Star.
London, England, 1825-10-21 00:00:00

MEMORIALS OF LONDON BRIDGE.

By the Saxon annals, it appears that there was no
bridge at London in the year 993; for we a'e told that
Anlaf, the Dane, in that year, sailed up the liver as fat
as Staines, ss ith a fleet of 93 ships, and ravaged the
countries on both sides. Whereas, if there had been a
bridge at London, at the time of this invasio.t, it is not
to be questioned but the citizens would have fortified
it in such a manner as to have obstructed the passage
of Anlaf, as they did frequently afterwarsis that of the
most potent Danish fleets. Hence it is probable that
a bridge was erected in the reign of Ethelred, between
the year mentioned and 1,017, when Canute caused his
canal or trench to be cut on the south side of the
river for conveying his ships through to the west side
of the bridge.
The continual expenses in maintaining and repais
a wooden bridge becomiag exceedingly burdensome to
the people, who, upon extrterdinary occasions (when
the lands appropriated for that use fell short of the
charges) were taxed to make up the deficiencies*, it was
resolved to build a stone bridle a little to the west of
the wooden fabric mentioned, whose head, in the time
of William the Conqueror, pointed ashore at Bo-
tolph's wharf.
Besid:s Peter of Colechureh, who was employed as
the first architect, but who died before it WAS finished,
one Isenbert is said to have bed► recommended to the
citizens by King John to carry on the work. No ar-
chitect of that name, however, occurs among the no-
tices of our early topographical set iters ; and it is more
generally agreed that the completing of the work was,
at Peter's death, committed to the care of Seile
Mercer, William Alm nine, and Benedict Bo:ewrite,
merchants of Lon lon, who completed the tint st, ne
bridge in 1209. It is said in the Camera Re„ es, when
so finished, to have bad, with the drawl); idg,, twenty
arches, made of squared stone 60 feet high, and 30 feet
broad, distant each from the other 20 feet."

Some houses and buildings were at the first erected
on part of this bridge, and the revenues of those houses
applied towards the expenses of finishing it. It had,
besides, within the centre pier a leautiful Gothic Cha-
pel, which was dedicated to St. Thomas, the patron
Saint of the bi Lige, and which had its chauntry Priests,
and contained also the tomb of the founder. Arnold,
in his Customs of London (1519), likewise mentions "an
yrnage of Our Lady on the Brydge."
Tne middle parts were anciently used for 'hew-,
tournaments, and public diversions; and several year,
subsequent to the bridge being finished, starlings were
fixed round each of the piers, to prevent them from
being injured by the flux and reflux of the tides.
Northuuck (Hist. Lond. p. 561) wonders, as well be
might, at the motives for building these habitations on
so strange, so inconvenient, and No perilous a spot, as
on each side of a public bridge, over a wide river ;
and at a time when terra Jima was not rendered pre-
(•) The expense of keeping up the bridge, for one year, in henry
Seventh's reign, amounted to £3l s.

cious by assiduous agriculture, or by a land-tax. " Yet
so it was," he observes, " the b: idge was loaded by
wooden houses, which reduced the passage over to a
narrow street of twenty feet aide; and in this crowded
state it remained tot five hundred years! That the A.
surdity below might correspond wi•lt that above, the
passage under the arches was contracted by enormo_ts
platforms, built around the decaying piers, called star-
lings, which dammed up the water so muzh, that at
the return of the tide the river above the bridge is
nearly five feet higher than it is below; so that during
the ebb the water through every arch forms so many
cat cracts, pouring down with a tremendous roar, and
whiffing round the lower side 13 framing eddies, as
soon as disengaged from the confinement.
Certainly a modern inhabitant of London cannot re-
flect without wonder on the absurd idea of a st; eet upcn
a bridge ; and that his ancestors should for ages volun-
tarily obstruct their enly communication from shore to
shore. What must have been the thronged passage for
horses, carriages, and pedestrians saved from a space
of forty feet wide, encumbered by buildings, and the
weight pressing upon the piers aid arches? Yet this
ahsuriEty, as well as the other inconveniences-of e e
old bridge, were, by our ancestors, thought beautit s.
Most early writers speak with wood, r of these houses,
and the numerous arches of the bridge; but by none
has the subject been so well described as in a para.
p!irase in " De Lame's Account of London" (1681),
from some Latin verses by Howell, inserted in his
Londinopol s:"
When Neptune from his billows London spied,
Brought proudly thither by a high spring-tide;
When be beheld a mighty bridge give law
Unto his surges, and their fury awe;
When he such massy walls, such towers did eye,
Such posts, such irons, on his back to lie ;
When such vast arches he observ'd, that. might
Nineteen Rialtos make for depth and height ;
When the Cerulean god these things surveyed,
He shook his trident, and astonished said,
" Let the whole earth new all her wonders count,
This bridge of wonders is the paramount."
Besides the di'covery of the elegant Gothic chapel
mentioned (of which two plates, with a particular ac-
count, were published by t' e Antiquarian Society),
there were found, on the demoliti.n of the old bridge
in 1758, three ancient stones, in different parts of tt.e
foundation, beating the dates 1497, 1509, and 1514,
which were supposed to have been laid in at three seve-
ral repairs, made in the "years specified by these re-
spective dates. They were all as fresh as if just cut,
and were committed to the custody of Mr. Hudsr n, the
Bi idge-master.
Stowe and his continuators have collected many par-
ticulipof casualties attending this first stone bridge ;
but thef havejlaitted Lydgate's description of the re-
ception of Hen y VI. on it, by the citizens of London,
on his return from France. We shall make a quotation
from it, in lieu of their " tin ice•told tales."

