62 A. D. 1524. 



never above a penny farthing ; alfo black foap for an halfpenny the 



pound. 



By an act of parliament [14, 15 Hen. VlII, c. 2%], for fettling how 

 many apprentices and journeymen (not denizens) fhould be kept by fo- 

 reign tradefmen fettled in London, &.c. great powers were given to the 

 corporations of handicrafts over the workmanfhip of thofe foreigners, 

 there being in thofe times fmiths, joiners, coopers, 8cc. of foreigners, 

 who had feals or flamps put on their works, after being examined by 

 the wardens of thofe corporations both in London and other parts. 

 * The jurifdiftion of the London corporations was by this a6t to extend 

 to two miles from the city, viz. within the town of Weftminfter, the 

 parifhes of St. Martin in the Fields, and of our Lady in the Strand, St. 

 Clements Danes without Temple-bar, St. Giles in the Fields, St. Andrews 

 in Holborn, the town and borough of Southwark, Shoreditch, White- 

 chapel parilh, St. John's ftreet (Clerkenwell), and Clerkenwell parifii, 

 St. Botolph without Aldgate, St. Katherine's (near the tower of Lon- 

 don), and Bermondfey-flreet.' This is an authentic view of the feveral 

 iuburbs of London in the year 1524. Neverthelefs, we are not to ima- 

 gine that all thole fuburbs were contiguous to each other, or joined, as 

 at prelent, to the great contiguity; for there were then, and long after, 

 feveral large breaks or fpaces where no buildings were, not only in the 

 flreet (now To well built) called the Strand, then chiefly taken up with 

 the capital dwelHngs of the nobility, with their large adjoining gardens, 

 but hkewife a great part of St. Martin's parilh was iiill literally in the 

 fields (as it is dill denominated), and the like may be faid of St. Giles 

 in the fields (then filled the town of St. Giles), and of the upper part 

 of St. Andrews in ilolborn ; much of all which, and alfo of Weftmin- 

 fier, Clerkenwell, Shoreditch, Whitechapel, and Southwark, was literal- 

 ly fields, even fo late as the reign of Queen Elifabeth, as appears by a 

 map of London and its fuburbs, publifiied about the year 1560. Thi« 

 a 61 was not to extend to any other handicrafts but joiners, pouchmakers, 

 coopers, and blackfrniths. Alfo lords, and all others having lands anti 

 tenements of Lico per annum, were hereby permitted to retain foreign 

 joiners and glaziers in their fervice ; which may lead us to conjedure 

 that thole two trades were not then fo well improved in England as they 

 have fince been. 



By another ad of this year [<r. 3.], we find that the manufadures of 

 worfteds, fays, and ftamins (nowfirther regulated), were greatly increaf- 

 ed at Norwich, fince the former laws made for their regulation in the 

 reign of King Edward IV, and had extended themfelves to Yarmouth, 

 Lynn, and other parts of Norfolk, &c. 



Francis I, king of France, fent out Verazzani, a Florentine, with four 

 fiiips on difcoveries, three of which he left at the Madeiras, and with the 

 fourth landed on the coaft of Florida j whence failing to 50 degrees of 



