dinal Campeius" was brought to y° kinges presence then living at Brydewel by y cardinal of Yorke and was caryed in a chayer of Crimosin veluet borne between iiii persones, for he was not able to stand, and the cardynall of Yorke and he sat both on the ryght hand of the kinges throne, and there one Frauncisci secretary to cardinal Campeius made an eloquent oracion in the latin tongue :"* and the same King, "caused al his nobilitie, Judges and counsaylors wt diuers other persons to come to his palace of Brydewell on sonday the viii day of Nouēber at after none in his great chamber, and there" delivered a speech to them, concerning his marriage with Katharine of Arragon.+ In the following year, Henry and his Queen resided here while the question of their marriage was pending at the Blackfriars; after which, taking a dislike to the place, he let it fall to decay; in which state it remained until its appropriation, in the following reign, to charitable purposes. After the general suppression of the monasteries and other religious houses, London became filled with multitudes of dissolute and necessitous persons, who, before that period, had depended on ecclesiastical charity for their support. It therefore became neces sary to adopt some plan for the correction of offenders, and to afford a refuge and relief to such as were in actual want. The first person who endeavoured to effect this laudable and charitable purpose, was the pious Bishop Ridley, who, in a letter to the King's * Hall's Chronicle, fol. 180. + Ibid. Secretary, Sir William Cecyl, Knight, thus singularly, yet emphatically, pressed his suit: "Good Mr. Cecyl, I must be a suitor unto you in our Master Christ's Cause. I beseech you be good unto him. The Matter is, Sir: Alas! he hath lein too, too long abroad, as you do know, without Lodging, in the Streets of London, both hungry, naked and cold. Now, thanks be unto Almighty God, the Citizens are willing to refresh him, and to give him both Meat, Drink, and Cloathing and Firing; but, alas! Sir, they lack Lodging for him. For, in some one House, I dare say, they are fain to lodge three Families under one Roof. Sir, there is a wide, large, empty House of the King's Majesty, called Bridewell, that would wonderfully well serve to lodge Christ in, if he might find such good Friends in the Court to procure in his Cause. Surely, I have such a good Opinion 'in the King's Majesty, that if Christ had such faithful and hearty Friends, that would heartily speak for him, he should undoubtedly speed at the King's Majesty's Hands. Sir, I have promised my Brethren, the Citizens, to move you, because I do take you for one that feareth God, and would that Christ should lie no more abroad in the Street."* In accordance with this, and other petitions, made by the citizens, that young and virtuous Prince, Edward the Sixth, by a charter, bearing date the 26th of June, 1552, and which charter was afterwards confirmed by Queen Mary, granted the Palace of Bridewell for the above purpose, and, amongst other things, endowed it with a great part of the revenues of the Savoy. In 1608, twelve large granaries were erected in this Hospital, at the expense of the City, capable * Strype's Stow's" London," vol. i. p. 179. of containing six thousand quarters of corn, and two storehouses for coals. In the ancient Chapel, which, says Strype," was inlarged and beautified, at the proper Cost and Charge of the Governors and Inhabitants of this Precinct, in the year of our Lord 1620," was a portrait of Edward the Sixth, under which were the following lines: "This Edward, of fair Memory the Sixt, In whom, with Greatness, Goodness was commixt, In the plan of London attributed to Ralph Aggas, the buildings and gardens of this Hospital appear to extend from their present site all the way to the Thames, on the bank of which, a large castellated mansion is represented. After the dreadful fire in 1666, by which almost the entire pile was destroyed, this Hospital was rebuilt in the manner represented in the annexed print, in two quadrangles, the principal of which fronted the Fleet River, now a vast barrel-like sewer under the middle of Bridge Street. The old hall still remains, but the committee-room, prisons, chapel, &c. have been built since the commencement of the present century, and the whole now forms only one large quadrangle. The hall, which is upwards of one hundred feet in length, and forty in breadth, is lined with wainscotting, and furnished with long mahogany tables and forms, at which the governors dine annually in June. Over the fire-place, at the west end, is a large, and nearly square picture, by Holbein, of King Edward the Sixth, presenting his Charter for this Hospital to the Lord Mayor (Sir George Bowes) and Citizens of London. The figures of Goodrich, Bishop of Ely, Lord Chancellor; Thomas, Earl of Pembroke, and five other great officers of state, are introduced in this piece, in which, also, is a head of Holbein himself. The other pictures exhibit full-lengths of Charles I., sitting; James II.; and the following Presidents, viz. Sir William Turner, 1669; Sir Robert Gefferey, 1686; Sir William Withers, 1708, a very large equestrian picture, with St. Paul's in the back-ground; Sir Thomas Rawlinson, 1706; Sir Samuel Garrard, bart., 1710; William Benn, Esq., 1747; Sir Richard Glyn, bart., 1759; Sir James Sanderson, 1793; and Sir Richard Carr Glyn, bart., 1799: the above dates shew the years of their respective mayoralties. In the Committee-room is a portrait of Richard Clark, Esq., the present venerable Chamberlain of the City, taken in 1781. The Chapel is a plain edifice, having a gallery for the prisoners on the south and west sides, supported by Tuscan columns. The prisoners are chiefly vagrants and disorderly persons, including street-walkers: the sexes are kept separate, and employed in working a tread-mill. FAUBERT'S PASSAGE.-RIDING ACADEMY. FAUBERT'S PASSAGE, which now forms a paved communication for foot passengers, between Regent-street and King-street, was, until the late improvements, a narrow thoroughfare for carriages, between the latter named place and Swallow Street. It derives its name from one Monsieur, or Major Faubert, who came over from Paris, in 1681, and established a Riding Academy there, on premises, which, prior to that time, had been the residence of the Countess of Bristol. Evelyn, in his Diary, mentions, that "the Council of the Royal Society had it recommended to them, to be Trustees and Visitors, or Supervisors, of the Academy, which Monsieur Faubert did hope to procure to be built by subscription of worthy gentlemen and noblemen, for the education of youth, and to lessen the vast expense the nation is at yearly by sending children into France to be taught military exercises. We thought good to give him all the encouragement our recommendation could procure." In another part of the same Diary, dated December 18th, 1684, the following description is given, of the exercises practised at this Academy:-"I went with Lord Cornwallis to see the young gallants do their exercise, Mr. Faubert having newly rail'd-in a manage and fitted it for the Academy. There were the Dukes of Norfolk and Northumberland, Lord Newburgh, and a nephew of (Duras) Earle of Feversham. The exercises were,-1. Running at the ring;-2. Flinging a javelin at a Moor's head ;-3. Discharging a pistol at a mark ;—and, lastly, Taking up a gauntlet with the point of a sword; all these perform'd in full speede. The Duke of Northumberland hardly miss'd of succeeding in every one, a dozen times, as I think. Duke of Norfolk did exceeding bravely. Lords Newburgh and Duras seem'd nothing so dextrous. Here I saw the difference of what yo French call belle homme The |
