458 LON 
ported the tranfaftion to their employer; am), the matter 
being blown, the convent was difl'olved ; and Henry VIII. 
granted the lioufe to fir Thomas Wyatt, who built a hand- 
fome manfion on the fite.—The friars’ hall was converted 
into a glafs-houfe, the firlt man u failure of that article in 
England ; which, on the 4th of September, 1575, was de¬ 
ft, oyed by fire. By a curious coincidence, if our hypothefis 
tipon the T is right, on the fite of this ancient religious 
houfe now ftands a tnoft magnificent warehotife for tea, 
belonging to the Eaft-India Company ; it is a regular ob¬ 
long Iquare of two hundred and fifty feet, by.a hundred 
and fixty ; inclofmg a court of a hundred and fifty feet, 
by fixty, entered by a noble arched gateway, furmounted 
and adorned with the arms of the company, fttpported by 
two lions.—In the fame ftreet is another tea-warehoufe 
belonging to the fame company, which was formerly the 
fite of the Navy.-office, a building of no beauty ; in w hich 
the comptroller of the navy ufed to refide, and all bufinefs 
refpeiling the payment of feamen’s wages, and many other 
naval matters, were tranfafled ; but this office is bow re¬ 
moved to Somerfet-houfe.—Speaking of the tea-warehoufe, 
Mr. Pennant fays, “ I am told that the fearchers, who have 
frequent occafion tothruft their arms deep into the cliefls, 
often feel nutnbnefies and paralytic affections.”—If fuch 
an idea were to be fpread abroad and get credit, furely the 
company would fuffer much ; for, if the paralyzing pro¬ 
perty of the green leaf is fo great as to benumb the rauf- 
cular limb of an athletic porter, what muff be its effeil 
upon the tender-and eafily-vibrating fibres of a delicate 
lady, when fhe tips its infufion at ieaft twice a-day ? If 
any fuch accident ever happened, it mult have been ow¬ 
ing to the air fixed and confined in the boxes, and not to 
the harmlefs 'leaves. 
Ere we pay our vifit to the Tower of London, which, 
though not in the city, feems to belong to it as a badge 
does to a collar, we muft rove a few fleps, and enter Port- 
foken-ward, which takes its name from being entirely 
without the ancient walls of the city ; the word PortJ'oken 
Signifying, in the old Saxon dialed!, “ a liberty or franchife 
at the gate.” It has fomething chivalrous in itfelf, and 
pleales the mind of the fond antiquary by the recolleilion 
of a fraternity, or company, of thirteen knights, who re¬ 
ceived this ground from a grant figned by king Edgar, in 
reward of their diftinguifhed valour ; from this circum- 
ihnee it was called Knighten Guild. —In the year 1115, the 
descendants of thefe knights furrendered all the lands and 
foke belonging to this guild, to the priory of the Holy 
Trinity within Aldgate 5 from which time tlie prior of 
uhat convent was admitted as one of the aldermen of Lon¬ 
don to govern the land and foke, who, according to the 
ruftotn of the city, fat in the court, and accompanied 
the mayor and aldermen in public proceftions, clothed in 
fcarlet or fuch other livery as they ufed, until the year 
1531, when the priory was furrendered to king Henry VIII. 
who gave it to fir Thomas Audley, lord-chancellor, by 
whom the church was pulled down. Since this diffolu- 
tion, the ward of Portloken has been governed by a tem¬ 
poral perfon, defied by the citizens, as the aldermen of 
the other wards are. The ancient bounds of the knighten 
guild extended further to the fouth and ealt than thofe of 
the prefent ward, and included all Eaft Smithfield, St. Ca¬ 
therine’s, with the mills founded in king Stephen’s days, 
and the outward (lone wall and new ditch .of the Tower, 
which were made in the time-of Richard I. by William 
Longchamp, bifhop of Ely ; but part of thefe w ere after¬ 
wards forcibly withheld by the conltables of the Tower. 
The Minories, fo called from a convent of nuns of the 
order of St. Clare, who letting themfelves at the bottom 
of the liil of nuns, called themfelves MinoreJ's, (leaving be¬ 
hind, however, the humbleft of all, the minims, or lowed,) 
is now a large open ftreet.—The convent of thefe mino- 
reffes was founded by Blanch queen of Navarre, wife of 
Edmund earl of Lancalter, in 1293. 
