The Fleet. Its Rivers, Prison, and Marriages 26

The Fleet. Its Rivers, Prison, and Marriages 26

"Her Riches and his Industry brought him both great Wealth and Honour,

being afterwards no less than Sir _Stephen Foster_, Lord Mayor of the

Honourable City of London: Yet whilst he lived in this great Honour

and Dignity, he forgat not the Place of his Captivity, but, mindful of

the sad and irksome Place wherein poor Men were imprisoned, bethought

himself of enlarging it, to make it a little more delightful and

pleasant for those who in after Times should be imprisoned and shut up

therein. And, in order thereunto, acquainted his Lady with this his

pious Purpose and Intention; in whom likewise he found so affable and

willing a Mind to do Good to the Poor, that she promised to expend as

much as he should do for the carrying on of the Work."

 

And they did spend their money on it right royally, building, amongst

many other conveniences, a Chapel for the inmates, A.D. 1454, which

they endowed, so as to maintain a "preacher" or chaplain. Sir Stephen

Foster likewise provided that the place "should be free for all

Freemen, and that they, providing their own Bedding, should pay nothing

at their Departure for Lodging, or Chamber rent (as now they call it),

which to many poor Men becomes oftentimes as burdensome as their Debts,

and are by the Keeper detained in Prison as for Debt, only for their

Fees, though discharged and acquitted of what they were committed for."

 

Nor did his charitable goodness end here, for he gave a supply of water

_gratis_ to the prisoners, as was recorded on a brass in the Chapel,

very pithily--

 

"Devout Souls that pass this way

For STEPHEN FOSTER, late _Maior_, heartily pray,

And Dame AGNES, his Spouse, to God consecrate,

That of Pity this House made for Londoners in LUDGATE.

So that for Lodging and Water, Prisoners have nought to pay,

As their Keepers shall all answer at dreadful Doomsday."

 

Dame Agnes survived her husband, but was ultimately buried by his side

in the Church of St. Botolph, Billingsgate.

 

For a Prison, Ludgate compared more than favourably with every other in

London. As we have seen, the prisoners were select; they were helped,

in the matter of food, by the king of the City, the Lord Mayor: their

fees were infinitesimal as compared with other debtors' prisons. Strype

(ed. 1720, book ii. p. 179) says:--

 

"Formerly Debtors that were not able to satisfy their Debts, put

themselves into this Prison of _Ludgate_, for shelter from their

Creditors. And these were Merchants and Tradesmen that had been

driven to want by Losses at Sea. When King _Philip_ in the Month

of _August 1554_ came first through _London_, these prisoners

were Thirty in number; and owed £10,000, but compounded for

£2,000. Who presented a well penned Latin Speech to that Prince,

to redress their Miseries, and, by his Royal Generosity, to free

them. 'And the rather, for that that Place was not _Sceleratorum

Carcer, sed miserorum Custodia_; _i.e._, a Gaol for Villains,

but a Place of Restraint for poor unfortunate Men. And that they

were put in there, not by others, but themselves fled thither;

and that not out of fear of Punishment, but in hope of better

Fortune.' The whole Letter was drawn by the curious Pen of

_Roger Ascham_, and is extant among his Epistles, Lib. iii.

 

"If a Freeman or Freewoman of _London_ be committed to

_Ludgate_, they are to be excused from the ignominy of Irons, if

they can find Sureties to be true Prisoners, and if the Sum be

not above £100. There is another Custom of the liberal and mild

Imprisonment of the Citizens in _Ludgate_, whereby they have

Indulgence and Favour to go abroad into any place by _Baston_,

as we term it, under the guard and superintendency of their

Keeper, with whom they must return again to the Prison at Night."

 

[Footnote 74: "Garnish" was the _footing_ that every prisoner

paid on his entrance, and woe become him if it were not

forthcoming; he was simply stripped of his clothes.]

 

[Footnote 75: Strype's "Stow's Survey," ed. 1720, vol. ii. p.

26 appendix.]

 

 

 

 

[Illustration]

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER XVII.

 

 

The Course of the Fleet is nearly run, but, before closing this

account of the river, we should not forget the residence of the mighty

King-maker, the Earl of Warwick, whose pleasant gardens ran down to

the Fleet; and there, in Warwick Lane, after the great Fire, was

built the College of Physicians, described thus by Dr. Garth, in his

"Dispensary":--

 

"Not far from that most celebrated Place,

Where angry Justice shews her awful Face;

Where little Villains must submit to Fate,

That great ones may enjoy the World in State,

There stands a Dome, majestick to the sight,

And sumptuous Arches bear its oval height;

A golden Globe plac'd high with artful skill,

Seems, to the distant sight, a gilded Pill."

 

Here they were housed until 1825, and, from the Fleet, could be seen

the Apothecaries' Hall, in Water Lane, Blackfriars,

 

"Nigh where _Fleet Ditch_ descends in sable Streams

To wash his sooty _Naiads_ in the _Thames_;

There stands a Structure on a Rising Hill,

Where _Tyro's_ take their Freedom out to Kill."

