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means of clearing away many old historical houses on both sides of the river; but after all there is little to be regretted. Narrow, crooked, and filthy streets have been pulled down, and replaced by rows of palaces; and a stranger to London, who had seen it twelve years ago, would hardly recognize it again in these places. The old public buildings, however, have been suffered to remain. Of these the most conspicuous is the world-renowned Monument, built by Sir Christopher Wren in commemoration of the great fire of 1666.

On the other side, in Southwark, stands the venerable gothic church of St. Saviour, with the Ladye Chapel adjoining, which has lately been restored, by a public subscription, from the decay into which it was rapidly falling. The church abounds in curious monuments of the olden time. One of them is to the memory of John Gower the poet, who shares with Chaucer the merit of being one of the fathers of English verse. He is, perhaps, the earliest

bard who makes mention of the Thames. He relates, in one of his quaint neglected poems, that being on the river in his boat, he met the royal barge containing Henry IV.

As I came nighe

Out of my bote, when he me syghe (saw)

VOL. II.

E

He bade me come into his barge,
And when I was with him at large,
Amongest other thynges said,

He had a charge upon me laid.

Gower was a rich man for a poet, and contributed large sums to the rebuilding of the church. It has been said, that it was wholly built with his money; but this is erroneous. Lest any modern stripling, too fond of the unprofitable society of the Muses, should take courage by the reflection that one of the earliest of English poets was able to build a church, we present him with the following epigram, which will explain the mystery.

This church was rebuilt by Gower the rhymer,
Who in Richard's gay court was a fortunate climber;
Should any one start, 'tis but right he should know it,
Our wight was a lawyer as well as a poet.

He was a "fortunate climber," not only in the court of Richard II. but of the Lancaster who deposed him. Like other poets, he worshipped the rising star; and his reward was, to use his own words, that the new King "laid a charge upon him." It is commonly supposed that he was laureate to both these princes; but the office, if he ever held it, was merely honorary. He was buried in this church, where his monument may still be seen.

From its proximity to the Globe Theatre and others on Bankside, many of the players of the times of Shakspeare who resided in the neighbouring alleys, found a final resting-place in this church when their career was over. Among others, unhappy Philip Massinger, steeped in poverty to the lips, died in some adjacent hovel, and was buried like a pauper at the expense of the parish. No stone was placed upon the spot; but in the parish register this entry was made -"March 20th, 1639-40, buried, Philip Massinger, a STRANGER."

The church is sometimes called St. Mary Overy's, or St. Mary's-over-the-river, by which name it was founded before the Conquest, for a priory, to the superior of which belonged, before the building of the bridge, the ferry over the river.

Leaving this ancient building and its poets, we turn to the other side of the stream, where Billingsgate, a more renowned spot, claims our attention. The contrast is certainly great enough between poetry and Billingsgate. Topographers, however, cannot help these violent transitions; they do not make their subject, but take it as they find it. Billingsgate is a

spot famous wherever English

literature is cul

tivated, or its language spoken. The name has

become synonymous over nearly one half of the civilized world with foul and violent language. It is the chief fish-market of London, and the peculiar phraseology, and the frequent quarrels of its female merchants, have procured for it this unenviable notoriety. The ward in which it is situated, and from which it takes its name, is one of the oldest in the city. Fabian, Grafton, and others, maintain it to have been built by and named after a British king, called Belyn, who reigned more than three hundred years before the Christian era. According to tradition, there was a pinnacle over the gate, surmounted by a vessel of burnished brass, in which the ashes of King Belyn were inclosed after his body had been burned, in conformity with the usage of those times. The place appears to have been known as a fish-market so early as the time of King Ethelred in 1016.

In the reign of Edward I. an ordinance was published, regulating the prices at which the fish might be sold. It may not be uninteresting to cite a few of the items. Twenty herrings were to be sold for a penny; a dozen of the best soles for threepence; the best mackerel a penny each in Lent, and one halfpenny out of Lent. Salmon and pike were exceedingly dear. From Christmas to Easter

the price of the best salmon was five shillings, and after Easter three shillings. A pike was sold for the lawyer's fee, six and eightpence. Eels, lampreys, and oysters were cheap; a gallon of oysters being sold for twopence, and eels and lampreys from sixpence to eightpence a hundred. Some further regulations with respect to Billingsgate were published in the reign of Edward III, who claimed a variety of taxes from every ship that discharged its cargo at that place.

Adjoining Billingsgate is the Custom-House, a long handsome building, which looks like what it is. How few of the thousands whom business attracts to it every day know, or

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