Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 14.djvu/879

HISTORY.] LONDON 849

Tower. His streets were to be of three magnitudes – 90 feet, 60 feet, and 30 feet wide respectively. Evelyn's plan differed from Wren's chiefly in proposing a street from the church of St Dunstan's in the East to the cathedral, and in having no quay or terrace along the river. In spite of the best advice, however, the jealousies of the citizens prevented any systematic design from being carried out, and in consequence the old lines were in almost every case retained. But, though the plans of Wren and Hooke were not adopted, it was to these two fellows of the Royal Society that the labour of rebuilding London was committed. Wren's great work, which has covered his name with renown, was the erection of the cathedral of St Paul's, and the many churches ranged round it as satellites. Hooke's task was the humbler one of arranging as city surveyor for the building of the houses. He laid out the ground of the several proprietors in the rebuilding of the city, and had no rest early or late from persons soliciting him to set out their ground for them at once. The first great impetus of change in the configuration of London was given by the great fire, and Evelyn records and regrets that the town in his time had grown almost as large again as it was within his own memory. Although for several centuries attempts had been made in favour of building houses with brick or stone, yet the carpenters continued to be the chief housebuilders. As late as the year 1650 the Carpenters' Company drew up a memorial in which they "gave their reasons that tymber buildings were more commodious for this citie than brick buildings were." The Act of Parliament "for rebuilding the city of London" passed after the great fire, gave the coup de grace to the carpenters as house-builders. After setting forth that "building with brick was not only more comely and durable, but also more safe against future perils of fire," it was enacted "that all the outsides of all buildings in and about the city should be made of brick or stone, except doorcases and window frames, and other parts of the first story to the front between the piers," for which substantial oaken timber might be used "for conveniency of shops." A third severe blow in addition to the plague and the fire overtook London in the reign of Charles II. The king and his brother had long entertained designs against the liberties of the city, and for the purpose of crushing them two pretexts were set up – (1) that a new rate of market tolls had been levied by virtue of an act of common council, and (2) that a petition to the king, in which it was alleged that by the prorogation of parliament public justice had been interrupted, had been printed by order of the Court of Common Council. Charles directed a writ quo warranto against the corporation of London in 1683, and the Court of King's Bench declared its charter forfeited. Soon afterwards all the obnoxious aldermen were displaced and others appointed in their room by royal commission. A new lord mayor and recorder and new sheriffs were appointed in the same manner. This decision of the Court of King's Bench was reversed in 1690. In the winter of 1683-84 a fair was held for some time upon the Thames. The frost, which commenced about seven weeks before Christmas and continued for six weeks after, was the greatest on record; the ice was 11 inches thick.

London in 1720. Reduced Facsimile of Map by J. Senex.

The revocation of the edict of Nantes in October 1685, and the consequent migration of a large number of industrious French Protestants, caused a considerable growth in the east end of London. The silk manufactories at Spitalfields were then established.

During the short reign of James II. the fortunes of the city were at their lowest, and nowhere was the arrival of the prince of Orange more welcomed. One of the first acts of James was to cause an indictment for high treason to be prepared against Alderman Cornish, who had been a zealous supporter of the Exclusion Bill. Sir John Eyles, who had never been sheriff nor was even a freeman of the city, was appointed lord mayor by the king in 1688 in succession to Sir John Shorter. When James found the danger of his position, and learned that William had landed, he sent for the mayor and aldermen and informed them of his determination to restore the city charter and privileges.

William III. cared little for London, the smoke of which gave him asthma, and when a great part of Whitehall was burnt in 1691 he purchased Nottingham House and made it into Kensington Palace. For convenience of communication with London he had a broad road made through Hyde Park, which was lighted by lanterns at night. Kensington was then an insignificant village, but the arrival of the court soon caused it to grow in importance.

Although the spiritual wants of the city were amply provided for by the churches built by Sir Christopher Wren, the large districts outside the City and its liberties had been greatly neglected. The Act passed in the reign of Queen Anne for building fifty new churches (1710) not only helped to supply this want, but also gave a special architectural character to the suburbs.

Eighteenth Century. – With the accession of George I. a considerable change in the habits of all classes was introduced. At no previous time probably was public taste so low or manners more depraved. These two evils naturally were felt over the whole kingdom, but nowhere was their baneful influence more apparent than in the capital. Public buildings of the most tasteless character were raised, and streets of private houses were built that were positively painful in their ugliness. London thus grew to be the ugliest of cities, a character which it is only now beginning to throw off. London had gradually grown up by the side of the Thames and extended itself along the river's banks, which were skirted by a succession of handsome palaces. The inhabitants moved from place to place in boats, and the river was the chief highway. In the 18th century this state of things had ceased,