LONDON. 



fuburbs. The police was better regulated ; nuifanccs were 

 removed ; the llreets and avenues were amended and paved ; 

 and various regulations were carried into effeft for fcipply- 

 ii)g the metropolis with provifions, to anlwer the demands of 

 an tncrealing population. In the fhort reign of Edward VI. 

 the reformation proceeded with flcadinefs and regularity : 

 but on the accefiion of Mary the church of Rome again 

 gained the afrendency. On the projected union between 

 the queenjand the king of Spain, a formidable infurrection 

 enfued, in which the city was particularly nlFcCted: the 

 fuppreffion of this revolt was followed by a dreadful fcene 

 of fanguinary triumph. The flatutes acjainil heretics were 

 now alfo entorced with great feverity. A number of perfons 

 were burnt in Sniithlicld : in the whole kingdom upwards of 

 200, were brought to the ftake. 



Annals of London from the Aceejfwn of Elizabeth to the Re- 

 solution In 1688 — Elizabeth fucceeJed her filler amidll the 

 acclamations of all ranks of people. Reformation again 

 reared its head, and wis in a fhort time firmly eflablifhed. 

 In 1561 the fpire of St. Paul's cathedral was ilruck by 

 Lghtninij, and great part of the building confumed. In 

 1563 the Plague again made dreadful ravages, to which 

 20,oco perfons fell victims in the city. In July 1566, the 

 foundations of the Royal Exchange were laid by fir Thomas 

 Grelliam, and the itrufture was completed in the following 

 year. The year 1569 exhibited a novelty in London of 

 moll pernicious example. The firfl public lottery was then 

 drawn at the weft door of St. Paul's cathedral, and the 

 drawing continued, wiihout interruption, from January 1 1 

 to May 6. The prizes were of plate, and the profits were 

 appropriated to the repair of the fea-ports. In i j86 a con- 

 fpiracy was fet on foot to affaffinate Elizabeth, and free the 

 queen of Scots from the captivity in which (he had pafTed al- 

 niQft eighteen years. The plot was foon difcovered, and the 

 tonfpirarors, fourteen in number, were executed in Lincoln's- 

 inn-Fields. Mary was faid to be implicated in the confpiracy ; 

 and this, whether true or falle, furnifhed a plaulible pretext 

 for thofe proceedings, which foon after condemned her to 

 the block. The fentence againll her was proclaimed with 

 great folemnity' at different places in London and Weil- 

 Tniniler. In the preparations made to repel the threatened 

 attack of the boalted Spanifh Armada, London took a 

 moll diftingiiilhed (hare, in furnilhing large fupplies of 

 money, men, and (hips. The preparations for the corona- 

 tion of king James were interrupted by a dreadful Plague, 

 •which ravaged the city with greater violence than any 

 fimilar vifitation fince the time of Edward III. In 1604, 

 the horrible confpiracy, known in hiilory by the name of 

 the " Gunpowder Plot," the grand objedl of which was to 

 prepare the way for the reftoration of the Catholic religion, 

 ■wa= commenced by its daring contrivers, with every polfible 

 precaution that feemed neceflary to enfure its fucctfs. The 

 dellruftion of the king and parliament was the preliminary 

 meafive through which the confpirators thought to accom- 

 plilTi their defign ; and the blowing up of the parliament- 

 houfe with gunpowder at the moment when the fovereign 

 (hould be commencing the bufinefs of the fefiion by the 

 accuftomed fpeech from the throne, was the dreadful means 

 by which the deltruftion was intended to be accomplilhed. 

