century, adorned with shields, bosses, and moulded ribs, springing from angular columns with moulded capitals.

On the east side of the archway Mr. Foster, the keeper of the

Jerusalem

Jerusalem

The basement on the west side was, in , converted into a watch-house, and was afterwards turned into a dispensary hospital by the modern Knights of St. John, which in its year benefited persons. It then became a coal-shed, and after that a book-store. In many of the gate-house rooms there are still oak--panelled ceilings. The

grand hall,

It was here [extra_illustrations.2.317.2]  toiled for [extra_illustrations.2.317.3] , the editor of the , and here Garrick made his theatrical debut in London.

Between -, says Mr. Percy Fitzgerald, in his Garrick's friend Johnson -- now working out a miserable from the very humblest hack-work, and almost depending for his crust on some little article that he could now and again get into the --was by this time intimate with Mr. Cave, of Gate, the publisher of that journal. Johnson mentioned his companion, and speaking of his gay dramatic talents, inspired this plain and practical bookseller with some curiosity, and it was agreed that an amateur performance should take

[extra_illustrations.2.317.5] 

The delightful traditions that encrust, as with many-coloured lichens, the old gate, cluster thickest around the old room over the arch, for there Johnson, Garrick, and Goldsmith spent many pleasant hours, and it is good to sit there among the club, and muse over the great men's memories.

In the coffee-room on the basement floor is an old-fashioned wide wooden chair, which, tradition asserts, was the favourite chair of Dr. Johnson. On the top rail is boldly painted the date of the doctor's birth and death. The chair was, however, it is hinted, merely an old chair found in an upper room by Mr. Benjamin Foster, when he took the tavern, and labelled

Dr. Johnson's,

Jerusalem

Jerusalem

In the gate became dignified by its connection with literature. Cave, the printer, careful, shrewd, and industrious, set up his presses in the hall over the gateway, and started the , , displaying the gate in a rude woodcut on the exterior of the periodical, and very soon drew public attention to his magazine.

With Gate is connected Dr. Johnson's struggles towards the daylight. Here, after hungry walks with Savage round , and long controversies in Grub Street cookshops, he came to toil for Cave, who employed him to edit the contributions, and to translate from Latin, French, and Italian. About the year he produced his

London,

These productions were characterised by remarkable vigour, for they were written at those seasons, says Hawkins, when Johnson was able to raise his imagination to such a pitch of fervour as bordered upon enthusiasm. We can almost picture the doctor in his lone room in the gate, declaiming aloud on some public grievance. For the session of

1740

-

41

he undertook to write the debates entirely himself, and did so for the whole of

three

sessions. He began with a debate in the

House of Commons

on the bill for prohibiting exportation of corn, on the

19th November, 1740

, and ended with

one

in the Lords, on the bill for restraining the sale of spirituous liquors, on the

23rd February, 1742

-

3

. Such was the goodness of Johnson's heart, that a few days before his death he solemnly declared to Mr. Nichols, whom he had requested to visit him,

was to fix upon a speaker's name, then to make an argument for him, and to conjure up an answer.

The memoranda for the debates,

which were published in the

Gentleman's Magazine

were obtained sometimes by stealth, and at others from members of the House who were favourable to their publication, and who furnished Cave with notes of what they had themselves said or heard, through the medium of the post, and frequently by

viva voce

communication. Cave, when examined at the bar of the

House of Lords

on the charge of printing an account of the trial of Lord Lovat, in

1747

, being asked, says Nichols, in his

Literary Anecdotes,

how he came by the speeches which he printed in the

Gentleman's Magazine

, replied that he got into the House and heard them, and made use of black-lead pencil, and took notes of only some remarkable passages, and from his memory he put them together himself. He also observed that sometimes he had speeches sent him by very eminent persons, as well as from the members themselves.

When working for Cave, at Gate, Johnson was still dependent.