The view at the bottom of the Minories meets the ve¬ 
nerable old Toweran.d its battlements, and the fliops and 
D O N. 
buildings on each fide have a more than neat, indeed 
an elegant, appearance. The trade of this neighbourhood 
is enlivened by the frequent calls of our honelt tars, who, 
ever ready to part with their rhino, do not always find 
a dealer fo honeft as themfelves; and, partaking the charac¬ 
ter of the bir.ds who follow them in their marine excur- 
iions, areeafily gullcjl by landmen. 
The weft fide of the ftreet has been entirely rebuilt with 
very large and uniform houfes; and feveral new ftreets 
have been made leading to Crutched-friars. On this fide, 
alfo, are America-fquare, the Crefcent, and the Circus, 
inhabited principally by eminent merchants. On the eaft 
fide of the Minories, is a pafiage leading to the place called 
the Little Minories, in which is fituated the parifh-church 
of the Trinity in the Minories, This church ftands on 
part of the fite of the convent mentioned above, which 
on its fuppreflion in 1593 was taken down ; a number of 
fmall lioules being built in its ftead, and a fmall church 
for the ufeof the inhabitants, which was dedicated to the 
Holy Trinity, from whence it derives its prefent appella¬ 
tion. This church, which was rebuilt in 1706, is of briclf* 
with a flat roof, covered with plain tiles, and has turn aides. 
There is nofteeple to this church ; but it has a handfome 
turret, at the welt end. It is the burial place of the fa¬ 
mily of the Legges, earls of Dartmouth ; to one of whofe 
anceltors, a houfe called the King’s, built-on the fite of 
the fupprefied monaftery, was granted by Charles II. The 
curate of this parifli, for it is neither reilory nor vicarage, 
holds the fame by an inftrument of donation under the 
great feal of England. The income is' very fmall, be¬ 
ing only twenty-five pounds per annum, coileiled from 
the inhabitants, befides furplice-fees. The parifli, being 
the clofe of the monaftery, is a particular liberty, and ex¬ 
empt from the jurifdidtion of the city, although part of 
the ward of Portfoken. 
As we ftand at the end of the Minories, and on the ealt- 
ern flioulder of Little Tower Hill, we cannot view this old 
and curious manfion, theTowER, without feeling our minds 
crowded with hiftorical events of the molt important and 
too-often melancholy import, v. hilft our hearts vibrate with 
fenfations of pity and horror, of dread and companion. At 
once a palace and a prifpn, the feat of majelfy in ancient 
times, and the dungeon of crime; having on one fide the 
Traitors’Gate, on the other the platform which has foof- 
ten refounded with the blows of the vengeful axe—this 
building will arreft our confideration fora few hours, and 
we muft introduce our readers into the bofom of this fo- 
lemn fabric. By the iimple and mere afpeil of the whole 
as it prefents itfelf to the eye, by the irregularity of the 
parts of which it is compofed, it,is eafy to conceive, that, 
except the centre fquare tower, all the reft was added at 
different times, according to what occafion required or 
neceflity ordained. 
We (hall prefent to our readers a ftiort hiftorical account 
of this fortrefs, and of what it contains ; leaving others, 
however, to deferibe the menagerie, which lias fo long ex- 
ifted there, and been fo often iupplied by foreign princes 
whofe dominions are infefted with wild bealts, and who 
fend them here as prefents to the king, and objetts of cu- 
riolity to his people. But to royal palaces why fliould 
fuch colle&ions be annexed ? Why fliould Verfailles alfo 
have its menagerie as well as the Tower of London ? Why 
fliould the ferocious bowlings of enftaved beafts, the chat- 
terings of caged monkeys, and thefereaming of hungry ea¬ 
gles and vultures, difturb the peaceful manfions of ihajefty, 
or add a horrid fupplement of wretchedneis to the prifon- 
ers encloied in the adjoining walls ? Yet how common 
has this appendage been in various times!—Our interelb- 
ing chronicler, Stow, ('peaks as follows: “Henry the firft 
builded the mauour of Woodltoke, with a parke, which he 
walled about with ftone, (even miles in compafte, deftroy- 
ing for tile lame divers villages, churches, and chapels.; 
and this was the firft parke in England. Tire words of the 
records are the following : lie appointed therein (he fide great 
Jlore of dure) divers Jlrange beefs to be kept and nmrijhed, fuch. 
1 fiS 
