thereof by name (although now divided into two), is like to be coeval with time. Farringdon Without is by far the largest Ward, and so called from its being without the walls.

BREAD STREET WARD.

Bread Street, which gives denomination to the ward, was so called from a Bread market, anciently held there, during which time the city bakers were not permitted to sell bread at home, but were obliged to dispose thereof in this market.

LANGBOURNE WARD.

So denominated from a brook, or bourne, which ran through this locality, and which, being of some length, was called Longbourne, now corruptly Lang-bourne.

DOWGATE WARD.

This ward derives its name from a dock or water gate, called Downegate, "so called," says Stow, "of that down-going or descending thereunto.'

PORTSOKEN WARD.

Maitland says, the Ward of Portsoken, about the year 967, was given by king Edgar to certain military knights for their gallant deportment in the service of their country; and Edgar having constituted the said knights a body politick and corporate, their lands or district was thereby converted into a jurisdiction, soke, or liberty; which, from its vicinity to Aldgate, received the appellation of Portsoke, or the Gate Liberty; which liberty, ward, or parish, together with the church thereof, was in the year 1115, by the proprietors, the descendants of the said knights, given to the priors and canons of the Trinity convent within Aldgate.

CASTLE-BAYNARD WARD.

This ward derives its name from Baynard castle (formerly the residence of William Baynard, a soldier of fortune); the site of which is now partly occupied by a wharf. In the reign of king John, it was the residence of Sir Reginald of Bayeux, and was famed for the jousts and tournaments that were held there.

CANDLEWICK WARD.

So called from the number of candle-makers that at one period resided in it.

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CORDWAINERS' WARD.

This ancient ward receives its name from that part of its locality called Bow Lane, being principally inhabited by shoemakers, who were originally called Cordwainers.

BROAD STREET WARD.

So denominated, because Broad Street originally was the broadest street in the city.

LIME STREET WARD.

On this spot formerly, were several Lime yards, and it was here that the lime was prepared for the rebuilding of the city, after the great fire of 1666. This is the only ward of London without a church of its own.

BASSISHAW WARD.

This is a corruption from Basing-hall ward, a property that formerly belonged to the family of the Basings.

COLEMAN STREET WARD.

This ward was thus denominated from the street of that name, which was called after one Coleman, the first builder and owner.

BRIDGE AND TOWER WARDS.

So called from their contiguity to the Bridge and Tower.

INNS OF COURT.

Though the antiquity of the Inns of Court be not ascertained, yet it may be presumed that they owe their origin to Henry III., who having, in the year 1225, confirmed the charters granted by John, his father, removed the Courts of Justice from his palace into Westminster hall. About this time, the lawyers, or practitioners in those courts, began to form themselves into a society (supposed at Thaivie's Inn, in Holborn), in a collegiate manner; hence their place of residence was denominated an Inn, or House of Court. But according to others (though with less probability), from their being inns, or nurseries for the education of the young nobility and gentry. Be that as it will, such places seem in some measure to have been appropriated for students of the law, seeing Henry III., by his mandate, directed to the Mayor and Sheriff's of London, about the year 1244, strictly enjoined them to make

proclamation throughout the city, that no person whatsoever should presume to set up a school, or schools therein, for teaching of law.

CLEMENT'S INN.

This Inn of Court derives its name from Clement the Dane, whose place of interment is said to be on the site of St. Clement Dane's Church, and which circumstance gave a name to that place of worship. The Hall was built in 1715.

LINCOLN'S INN.

This Inn of Court derives its name from Henry Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, who erected a stately mansion here in 1229, and which still retains his name. It is also said, that some time before his death (anno 1312), he introduced here the study of the law.

GRAY'S INN.

This house, which is situate on the north side of Holborn, and is one of the four Inns of Court, is thus denominated from its being the residence of the ancient and noble family of Gray of Wilton, who, in the reign of Edward III., demised the same to divers students of the law. A writer says, it was rebuilt in 1687; prior to which it was so incommodious, that, according to the old records, the ancients of this house were obliged to lodge double; for at a pension held there on the 9th July, in the 21st year of Henry VIII., John Hales, then one of the Barons of the Exchequer, produced a letter directed to him from Sir Thomas Neville, which was to request him to acquaint the Society, that he would accept of Mr. Attorney-general to be his bed-fellow in his chamber in the Inn, and that entry might be made thereof in the book of their rules.

STAPLE'S INN.

This Inn is said to have been anciently a Hall for the accommodation of Wool-staplers, from whom it is denominated. Be that as it will, it appears to have been an Inn of Chancery in the year 1415, but how long before is unknown. The new building was erected in 1843.