We are told,

by Boswell that soon after his Life of Richard Savage was anonymously published, Walter Harte, author of the Life of Gustavus Adolphus, dined with Cave at the gate, and in the course of conversation highly commended Johnson's book. Soon after this Cave met him, and told him that he had made a man very happy the other day at his (Cave's) house. How could that be? said Harte; nobody was there but ourselves. Cave answered by reminding him that a plate of victuals had been sent behind a screen at the dinner-time, and informed him that Johnson, who was dressed so shabbily that he did not choose to appear, had emptied that plate, and had heard with great delight Harte's encomiums on his book.

From that spoilt child of genius, Richard Savage, Cave had many communications before he knew Johnson. The misfortunes and misconduct of this darling of the Muses reduced him to the lowest state of wretchedness as a writer for bread; and his occasional visits to St. John's Gate brought him and Johnson together, poverty and genius making them akin.

The amiable and accomplished authoress, Mrs. Elizabeth Carter, whom Johnson, from an appreciation of her talents, highly esteemed, and who was a frequent contributor to the Magazine, under the name of Eliza, during the interval of her occasional visits to London, lodged at St. John's Gate. Hither also came Richard Lauder, Milton's detractor; Dr. Hawkesworth, the author of Belisarius; and a shoal of the small-fry of literature, who shared the patronage of Cave.

Jedediah Buxton, a mental calculator of extraordinary powers, resided for several weeks in 1754 at St. John's Gate. This man, although he was the son of a schoolmaster (William Buxton), and the grandson of a vicar of his native parish (John Buxton), Elmeton, in Derbyshire, had never learned to write, but he could conduct the most intricate calculations by his memory alone; and such was his power of abstraction, that no noise could disturb him. One who had heard of his astonishing ability as a calculator, proposed to him for solution the following question:--In a body whose three sides measure 23,145,789 yards, 5,642,732 yards, and 54,965 yards, how many cubical eighths--of an inch are there? This obtuse reckoning he made in a comparatively short time, although pursuing the while, with many others, his labours in the fields.

In some small cannon were mounted on the battlements of Gate, but for what purpose is not known. About of the lightning-conductors recommended by Dr. Franklin was erected on of the eastern towers of Gate, for electrical experiments, which were the rage of the day.

After Cave's death, in , the e was printed and published at the gate by Cave's brotherin-law and nephew. On the nephew's death Mr. David Bond became the publisher for the family, and continued so till the end of . Mr. Nichols then purchased a considerable share of the , and in , just years from its commencement, the property was transferred to , , and after years there, it was transferred to , where it remained for years.

A short biographical notice of the worthy Cave, Johnson's earliest patron, is indispensable to a full history of that interesting relic of old London, Gate. The enterprising printer and publisher, born in , was the son of a man reduced in fortune, who had turned shoemaker, and was educated at Rugby. In youth he was alternately clerk to an excise collector, and a timber-merchant. After being bound apprentice to a London printer, he was sent to manage an office and publish a weekly newspaper at Norwich. He was subsequently employed at the printing-office of Alderman Barber (a friend of Swift), and wrote Tory articles in Obtaining a small place in the , he began to supply the London papers with provincial intelligence, and the country printers with surreptitious reports of Parliamentary debates, for which, in , he was imprisoned for several days. From the he was moved to the Frank Office, where he was dismissed for stopping a letter--as he considered legally--being a frank given to the terrible old Duchess of Marlborough by Mr. Walter Plummer. Putting by, at last, a sum of money (in spite of endless unsuccessful projects), Cave started the , and for the last years of his industrious life was an affluent, thrifty man. His prizes for poems and epigrams brought forward but few poets, and his chief prize-takers, after all, turned out to be Moses Browne, a Clerkenwell pen-cutter, and Mr. John Duick, another pen-cutter, in , with whom Cave used to play at shuttlecock in the old gate-house.

In the death of his wife hastened Cave's end. of his last acts was to fondly press the hand of his great contributor, and the main prop and stay of the Samuel Johnson. Cave died at the old gate-house in , and was buried (probably without memorial) in the old church of St. James, Clerkenwell. An epitaph was, however, written by Dr. Hawkesworth for Rugby Church, where all Cave's relations were buried.

