The Sun.
London, England, 1845-01-24 00:00:00

JANUARY 24, 184

Mr. D. W. WIRE inquired what was the nature of
the property in question, which rendered an applica-
tion to Parliament necessary P
Mr. R. TAYLOR replied that they were Church pro-
perty, held under leases, and could not be dealt with
by any private arrangement.
Mr. PRENDERGAST seconded the motion, because he
thought the application of the funds of the Corpora-
tion for such a purpose as the- completion of these
great improvements, much better than disposing of
them in aid of any Charity. The cause of humanity
in the prevention of accidents, and the removal of the
pest-houses in Field-lane, called for this outlay.
Mr. D. W. WIRE did not mean to oppose the peti-
tion going to the London-bridge Approaches Com-
mittee, because he desired to see improvements made
in all the approaches to the City ; but he desired to
draw the attention of the Committee to other and
far greater improvements than that now under con-
sideration.—(Cries of "No, no.") He especially
alluded to that which had constantly been talked
about in that Court, and as constantly neglected—he
meant the improvement of Watling-street.—(Hear,
hear.) If the Corporation were going to Parliament
for a new Act, he called upon the Committee to in-
clude in its provisions those other impovements which
were more loudly called for.
Mr. ANDERTON was surprised that his friend Mr.
Wire, who was a member of the Washing-tub Com-
pany—(Laughter)—should think any improvement
superior to that which would rid the public of such a
nuisance as Field-lane. He was told that the expense
would not exceed 10,0001., and it ought to be carried
out without further delay.
Mr. KING suggested that instead of referring the
petition to the London-bridge Approaches Committee,
the better course would be to refer it to the General
Purposes Committee, and if that body sanctioned the
removal of the houses in question, then to authorise
the London-bridge Committee to carry the project
into effect. If this course was not adopted the petition
would be mere waste paper.
Mr. BUCKMASTER supported the petition. There
was no part of London which called more for im-
provement than the locality in question. He was
prepared with details, but he need only state, in sup-
port of his assertion, that in some of the low lodging-
houses in Field-lane, and within thirty feet of the
frontage of New Farringdon-street, there were now
many serious cases of fever, from which the greatest
public danger existed.
Mr. H. L. TAYLOR contended for the right of
priority in the way of alteration and improvement in
favour of Watling. street; and, as a member of the
London-bridge Approaches Committee, he should op-
pose the petition (if it was referred to that body)
until the claims of Watling-street had received from
the Committee that attention which it deserved.
Mr. LOTT concurred with the last speaker. The
Court had solemnly decided that the improvement of
Watling-street should take place, and yet nothing
had been done, because the active gentleman who was
at the head of the Improvement Committee had taken
a wrong view, and ruled over the destinies of the
body over which he presided.—(Loud laughter.)
Mr. OBBARD supported the motion for the reference
of the petition to the London-bridge Approaches
Committee. He thought, instead of sending the
matter to two Committees, as suggested by Mr. King,
the subject required one continuous mind, as it were,
and ought to be limited to one body.
Mr. WILLIAMS (Farringdon) and Mr. MARRIOTT
briefly expressed similar views and opinions.
Mr. R. L. JONES defended the London-bridge Ap-
proaches Committee, with reference to the course it
had taken, and the progress it had made, in effecting
improvements, and reminded the Court hat they had
furnished plans which they were fully prepared to
carry out if furnished with the necessary funds.
After a few words from Mr. R. TAYLOR in reply,
the motion was put and agreed to.
PURCHASE OF THE FLEET.
Mr. DIXON presented a report from the City Lands
Committee, on the subject of the reference made to
them to open a communication with the Com-
missioners of Woods and Forests, to ascertain upon
what terms the Fleet Prison could be purchased. The
report stated that the Committee had offered 23,000/.,
but that the Commissioners of 'Woods and Forests had
declined to accept less than 25,000/., the sum at which
the property had been valued by three eminent
.sur-
veyors. The Commissioners had given the Corpora-
tion an option of making the purchase at that sum
until the 28th instant, and the Committee, by their
report, unanimously recommended that the purchase
should be effected. Mr. Dixon, in moving the Court
to agree with the Committee in their report, bore
testimony to the courteous manner in which the de-
putation had been received by the Earl of Lincoln,
who had yesterday come to town expressly to meet
them.

