There have been cured and discharged from St. THOMAS'S HOSPITAL, in Southwark, during the year 1805, of wounded, maimed, sick, and diseased persons two thousand five hundred and fifty-two in-patients, and four thousand three 'hundred and seventy-nine out-patients, many of whom were relieved with money and necessaries at their departure, to accommodate and support them in their journies to their several habitations

Buried from thence, after much charge in their sick

So that there were and had been, during that year, of poor miserable objects under the cure of the said hos. pital, and destitute of other proper care, in all

6931

170

411

179

7691

The number of persons constantly relieved in this hospital being so large, as from the above and other annual ac counts appears, the expences also, in all the following ar ticles, being enormously increased; for instance, in food and physic;-for necessary repairs, both on the estate and in the hospital itself; particularly for the late gradual repair of all the wards, and furnishing them with iron bedsteads, and other appurtenances to the same. It is therefore of the highest consequence to the community, that this, as well as other excellent charitable foundations, should be amply provided for by the public, when such ample benefit is returned.

At the north end of the high street, formerly called LONG SOUTHWARK, is a disagreeable narrow passage, denomi nated PEPPER ALLEY, a plying place for watermen, through which is an avenue to ST. SAVIOUR'S CLOSE, vulgarly called MONTAGUE CLOSE, on account of having been the resi dence of lords Montague and Monteagle, by means of a letter sent to the latter nobleman, desiring him to look to his safety, the Gunpowder treason was discovered. The letter was not, however, sent to him here, as has been generally imagined, but in the Strand, according to the following

extract

extract from Howe's edition of Stow's Chronicle: " About ten days before the parliament should begin, the lord Mounteagle, son and heir to the lord Morley, being then in his own lodging at the Strand, ready to go to supper at seven of the clock, one of his footmen whom he had sent of arrand over the street, was met with an unknown man of indifferent appearance, who suddenly delivered him a letter, charging him to put it presently into his lord's hands; the which letter so soon as his. lord could open it began to peruse, and perceiving the same to be an unknown, and somewhat an unlegible hand, without either date or subscription, called one of his men unto him, to help him to read it," &c.

Crossing St. Saviour's Dock we arrive at the ruins of WINCHESTER HOUSE, which is said by Stow to have been built about the year 1107, by William Gifford, at that time bishop of Winchester, upon a piece of ground belonging to the prior of Bermondsey, to whom the bishops paid quit rent of eight pounds, as appears by a suit in the Exchequer, in 1366. It was the residence of those prelates during their attendance on parliament; and, when perfect, was one of the most magnificent in the city or suburbs of London.

Bishop Beaufort, uncle to Henry VI. on being created a cardinal, was, on his approach to London from France, met by the mayor, aldermen, and several of the principal citizens on horseback, and conducted by them in great pomp to his palace in Southwark. Many of the acts of succeeding bishops were dated from this place, which continued to be their residence till the beginning of the seventeenth century, when it was deserted for the more airy and pleasant palace at Chelsea.

This place was for some time a prison for the royalists during the Civil Wars. Here were confined at the same time Sir Francis Doddington, and that great character Sir Kenelm Digby; the latter amused himself with chymical experiments, and making artificial stones, in imitation of emeralds, rubies, &c. and wrote his book of "Bodies."

Winchester

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Winchester House was sold by the parliament in 1649 to Thomas Walker, gent. for the sum of 43801. 8s. 3d. The park belonging to it was included in the indenture of sale; but reverting, on the Restoration, to the rightful owner, the house was demolished, and its site, with that of the park, leased out to different persons. It is still part of the demesnes of the bishop of Winchester.

This palace, with the other buildings belonging to it, undoubtedly occupied in front most part of the Bank Side, now called CLINK STREET, as is still evident by the remains of its antient stone walls; and had also a view of the Thames, though now choked up with wharfs and warehouses. The buildings, in the old plans of London, appear to have formed two court yards, with various offices for domestics. The south side was bounded by beautiful gardens, statues, fountains, &c. and a spacious park, denominated WINCHESTER PARK; the north side was bounded by the river; on the east by the monastery of St. Saviour; and on the west by Paris Garden.

It still maintains marks of venerable antiquity, in spite of every violence which it has sustained, and looks respectable in its ruins *.

"

What is now denominated BANK SIDE, was formerly a range of dwellings licenced by the bishops of Winchester, for "the repair of incontinent men to the like women.' These were denominated "The Bordello, or Stew-houses," concerning which the following particulars are upon record:

In a parliament holden at Westminster, in the eighth year of the reign of Henry the Second, it was ordained by the Commons, and confirmed by the King and Lords: "That divers constitutions for ever should be kept within this lordship or franchise, according to the old customs that had been there used time out of mind." Some of these were:

"That no stewholder, or his wife, should let or stay any single woman to go and come freely at all times when they listed.

Select Views in London, &c.

"No

"No stewholder to keep any woman to board, but she to board abroad at her pleasure.

"To take no more for womens chamber in the week than

fourteen pence.

"Not to keep open his doors on the holidays.

"Not to keep any single woman in the house on the holidays, but the bailiff to see these voided out of the lordship.

"No single woman to be kept against her will, that would leave her sin.

"No stewholder to receive any woman of religion, or any man's wife.

"No single woman to take money to lie with any man by; she may lay with him all night till the morrow.

"No man to be drawn or enticed into any stewhouse. "The constables, bailiffs, and others, every week to search every stewhouse.

"No stewholder to keep any woman that hath the pe rilous infirmity of burning; nor to sell bread, ale, fish, wood, coal, or any victuals, &c.".

These and many more orders were to be observed, upon great pain and punishment.

There were also several patents of confirmation; one of which was dated 1345, in the nineteenth of Edward the Third. In the fourth of Richard the Second these stewhouses, then belonging to Sir William Walworth, mayor of London, were farmed by Froes of Flanders, and were spoiled by Walter Tyler, and other rebels of Kent. The ordinances for the same place and houses were, however, again confirmed in the reign of Henry the Sixth, to be continued as before. Fabian informs us that in the year 1506, during the reign of Henry the Seventh, "the said stew houses in Southwark, were for a season inhabited, and the doors closed up. "But it was not long," saith he, "ere the houses there were set open again, so many as were per mitted; for as it was said, whereas before were eighteen houses, from thenceforth were appointed to be used but twelve only." These allowed stewhouses had signs on their

2

fronts,

fronts, towards the Thames, not hung out but painted on the walls, as a Boar's Head, the Cross Keys, the Gun, the Castle, the Crane, the Cardinal's Hat, the Bull, the Swan, &c. "I have heard," says Stow, "antient men of good credit report, that these single women were forbidden the rights of the church, so long as they continued that sinful life, and were excluded from Christian burial, if they were not reconciled before their death. And therefore there was a plot of ground, called The Single Women's Churchyard, appointed for them far from the parish church."

In the year 1546, during the reign of Henry the Eighth, this row of stews in Southwark, was put down by the king's commandment, proclaimed by sound of trumpet, no more to be privileged and used as a common brothel; but the inhabitants to keep good and honest rules, as other places of this realm, &c.

The CLINKE was a gaol or prison for the trespassers in these districts, for such as should "brabble, fray, or break the peace on the said 'Bank, or in the brothel houses;" they were by the inhabitants thereabouts apprehended and committed to this gaol, where they were closely imprisoned.

This prison is still in being; and the bishop of Winchester's steward tries pleas of debt, damages or trespass in the Clink liberty, for any sum. The prison has been represented as a filthy, noisome dungeon.

GLOBE ALLEY is so named from the theatre for dramatic entertainments, called THE GLOBE, which flourished in 1603, in consequence of a licence under the privy seal, granted that year by James I. to SHAKESPEARE, FLETCHER, BURBAGE, HEMMINGS, CONDELL, and others, "authorizing them to act plays, not only at their usual place, THE GLOBE, on the Bank Side, but in any other part of the kingdom, during his majesty's pleasure."

The contrast between the poverty of the theatre in which the immortal Shakespeare and his companions acted, and and the maguificent display of pageantry in our modern places of dramatic entertainment, is amply exhibited in the following article from Stow's Chronicle.

After