LON 
very low rate, from the additional recommendation to 
paffengers their carriages would thereby acquire, in point 
of fecurity, regularity, and difpatch ; and, notwithfland- 
ing the Ilrong oppofition tothemeafure in its outfet, ex¬ 
perience has fhown, that this combination of interefts has 
been alike beneficial to the revenue, the correfpondcnt, 
the paflenger, and the coach-malter. 
Here is alfo the principal office of the Two-penny (ori¬ 
ginally the Penny) Polt, for the fpeedy conveyance of let¬ 
ters and fmall parcels, not exceeding four ounces in weight, 
within the metropolis, and a diftance of ten miles round 
it. Letters delivered out of town are charged threepence. 
See p. 92.—The prefent eftabliihment of the poft-office con- 
fifisoftwo poftmafters-general, a fecretary, furveyor, comp¬ 
troller-general, and a great number of clerks and affiftanrs. 
There are fifty receiving-houfes for general-poft letters, 
and upwards of one hundred and fifty for twopenny-poft 
letters, in different parts of the metropolis. 
Adjoining to the poll-office (lands the pariffi-church of 
St. Mary Woolnoth. Noth is corrupted from neath, fig- 
nifying “ near.” The Woolftaple was the place for weigh¬ 
ing wool, and flood in the church-yard of St. Mary Wool- 
church Haw, to the eaft of Stocks Market. This church 
is of fome antiquity, as appears front John de Norton 
being rector thereof in the year 1355 ; and, from various 
circumftances, it is fuppofed that a Roman temple, per¬ 
haps the Temple of Concord, flood originally on this 
fpot; for, in digging the foundation for the prefent edi¬ 
fice, which is one of the fifty new churches appointed by 
parliament to be erefted within the bills of mortality, in 
the year 1719, there were found a confiderable number of 
tufks and bones of boars and goats, with fcveral medals 
and pieces of metal, fome teffelated work, part of an 
aquedudt, and a great variety of Roman earthen veffels, 
both for f'acred and profane ufes; and at the bottom was 
found a well, full of dirt, which being removed, a fine 
fpringof falubrious water arofe, wherein was fixed a pump. 
The old church was not entirely deftroyed by the fire of 
London; the fteeple efcaped the flames, and the walls 
were repaired. But thefe, in length of time, falling greatly 
to decay, it was thought neceffary to pull down the whole; 
in confequence of which, it was rebuilt of Hone, in the 
year 1719. It is a very handfome ftrufture ; but the or¬ 
naments are concealed by the neighbouring buildings; 
and the front, which is bold and majeflic, is fo obfcured, 
that it cannot be feen to advantage, nor can the tower be 
properly viewed, but from the tops of the oppofite houfes. 
On the north fide, which fronts Lombard-ftreet, inflead 
of windows, there are three very large and lofty niches, 
adorned with Ionic columns, and furrounded with a bold 
ruflic ; and over thefe is a large cornice, upon which is 
placed a baluftrade. The entrance is at the weft end, by 
a lofty ruflic arch, over which rifes a broad (hallow tower, 
ornamented with fix compofite columns in the front, and 
two on the fides ; upon this are raifed two fmall towers 
in front crowned with baluftrades ; from one end of which 
rifes a flag-ftaff, with a vane. It is not eafy to defcribc 
this entrance; for there is a fort of porch, or portico, 
before the main door, acceffible only by the fides, with 
Heps, the front arch being fhut by an iron railing. It is 
a pity that fuch an immenfe work of curious architefture 
Should be fo concealed ; the lane at the fpot before the 
church being hardly ten feet broad. Under the church 
are immenfe vaults, a fort of crypt, part of which is al¬ 
ready filled with coffins piled one above another like goods 
in a warehoufe. When a divifion of this catacomb is 
quite full, a "wall is raifed, and the remains of mortality 
are there confined to moulder away in filence and unfeen. 
The funeral fervice is performed in this vault, the coffin 
being placed upon treffels; and, when the ceremony is 
over, it is hoifted up upon the others, there to remain till 
the column or pile of mortality is complete, and then an¬ 
other enclofure is made. We cannot help observing that 
there is fomething indecorous in this manner of treating 
the laft remains of human exiftsnee 3 and that it would he 
Voi.. XIII. No. 920. 