" Midst of the bridge there was a tower on loft.
The Loan of Lords being all his guide,
As he hath bin, and will be fall oft.
The tower arrayed with velvet soft,
Cloth of gold, silk, and tapestry,
All things pertaining to regality;
And nt his coming, of excellent beauty,
Benign of port, most womanly of cheer;
There issued out Empresses three."
fie then proceeds to describe the allegorical person.
ages hinted at, who each presented to the Nionarch gifts
approrriste to the character she personated.
" Grace gave hint first at his coming
Two rich gifts—science and cunning;
Nature gave him eke—strength and fairness;
Fortune, prosperity and riches."
The above, %%NI numerous other ideal beings (all
characteristically and most sumptuously habited), then
welcomed their Sovereign home in certain congratula-
tory verres, which they sang, accompanied by the sound
of musical instruments. Alter which, and other ce-
remonies—

" Thus restrayned—an easy pace riding,
1 he King entered into his city," &e. &c.
The unfortunate Monarch little dreamt, at this pe-
riod, that he was so near the scene of his future impii-
sonnient and murder, the Tavver of London.
Besidev being the scene of splendid festivities, the
bridge was often, in old time!, as it has been occasion-
ally in our own, clio,en a. a place for the exhibition of
ingenious devices. Among the King's pamph!ets at
the British Museum, is a sort of advertisement, printed
in 1647, of an experiment offered to be tried here by a
Captain Bullmer. It k intitled The proposition of
C.iptaine John Bullmer, remaining upon record in the
Office of Assurance London, fur the blowing of a boate,
with a man or boy in her over London Bridge in safety."
The Captain thus t.tazes the particulars of his wonder-
ful perfurmance:—_

The said John Bulln er propoundeth, that he (by
GOD'S assistance) shall and will, at, in, or wi:h a flowing
water, set oute a boate or vessell with an engine floating,
with a man or boy in or aboard the said boate or vessell
in the river Thames, on the east side of London bridge;
wl ich said boate or vessel!, ith the said man or boy in
Of aboard the same, shall the same tide (before low water
againe) by the art of the said Bullmer, and helps
of the said engine, be blowne so high with a
breath of man, as, that the same shall passe and
be delivered over Loncl,,n bridge, together with the said
meg or boy in or aboard her, and floate againe in the
said river Thames, on the other side of the said bridge,
in safety," &c. We have not met with any subsequent
account cf the means by which this feat was to be per-
formed, or whether it ever took place or not ; but it cer-
sainly (if not a deception) seems to give place to none
of modern days.
Among occurrences of more recent date which have
taken place here, few are of sufficient importance to oc-
cupy the pages of the annalist. The following may
please the lovers of eccentricity ;
In 1722, when some decay on the drawbridge had
rendered it necessary to prevent the passage of persons
and vehicles, in order to its repair, the silence and de-
solate appearance of a place 50 much frequented at all
other times, attracted the attemii n of some wealthy
tradesmen, who entered into the whimsical resolution to
have a table set in the midst of the street, where the,
sat drinking for a whole afternoon, that they might '
enabled to say at a future period, However crowk
the bridge is, I have sat and drank punch on it fur sr,
part of a day."

