184 OLD LONDON BRIDGE. 



Although the above has been taken from a respectable source, yet it is 

 doubtful if there was not some description of periodical, which was 

 considered as a newspaper, anterior to the above dates, as we find that 

 during the Protectorate, a memorial was presented from certain officers 

 of the Post Office, praying for protection of a privilege which had always 

 been enjoyed by tJiem, of forwarding newspapers by the post; this 

 proves that the circulation of some kind of newspapers was on a 

 systematic plan, prior to the year 1650. 



OLD LONDON BRIDGE 



Was begun to be built of stone in 1 176, and was finished in 1209. It 

 was nine hundred and fifteen feet long, and forty-five broad, the arches 

 were nineteen in number, and, excepting the centre one, were only twenty 

 feet wide. The bridge was many ages encumbered with houses on 

 each side, which overhung, and leaned in a terrific manner. These at 

 last becoming so dilapidated, they were wholly removed in 1756, and 

 the upper part of the bridge built up in the most refined taste of that 

 day; but it seems that no attempts were ever made to remove the 

 unsightly and dangerous starlings upon which the piers of the bridge 

 rested. The contracted space between the piers rendered the obstruction 

 to the navigation of the river very great. At the ebb of the tide the fall 

 of water was several feet, and the consequent sacrifice of human life 

 frequently occurred. On the north east side were the water works. 

 These consisted of four immense water wheels, turned by the stream, 

 and which forced the water up to a basin on a tower one hundred and 

 twenty feet above the level of the river. From this basin it descended 

 into the main pipes, and from them it was conveyed in all directions 

 through the town. These yielded to the great improvements made by 

 the Water Companies, and, at last, after many patchings and contrivances, 

 the bridge itself gave way to the enlarged spirit and genius of the age, 

 and a Parliamentary grant produced the present beautiful Bridge, which 

 is calculated by the solidity of its structure to last for ages. 



