486 LON 
church in England pofTefied them. His charter, which 
bears date in 1068, and is fanftioned by John and Peter, 
the pope’s legates, concludes thus : “ If any perfon what- 
foever fliall prefume to alter any thing hereby granted, 
let him be punifhed with Judas the traitor.” It is 
aftonifhing what care, and what fort of means, our ancef- 
tors took to lecure their grants to pofterity. We have 
fe^n deeds at the end of which the mightieft impreca¬ 
tions were thundered againlt infraflors or prevaricators : 
their heads were to be boiled in coppers fy.ll of briinftone, 
their bowels made into ruffs for the devil’s neck, and fo 
forth , thus binding, by fears of punifhments beyond the 
grave, the faith of men on this fide of it.—The charter 
was confirmed by Henry III. who granted the dean of the 
monafiery and church more ample privileges. And it 
was again confirmed by Edward II. with an addi¬ 
tional privilege, that no inhabitant within this jurifdic- 
tion fhould be fued out of their own court, except 
before the king, or his chief juffice. By the charter 
of Edward Hi. it was ordained, that all inquifitions, to 
be taken by the justices, and other the minifters of the 
men of the city of London, fhould be taken at Great St. 
Martin’s, in London, and not elfewhere: except inquifi¬ 
tions to be taken in circuits of the Tower of London, and 
for the gaol delivery of Newgate. But Henry VIII. in 
the year 1519, revoked that charter, and removed the fef- 
fions of the peace from St. Martin’s to Guildhall. 
King Henry VI. confirmed the foregoing charters; but 
he ellablifhed certain articles concerning its fanftuary, in 
cafes of debt, felony, and treafon ; by which it appears, 
that St. Martin’s was, at that time, a faiiftuary for great 
diforders, and a Ihelter for the loofeft fort of people; and 
that every excefs of vice and irreligion, fraud, oppreflion, 
and breach ot the laws, was exercifed within its liberty. 
To fo great a height of licentioufnefs was this fanftuary 
grown, that, in the reign of Henry VII. the flieriffs of 
London venturing to take from thence, by violence, a per¬ 
fon who had been guilty of murder, the abbot of Weft- 
minlter exhibited a bill to the king again ft them; upon 
which the caufe was heard in the Star-chamber, and the 
fheriff feverely fined. 
This place was occafionally the refidence of the kings 
of England; as appears from a writ of Edward I. being 
dated here on the aoth of Offober, in the firft year of his 
l%ign. And, in the fame reign, the king’s court appears 
to have been held here; for, in 1293, a caufe was removed 
from the Court of Huftings, to be tried before Gilbert de 
Thornville, and others, at St. Martin’s the Great, in Lon¬ 
don ; and the cuftos and fherift's were commanded to bring 
the record, and procefs, and all things pertaining to it, 
before them. The deans were alfo among the greateft men. 
in the nation ; for, in the reign of Edward III. William 
Mulfe, who held that office, was chief chamberlain of the 
exchequer, and receiver and keeper of the king’s treafure 
and jewels; and, in the preceding reign, Petrus de Sa- 
bauddia was promoted to the archiepifcopal fee of Lyons, 
in France. 
The church of St. Martin’s le Grand was anciently in 
the donation of the king; as appears by Edward I. hav¬ 
ing, in the 8th year of his reign, granted the deanery to 
Galfridus de Newband. In the Biffiop of London’s Re- 
giftc-r of Old Wills, it is called a parijh ; and a curfew-bell 
was rung here, as at Bow-church, &c. to give the citizens 
warping of the time of night, and to keep within doors. 
This college was furrendered to king Edward VI. in the 
year 1548 ; and, in the fame year, the college church was 
pulled down, and many tenements erected on its fite, which 
were immediately taken at high rents, by non-freemen, 
in confequence of being exempt from the jurifdi<ftion of 
the city. In the year 1585, a great number of foreign 
tradefmen and artificers planted themfelves on this fpot; 
among whom were John James and Anthony Emerick, 
fubje&s of Philip king of Spain, who were faid to have 
been the firft iilk-throwers in London, and to have brought 
that trade into England, 
D O N. 