•

they
it be
•drd
;teat
41

LONDON.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, I S'2s.
STOCK EXCHANGE, I%V EINE O'CLOCK.

Consols opened this morning at 873 for the Account, and soon
after iniunnse sales were math:, which caused them to fall to 137,
for the Account ; and for Money 874 y, at which price they are
new, with a gloomy Market. The cause of the fall is stated to
be owing to the Bank Living coned in Loans to the amount of
Fifteen Ilhodred 'Thousand Pounds. It is also stated that the
Equitabk Society have called a Meeting, and are going to divide a
considerable portion of their accumulated funds, which will cause
a great quantity of Stock to be thrown on the Market.

- _
Current Prices: Austrian 98. .1, Brazilian Scrip 81 I di's,
Mexican Bonds 7011, Alezican Scrip 9 81 discount.
P:IICK OF STOCKS AT TWO tiOLoCK.
Bank Stock 2251/2
ti per Cent. lted. ex-div. 87 86%
• 3 per Cent. Crni. 8714 % sus
3.)? per Ce:a. 94Y8 1,4
per Cent. llei. ex•div. 911/g 3/x 91
• 4 per Cent. New 102%8 54 103
Long Ann. ex-div. 20-,13 15-16
• India Stock 257
India Bonds 11 13
El,OOO I.lx:lieq. Bills 2 3
£5OO ditto 2 3
- 4:100 and £2OO ditto 4 2
Cons. for Acct. 8774 5/3
EXCIIANGES.
Hameln:sir, Ocz. 14.—0 n Lonti.on, SG. 21. Us. 33. 11;.
ST. I'ETYntiltllttl:ll, StrT. 1.011(1011, I() 17.32.
Ocz. 1 u.—On I Andan, 3 M. G. 15:,.
• 14:Kw:, Or. 1 I.—Oo London, 3 I`.l 6. •.:5:;.
VILNNA, (JCT. Lorthn. 5 M. 9.

Tliis forenoon we received Flarnhur2,h Papers to the
f 5 h instant, contain:llg intelligence of the Ist of
October from St. Petersbuigh, stating, that a Courier
from the Russian Ambassador to the British Court had
arrived the day before, with very importaiit dispatches,
which w-re immediately forwarded to the EMPLR
The Emperor of Russ' A has recently adopted some
measures whii.h are calculated to give: much satisfac-
tion to the lower elassfs of his" subjects, though the
transferring of a Nob:eman's estates to guardians, and
banishing him from the capital, even for too great

evei ity to his vascals, F. eems. some A.)11; sttangein Lh:s.
country. The following ate eitracts:

ST. PETERSBUR.GII, OCTOBER 1.

An Imperial Ukase reduces by one half,from the be-
ginning of 1826, the imposts paid by the lower class of
tradesmen, and secures to it:ern other advantages. The
towns on the Black Sea have .obtained -still greater ad;
vantages. The object of the late commercial regula-
tions aprears to be to concentrate commerce in the
towns, in order to promote the consumption of agri•
cultural produce, and to prevent the boundless increase
of an unprofitable retail trade.
A resolution of the Imperial Committee, confirmed
by his Majesty, orders that the entire property of Pt ince
D—, situated in various parts of the empire, shall
Ire placed under legal guardianship, he having been
convicted of too great severity to his vassals; and he
himself is to be for ever banished from the capital.

Frankfort and other German Papers to the 15th
inst. reached US this f.renunn. If the accounts they
contain from Greece are to be relied on, the war in Oh,
Morea may he considered as nearly at an end, and
with it the fifth campaign of the Turks. In:cliigence
fr,m Constantinople to the IGth ult. :43 Odes a, states
that Islamas PacoA bad returned to N ivatino, and
that the Capitan Pacha's fleet had put into Alex-
andria, for the most part without masts or tails. This
news is said to have caused an extraordinat y sensation
at Constantinople, and some discontent had ma!,ifested
i:stlf among the Janissaries.
The retreat of lartAnnt PACITA to the coast i; cur-
Tohorated by an article from Trieste, in the Allgemeine
&dung of the 14. th of Or.oher, which further states,
that in a dispute between Innaurst PnettA and HUS-
SEIN BEY, the former fired a pistol at the latter, and
killed him on the spot. It is also said that the troops
of the,e leaders lad come to blows. Should this be
the case, the Greeks will have an easy conquest,
though nothing is said of their operations. The follow-
ing are extracts: