That there might have been such a water-course, as Mr. Maitland terms it, from the wet dock at Deptford, round by St. Thomas à Watering and Newington Butts, quite up to Vauxhall, and into the Thames at Chelsea-reach, is allowed by many eminent antiquaries.

In a letter from Dr. Wallis to Mr. Pepys, in 1699, he says, " I had one Sunday preached for Mr. Gataker, at Redriff, and lodged there that night. Next morning I walked with him over the fields to Lambeth, meaning to cross the Thames to Westminster He showed me in the passage, divers remains of the old channel, which had heretofore been made from Redriff to Lambeth, for diverting the Thames whilst London bridge was building, all in a straight line, or near it, but with great intervals, which had been long since filled up. Those remains, which then appeared very visible, are, I suspect, all, or most of them, filled up before this time, for it is more than fifty years ago, and people in those marshes would be more fond of so much meadow grounds, than to let those lakes remain unfilled; and he told me of many other such remains, which had been within his memory, but were then filled up."

But when the time, and expense, and needless labour such a canal must have required, to make it navigable for vessels that had been able to transport an army from the northern seas is considered, and the little time the Danes had to execute such a design in the enemy's country, there appear great obstacles against the opinion, that the water course above described was the canai by which the Danish fleet sailed or were towed to the west side of the bridge. Another author supposed, that the cut made by Canute began at the dock, near to the place called at this time Dockhead, in Rotherhithe ; and from thence, in a small semicircle by St. Margaret's Hill, in Southwark, into the Thames again at St. Saviour's dock, above bridge. But Mr. Buckmaster, an ingenious and intelligent inhabitant of Lambeth, controverts both these hypotheses; observing, that in the old plans of London, the end of London bridge appears to be defended by a wall, with towers at different distances, extended, so as to take in and cover the bishop of Winchester's palace, &c.; which wall was called the south-work, or out-work to the south. Now, this work extending so far, destroys the idea of Canute's trench ending at Saint Saviour's dock (which was made so for a ferry before the bridge was built), as Canute must have destroyed this south work before he could have made his trench. He is equally against the former; but thinks the trench begun at Dockhead was continued through Five-foot Lane in Bermondsey, to the end of Kent Street, where a bridge is built over it, and thence to Newington, on the north side of the new road, into St. George's Fields, and terminated

Pepys' Correspondence, ii. p. 201.

below the king's barge house. Mr. Buckmaster then remarks on the Broadwall and its ditches, and considess his line of canal to be pretty accurate by the sewers being left so wide. His, certainly, is the most probable course.

I conceive it can be traced from the north side of the Kent road, by the Elephant and Castle inn, on the south side of the Fishmongers' almshouses; here, Mr. Maitland says, is a moorish ground, with a small water-course, denominated the river Tygris, which is part of Cnut's trench or canal already mentioned. But what supports this supposition of Maitland's is, that during the year 1824, an extensive sewer was made along this road; in the course of which, a few feet south of the almshouses, were discovered several stakes driven into the ground several feet below the surface, and evidently intended to protect an embankment ; a piece of one of those stakes I have in my possession, excessively hard, and capable of a high polish, the colour black. This, certainly, corroborates Maitland so far. From here, the trench ran along at the back of the houses in the Lambeth-road, and what forms the boundary between the parishes of Lambeth and Saint George's, Southwark, pursuing its course along the north side of Brook-street. Here we lose it; but it most probably went into the Thames, between Lambeth Palace and Vauxhall; but certainly not so low as Mr. Maitland has placed it.

Mr. Nichols conceived it went north of the palace, a littl beyond the king's barge-house: and, he says, the ditches are still said to remain. (1786.)*

Canute was again unsuccessful; for the Londoners defended themselves till Edmund advanced to their relief, and chased the Danes to their ships.' Soon afterwards, both armies met in the field; and king Edmund, but for the defection of Edric Streon, earl of Mercia, his traitorous relation, would have obtained a complete victory: as it was, night parted the combatants; and Canute, retreating to his ships, rowed along the coast for some time, till, thinking that his absence might have excited a false security in the inhabitants, he suddenly returned, and once more laid siege to London, but with the same ill success as before.

The war between these princes was terminated by a treaty of partition. which left Edmund in possession of London and all the country south of the Thames. On the murder of the Saxon king, which immediately followed, through the base Edric's contrivance, Canute claimed the dominion of the whole kingdom, which was awarded to him in a general council held in London, in 1007.

Canute, now sole monarch of England, resolved, by all political means, to maintain his possession of the throne; and in order to secure the hearts of his new subjects, he married Emma

• History of Lambeth.

Ethelred's widow; and to convince them that he had their interest as much at heart as any of the English kings, his predecessors, disbanded his army, and sent back his fleet to Denmark, and threw himself entirely upon the affections of his new people. This confidence so highly pleased the parliament, then convened in London, that, to enable him to put his designs in execution, they granted him eighty-three thousand pounds, a prodigious sum at that time! seventy-two thousand pounds, part whereof, was raised in all the several parts of England, exclusive of London, which alone raised eleven thousand pounds of the whole sum. Whereby is shewn the great opulency of this city at that time; for if we may reckon the riches thereof upon the foot of this subsidy, it must have been possessed of above one seventh part of the wealth of the whole kingdom. And this vast sum granted to Canute, according to the prices of lands and provisions then, must have been equal to that of nine millions at present.*

This year also was distinguished for the well-merited punishment of the traitor Edric Streon; who, at the feast of Christmas,' which Canute kept in this city, had the temerity to reproach his sovereign with not having enough rewarded him for ridding him of such a formidable rival as Edmund had been.' Canute immediately or-. dered him to be put to death, for daring to avow so black a crime "Some say hee was tormented to death wyth fire-brandes and linkes. Some say one way, some another; but dispatched he was; for the king feared, through his treason, to be circumvented of his kingdome, as his predecessors had been before. His bodie hee caused to be layde foorth on the wall of the citie, there to remayne unburyed to be seene of all men."t

