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The altar-piece is carved wainscot, of the Tuscan order. The chancel is paved with marble.

The apertures are regular and well placed; those on the north answering to them on the south side of the church.

The length of the church is ninety-six feet, breadth sixty-three, and height forty-eight. The altitude of the steeple, which consists of a tower, strengthened with buttresses, and turret, is about one hundred and sixteen feet.

MONUMENTS for the dead, mentioned by Stow.

In the Chancel, to the Sacred Memory of Hippocrates Otthen. Descended of a Noble Family; of the University of Montpelier in France, and most worthily incorporated in the University of Oxford. After his first coming into England with his Father (who was the Emperor's Physician, and sent for by Queen Elizabeth) he went Physician to several Noblemen in Foreign Expeditions. He was employed in other laudible Service; and Her Majesty and the State took especial notice of his Parts. He spent the latter part, of his Life with his dear and most virtuous Wife, Mrs. Dorothy Drew, Daughter of Mr. Roger Drew, of Densworth in Sussex; and being a most zealous and penitent Christian, full of Years, and (to his last Breath) of perfect Memory, with Alacrity of Spirit he surrendered his Soul into the Hands of his Creator, the 13th of Nov. 1611. for whose Love and Memory his late Wife (afterward the Lady of Sir Stephen Thornhurst of Kent) caused the said Monument to be erected.

The churchwardens and feofees of this parish erected a Monument on the 20th of January 1603,

In Memory of Mr. Richard Bedoe, one of the Ancients of this Parish, and a Feofee of the Poor, died the 1st of September 1603. His Age 56; and left to the Poor of this Parish for ever 201. per Annum. And to be lent Gratis to 50 poor Housholders 1101. for two Years each, on Condition that the Monument be kept in Re. pair by the Parish Feofees, and four Sermons be preached yearly for ever.

A Monument for Richard Jacob, late Vintner, who (after 66 Years of his Life, whereof he spent more than half in this Parish, serving all Offices there; and of his Company, was for his Fidelity elected one of the Governours of Bridewell, and did many VOL. IV. No. 83. charitable

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charitable Acts both to the Parish, to his Hall, and to the Hos pitals of Bridewell, Christ Church, St. Bartholomew's, St. Tho mas's in Southwork, and to divers Persons in London, Southwork, and many other Places) comfortably gave up his Soul to his Redeemer the 13th of October 1612.

A very fair monument, with a Latin inscription, to the memory of ROGER HOUGHTON, Esq. a faithful servant to Robert Cecil, earl of Salisbury, for the space of forty-two years; and died in 1617, aged sixty-four.

A handsome monument in the wall:

In Memory of Edward Price, Gent. who gave out of his free Land, called the Blue Lion, 31. per annum in Coals to the Poor for ever; and 201. for ever to be lent to two young Housholders Gratis for 2 Years, each 101. He departed this Life the 8th of March 1605.

In Weever is the following, to the memory of two prelates of Exeter:

Hic jacet Johannes Arundell Episcopus Exon, &c.

Corpus Venerabilis J. Booth Legum Baccalaureus Episcopus Exon.

MONUMENTS in the present fabric. On a small white marble monument over the vestry door, thus inscribed:

Opposite to this Place, near the Wall, lyeth the Body of Sir Edward Leche of Shipley, in the County of Derby, Knight, a Master of Chancery, and a Member of the House of Commons. He died the 12th of July 1652. Ætat 80 fere.

On the south side of the

chancel a white marble monument, of the Tuscan order, enriched with two cherubims, a book displayed, and two babes lying on the pediment; this inscription:

To the Memory of Richard Dukeson, D. D. late Rector of this Parish 44 Years, a Reverend and Learned Divine; Eminent for his great Devotion toward God, his firm Zeal for the Church, his unshaken Loyalty to the King, his unwearied Endeavours for the Good of his Flock, from which he was separated by the Iniquity of the Times, during the late unnatural Rebellion, by near 17 Years

Years Sequestration: But being restored, he continued to the end of his great Age a constant Preacher, both by his Doctrine and Life.

He died September the 17th 1678. Ætat. suæ 78.

And of his only Wife, Ann, Daughter of Anthony Hickman, Esq. Doctor of Laws: She was a virtuous and godly Matron, with whom he lived in Holy Matrimony 46 Years, and had Issue three Sons and twelve Daughters.

She died September the 22d 1670. Ætat 66. Their Bodies lye Interred on the right side of the Communion Table.