Mr. R. TAYLOR seconded the motion.
Mr. ANDERTON expressed a hope that the motion
would be unanimously agreed to. He had himself
that morning been told by an eminent architect that
he was ready to give the sum demanded for the pro-
perty, and to apply it to public purposes. That
gentleman was now waiting to ascertain the decision
of the Court on the subject.
After a few words from Mr. KING and Mr. Deputy
ODBARD,
Mr. D. W. WIRE congratulated the Court upon
the favourable termination of the negotiation ; but he
must express a hope that the purposes to
which the property might be appropriated would
not hastily be decided upon. Knowing as he did the
state of the City prisons, and the impossibility of en-
larging the present structure, he hoped the land
would be appropriated to the erection of a gaol for the
City of London.
Mr. PRENDERGAST sincerely hoped the ground
would be applied to a much better purpose than
building a gaol.
After a short conversation, in which Mr. Lott, Mr.
R. Taylor, and Mr. R. L. Jones took part, the mo-
tion was agreed to.
THAMES NAVIGATION.
Mr. Deputy HICKS brought up a report from the
Thames Navigation Committee, recommending an
application to Parliament for an Act to enable the
Corporation to take up the bonds on loans at 5 per
cent. interest, and to effect new loans offered on the
security of the tolls, at the rate of 4 per cent.
Mr. KING objected to any such application, and
after a long discussion the Court divided on the ques-
tion that it agree with the Committee in their report.
On the division the numbers were found to be—
For the motion
Against it . . .
Majority
CITY IMPROVEMENTS.
On the motion of R. L. JONES, it was moved that
the sum of 22,6001., reported by the Chamberlain as
the surplus funds for the quarter ending the sth
January instant, should be applied in discharge of
further part of the loan raised for the approaches ;
and on the motion of the same gentleman the surplus
fund, reported by the Chamberlain, of 3,5001., was
ordered to be applied in further discharge of the loan
of 45,0001. raised for the Farringdon-street im-
provements..

THE LATE FLEET-MARKET.
Mr. BOWER presented a report from the Coal, Corn,
and Finance Committee, recommending the payment
of the stun of 10,0001. in final discharge of the sum of
150,0001., raised in 1824, for the removal of
Fleet-market. He was happy to say the Com-
mittee were enabled to make this recommendation in
consequence of the saving they had been enabled to
make in the expenditure during the past year.—
(Hear, hear.) He moved the Court to agree with
the Committee in their report, and the motion
passed without a dissentient voice.

In holiday time, when the ladies of London
Walk out with their spouses, or think themselves undone,
* * * * *
Then I, like my neighbours, to sweeten life,
Took a walk in the fields (i. e. Islington—
* * * *

We saunter'd about near the Now River Head,
Where we prattled and talked, but what 'twas we said
If you'd have me discover, indeed I must fail you," &c.
It appears the price of admission to the New Tunbridge
Wells was 3d. Of the amusements, he says :
" We walk'd by an outhouse we found had been made
For raffling and late ries, and such sort of trade.
To gaze at the lott'ry I stood by a while,
See the gamesters all frown, and the lott'ry man smile,
Till, tir'd with standing, we rambled from hence,
And left the poor fools to be gull'd of their pence."
In a paper entitled " The Dancing School," the writer
describes an Easter Monday jaunt to High-gate and
Finchley, via Islington.t (This part of London was
evidently the universal resort of tradesmen, their wives,
daughters, 'prentices, &c.) He says "All have resource
into the fields." He proceeds, in verse :
" In little time to Islington we came,
For cakes and ale, a town of ancient fame,
Which to this day '8 frequented for the same."
His discription of Highgate and of the crowds going,
to Finchley, where " the murderer was hung in chains,"
is life-like. At the High Tavern, where the gentry met,
he could not get a mutton chop, though he offered a
crown for it. The masses had literally devoured all
before them.