THAIVIE'S INN.

This Inn appears to have been of great antiquity, by its having belonged to John Thaivie (from whom it is denominated) in the reign of Edward III., by whose will it appears to have been then an Inn for Students at Law; some of whom, about the year 1347, had the New Temple demised to them by the Knights' Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem, for a yearly rent of ten pounds;

and, removing thither, they and their successors have continued there ever since.

CLIFFORD'S INN.

This Inn is thus denominated from Robert de Clifford, to whom it was granted by Edward II. in 1309; and by whose widow it was left to Students of the Law in the 18th of Edward III. It is an Inn of Chancery, situated on the north side of St. Dunstan's Church, in Fleet Street, and is an appendage to the Inner Temple. The Society is governed by twelve ancients and a principal, who are chiefly attorneys and officers of the Marshal's Court, who, with the rest of the members, are in commons a fortnight every term, otherwise to pay four shillings per week.

FURNIVAL'S INN.

This Inn owes its name to Sir William Furnival, who, in the year 1388, was proprietor of two messuages and thirteen shops, where now this Inn is situate, on the north side of Holborn, within the bars of the city, but without the liberty thereof; and is an Inn of Chancery, and appendage to Lincoln's Inn. This Society is governed by a principal and twelve ancients, who, with the other members, are to be in commons a fortnight every term, or pay five shillings a week if absent.

ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL, &c.

Our readers need scarcely be informed, that the old cathedral of St. Paul's was burnt down in the great fire of London in 1666. During the time of the Commonwealth, the body of the church was converted into saw-pits and stables for soldiery, and to which Dryden alludes in the following lines:

"The daring flames peep'd in, and saw from far
The awful beauties of the sacred quire;

But since it was profaned by civil war,

Heav'n thought it fit to have it purged by fire."

The first stone of the present magnificent edifice was laid on the 21st of June, 1675, by Sir Christopher Wren, who lived to see his son, then but a few months old, thirty-five years afterwards, deposit the highest stone of the lantern on the cupola. It is further remarkable, that the architect, the builder, and the dean, who saw its commencement, all lived to see it completed.* During the early progress of the work, an incident occurred which, even in a less superstitious age, might have been considered a favourable omen, without any charge of extraordinary credulity. Sir Christopher was marking out the dimensions of the great cupola, * Sir Christopher Wren, Mr. Strong, and Dr. Henry Compton.

when he ordered one of the workmen to bring him a flat stone, to use as a station. A piece was brought: it was the fragment of a tombstone, on which but one word of the inscription was left that word was RESURGAM. Some authors suppose this circumstance to have been the origin of the emblem sculptured over the South Portico, by Cibber, namely, a phoenix rising out of its fiery nest, with this word as an inscription.

WHISPERING GALLERY.

You ascend by a spacious circular staircase to a gallery, which encircles the lower part of the interior of the dome, and is called the Whispering Gallery, from the circumstance, that the lowest whisper breathed against the wall in any part of this vast circle, may be accurately distinguished by an attentive ear on the opposite side.

COLLEGIATE CHURCH OF ST. KATHERINE'S.

The church that was thus denominated, but which is now pulled down, had the following origin. "The collegiate body to whom the church and precinct pertain, and who have not always been so insensible to the nobler principles they now abandon, owe their origin to Maud, queen of king Stephen-their present constitution to Eleanor, wife of Henry III., and their exemption from the general dissolution in the time of Henry VIII., to the attractions, it is said, of Anne Boleyn. The queen-consorts have from the first been patronesses, and on a vacancy of the crown matrimonial, the kings of England."*

ST. MARY WOOLNOTH.

The church of St. Mary Woolnoth, at the west end of Lombard Street, was built by Richard Hawksmoor, the eccentric pupil of Sir Christopher Wren, in the year 1716. It derived its name from being at that time contiguous to the wool market.

SAINT NICOLAS COLE ABBEY.

This church, which is a rectory, situate on the south side of Old Fish Street, in the ward of Queenhithe, is thus denominated from its dedication to the above-named saint, and the additional epithet of Cole Abbey, by some from Golden Abbey, Cold Abbey, or Cold-bey, from its cold or bleak situation. It was destroyed in the great fire, and rebuilt by Wren. It was the first church built and finished after the fire.

SAINT MARY LE BOW.

A church in Cheapside, in Cordwainers' ward, and commonly called "Bow Church,"'-so called from being built on arches, * A new college and church have since been built in the Regent's Park.