 

Then there was the Monastery of the Dominicans, or Blackfriars, which

has given its name to a whole district; and there was a fortification,

or postern, on the little river, near Ludgate Hill; and, close to its

junction with the Thames, was Bridewell Bridge, so called from the

Royal Palace of that name, which, in its turn, received its cognomen

from another well, which went to form the "River of Wells," St.

Bridget's or Bride's Well. This bridge is shown in the frontispiece,

and was necessarily made very high in order to allow sailing craft to

go under it.

 

It was here that Pope, in his "Dunciad" (book ii.), thus sings:

 

"This labour past, by Bridewell all descend,

(As morning pray'r, and flagellation end)

To where Fleet-ditch with disemboguing streams

Rolls the large tribute of dead dogs to Thames,

The King of Dykes! than whom, no sluice of mud,

With deeper sable blots the silver flood.

'Here strip, my children! here at once leap in,

Here prove who best can dash thro' thick and thin.'"[76]

 

Ward bursts into song over Bridewell, thus:--

 

"'Twas once the Palace of a Prince,

If we may Books Confide in;

But given was, by him long since,

For Vagrants to Reside in."

 

[Illustration: BRIDEWELL BRIDGE.]

 

The Royal Palace of Bridewell stood on the site of the Castle of

Montfichet, who is believed to have come over with William the

Conqueror. Tradition assigns it a still earlier date, even Roman, but

then, I don't say there was not a Roman fortress here, but I cannot say

there was. Certainly Cardinal Wolsey lived here, and Henry VIII. held

occasional Court.

 

Strype, in his edition of Stow (1720) says that after the destruction

of Montfichet Castle and its Stone being given away:--

 

"This Tower or Castle being thus destroyed, stood, as it may

seem, in Place where now standeth the House called _Bridewell_.

For, notwithstanding the Destruction of the said Castle or

Tower, the House remained large, so that the Kings of this

Realm long after were lodged there and kept their Courts. For,

in the Ninth Year of _Henry_ the Third, the Courts of Law,

and Justice were kept in the King's House, wheresoever he was

lodged, and not else where. And that the Kings have been lodged,

and kept their Law Courts in this Place, I could shew you many

Authorities of Record....

 

"More, (as _Matthew Paris_ hath) about the Year 1210, King

_John_, in the Twelfth Year of his Reign, summoned a Parliament

at _S. Brides_ in _London_; where he exacted of the Clergy, and

Religious Persons the Sum of One Hundred Thousand Pounds; And

besides all this, the _White Monks_ were compelled to cancel

their Privileges, and to pay £4000 to the King, &c. This House

of _S. Brides_ (of later Time) being left, and not used by the

Kings, fell to Ruin; insomuch that the very Platform thereof

remained (for great part) waste, and as it were, but a Lay

Stall of Filth and Rubbish, only a fair Well remained there.

A great part whereof, namely, on the _West_, as hath been

said, was given to the Bishop of _Salisbury_; the other Part

toward the _East_ remained waste, until King _Henry_ the Eighth

builded a stately and beautiful House, thereupon, giving it to

Name, _Bridewell_, of the Parish and Well there. This House he

purposely builded for the Entertainment of the Emperor _Charles_

the Fifth;[77] who in the Year 1522 came into this City....

Being in Decay, and long disused, King Edward VI. gave it to the

City in the Seventh[78] Year of his Reign.

 

"It is seated near to _Blackfriars_; from which it is severed

by the Canal of the _Fleet-ditch_. It was obtained of the

King at first for an Harbour of poor Harbourless People, that

lay abroad in the Streets. It was soon after improved to be a

Workhouse, not only to give Lodging to poor, idle, wandring

Persons, Beggars, and others; but to find them Work, to help to

maintain themselves. But tho' this was granted in the Year 1553,

yet it seems, it was not before Two Years after, that the City

entred and took possession of it by _Gerard_ their Maior, having

obtained Queen _Mary's_ Confirmation.

 

"In the time of Queen _Elizabeth_, about the Year 1570 and

odd, one _John Pain_, a Citizen, invented a Mill to grind

Corn; which he got recommended to the Lord Maior, for the Use

of _Bridewell_. This Mill had Two Conveniences: One was, That

it would grind a greater Quantity considerably than any other

Mills of that Sort could do. And the other (which would render

it so useful to _Bridewell_) was, That the Lame, either in Arms

or Legs, might work at it, if they had but the Use of either.

And, accordingly, these Mills were termed _Hand-Mills_ or

_Foot-Mills_.

 

"This Mill he shewed to the Lord Maior, who saw it grind as much

Corn with the Labour of Two Men, as they did then at _Bridewell_

with Ten. That is to say, Two Men with Hands, two Bushels the

Hour; or Two Men with Feet, two Bushels the Hour. If they were

Lame in their Arms, then they might earn their Livings with

their Legs. If Lame in their Legs, then they might earn their Livings with their Arms."