THE CITY LIBRARY.
Mr. LOTT then rose to move, pursuant to notice,
" That it be referred to the Library Committee to
consider a resolution of this Court of the 19th De-
cember, 1826, whereby it was referred to the
Library Committee to consider the propriety of pro-
viding a suitable place for the reception of such an-
tiquities as relate to the City of London and suburbs,
as may be procured or presented to the Corporation,
and to report thereon to the Court;" but
Mr. PEWTRESS having taken notice that there were
not a sufficient number of members present to con•
stitute a Court, the Court adjourned.

•
Mr. Tufnell, M.P., is detained in Italy by the ill-
health of Mrs. Tufnell, but hopes to be back in Eng-
land in the course of the month of February, to attend to
his duties in Parliament.

We are happy to 1 earn that the health of Sir
Thomas Fowell Buxton, Bart, is considerably improved,
and that hopes are entertained of his complete recovery.
The Marquis and Marchioness Camden are expected
in Belgrave-square, at the end of the month, from the
Wilderness, near Seven Oaks, Kent, for the season.
EXTENSIVE ROBBERY OF BANK NOTES.—On Wed-
nesday information was circulated throughout the metro-
politan and City police districts, that on the evening of
Saturday, the 18th instant, Mr. J. Brodrick, a gentleman
recently come from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and residing
at No. 23, Haydon-square, Minories, was robbed while
sitting in the pit of Covent-garden Theatre of bank-
notes to the value of 8251 The notes were enclosed in a
paper packet, and were deposited in an inside breast
pocket of his inner coat. They consisted chiefly of Bank
of England notes, and some were of the York and Stock-
ton banks. About 30 of them were for 10Z each, and
the rest of them were for a each, the numbers and dates
being unknown. How the robbery was effected, or at
what period of the evening, is a mystery.
SINGULAR MISTAKE.—Last Friday afternoon a
clipper schooner belonging to Newcastle, took a pilot at
the mouth of the river, and brought up in Montrose
harbour. On coming on shore the captain inquired
immediately for his consignees, designing them as mer-
chants in Aberdeen, and was surprised to find that he
had entered Montrose Harbour instead of that of the
" city of the North." Such a mistake occurring in the
19th century certainly betokens a lamentable want of
knowledge, and is another proof of the great need of a
properly constituted board for ascertaining the qualifi-
cations of masters and mates previous to their being en-
trusted with the earn of life and property.—Montrose
Standard.

At what time the first tavern bearing the title of
White Conduit House was built does not clearly appear ;
but in the Gentleman's Magazine (1760) we find tha
following .

" WHITE CONDUIT HOUSE.
"And to White Conduit House
We will go, will go, will go."—Grub-street Register.
" Wish'd Sunday to come—mirth brightens every face,
And paints the rose upon the housemaid's cheek,
Harriet or Moll, more ruddy. Now the heart
Of 'prentice, resident in ample street,
Or alley kennel wasted ; Cheapside, Cornhill,
Or Cranbourne—thee for calcuments renown'd,
With joy distends ; his meal meridian o'er,
With switch in hand, he to WHITE CONDUIT HOUSE
Hies merry hearted."
fame."
" While tea and cream and butter'd rolls can please
This burlesque heroic concludesjieialouosues
stbhheatililsels:b—eextiisyt,
xsndgausriadtndiloquent affair is W. WT.
The Sso;glmo Whilen gtruil:%'e'ahl
to
obt eetaChuoi
Tepharn, the strong man, exhibited .in the fields. He
had thrice the strength of what is commonly termed a
powerful man. Ile was accustomed to resist the
_ _ d
draught of two horses,
and do a variety of other feats,
too well authenticated to be deemed
fields around the Conduit
were exaggerations. The
A large
pewter l e places of his frequent re-
sort.ate that he doubled up by his
fingers is still preservedp'
The Daily Public 'in the British Museum.
Advertiser of August 11, 1749, has
this record :—" yeTopham (ka sterday, August 10, died Thomas
own by the name of The Strong Man, mas-
ter of a
. public-house in Hog-lane (Sh d" 1 )
ore itc.l,, occa-
sioned by several
wounds he gave himself on Tuesday

WHITE CONDUIT HOUSE. last, after having stabbed his wife in the breast, who i
TEE PAST AND THE PRESENT. likely to recover." Jealousy was the cause of th. ;8 rash
(From the Sunday Times.) act. The wife subsequently recovered.
We have little record of the pastimes of eur for( - Abraham Newland, who died at Highbury in 1807,
his 73th year, was a frequenter of the White condui t fathers ; Strutt has, it is tree, described the games s
and the Barn House. Be was noted as a " disputatious
which they " delote " to unbend themselves, but he berg
presented us no picture of the pe. argumentative) person, yet generally respected by
ssople. Sam. Foote; s
" Tea Parties" are but a name, it was only through t i all visitors."
verbsl description by old Byrn, the vet‘sran ballet-masse
" A writer in 1774 gives this description of the place:—
ter, that we could at all imagine the effect of that enter`- The garden is formed into walks, I,,rettily disposed.
tainment, and Byrn, who died at the age of ninety, wee At the end of the principal one is a pointing, which
seems to render it (the walk) longer in appearance but twelve years old when he witnessed Foote's per-- than
it eally is. In the centre of the garden is a
,wish-pond.formance ! The publications of that day enured into
no detail ; what everybody went to see the ,sditors There are boxes for company, curiously cut into hedges,
,
deemed it unnecessary to describe, as if all records' of 'lorned with Flemish and other paintings. There &Le
events were not meant for posterity. Thus it is with a handsome tea-rooms, one over the other, and several
-ior ones in the house." The fish-pond was wont the old household words that spoke of the enjoyments of
our predecessors. We read of Ranelagh, and ask where after .filled up, and its site planted, the paintings removed,
and what it was ?—of the Ridotto at Marylebone-gar- and a
~new dancing and tea saloon, called the Apollo
dens—of the Apollo Saloon in St. Georges'. fields—of room, bn. 'it.
the famed Dog and Duck in the same vicinity—of Bag- Christop. her Bartholomew laid out the gardens and
nigge and of Tunbridge Wells (London)—scarcely a walks, and re, alised a great deal of money in this house;
vestige remains to depict the site of one or either of them. he was also prop.rietor of the old Angel Inn at Islington.
Ere steam had gained an empire upon land and water, Excessive speculai:iot.is ruined him. Whilst in abject
visitors to Brighthelmatone were few indeed. Margate poverty, he dreamt of _a number in the lottery, prevailed
had its boy boat, the miseries of which Charles Dibdin on a friend to go halves wjth him in a sixteenth, and,
has perpetuated in a song ; the voyage frequently lasted wonderful to relate, it came up to 20,000/. prize,. He
three or four days—it is now accomplished in five or six died in 1809, at the age of sixty-eight. Bartholomew
hours. In those "good old days that our grandmothers was the uncle of Frederick Hartlana% the well-known
tell of " Islington, Highgate Itampstead, Hornsey, and Pantaloon.
Finchley were the Brighton, the Is'ainsgate, and theP The small stone house that, until 1835.',- stood above
Broadstairs of the middle classes. It was with a view the well, or conduit, was built in the year 1641. In
to put upon record some picture of the past that we some Bowles' " Manly Recreations " are some capitat.l prints of
time since gave a sketch of Bagnigge and Sadler's Wells the bowling-green attached to the old house.
in the olden time, and in the same spirit we speak of In the early part of the present century, Mrs. Sharpe
White Conduit House, as it was when our progenitors and ,a Mr. Warren had the house, to which a smell ale
called a visit to it a "country jaunt." A magnificent aid ta We beer brewery was attached.
ga,ens. Mr. Lunt (celebrated as the fi.rst
In 18,?6,ad_variety of theatrical experiments were
in srle
