434 D O N 
tolph-lane and Love-lane, and alfo the life of the parfon- 
age houfe, were fold to the city of London, for public 
iifes ; fome of the purchafe-money was paid to the parith 
of St. Mary at Hill, towards the repairs of that church, 
and the remainder was appropriated to making a provifion 
for the rector and his fucceffors, in lieu of the parfonage- 
houfe. 
At the fouth-eaft angle of Rood-lane, hands the pa¬ 
rochial church of St. Margaret Pattens.—We find that, 
anciently, churches dedicated to the faint in vogue re¬ 
ceived a fort of fur-name, or nick-name: but this is rather 
a curious denomination. St. Margaret Pattens is fo Ityled, 
we are told, on account of this neighbourhood being an¬ 
ciently occupied by patten-makers. But whether pattens 
were \ifed at that time is a queftion; for it is a remark 
made by every-body who has travelled in France, that 
pattens are not commonly worn there as they are here : 
yet it is natural to fuppofe, that, had they been in com¬ 
mon ufe here when the Englifh were matters of part of 
that kingdom, and when the communication between 
the two countries was, confequently, much more free 
than it has ever been fince, they would have been ufed by 
the Parifian females, and more particularly as the towns 
of France had no foot-pavement. This being the cafe, 
we (hall take the liberty of fuggefting to our readers a 
more probable explanation or derivation of this word. 
We find in Stow, that, while the old church was taking 
down and building anew, the oblations made at the rood, 
or crofs, which was in the cluirch-yard, were employed 
towards the expenfes erf rebuilding the church. Now 
it was cuftomary here (and it is fo now in Roman- 
catholic countries) to place fmall diflies, called pattens, 
to receive the alms and offerings of the faithful. It 
is therefore eafy to fuppofe that the church, being re¬ 
built out of the money dropt into thefe pattens, was dif- 
tinguifhed from others of the fame name by that appel¬ 
lation. The word patten is ftill ufed for the filver round 
difh which covers the chalice in Roman-catholic cha¬ 
pels and churches.—This lane, however, was afterwards 
called Rood-lane, on account of a rood, or crofs, fet up in 
the church-yard of St. Margaret, when the church was 
pulled down to be rebuilt. This crofs, or rood, was 
blelled in a particular manner, and privileged by the pope 
with many indulgences, for the pardon of the fins of thofie 
who came to pray before it, and to make their offerings 
towards the rebuilding of St. Margaret’s church. But 
the church being finifhed in the year 1538, foon after the 
reformation, fome people unknown affembled, without 
ncife, in the night of the of May in that year, who 
broke the rood to pieces, and demolifhed the tabernacle 
in which it was ereded. 
The original foundation of this church was in, or 
before, the year 1314; for the fir ft redor upon record 
is Hamo de Chyrch, prefented by lady Margaret Nevil 
on the 14th of June in that year; and the patronage 
thereof remained in the family of the Nevils till the 
year 1392, when it came to Robert Rikeden, of EfTtx, 
and Margaret his wife; who, in 140S, conveyed it, by 
agreement, to Richard Whittington and other citizens of 
London, together with the advowfon of St. Peter Cornhill, 
and the manor ofiLeadenhall, See. which agreement the faid 
Whittington and others confirmed, in 1411, to the mayor 
and commonalty of London; in whom the right of prefen- 
tation has ever fince remained.—The old church was de- 
ltroyed in 1666, after which the prefent one was immedi¬ 
ately erected, and the pari (la of Sr. Gabriel Fenchurch was 
united to it. It is built part of (lone, and part of brick, and 
confifls of a plain body, fixty-fix feet in length, fifty-two 
broad, and thirty-two in height. The windows are arched, 
with port-hole windows over them. Above the front 
door is a large Doric window, with a cherub’s head, and 
a lar^e feftoon over it; and above thefe is a pediment, 
which ftretches from the fteeple to the end of the church. 
The tower iifes fquare to a confiderable height, and is ter¬ 
minated by four plain pinnacles, crowned with balls, and 
DON. 
a baluftrade, within winch rlfes a very folid fpire, terml-f 
nated by a ball and vatie. 
The patifli of St. Gabriel Fenchurch, which was an¬ 
nexed to this parifn after the fire of London, is in Lang- 
bourn-ward. It was alfo a redory, founded before the 
year 1321, when John Paynell appears to have been rec¬ 
tor; and was dedicated to the angel Gabriel. The pa¬ 
tronage of this redory was in the prior and convent of 
the Holy Trinity, within Aldgate, until the fupprefiion 
of their priory, when it devolved to the crown, in whom 
it Ifill remains. 
After having Purveyed fo many churches, which, indeed, 
in this part of the city, are the only objects worthy of no¬ 
tice, we may meet with a curious contrail if we come 
down to Billingfgate.—We read in ancient authors, that 
the market-women of Athens fpoke the Attic dialect with 
fo much purity, or, however, had fo good an ear, that 
they could presently diftinguifli a foreigner from a native. 
We do not contend that the Billingfgate dialed is the tr.oft 
corred of all places in London ; but we muft confefs that 
the flyle of the people there is of a peculiar kind, and 
much refembling, in its tropes and figures of vulgar rhe¬ 
toric, that of the Macquerelles and Poijfardes of Paris. 
Many perfons, not dealers, think that, by going there early 
in the morning, they may buy fifii much cheaper than at 
the fifhmongers’ flails in town; but they often find that 
they pay as much there as they would any-where elfe, and 
perhaps receive a complimentary harangue into the bargain. 
For the hiftory of this only fifh-market, fee p. 57 and 94.. 
To which we have juft to add, that the falmon which ar¬ 
rives from Berwick and other parts of our northern fifhery 
is packed in boxes with ice. This pradice has confider- 
ably prevailed of late, not only for falmon, but for all 
forts of fifh, which the fifhmongers have the fkill to keep 
freflt by the fame means for many days, and even weeks, 
though epicures and men of refined talle foon find the 
difference. Every fifhmonger of any repute at this time 
has his ice-houfe for his fifh, as well as the paftry-cook 
for his venifon, the confedioner for his creams, and the 
nobleman for his wine.—As to the etymology of the word 
Billingfgate, we have nothing very plaufible to offer. It 
has been faid, that the port was contrived and built by 
Belinus, king of Britain, long before the Chriftian era; 
and the word being fpelt Belinfgate as late as the end of 
the fixteenth century feems to countenance the hypothefis. 
From Billingfgate, finding our way as well as we can 
on the narrow pavement of Thames-ftreet, and fqueezing 
ourfelves between pods and walls to avoid the dangerous 
contad of an knmenfe number of carts, often entangled 
together, and going to and fro loaded with all forts of 
merchandife, we afeend the hill which leads us to St. Dun- 
flan’s in the Eaft, fo called in contradiftindlion to the 
church in Fleet-ftreet, dedicated to the fame archbiftiop 
of Canterbury. The edifice iifes on the brow of the hill 
with an elegant tower, and a church-yard adorned with 
trees, the common repair of fparrows and rooks, whofe 
garrulous tribes awaken the neighbours in the morning, 
and teafe them with their evening chatterings: thus it 
has a rural appearance, and reminds us of the country in 
one of the bufieff fpots of the town. The ckurch, we 
are told, fullered greatly by the fire in 1666. It was re¬ 
paired (hortly after; though the fteeple was not ereded 
till about 1678. It is built in the liyle called modem 
Gothic, eighty-feven feet in length, fixty-three in breadth, 
and thirty-three in height to the roof; the fteeple, which 
is conitruded in the fame ftyle as the body of the church, 
is a hundred and twenty-five feet high. The tower is 
light, fupported by outworks at the angles, and divided 
into three ftages, terminating at the corners by four hand- 
fome pinnacles, in the midft of which riles the fpire, on 
the crowns of four pointed arches ; a bold attempt iivar- 
chitedure, and one proof, among many, of the great geo¬ 
metrical fkiil of fir Chrifiopher Wren, who planned and 
built this elegant tower. The patronage of this redory 
was anciently in the prior and canons of Canterbury, who, 
4 2* 
