4S£ LON 
flopped, as it were by a command from heaven, and wa3 
on every fide extinguifhed.” 
The infcripticn on the foutli fide is tranflated thus : 
“ Charles the Second, fon of Charles the Martyr, King of 
Great Britain, France,’ and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, 
a moft gracious prince, commiferating the deplorable ffate 
of things, v»hilffc the ruins were yet fmoaking, provided 
for the comfort of his citizens, and ornament of his city, 
remitted their taxes, and referred the petitions of the ma- 
giftrates and inhabitants to parliament ; who immediately 
paffed an a< 5 t, that public works fliould be reftored to 
greater beauty with public money, to be railed by an im¬ 
port on coals; that churches, and the cathedral of St. Paul, 
fliould be rebuilt from their foundations with all magnifi¬ 
cence ; that the bridges, gates, and prifons, fliould be new 
made, and fewers cleanfed; the (treets made ftraight and 
regular ; fuch as were fteep, levelled, and thofe too narrow 
to be made wider ; and that the markets and flintnbles 
fliould be removed to fe pa rate places. They alfo enabled, 
that every houfe fliould be built with party-walls, and all 
in front raifed of equal height, and thofe walls all of 
fquared ftone or brick; and that no man fliould delay 
building beyond the fpace of feven years. Moreover, 
care was taken, by law, to prevent all fuits about their 
bounds. Alfo, anniverfary prayers were enjoined ; and, 
to perpetuate the memory hereof to pofterity, they caufed 
this column to be ereiTted. The work was carried on with 
diligence, and London is reflored, but whether with 
greater fpeed or beauty, may be made a queflion. In 
three years’ time, the world faw that finiftied, which was 
fuppofed to he the bufinefs of an age.” 
Thus far, we do not find a word of accufation againfl: 
any fet of men, againfl any party, and all this Is in Latin ; 
but around the pedeftal, and along the faccia, creeps, like 
a fnake, the following ungrounded accufation in plain Eng- 
HJh. —“This pillar was fet up in perpetual remembrance 
of the mod dreadful burning of this proteftant city, begun 
and carried on by the treachery and malice of the popifli 
fadlion, in the beginning of September, in the year of our 
Lord 16C6, in order to the carrying on their horrid plot 
for extirpating the proteftant religion, and old Englifh li¬ 
berty, and introducing popery and flavery.” This in- 
feription was expunged in the time of James II. but re- 
-itored in the next reign.—We hope to fee it erafed once 
snore, never to appear again. 
This pillar was near feven years in building, an afto- 
nifliing flowngjs, for which we are unable to account.— 
The cornice of the pedeftal is adorned with the king’s 
arms, the (word, mace, cap of maintenance, &c. enriched 
with trophies; and at each angle are winged dragons, the 
fupporters of the city-arms. Thefe fabulous animals are 
carved in ftone, and truly deferve an unfeigned tribute 
cf admiration. They are really executed, as to anatomy, 
as if nature had produced fuch beings; and they are fo 
fpiritedly put in attit ude, that they appear as if copied after 
the life. 
Upon the whole, this monument is, undoubtedly, the 
lioblefl modern column in the world ; and, in fome refpeefs, 
may vie with the moft celebrated ones of antiquity. In 
height, it greatly exceeds the pillars of the emperors Tra- 
jan and Antoninus, the ftately remains of Roman gran¬ 
deur, as well as that of Theodofius at Conftantinople; for 
the large ft of the Roman columns, which was that of An¬ 
toninus, was only 172* feet in height, and twelve feet three 
inches in diameter, Englifh meafure. 
Two objects will force us to deviate a few yards from 
our direft walk —The church of St. Magnus, at the foot 
of London Bridge, is fo called from its dedication to St. 
Magnus, who fuffered martyrdom in the city of Cefarea, 
under the emperor Aurelian, for his Itedfaft adherence to the 
Chriftian religion. It is a rectory, the patronage of which 
was anciently in the abbots and convents of YVeftminlter 
and Bermondfey, who prefented alternately, till the gene¬ 
ral fuppreffion of monufteries, when it fell to the crown. 