Upon the death of Canute, a wittenagemot, or convention of wise men, was held at Oxford; where earl Leofric, and most of the Thanes on the north side of the river Thames, with the lidsmen of London, chose Harold their king. Liðrmen is by the translator of the Saxon Annals rendered Nauta, i. e. Mariners. This translation seems very inconsistent with the honour of the city, to chuse only one of its fraternities to represent it on so solemn an occasion: but, taking liðrmen to mean pilots, (which the directors or governors of cities may not improperly be called) I am of opinion, that the city representatives at Oxford were the magistrates, and not the mariners, of London. Be that as it will, it suffices to show, that this city then was of such distinction, grandeur, and power, that no national affair of consequence was transacted without its assent: for in this case the Saxon annals are very plain,

⚫ Chron. Sax. Maitland.

+ Stow's Ann. from Marianus, p. 115. William of Malmesbury and Matthew of Westminster affirm, that he was beheaded in the king's palace, and that his body was cast out of a

window into the Thames. Brompton says, that his head was fixed on the highest gate in London by Canute's order; Henry of Huntingdon says, on the highest tower in London -Vide Rapin

that none else were admitted into this electorial convention, but the nobility and the liormen of London.*

After the death of Harold, the nobility, assisted by the citizens of London, sent messengers to Hardacanute, (son of Canute, by Einma, relict of Ethelred) then with his mother at Bruges, in Flanders, intreating him to come over and receive the crown.t

Upon the demise of Hardacanute, another general council of the clergy and people, held in this city in 1041, Edward, surnamed the Confessor, son to Ethelred the Second, was chosen king through the address and influence of earl Goodwin. In another great council held in London anno 1047, fourteen ships of war were ordered to be fitted out, to protect the coasts against the Danish piracies.

From the account given in Stow's Annals from Marianus, of the contests between earl Goodwin and king Edward, it appears that the Earl had a house in Southwark ; and that, after he had assembled a fleet and army in 1052, he sailed through London bridge on the south side, for the purpose of attacking the royal fleet, then consisting of fifty sail, and lying at Westminster. "His armie," says the historian, "placing it selfe upon the bankes side, made shewe of a thicke and terrible battayle:" but the great men on both sides interfering, to prevent the effusion of blood, an accommodation was effected, and Goodwin was restored to his former honours and possessions. One of the last acts of Edward's life, was the rebuilding of Westminster Abbey, which he designed for his sepulchre; and on the completion of the Abbey church in 1065, he summoned a general assembly to meet at London, to increase the solemnity of its dedication. His decease, within a few days afterwards, led the way to the accession of Harold, earl Goodwin's son, who had sufficient interest to prevail on the assembly which Edward had summoned, and at which all the bishops and great men of the kingdom were present, to elect him for their sovereign, though in opposition to the superior claims which hereditary descent gave to Edgar Atheling.

The decisive battle of Hastings was the end of the Saxon monarchy in England, which had continued for more than six hundred years. London had now attained a considerable degree of consequence, and from this period we may justly consider it the metropolis of England.

* Chron. Sax.A. D. 1036.

Flor. Wig. Chron. lib. 2. Sim. Dunelm. Hist. A. D. 1039.

Stow's Ann. p. 121 § Ibid, p. 122.

CHAPTER IV.

History of London from the Conquest to the reign of Henry the Third.

On the extinction of the Anglo-Saxon government in England. by the victory of William over Harold, at the decisive battle of Hastings, anno 1066, Edwin and Morcar, Earls of Northumberland and Mercia, hastened from the fatal field, and arriving in London, proposed to the citizens the setting up of Edgar Atheling for King, as the most effectual way to extricate themselves and the nation from their present state of confusion, and to save the kingdom from becoming a prey to the victorious Norman.

The citizens being in great consternation were divided in opinion; some thinking it more for their interest to deliver up the city to the conqueror, lest they should by resistance exasperate him to destroy it, whilst the majority supporting the arguments of the above noblemen, declared for Edgar, and for defending the city to the utmost of their power.

William receiving advice of the conduct of the citizens, hastened his march towards London, and arriving in Southwark, was attacked by the citizens, who were repulsed by a detachment of five hundred Norman horse, though with such a loss to the latter, that the conqueror thought it prudent to decline undertaking the siege of so formidable a place in winter: he therefore laid Southwark in ashes, and marched to reduce the western counties. In the mean time the clergy of London sought all opportunities to break the measures entered into between the Londoners and Earls Morcar and Mercia; by dint of perseverance and craft, they at last prevailed on the citizens to break their contract and submit to the conqueror's yoke, an act contrary to all the ties of justice and honour, and diametrically opposite to the interests of their country. Upon this disgraceful defection of the citizens, the two Earls retired into the north of England, and the bishops and clergy repaired to Berkhampstead, where they submitted, and swore fealty to the conqueror; and as if that were not sufficient to ingratiate themselves with the Norman bastard, they not only prevailed upon the major part of the nobility, but likewise upon Edgar Atheling himself, who had just before been created king, to submit to the Norman authority. William no sooner received the agreeable news of the city of London's submission, than he began his march thither, where he was received by the magistrates and principal citizens, who not only presented him with the keys of their city, but likewise acknowledged him for their sovereign; and in conjunction with the nobility and prelates than present, desired him to accept the crown. The capital city having thus declared for the conqueror, its example was quickly followed by all the rest of the kingdom. Having thus