DON. 463 
much better to have the coffins placed in dark cells, inflead 
of being expofed to light in thefe rooms, which have win¬ 
dows upon the lane.—This church is a reflory, the pa¬ 
tronage of which was anciently in the priorefs and con¬ 
vent of St. Helen’s in Bifliopfgate-flreet, till, at the diffo- 
lution, it fell to the crown 3 when Henry VIII. granted it 
to fir,Martin Bowes, in whofe family the patronage has 
ever fince continued. The living of this church was 
greatly improved by the pariffi of St. Mary Woolchurch 
Haw being annexed to it, the patronage of which is in the 
crown; and, from the time St. Mary Woolnoth was erected, 
it has been the parochial church for both parifhes. 
Returning towards St. Paul’s, we now enter Cheap-ward ; 
which took its name from the Saxon, chepe, a market, or 
fait , on account of a market having been anciently 
there. When Stocks Market was the principal in the city, 
the eaft end of Cheapfide was inhabited by poulterers, from 
whence it received the appellation of the Poultry, which it 
ftill retains. Almolt oppofite to that market, on thecourfe 
of the Wall-brook, anciently flood a flaughter-houfe for 
the killing of beafts and Raiding of f'wine: whence it 
was called the fcaldir.g-houfe 5 but this, with all the other 
flaughter-houfcs in the city, being put down by ail of 
parliament, the fite of it was occupied by a range of build¬ 
ings which retained the name of Scalding-alley for man/* 
years. It is now called St. Mildred’s Court, on the weft fide 
of which is fituated the pariffi-church ofSt. Mildred, Poultry. 
Stow, in his curious flyle, pretends that the name of this, 
as well as of other faints, was not given out of fuperftition, 
but merely for diftinition-fake; “ for fo was the cuttome 
of the kingdome (and yet is), in building thefe things for 
the fervice of God, that the founders call them by the name 
of fome apoftle, faint, martyr, or confeffor, as bed liked 
their own conceit at the prefent time, to diftinguiflt 
them from others.”—In this we do not agree witli 
the ingenious hiftorian. We muft ftate fairly, that what 
is called now fuperftition, was mere religious motive, ac¬ 
cording to the belief in full force before the reformation. 
The church, that is, the edifice itfelf, and the parifhion- 
ers, were placed under the invocation and fpecial guard 
and proteflion of the faint whofe name it bore; and it was 
pioufly fuppofed, that the prefervation of that church, and 
the prayers offered in it, were entrufled to the faid patron, 
who would intercede at the throne of the Almighty for 
the welfare of his wards. Wh3t, after this, the imagina¬ 
tion of devout and pious people may have wrought, may 
be called fuperftition; but fuch was the true origin of the 
dedication of churches.—The fame chronicler fays : “ Who 
this Mildred was, whether ffie was the elded daughter of Mer- 
waldus king of the Weft-Mercians,as fome thinke, orthat ffie 
was daughter of Ethelbert king of Kent, one of the foun¬ 
ders of Paul’s church, I find no record tofpecifyes neither 
is it much materiall 5 but it is probable that fhe was fome 
holy and devout maide, which the people of that age held 
to be a faint afterwards in heaven.”—This church is a rec¬ 
tory ; and appears to be of ancient foundation, for John de 
Affwel was collated to it in the year 1325; and in the 
18th of Edward III. vre find it with the chapel of Corpus 
Chrifti and St. Mary de Coneyhope annexed, which chapel 
flood at the end of Coneyhopc-lane, or the rabbit-market, 
now called Grocers’ Alley ; but, being fupprefled by Henry 
VIII. on account of a fraternity founded therein, it was 
purchafed by one Thomas Hobfon, a liaberdaffier, who 
turned the chapel into a warehoufe. The old church, 
which had been rebuilt in 1450, was burnt down in 1666, 
after which the prefent ftrufture was erefted, and the pa- 
rifli of St. Mary Colechurch united to it. It is a plain 
fubftantial flone building^ enlightened by a feries of large 
windows, and flrengthened with ruflic at the corners. 
The tower is crowned with a plain courfe, without pinna¬ 
cles, turrets, or any other ornament. The clock, which 
ufed to projeit nearly half-way over the ftreet, has been 
placed againft the wall, and no longer impedes or obftrufts 
the interefting view which we have deferibed above. The 
length of the fabric is fixty-fix feet, the breadth forty-two, 
6 D the 