tavern—where the O'Connells, the Broughams, and the
in the Duncombes have assembled thousands—now stands upon
the spot formerly dedicated to the revels and innocent
coffee-shopk,
eeper) opened them as a "Minor Vauxhall:"
diversions of the citizens of the last century. Under his wax.sagement Mrs. Bland made her last publ lc
The amusements of former days might literally be appearance.
described as " life in the fields." Hornsey-woed House, The house and . -ounds are now in the possession rf
the Wells, Copenhagen House, the Spa, and White Mr. R. Rouse. srh,e Licensed Victuallers hold thei r
Conduit were all situated in the midst of meadows. summer meeting here, tic,* dinner being served beneath re
While the citizen enjoyed his ale or cyder, and smoked canvass canopy that may be called a " monster tent."
his pipe, his dame drank her tea and demolished the The large saloon in the house is continutilly engaged
Conduit cakes, and the children plucked buttercups and for dinners and public meetings, and from the ,size of the
gambolled at their pleasure. The bowling-grown had rooms and the extent of the gardens, White' Conduit
its attractions for lusty youth, and the coffee-room House offers facilities beyond those of any other esta-
formed a snug retreat for afflicted age. All this would blishment in or near the metropolis.
be deemed coarse and vulgar now, for the new school
teaches every man to assume a station above his own.
Appearance has taken the place of reality, and with far
more show, we fear there is much less happiness. Ater
this explanatory sermon, let us to the history of the
house which gives a name to this article.
The " Conduit" from which the house took its title
was in an adjoining field. A spring there was, in the
14th century, resorted to by the Carthusian Friars. In
1538 this convent was surrendered to Henry VIII. In
1611 Thomas Sutton founded the Charter House on part
of the site of the old monastery. " This charitable foun-
dation for pensioners and scholars, is (was) supplied
from the Old Conduit, in the field to the west of the vil-
lage of Eyseldon" (Islington). A few years afterwards
the New River Company became incorporated, but it was
many, many years ere water from this source was car-
ried to the neighbourhood of West Smithfield.
Conduits were things of great importance with our
forefathers. About 1236 a great want of water prevail-
ing in London. occasioned by the encroachment of build-
ings on the fresh water canals about the City, a scheme
was set on foot for bringing water from six fountains
"in the tonne of Tyburne.' In 1285 the first conduit
was built at the west end of Cheapside, near the centre
of the space between the corner of St. Paul's-churchyard
and St. Martin's-le-Grand.
In 1438 Sir W. Eastfield, Lord Mayor, at his own ex-
pense brought water from Tyburn, Highbury Barn, and
from the Islington fields. He erected conduits in Fleet-
street, Aldermanbury, and Cripplegate.
In 1443 the Common Council granted 1,000 marks to-
wards erecting a " new conduit, near St. Paul's-gate, at
the upper end of Cheapside" (no doubt the side pre-
viously alluded to). Spring water at this time was evi-
dently a scarce commodity. The price of the best ale
was then three-halfpence a gallon.
In 1541 orders were issued for repairing the conduits
of London, and for bringing water from Hampstead,
Marylebone, Hackney, Islington, Muswell Hill, &c.,
indemnifying owners of land from damage by such water-
courses. A new conduit was erected at Walbrook corner
(the water being drawn from the Thames). A writer,
in 1750, says, at the west end of the Poultry, where
Bucklersbury meets Cheapside, stood the great conduit.
The south end of George-street, Hanover-square, ter-
minates in Conduit-street, built upon the site of Con-
duit Mead. This conduit supplied the then west-end of
the metropolis.
In 1577 Wm. Lamb, citizen and cloth-worker, drew
several springs of water into one head at the upper end
of Red Lion-street. It was denominated Lamb's Con-
duit. From it he supplied (through leaden pipes*)
Snow-hill, and where an old conduit (repaired by him)
received the water. This conduit was taken down in
1706. The Foundling Hospital now stands on its site.
The chapel in the court at the north-west corner of
Monkwell-street, was originally erected by the same
Wm. Lamb.
Notwithstanding the progress made by the New River
Company, conduits were continually erected, and the old
ones kept in repair. It is within the recollection of many
now living that the river burst its channel (a thing pre-
dicted a century before). This accident gave a handle to
the numerous family of grumblers to mourn over the de-
cay of conduits.
"To the north of White Conduit House are," says
Lambert in his survey, " the remains of an ancient ford •
fication in a place known by the name of The Reed Moat,
or Six Acre Field. This place is supposed to have been
the spot where Paulinus, the Roman General, fled with
his men, when the Britons, under Queen Boadicea, mur-
dered the inhabitants of London, and set fire to the city.
Whether this supposition be correct or not, it is certain
that a Roman camp was situated on this spot, from the
remains of the General's prwtorium in the south-west
angle of the field."
" REPORT MADE UPON A VIEW OF THE DALSTON AND
ISIIINGToN WATERS."—DEC. 13, 1692.
After a long exordium and description of other places,
the report proceeds thus :—" And we have also, in fur-
ther pursuance of the said order, viewed the springs and
water belonging to the citty neare Islington, and find the
same in two heads, one covered over with stone in a
field neare Jack Straw's Castle, which is fed by sundry
wings in an adjacent field, and is usually called The
White Conduit." This document, which is very curious,
and explains the routes taken from the different con-
duits, will be found at length in " Nelson's Islington,"
quarto, 1811, p. 154 (curious).
The Wheel Pond, by White Conduit House, was a
famous place for duck hunting. Sir William Davenant
describes a City wife going to the fields to " sop her cake
in milke," on which her husband exclaims—
" Ho, ho !—to Itstarrarox—enough.
Fetch Job, my son, and our dog Ruffe ;
For there, in pond, through mire and muck,
We'll cry—hay duck l--,there Ruffe I—hay duck."
Goldsmith speaks of the feast of hot rolls and butter and
the tea-drinking parties at White Conduit House.
Dr. Hunter tells a pleasant story of a lady, an invalid,
whom he recommended to live at Islington ; she agreed
for some lodgings, but discovering the bannisters to be
out of repair said, " These must be mended before I
come." " That, Madam, would be of no use," replied
the landlady, " the undertakers' men, in bringing down
the coffins, are continually breaking the bannisters ; if I
did mend them they'd be just the same again in a month
or so." The lady did not take the lodgings.
In a collection of the writings of Mr. Edward Ward
(1717), in a poem entitled " A Walk to Islington," we
find a description of New Tunbridge Wells (gardens,
now built over ; the site is between Garnault-place and
Sadler's Wells); he also describes the latter place, then
called Sadler's Music House. The poem commences
thus :

* Leaden pipes (without solder) for conveying N.Yater,
were invented by Robert Brocke, chaplain to Henry VIII.
Robert Cowper, a goldsmith, first put the invention. all
practice.

Of so much importance were these conduits, that what
Otho Nicholson, M.A., Christ Church, erected Carfax Con-4
dust, in Oxford (1610), the scientific men of the metropolisi
crowded thither to inspect it.
t it oppears Ward and his mistress rode. One line gives
us a graphic idea of that lazy convenience, a coach. He
says-0 We
s,:netimes drew up our sashes, made of tin,
To hide from vulgar eyes love's toys within"