An old -quarter length portrait of Cave was found by Mr. Foster in a room on the south side of the great chamber over gateway, and, in his usual imaginative yet business-like way, Mr. Foster labelled it This gentleman, it is said, originally kept the

Old Milestone

Angel,

The Urban Club, a pleasant literary society, well supported, was started at Gate during Mr. Foster's reign, under the name of

The Friday Knights,

The once famous [extra_illustrations.2.322.1]  from whence of the milestone distances from London was computed, stood, says the indefatigable Mr. Pinks, about yards from , in the widest part of , near the entrance to . Hicks's Hall was a stately house, built in , as a sessions house for Clerkenwell, by that great citizen, Sir Baptist Hicks, silk mercer,

Windmill

Castle,

The sessions hall built by Sir Baptist was a mean square brick house, with a stone portico, and annexed to the hall was a round-house, and close by was a pillory. At Hicks's Hall criminals were dissected. This court has been the scene of some great historical trials. The regicides were tried there, and so were many of the conspirators in the so-called Popish Plot; and here also Count Konigsmarck was tried for murdering his rival, Mr. Thynne, and was acquitted. Hicks's Hall is referred to in -

An old dull sot, who told the clock

For many years at Bridewell dock,

At Westminster and Hicks's Hall,

And hiccius doccius played in all.

When [extra_illustrations.2.322.2] , a builder, the father of Dr. Johnson's spiteful biographer, used to go to Hicks's Hall, as chairman of the Middlesex Quarter Sessions, he used to drive pompously from his house at Highgate, in a coach and horses.

In Hicks's Hall became so ruinous that it was proposed to rebuild it, at an expense of . This was opposed in Parliament, the traffic of rendering the place too noisy and inconvenient. A new sessions house was therefore built on the west side of , in , and the old hall was pulled down, but for a long time afterwards [extra_illustrations.2.322.3]  went by the old name. To the new house a portrait of Sir Baptist Hicks and a fine Jacobean mantelpiece were removed by Rogers the architect.

, Clerkenwell, is of the most ancient of the northern London streets, and is mentioned in a charter of confirmation as early as the year . It seems originally to have been only a way for pack-horses. It was paved in the reign of Richard II. In the reign of Henry VIII. it had become

very foul, full of pits and sloughs, very perilous and noyous,

There was, in early times, a raised and paved causeway leading from to Church, which was called the

Long Causeway.

What is now , Clerkenwell, was formerly an open piece of ground belonging to Priory, subsequently called Bocher or Butt

roarer,

The house No. , at the north-west corner of , was once the

Jerusalem

This Dr. Trusler was a literary preacher, who, in , resided at No. , , and supported himself by selling MS. sermons to the idle clergy. His father had been proprietor of the fashionable

Marybone Gardens,

The Task,

a grand caterer and dry nurse of the church.

It was to a printer named Sleep, in , that Guy Fawkes, Johnson, used to come stealthily, in , to meet fellow-Romanists, Jesuits, and other disaffected persons. was a great place for carriers, especially those of Warwickshire and Nottingham, and the

Cross Keys,

Pewter Platter,

Windmill,

Golden Lion

occupied, says Mr. Pinks, the exact area of the court of the ancient priory. In the reign of James II., a Father Corker built a convent here, which was pulled down by Protestant rioters, in , and several 'prentice boys were shot by the during the riots. The Little Square, as the north-western side is called, was formerly known as North's Court, from the builder, a relation of Lord Keeper North, in Charles II.'s time. Sir John North resided here in and . Dr. William Goddard, of the Society of Chemical Physicians, who lived in , as it was then called, was of those who had Government permission to sell remedies for the Great Plague. At the south-west corner of Jerusalem Passage stood the printingoffice of Mr. Dove, whose neat