On a brass plate fixed in a grave-stone in the north aisle: Here rest the Bodies of Elizabeth and Thomas, Son and Daughter to Thomas Spencer and Catharine his Wife. Elizabetk died the 12th of August 1641, and Thomas the 27th of Feb. 1642. Before they could offend God took them hence, Not letting them survive their Innocence.

Cease Grief, their Parents now no more laments;

For when they lost their Babes, Heaven got two Saints.

In the western gallery is a fine toned organ, by father Schmydt.

The rectory was first in the patronage of the Knights Templars, by gift of Henry II. The advowson, on the dissolution of that order, was conveyed to the canons regular of the church of the Holy Sepulchre, in Warwick, who exchanged it with bishop Stapleton, in whose successors, the bishops of Exeter, it continued, till conferred on the protector Somerset, by Edward VI. after whose death, the crown granted it to Sir Thomas Palmer, of whom it was purchased by lord treasurer Burleigh, whose successors, the earls of Exeter, have ever since been patrons.

RECTORS OF EMINENCE, JOHN LAYFIELD, S. T.B. 1589. assisted in the translation of the Bible.

ROGER BATES, S. T. B. 1617. prebendary of Westminster, died at his house in Milford Lane, 1633.

RICHARD DUKESON, D. D. 1634, after having been sequestered and proscribed during the civil wars, was restored in 1660; and continued rector till his death, in 1678. GREGORY HASCARD, D. D. dean of Windsor, 1708.

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THOMAS BLACKWELL, D. D. rector upwards of fifty years, died in 1773.

GEORGE BERKELEY, L. L. D. 1786, died in 1795; who has left sufficient testimony, that he was indeed the amiable son of the illustrious prelate bishop Berkeley, of whom Pope so truly said,

"TO BERKELEY ev'ry virtue under Heaven!'

Mr. Malton, in his "Picturesque Tour through London," calls St. Clement's Church, "a disgusting fabric, and so obtruded upon the street, as to be the cause of much inconvenience and danger to the public." He also expresses his concern, that "whilst an extensive improvement is carrying into execution, this unsightly church is to remain, and Temple Bar to be taken away. The church so conspicuously placed, and which will then be more conspicuous, is a disgrace to architecture; while Temple Bar, on the contrary, has some merit as a building, and deserves to be retained, as marking the entrance into the capital of the British empire."

The author of "A Critical Review of the Public Buildings," observes, concerning this fabric, "that there ap pears something very fantastic in the steeple, something clumsy and too heavy in the portico, and something poor and unmeaning in the whole frame."

With due deference to the opinions of two such able critics, we beg leave to observe, that not being acquainted with the reasons for building St. Clement's church in its present situation, it is probable that Sir Christopher Wren, in this, as in many other instances, was compelled to form his plan from necessity; and whatever architectural errors may appear to others, we should be very cautious how we scrutinize buildings formed from plans by so great a judge of propriety. The steeple was the work of Gibbs, and we really think a work of taste. It is saying very much indeed when St, Clement's church is called "a disgrace to ar chitecture!"

Before we entirely quit this subject, we will take a retrospect towards Temple Bar; and this we cannot do in a

better

better mode, or more impressively, than in the words of Mr. Moser, to whose information we have been already so much obliged, and who was present at the demolition of part of the premises in question.

"In revolving the progress of improvement, one very prominent object forcibly strikes the inquisitive mind, and that is, the dilapidation which must literally pave the way to convenience and elegance. This is a reflection which very naturally introduces another, namely, the change that must be effected, both with respect to property and residence, before any work of public utility can be carried into effect in a crowded city or its immediate environs.

"Butcher Row was once, indeed, till a period much within living memory, a place of considerable traffic. The .stack of houses, which lately occupied the spot which now forms a wide opening on the west side of Temple Bar, was, with respect to the ground plan, in the form of an obtusangular triangle, the eastern iine of which was formed by a shoemaker's, a fishmonger's, and another shop, with wide-extended fronts, and its western point blunted by the intersection of the vestry-room and alms-houses of St. Clement's parish; both the sides also contained shops of various descriptions; the south (Strand), a number of respectable tradesmen, such as bakers, dyers, dry salters, smiths, tinplate-workers, &c.; the north (Butcher Row) was, as its name implied, really a flesh market, it was at first wholly occupied by butchers, who had, from a very early period, brought their meat in carts from the country, and sold it just without the civic liberties, for the supply of the western parts of the city. These foreign butchers, as they were termed, were considered so extremely useful in repressing the exorbitant demands of the native butchers, and lowering the prices of the London markets of those days, that the competition was encouraged, and their dealings attended with such success, that I fear the desire of immoderate profit operated upon them as it has upon their descendants in the present age, and induced them to become stationary; perhaps to go hand in hand.

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