St. Martin’s le Grand leads from the north-eaft end of 
Newgate-ftreet, formerly called Blowbladder-ftreet, from 
being a place where bladders were fold, (on account of 
the fhambles being near at hand,) to the Ipot where A 2 - 
ders-gate flood ; but the liberty extends only as far as An- 
gel-ftreet and Bell-fquare, near St. Anne’s lane; the re¬ 
mainder being in the freedom of the city. This part of 
the ftreet, with the courts and alleys adjoining, is confi- 
dered as part of the liberty of Weftminfter; and the inha¬ 
bitants are governed, and vote accordingly, qnd carry on 
their trades, without being free of the city of London. 
It has alfo a court of record within itjjslf, fubjeft to the 
dean and chapter of Weftminfter, held every Wednefday, 
for the trial of all* perlonal actions, of what nature foever. 
In this court, the leading procefs is a capias againlt the 
body, or an attachment againlt the goods; fo that a man’s 
goods may be feized in his own houfe, upon the firft pro¬ 
cefs, if he himfelf be not taken. We underhand that the 
whole of this liberty is in the parilli of St. Paul’s, Covent- 
garden. 
This little ftreet, though called le Grand, may be con- 
fidered as a narrow neck to the large body of Alderfgate- 
llreet. Here are feveral alleys and paflages, which have 
nothing remarkable in themfelves, but they are ul'eful in 
ftiortening the way to the adjacent ftreets. One of thofe 
communicates under ground, to Bagnio-court, Newgate- 
ftreet. 
On the weft fide of Alderfgate-ftreet, the firft opening 
is a ftreet called Bull-and-Mouth, by corruption of the 
words Boulogne Mouth, or Harbour, the fign of an inn Hand¬ 
ing in it, and which was either kept by fome perfon from 
Boulogne, or on account of its immediate correfpondence 
with France through Boulogne.—There is ftill on the 
fouth fide a very large and noted inn for ftages'and wag¬ 
gons, under tire fame title; but its daily intereft feems to 
point towards the weftern counties in general, and efpe- 
cially towards Plymouth and Exeter.—Oppofite to Dean’s- 
court on the ealt, we find Angel-ftreet, with an inn of 
that name. 
Farther on is a place well known by the name of Lit¬ 
tle Britain, or Bretagne-fireet, fo called from the manfiorr 
of the duke of Bretagne, which flood near Alderfgate- 
church, but has been many years deftroyed. This ltreet 
was alfo the refidence of feveral of our ovtn nobility ; the 
earl of Peterborough’s houfe flood at the corner, where 
the fouth part of Bartholomew’s Hofpital now ftands; and- 
the whole eaft fide of the ftreet was occupied by a (lately 
manfion, belonging to lord Montague ; the name of which 
is ftill preferved in Montague-court. 
This ftreet forms an angle at about half its length, and 
oppofite the bend fome old houfes are pulling down to 
improve the approach to Chritt’s Hofpital. This part 
of Little Britain then communicates with Smithfield 
through Duke-ftreet and St. Bartholomew’s Hofpital.— 
On the fouth corner of Little Britain, ftands the parifh- 
church of St. Botolph, Alderfgate. This church received 
its name from being dedicated to St. Botolph, a Saxon 
monk, and its vicinity to the gate. It was anciently a 
rectory, the patronage of which was in the dean and ca¬ 
nons of St. Martin’s le Grand; but it continued unap¬ 
propriated until the year 1399, when Richard II. by his 
letters patent, dated May the 21ft, at Pembroke, gave li- 
cenfe to Thomas Stanley, dean of St. Martin’s le Grand, 
to appropriate the income, at that time not exceeding five 
marks per annum, to his collegiate church, for the cele¬ 
bration of a perpetual anniverfory for his deceafed confort 
Anne, upon the day of her death, during his life ; but, 
after his demife, the anniverfary to be folemnized upon 
his obit for ever. In confequence of this licenfe, the 
church of St. Botolph was appropriated to that of St. 
Martin’s le Grand, by a commiffion from the biffiop of 
London to his official, the dean and canons being bound 
to provide a fufficient maintenance for a chaplain to ferve 
the cure; fince which time it has continued a donative 
or curacy. When Henry VII. in the year 1493, annexed 
ih v 