English Classics

In Charles Howard, Earl of Carlisle, resided in the precincts of . This useful partisan of Charles II., ennobled at the Restoration, was our ambassador in Russia, Sweden, and Denmark, and was subsequently Governor of Jamaica. At the same period Arthur Capel, Earl of Essex, resided here, until . He was afterwards Viceroy of Ireland, and Lord of the Treasury. Persecuted for his doubtful share in the Rye House Plot, he killed himself in the Tower. Here also lived the Lord Townshend, of the Commoners deputed by Parliament to go over to Holland and beg Charles II. to return. Another eminent resident was a staunch Commonwealth man, Sir William Fenwicke, who died in . To these noble names we have to add that of Sir William Cordell, Master of the Rolls in the times of Mary and Elizabeth. He was Solicitor- General at the trial of Sir Thomas Wyatt. Queen Elizabeth visited him at his estate in Suffolk, when the Duke of Alencon sent to sue for her hand.

The following epitaph on Sir William Cordell is thus translated by Fuller from the tomb in Long Melford Church, Suffolk:--

Here William Cordal doth in rest remain,

Great by his birth, but greater by his brain;

Plying his studies hard his youth throughout,

Of causes he became a pleader stout.

His learning deep such eloquence did vent,

He was chose Speaker of the Parliament ; ,

Afterwards Queen Mary did him make (knight),

And counsellor, State work to undertake;

And Master of the Rolls, well worn with age,

Dying in Christ, heaven was his upmost stage;

Diet and clothes to poor he gave at large,

And a fair almshouse founded on his charge.

The site of the birthplace of that clever but unprincipled demagogue, John Wilkes, is now a clock

Clerkenwell is noted for its clock-makers, and here armies of busy and intelligent men spend their lives in brass-casting, silvering dials, wheel-cutting,

A special feature of this part of Clerkenwell is Burnet House (No. , formerly No. ), on the west side of . It was originally a noble mansion of storeys, says Mr. Pinks, and lighted in front by square-headed windows. The forecourt, upon which shops were built in , was a garden. The grand entrance,

In several of the rooms,

are very handsome mantelpieces, different in design, the ornaments in relief upon them consisting of flowers and leaves in festoonings, medallions, interlacing lines, and groups of female figures. The chimney jambs are of white marble, as are also the hearths. The old stoves have been all removed, and replaced by smaller ones of more recent date. There was formerly a very curious back to one of the grates in this mansion; it was a bas-relief in iron of Charles I., with the date of 1644 upon it, and represented that monarch triumphantly riding over a prostrate female figure, the Spirit of Faction. On each side were pillars, encircled with bay-leaves and a scroll of palm-branches. On the top were the royal crown, and the initials, C. R., and below the effigies of two women, seated on low stools, having baskets of fruit before them. Nothing is known of this device by the subsequent inmates, and it was probably either burnt out or removed. In the north-east corner of the yard of the right wing of the house, raised about eighteen inches from the ground on two piers of brickwork, was an old leaden cistern, the dimensions of which are four feet two inches in length, twenty and a half inches in width, and two feet six and a half inches in depth, with a mean thickness of half an inch. The cistern, which was a massive piece of cast work, was ornamented with several devices in low relief. On the front, and at either end, was a figure of the Goddess of Plenty, recumbent, by the side of a cornucopia overflowing with flowers and fruits, and behind her was a sheaf of full-eared wheat. Within a panel there was also a shield, quite plain, and over this, as a crest, was a lion passant, the dexter paw resting on a blazing star. Near the upper edge of the cistern was the date of its casting, 1682, and the. initials, A. B. M., doubtless those of an occupier antecedent to Burnet's tenancy of the premises.

There was until recently another cistern on the premises, similar to the above, bearing the date of 1721, and the initial G., for Gilbert, surmounted by a mitre. This may have been re-cast by one of Burnet's successors, as a memorial of him. Recently, having fallen from its position, it was removed altogether off the premises, and sold for old metal, and it is. said to have weighed four hundredweight.

