1806.] 



Londlniand. 



hOl 



Another of our wrfters, wliole work, in which tliey had before only liberty to dig; 



illullration of ancient manners has long 

 been valued, runs into a difFerenf txiremc. 

 Bifhop Fleetwood (Chron. Preciol'um, ed. 

 1707, p 118) lays, "That, -whenever 

 coals are mentioned in old accompts, we 

 are to uiidcrftand charcoal, and not fea- 

 coal, wliich has not been in comrtion life 

 (as well as I can guels) an hundied and 

 fifty years, ar le^ft not in London ; 

 though I find them in Mattliew Paris, un- 

 der the name of carbo marinus, in the 

 time of Henry III., in Audifament." 



The application of coal (or carbo, as 

 it is called in the tatin of the middle 

 ages) to charcosi ftems correal ; fince 

 wherever feacoil uccois, carbo has usu- 

 ally the adjunct of tnarinus : as in the 

 Wardrobe Accompts ot the aSih of Ed- 

 ward I., 1 300, where carbones mari'ii 

 occur ainofig the garrifon-ftures of Rox- 

 borougii.Ciillie. 



In 1234, when Henry III. confirmed 

 the charterof his fither to Newcaftle upon- 

 Tyne, he gavs the townlmen, on ihcir 

 fupplication, licence to dig coals and 

 Itones in the commi?n fcil without the 

 walls, called the Caftie Moor, and to 

 convert them to their own profit, in aid 

 of iheir fee-farm rent of an hundred 

 pounds s-year. This, fays Dr. Ander- 

 I'on, is the firit mention of coals dug at 

 NeAcaftle, which were then probably con- 

 fined as tucl to the ufe of the town ; for 

 the city of London had at that time, as 

 may be eafily gathered from the Domef- 

 day Survey, fo many woods and copfes 

 round it, and the carriage both by land 

 and water was (a cheap, that coals from 

 Newcaftle would have been far more ex- 

 penfive than tiie wood and turf-fuel from 

 its own neighbourhood. 



The hifturiographers of London relate, 

 that, in Edward I.'s reign, fea-coal was 

 in fu much requcft with feveral of the 

 city-trades, as diers, brewers, &c., that, 

 on the complaint of the nobiliiy and gen- 

 try that they could not go to London on 

 accoimt of the nuilome finell and thick air, 

 the King itfued a pioclamation, torbid- 

 dmg tile ufc of it, even \n the fuburbs, 

 on pain of fine, lofs of furnaces, &c. — Bv the laity ihey were accufed of crimes 



and in 1379 the trade had grown fo con- 

 fiderable, that Edward III. impofed a 

 duty of fix pence a ton, each quarter cf 

 the year, on ail fliips from Newcaftle 

 laden with coals. Such was the introduc- 

 tion of fea-coal to common ufe. Mr, 

 Evelyn, in his FunrJ'ugium, written in 

 the reign of Charles II., propofed the re- 

 moval i.f fuch trades as required great 

 fires five or fix miles cut of London, to- 

 wards Greenwich •, alfo of flaughter- 

 houfes and tall w chandlers ; a d to plant 

 fragrant nuifcries and gardens in the low- 

 grounds round the city. But whatever 

 projefti may hereafter srife, it is to be 

 feared fea-coal will (till maintain its 

 ground. 



OLfJ JEWRY. 



It may probably be difficult to fay 

 at what time the Jews firit came to 

 England, though it is genenilly be- 

 lieved that their firft appeannre, at 

 leaft under the name of Je*s, was in the 

 reign of Widiam the Conqueror. It was 

 in the Old Jewiy that they fiift fettled} 

 whence, increaling under the pro'tction 

 of the Conqueror and his fucceffor. they 

 were permiited to difperfe themlelves 

 throughout the kingdom. The chief 

 places uf their refidence, ho^?.'ever, were 

 the larsrer trading-towns, fuch as York, 

 Lincoln, Norwich, Northampton, Leicef- 

 ter, Cambridge; and others, in feveral of 

 which they built fyiiagogues. 



In a (h'jrttime the Jews were confidered 

 as 3 necefiary people, and ufefu! to mer- 

 chants as bankers ; fur which reafon they 

 were placed under the pa-rticular jurifdic- 

 tion of an officer appointed by the King, 

 called the Julliciar of the Jews, whole bu- 

 finels it was to protecl them ill their juil 

 rights, and to decide in all caufes between 

 them and the Chriff ians. Alter the death 

 of John the Jews met with little encou- 

 ragement in England. Henry III. was 

 covetous, ard the Jews had grown rich : 

 their wealth had excited the envy of the 

 multitude, and pretences were cafily found 

 to (Irip them of it. The King, mere co- 

 vetous than jiiit, protefled them no longer. 



Thofe trades, however, find'ng the fear- 

 city and price of wood-tuel oiiily increaf- 

 ing, ddcdvered it was liill then intereft 10 

 ule fea-coal ; and, notwitlilbindmg the 

 prohi!;i'ion, entered on th.- tr.ide with 

 Newcaftle. In 1357 the townliuen's li- 

 ceiiCe to tlig coal was increalcd by a fpe- 

 cial grant from tht: Civwn of the foil in 



agiiind the ftate : by the clergy, a^ainlt 

 religion. The laity charged them with 

 forgery, clipping, coining, and ufuiy : 

 tlie cleigy, with enchantment, and cruci- 

 fying the children of the Chrilfians, in 

 contempt of the religion of the country. 

 Thefe crimes, whether true or falfe, were 

 fulficicnt to excite a j^etJeral climour 

 381 again (t 



