Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 2.djvu/701

Rh LONDON. 693 LONDON. branch offices to the General Post-Office in Lombard- street and at Charing-eross, and district offices in the following postal divisions, viz. the West Central, at 126, High Holborn; the Northern, in Essex -road, Islington ; the North-Eastern, in Church-street, Bethnal- green ; the Eastern, in Commercial-road, East ; the South- rn, at 170, High-street, Borough; the Southern, at 17, York-place, Lambeth ; the South- Western, at Buck- ingham-gate; the Western, at 3, Vere-street, Oxford- street; and the North-Western, in Eversholt- street, Camden Town. Besides these, there are an immense quantity of receiving-houses, and pillar-boxes placed in the streets and at the various railway stations. All the information relative to the General Post-office, in con- nection not only with the metropolitan districts, but with the whole world, will be found in the British Postal Guide, a quarterly publication, costing one shilling, and issued under the direct official sanction of the Post-office authorities. The Guildhall is at the end of King-street, Cheapside. It was originally built between 1411 and 1431, previous to which the corporation met, and the civil courts were held, in Aldermanbury, a street running northward from Gresham-strcet to London Wall. The executors of the celebrated Eiehard Whittington,who was lord mayor for the third time in 1419, paved the hall with Purbcck stone, and in 1501 the famous kitchen was added. The roof and various parts of the building were very seriously damaged by the Great Fire, but restorations were made by Sir C. Wren, again by Danco in 1789, when the Gothic front was finished, and ulti- mately by Bunning, the late city architect, who effected great improvements, more especially in regard to the crypt. The southern porch was erected temp. Henry VI. The great hall is about 158 feet in length by 48 in breadth, and 60 in height. The side walls are divided by clusters of circular columns, and the E. and W. windows are of stained glass. Beneath the former are statues of Edward VI., Queen Elizabeth, and Charles I., and at the same end of the hall is a raised platform hustings. The colossal painted wooden figures of Gog and Magog, the two celebrated city giants, stand on pedestals on either side of the W. window, and there are several monuments to illustrious persons, such as Lord Chatham, William Pitt, Nelson, Wellington, Beckford, and others, by celebrated sculptors. Beneath the eastern portion of the hall is the crypt, 75 feet in length, 45 in breadth, and 12 feet 6 inches in height from the pavement to the crown of the arches, being the finest specimen of a crypt in London. In the various rooms and courts attached to the hall, such as the chamberlain's court, the upper court, Iho court of com- mon council, and the committee rooms, are several fine portraits of civic dignitaries, and pictures commemorative of public events, and there is also a reading-room and a library, which was founded by the corporation in 1824. Since then a museum has been added, BO that the Guild- hall now possesses a very valuable collection of about 2*2,000 volumes, maps, autographs, and MSS. of various kinds, besides a regularly arranged scries of antiquities a great portion of them discovered in excavating for the foundations of the Royal Exchange and many curiositie-s, such as seals, coins, medals, &c., which are well worthy of examination. On the S. side of Cheap- side, not fur from the end of King-street, but more to, stands the church of St. Mary-le-Bow, or " Bow church," as it is more commonly called. Its steeple is high, and is surmounted by a gilt dragon-shaped It was built by Wren after the Great Fire, and has a line Norman crypt, a projecting clock, and a celebrated <>f bells. These are the bells which Whittington is aid to have heard when he sat on Highgate stone, and all who are born within their sound are said to be thorough-bred " Cockneys." The derivation of this -;iven rise to a considerable degree of contro- By some its origin is said to be accoquiner, " to become lazy," by others the Greek word oiKoytvnc (oiko- genet], " born or bred at home." Some, again, derive it from coquina, " a kitchen ; " others from to cocker, an old word signifying to "fondle," or " indulge ;" others from VOL. II. cock, the bird so called, in allusion to the fondness of the ancient Londoners for the sport of cocking, or cock- fighting, or from the fact of fowls and peacocks having been favourite delicacies at city feasts ; while some con- tend that it comes from the Italian Caccagna, a popular Neapolitan festival, at which feasting of all sorts takes place, and hence that the "land of Cockaigne," the " King of Cockenaye," and similar expressions, as used by the old writers, refer to London as a city abounding in all sorts of idleness and luxury. However this may be, it is certain that the word " Cockney," which was originally applied only to those who lived or were born " in the sound of Bow bells," was afterwards given indiscriminately to all the inhabitants of London, but has now, except in remote country places, fallen almost altogether into disuse. The "Inns of Court" are places inhabited by members of the legal profes- sion. The principal of them are, the Temple (con- sisting of the Inner and Middle Temple), Lincoln's Inn, and Gray's Inn. They each of them have their own libraries and halls, in the former of which lec- tures are given, and in the latter a fixed number of dinners are eaten by certain of the students in order that they may keep the proper number of terms required of those who are to be called to the bar. This " eating of terms" used to be a tint qu& non ; but there are now other means such as attending a certain number of lectures, &c. of being "called." The "benchers," a body of barristers selected from the members of the inn on account of their professional standing or eminence, also dine in the hall at a " high table," and by them all matters connected with the management of the inn are conducted. The benchers of the Inner and Middle Temple have the privilege of granting orders of admission to the Temple church ; and the Temple gardens, which reach down to the Thames, afford a healthful and pleasant promenade for the members of the two inns and their friends. The gardens are care- fully planted and kept, and the chrysanthemum shows which take place there periodically are numerously and fashionably attended. There is also a garden at Gray's Inn which is open to the public, but it is chiefly the resort during the summer evenings of children and nursemaids, who flock to it from tho popu- lous districts of Bloomsbury to which it is adjacent. The other inns of court are, Serjeants' Inn, Barnard's Inn, Clement's Inn, Clifford's Inn, Furnival's Inn, Lyon's Inn, Staple's Inn, and Thavies' Inn. These are all situated in the neighbourhood of Holborn and the Strand, but as they do not make calls to the bar, they are not used for legal purposes, but are let out, with tho exception of Serjeants' Inn, in sets of chambers to any respectable tenant who may choose to reside there. The Incorporated Law Society is a largo building in Chancery-lane. It contains a hall, a library, a club room, a lecture room, a fire-proof room for depositing deeds, offices for consultations, and rooms for arbitra- tions, committees, and various other professional pur- poses. It is much used by attorneys and solicitors both as a club and also for meetings of a professional nature. The Heralds' College, on Bennett's-hill, Doctors' Commons, has jurisdiction in all matters connected with grants of arms, drawing up pedigrees, patents of nobility, &e. It consists of three kings called respectively Garter, Clarencieux, and Norrotj ; six heralds, viz. Lancaster, Somerset, Richmond, Windsor, York, and Chester; and four pursuivants, viz. Rouge Croix, Blue Mantle, Portcullis, and Rouge Dragon. This college possesses some valuable relics and many very curious portraits, rolls, heraldic MSS., and family records. In Doctors' Commons, besides the Heralds' College, are tho Admiralty Registrar's Office and the Will Office, in tho last-named of which the wills of deceased persons are registered and deposited. They can be inspected by any one upon tho payment of the fee of Is., but no copies or extracts are allowed to be made without special permission and the payment of an extra fee. The Public Record Office is a handsome building in the late Gothic or Tudoresque style, standing between tho ivnr 4 T