Bishop Burnet, the son of an Edinburgh lawyer, was born in . He was educated in Aberdeen; in he became professor of divinity at Glasgow, and when only years old was offered a Scottish bishopric, which he modestly declined. In , when he had already married a daughter of the Earl of Cassilis, he came to London, and was appointed preacher at the Rolls' Chapel by Sir Harbottle Grimstone, and soon after was chosen lecturer at St. Clement Danes. In appeared the folio volume of the chief work of his life, the Charles II. offered him the bishopric of Chichester, if he would only turn Tory, but Burnet, though vain, and fond of money, conscientiously refused, and even wrote a strong letter to the king, animadverting on his flagrant vices. At the execution of the good Lord William Russell, in , Burnet bravely attended him on the scaffold, and in consequence instantly lost the preachership at the Rolls and the lectureship of .

On the accession of James II. Burnet retired to the Continent, and travelled; but on the accession of the Prince of Orange was rewarded by the bishopric of Salisbury. According to some writers, Burnet was the very paragon of bishops. months every year he spent in traversing his diocese. He entertained his clergy, instead of taxing them with dinners, and helped the holders of poor benefices. He selected promising young men to study in , under his own eye; and was active in obtaining Queen Anne's Bounty, for the increasing small livings.

Burnet died at his Clerkenwell house in , and was buried near the communion-table of St. James's, Clerkenwell, the base Tory rabble flinging stones and dirt at the bishop's hearse.

In conversation Burnet is described as disagreeable, through a thick-skinned want of consideration. day, during Marlborough's disgrace and voluntary exile, Burnet, dining with the duchess, who was a reputed termagant, compared the duke to Belisarius.

How do you account for so great a man having been so miserable and deserted?

Oh, madam,

he had, as you know, such a brimstone of a wife.

How will you be able to serve them both?

I intend to officiate by deputy in

one

,

Will your deputy,

be damned for you too? Believe me, sir, you may serve your cure by proxy, but you must be damned in person.

Burnet was extravagantly fond of tobacco and writing, and to enjoy both at the same time, he perforated the brim of his large hat, and putting his long pipe through it, puffed and wrote, and wrote and puffed again.

How far Burnet's historical writings can be relied on is still uncertain. He was a wholesale Whig, and seems to have been a vain, credulous man, who, according to Lord Bathurst, listened too much to flying gossip. Swift, in his violent and ribald way, denounced Burnet as a common liar, but, on

[extra_illustrations.2.327.1]  the whole, we are inclined to think that he was only a violent party man, who, however, had a conscience, and tried his best to be honest. There is no doubt, however, from a letter discovered in the Napier charter chest, that on the discovery of the Rye House Plot, Burnet made many timid advances to the cruel and corrupt court.

In Burnet's house afterwards lived that remarkable man, [extra_illustrations.2.327.2] , the son of a poor bookseller in , who was born in the year . Failing as a bookseller himself, Towers turned dissenting minister. He compiled the volumes of and wrote articles for Kippis's In Towers was arrested for his connection with the Society for Constitutional Information, of which Sheridan, Erskine, and the Duke of Norfolk were members. He died at this house, in , in . [extra_illustrations.2.327.3] , the learned and pious author of the well-known bible commentary, frequently lodged at No. , , where his sons carried on a printing business. He was years passing his quarto volumes through the press. He died in , and was buried in the rear of the Chapel, near Wesley. The Wesleyan chapel next this house was erected in , at a cost of , by the transplanted congregation of Chapel. The old-established printing-offices of Messrs. Gilbert and Rivington were started in about , and Mr. William Rivington became a partner in .

was, in the Middle Ages, the chief approach to the Hospital of St. John from the city. About this quarter was fashionable, numbering Lord Berkeley, Lady Cheteley, Sir Michael Stanhope, Sir Anthony Barker, and Lord Chief Justice Keeling among its noble and influential inhabitants. This last disgrace to the Bench was the base judge who sent John Bunyan to prison for months, for being an upholder of conventicles. Some persons were once indicted before him for attending a conventicle; and,

although it was proved that they had assembled on the Lord's Day, with bibles in their hands, without prayer-books, they were acquitted. He therefore fined the jury

100 marks

a-piece, and imprisoned them till the fines were paid. Again, on the trial of a man for murder, who was suspected of being a Dissenter, and whom he had a great desire to hang, he fined and imprisoned all the jury, because, contrary to his directions, they brought in a verdict of manslaughter.

In this same memorable lane resided, in , that hard theological student, Matthew Poole, the compiler of the great biblical synopsis, in volumes folio. During the sham disclosures of Titus Oates, Poole's name was said to be down for immediate assassination. He fled to Holland in dismay, and died there the same year.

The

Old Baptist's head,

John the Baptist's head on a Charger.

Old Baptist's head

Queen's head.

In - (Charles I.) a secret Jesuits' College was discovered near Clerkenwell Church, in a house where the Earl of Marlborough had formerly lived. Sir John Coke, then Secretary of State, drew up a report of the discovery, which has been edited by Mr. Nichols, and re-published in the Sir John's narrative commences thus:

About Christmas last Humphrey Cross,

one

of the messengers in ordinarie, gave mee notice that the neighbours in

St. John's

saw provisions carried into the corner house uppon the broadway above Clerkenwel, but knewe none that dwelt there. In March following, about the beginning of the Parliament, Crosse brought word that divers lights were observed in the howse, and that some companie were gathered thither. The time considered, I thought fitt to make noe further delay, and therefore gave warrant to the sayd Crosse and Mr. Longe, and the constables next adjoyning to enter the house, and to search what persons resorted thither, and to what end they concealed their being there. At their entrie they found

one

that called

himselfe Thomas Latham, who pretended to be keeper of the howse for the Earle of Shrewsburie. They found another, named George Kemp, said to be the gardener; and a woman, called Margaret Isham. But when they desired to go further, into the upper roomes, which (whilst they had made way into the hall) were all shutt upp and made fast, Latham tould them plainly that if they offred to goe further they would find resistance, and should doe it at their perils. They thereuppon repared to my house and desired more help, and a more ample warrant for their proceedings. And then both a warrant was granted from the councell boorde, and the Sheriffes of London were sent for theire assistance. But by this protraction they within the upper roomes gott advantage to retire themselves by secret passages into theire vaults or lurkinge-places, which themselves called their securities; so as when the officers came up they found no man above staires save only a sick man in his bed, with

one

servant attending him. The sick man called himselfe by the name of Weeden, who is since discovered to be truely called Plowden; and the servant named himselfe John Penington. More they found not, til, going downe againe into the cellars, Crosse espied a brick wall, newly made, which he caused to be perced and there within the vault they found Daniel Stanhop, whom I take to be Father Bankes, the Rector of their college, George Holland, alias Guy Holt, Joseph Underhill, alias Thomas Poulton, Robert Beaumond, and Edward Moore, the priest; and the next day, in the like lurkinge-place, they found Edward Parre.

[extra_illustrations.2.310.1] St. John's Gate

[extra_illustrations.2.310.2] the Knights Hospitallers flourished in Clerkenwell

[extra_illustrations.2.315.1] the priory of Clerkenwell

[extra_illustrations.2.316.1] Sacheverell

[extra_illustrations.2.316.2] St. John's, Clerkenwell

[extra_illustrations.2.317.1] St. John's Gate

[extra_illustrations.2.317.2] Dr. Johnson

[extra_illustrations.2.317.3] Cave

[extra_illustrations.2.317.5] Ten Covers and Titles, 1741-1881, all with St. John's Gate

[extra_illustrations.2.320.1] a fragment of the first gate carved with scallop-shells and foliage

[extra_illustrations.2.322.1] Hicks's Hall

[extra_illustrations.2.322.2] Sir John Hawkins

[extra_illustrations.2.322.3] the new hall

[extra_illustrations.2.327.1] Dr. Adam Clarke and Ceylon Priests

[extra_illustrations.2.327.2] Dr. Joseph Towers

[extra_illustrations.2.327.3] Dr. Adam Clarke