DON. 
In 1553, queen Mary, by letters patent, granted it t® 
the hi (hop of London and his fucceffors, in whom it (till 
remains. The date of .the foundation of this church can¬ 
not be traced ; but the chapel of St. Thomas the Martyr, 
built upon the bridge by Peter of Colechurch, before 
1209, was in this parifh. See Plate II. 
The old church was deftroyed by the fire in 1666; and, 
when rebuilt, was made the parochial church, for this pa¬ 
rifh and that of St. Margaret, New Fifh-ftreet, which is 
annexed to it by an a6l of parliament; but part of the 
ground on which the old church flood was laid into the 
lheet for widening the paflage. The body of the prefent 
ftruifiture was ere&ed in the year 1676, but the fteeple was 
not added till feveral years after. It is a fpacious and 
mafty ftone building, plain, but well ornamented. The 
angles have ruftic quoins, and the body is lighted by 
tall arched windows, over each of which is a cornice fup- 
poited by fcrolls, and between thefe is a cherub over the 
centre of each window. At the weft end, on each fide the 
door, rife coupled pilafters from a plain courfe, which fup- 
port a pediment. The door on the north fide is alfo placed 
under pediment, but without the decorations of theother. 
The roof is hid by a kind of attic courfe, from which the 
tower rifes fquareand plain ; and from this the dial, which is. 
richly ornamented, projects over the (treet. The couria 
above this is adorned at the corners with coupled pilafters 
of the Ionic order, fupporting an open work in the place of 
a baluftrade, with large urns at the corners. From within 
this open-work rifes the lanthorn, which has alfo Ionic 
pilafters, and arched windows in all the intercalumniations. 
The dome refts upon thefe pilafters; and on its crown is 
placed a piece of open-work like that which furrounds ths 
bafe of the lanthorn; on which is raifed the turret that 
fupports the vane. In this church is a peal of ten bells. 
The bottom of the tower offers a fort of poftern for foot- 
paffengers, (fee p. 103 ) whence the dial of the dock pro¬ 
jects, and is thus rendered very ufeful to the great num¬ 
ber of people who crofs the bridge. 
The fecond objed which is worthy our attention is z 
large handfotne building on the fide of the river, oppofite 
to St. Mary Overy, acrofs the water. This large fabric is 
Fiftunongers’ Hall, and prefents a fine appearance from 
the bridge. It has been erected (ince the deiirudion of 
the old hall by the great fire; and commands in return a 
beautiful view of the bridge and of the water. The front 
entrance to this bail is from Thames-ftreef, by a paflage 
that leads into a large fquare court, paved with flat ltones, 
and encompaffed by the great ball, the court-room for the 
afliltants,and other grand apartments, with galleries. Thefe 
are of a handfotne conftruclion ; and are fupported by Ionic 
columns with an arcade. The back front, or that next 
the Thames, has a grand double flight of ftone fteps, which 
lead to the firft apartments from the wharf. The door 
is adorned with Ionic columns, and thefe fupport an open 
pediment, in which is a Ihield with the arms of the com¬ 
pany. The windows are ornamented with ftone cafes, 
and the quoins of the building are wrought with a hand- 
fome ruftic. In the great hall is a wooden ftatue of fir 
William Walworth, armed wi th his dagger; and alfo an¬ 
other of St. Peter: the former belonged to this company j 
and the latter is, with great propriety, adopted as its pa¬ 
tron-faint. In the court-room are feveral pictures of the 
various fpecies of fea and river fillies: and the arms of the 
benefactors to the company are emblazoned in painted 
glafs in the different windows. Under the great hall are 
vaults let to wine-fellers ; one of them is-calted the Shades , 
a place well known for many years to tradefmen in the 
neighbourhood, who repair there on an evening and enjoy 
themlelves with draught-wine, which is lotd by meafure, 
not by bottle, and is generally much admired by men of 
talte in that line. The place enjoys the double advantage 
of being fnug and warm in long winter-evenings; and 
cool in fummer, when the frelh water breeze wafts over 
the perfumes of the Kentilh meadows and Surrey hills. 