 AH the principal confpirators were bigotted Catholics, who 

 had for many years been plotting the downfall of Pro- 

 teftan'ifn:! in this country, and had even applied for aid to 

 Spain and Flanders. Being difappointed of the affillance they 

 required, they refolved to depend on their own efforts, and 

 about Eafler 1604, formed the idea of the gunpowder plot, to 

 be carried into effect on the meeting of parliament in February 



following. Accordingly Percy, one of the confpirators, 

 hired a houfe immediately adjoining to the houfe of 

 lords, and the operations commenced by digging through 

 the foundation-wall, which was nine feet in thicknefs. Jufl 

 at this juncture, a vault under the parliament-houfe, ufed as a 

 depofitory for coals, was to be let, and the coals to be fold. 

 As nothing could have happened more favourable for 

 their purpofe, Percy hired the cellar, and bought the coi.l3, 

 as if for domeftic ufe, and without any appearance of con- 

 cealment. The prorogation of parliament from February 

 to October gave the confpirators futTicient leifure to further 

 their defign ; and, at convenient opgortunities, thirty barrels 

 and four hogfheads of gunpowder, which had been pro- 

 cured from Holland, were conveyed into the cellar by 

 night, and covered with billets, faggots, iron-bars, and 

 flones. This was done without exciting any fufpisioji : 

 parliament had again been prorogued ;o November jth ; and 

 the confpiracy wore every afpect of fuccefs. It had now 

 been on foet eighteen months, and confided to more than 

 twenty perfons ; yet nothing had led a fingle ftep towards 

 difcovery ; when the plan was happily frullrated by a cir- 

 curaftance apparently trivial. One of the confpirators, 

 wifning to lave lord Monteagle, fent him a letter, advifing 

 him, in ambiguous terms, to abfent himfelf from parliament, 

 on account of a fudden danger to which he would be ex- 

 pofed. This notice Monteagle carried to the fecretary of 

 ftate, who laid it before the privy. council. A fecret fearch 

 was determined on, but, to prevent fufpicion, was delayed 

 till the eve of the meeting of parliament, and then made 

 only by the lord chamberlain, as if in a formal diicharge of 

 his office. When he entered the cellar, and faw the great 

 llore of coals and wood, he enquired to whom it belonged, 

 and was informed the cellar was let to Mr. Percy, and 

 the fuel was for his confumption. The chamberlain heard 

 this with feeming carelefsnefs, and left the cellar with ap- 

 parent negligence. But at midnight a further fearch was 

 made ; Guy Fawkes, a principal confpirator, to whom the 

 final execution of the plot was affigii^d, was apprehended in 

 the cellar : the fuel was removed, and the gunpowder dif- 

 covered. Fawkes gloried in the plot, but refufed to dif- 

 cover his accomplices ; the fight of the rack, however, 

 fubdued him, and he made a full difclofure of the whole 

 confpiracy. His affociates fled into WarwicklhLre, where 

 they endeavoured to excite a rifing of the Catholics, but 

 without effect. A proper force was fent againt them, four 

 were killed in refiilance, and the rell were taken and brought 

 to London, where, with Fawkes, they fuffered the juft 

 punifhment of their guilt. In the year 1609, the city ac- 

 quired a conCderable accefiion of power and property : 

 almoil the whole province of Uliter, in Ireland, having 

 fallen to the crown, the king made an offer of the efcheated 

 lands to the city, on condition they would eftablilh an 

 Englilh colony there. The propofal was accepted ; a,nd fo 

 rapid was the colonization forwarded, that within fcvcn 

 years arofe the two capital tov.ns of Londonderry and 

 Coleraine. The commencement of Charles l.'s reign was 

 marked by the return of the plague, which carried off in 

 the metropolis ^5,000 perions. To advert to all thf im- 

 portant tranfattions that took place in London during the 

 eventful druggie between Charles and his people would far 

 exceed our limits. The excefUve oppreiHons tO' which the 

 nation was fubje£ted, were more particularly felt in the me- 

 tropolis than in other parts of the kingdom, frcrm its being 

 more direitly within the vortex of the flar-charaber and 

 high-commiftion courts, and from the efFefts of the mono- 

 polies, which had a moft pernicious i.i&uence on trade and 



commerce. 



