till the coroner's inquest hath passed upon them. It has no chimney or fireplace, nor any light but what comes over the door, or through a hole of about eight inches square. It is neither paved nor boarded, and the rough bricks appear both on the sides and top, being neither wainscotted nor plastered. What adds to the dampness and stench of the place is, its being built over the common sewer, and adjoining to the sink and dunghill, where all the filth of the prison is cast. In this miserable place the poor wretch was kept by Bambridge, manacled and shackled, for near two months."

Another prisoner, a Captain John Mc Phedris, endured even worse treatment. For refusal or inability to pay the extortionate demands of the warder, he was subjected to every species of indignity and annoyance. Having taken refuge in the room of another prisoner, to escape the fury of Bambridge, the latter, on the next morning entered the room with a detachment of soldiers, "and," to use the words of the report of the Gaol Committee," ordered him to be dragged to the hoop and ironed with great irons. The prisoner desired he might be carried before a magistrate, that he might know his crime before he was punished; but Bambridge refused, and put irons on his legs, which were too little, so that, in forcing them on, his legs were like to have been broken, and the torture was impossible to be endured. Upon which, the prisoner complaining of the grievous pain and straitness of the irons, Bam

bridge answered that he did it on purpose to torture him;' on which the prisoner replied, that by the law of England no man ought to be tortured." Bambridge declared that he would do it first, and answer for it afterwards,' and caused him to be dragged away to the dungeon, where he lay without a bed, loaded with irons so closely rivetted, that they kept him in continual torture and mortified his legs. After long application his irons were changed, and a surgeon was directed to dress his legs, but his lameness is not, nor ever can, be cured. He was kept in this miserable confinement for three weeks, by which his sight is greatly prejudiced and in danger of being lost."

In consequence of this report, the House unanimously came to the following resolutions: "That Thomas Bambridge, acting warder of the Fleet Prison, had wilfully permitted several of the debtors to the crown in great sums of money, as well as debtors to divers of his majesty's subjects, to escape; that he had been guilty of the most notorious breaches of his trust; great extortions and the highest crimes and misdemeanors; and had arbitrarily and unlawfully loaded with irons, and put into dungeons, and destroyed, prisoners for debt, and treated them in the most barbarous and cruel manner, in high violation and contempt of the laws of this kingdom." A similar resolution was passed against Huggins, the late warder; and against Barnes, Pindar, Everett and King, the turnkeys, for

aiding and abetting in the commission of the cruelties. The attorney-general was directed to prosecute the offenders, who were all committed close prisoners to Newgate; and two bills were brought in, one to disable Huggins or Bambridge to exercise the office of warder, and the other for the better regulation of the Fleet; and the more effectually preventing and punishing the arbitrary and illegal practices of all future warders. Bambridge was shortly afterwards brought to trial on three distinct charges, of murder, felony, and barbarity, in the execution of his office. Huggins was tried for the murder of Edward Arne, and found guilty of aiding and abetting, but that it was not premeditated in him; that he had been privy to the cause of the man's death, and might have prevented it. Bambridge was tried for the murder of Mr. Castell, but acquitted on appeal.

The Fleet Prison was also celebrated in the last century for its disgraceful marriages. Pennant, who spoke from personal knowledge, says: "in walking along the street in my youth, on the side next this prison, I have often been tempted by the question,

Sir, will you be pleased to walk in and be married?' Along this most lawless space was frequently hung up the sign of a male and female hand conjoined, with 'Marriages performed within,' written beneath. A dirty fellow invited you in. The parson was seen walking before his shop; a squalid, profligate figure, clad in a tattered plaid night-gown, with a fiery face, and ready to couple you for a dram of gin or roll of tobacco. Our great chancellor, Lord Hardwicke, put

these demons to flight, and saved thousands from the misery and disgrace which would be entailed by these extemporary thoughtless unions."

Malcolm, writing upon the same subject, says: "to such an extent were the proceedings carried, that twenty and thirty couples were joined in one day, at from ten to twenty shillings each;" and "between the 19th October, 1704, and the 12th February, 1705, 2,954 marriages were celebrated (by evidence), besides others known to have been omitted. To these neither licence nor certificate of banns were required, and they concealed by private marks the names of those who choose to pay them for it." These These proceedings became at last so shameless, or rather shameful, that the whole neighbourhood was scandalized. Formal complaint was made the matter was taken up as it ought to be-the Marriage Act was passed, and the "couplers," as they were sometimes called, were swept away.

In a straight line with this street is Blackfriars Bridge, repaired in an elegant and substantial manner in 1840 by the corporation of London. The first stone of this bridge was laid on the 30th of October, 1760, and it was completed in about eight years, from the designs of Mr. Robert Mylne, the architect, at an expense of 152,840l. 3s. 10d. It consists of nine arches, the centre of which is 100 feet wide. The view of London from this bridge is exceedingly beautiful at no other spot can the magnificent cathedral of St. Paul's be seen to so much advantage, with the innumerable spires rising in every direction

around it. The cathedral, stout and plethoricthe spires, taper and half-famished in

looking appearance

66

Lo, like a bishop upon dainties fed,

St. Paul's lifts up his sacerdotal head;

While his lean curates, slim and lank to view,
Around him point their steeples to the blue."

Blackfriars Bridge was partly built and long supported out of the proceeds of a toll, as Waterloo Bridge and Southwark Bridge are at the present time; the only peculiarity in the mode of collection was, that passengers were made to pay double toll on Sunday. This bridge, it should be known, is inscribed to the memory of William Pitt, earl of Chatham. The following is a translation of the inscription upon two plates of tin, that are placed under the foundation stone with the coins:-" On the last day of October, in the year 1760, and in the beginning of the most auspicious reign of George III., Sir Thomas Chitty, knight, lord mayor, laid the first stone of this bridge, undertaken by the common council of London amidst the rage of an extensive war (laté tum flagrante bello), for the public accommodation and ornament of the city, Robert Mylne being the architect. And that there might remain to posterity a monument of this city's affection to the man who, by the strength of his genius, the steadiness of his mind, and a certain kind of happy contagion of his probity and spirit, (under the divine favour and fortunate auspices of George II.,) recovered, augmented, and secured the British em