patron of millers, St Clement of tanners, St Eloy of smiths, St Goodman of tailors, St Florian of mercers, St John Port-Latin of booksellers, St Louis of periwig-makers, St Severus of fullers, St Wilfred of bakers, St William of hatters, and St Windeline of shepherds. The name of St Cloud obviously made him the patron-saint of nailsmiths; St Sebastian became that of pinmakers, from his having been stuck over with arrows; and St Anthony necessarily was adopted by swine-herds, in consequence of the legend about his pigs. It is not easy, however, to see how St Nicholas came to be the presiding genius of parish-clerks, or how the innocent and useful fraternity of potters obtained so alarming a saint as 'St Gore with a pot in his hand, and the devil on his shoulder.'

The medicating saints are enumerated in the following passage from a whimsical satire of the sixteenth century :—

To every saint they also do his office here assign, And fourteen do they count, of whom thou may'st have aid divine;

Among the which Our Lady still doth hold the chiefest place,

And of her gentle nature helps in every kind of case. St Barbara looks that none without the body of Christ doth die ;

St Cathrine favours learned men and gives them wisdom high,

And teacheth to resolve the doubts, and always giveth aid

Unto the scolding sophister, to make his reason staid. St Apolin the rotten teeth doth help when sore they ache;

Otilia from the bleared eyes the cause and grief doth take;

Rooke healeth scabs and mangins, with pocks, and scurf, and scall,

And cooleth raging carbuncles, and boils, and botches all.

There is a saint, whose name in verse cannot declared be,*

He serves against the plague and each infective malady.

St Valentine, beside, to such as do his power despise The falling-sickness sends, and helps the man that to him cries.

The raging mind of furious folk doth Vitus pacify, And doth restore them to their wit, being called on speedily.

Erasmus heals the colic and the griping of the guts, And Laurence from the back and from the shoulder sickness puts.

Blaise drives away the quinsy quite with water sanctified,

From every Christian creature here, and every beast beside.

But Leonard of the prisoners doth the bands asunder pull, And breaks the prison-doors and chains, wherewith his church is full.

The quartan ague, and the rest doth Pernel take away, And John preserves the worshippers from prison every day; Which force to Bennet eke they give, that help enough may be,

By saints in every place. What dost thou omitted

see?

From dreadful unprovided death doth Mark deliver his,

Who of more force than death himself, and more of value is.

Probably St Roque.

MICHAELMAS DAY.

St Anne gives wealth and living great to such as love her most,

And is a perfect finder out of things that have been lost;

Which virtue likewise they ascribe unto another man, St Vincent; what he is I cannot tell, nor whence he

came.

Against reproach and infamy on Susan do they call; Romanus driveth sprites away and wicked devils all. The bishop Wolfgang heals the gout, St Wendlin keeps the sheep,

With shepherds and the oxen fat, as he was wont to keep.

The bristled hogs doth Anthony preserve and cherish well,

Who in his lifetime always did in woods and forests dwell.

St Gertrude rids the house of mice, and killeth all the rats;

And like doth Bishop Huldrick with his two earthpassing cats.

St Gregory looks to little boys, to teach their a, b, c, And makes them for to love their books, and scholars good to be.

St Nicholas keeps the mariners from dangers and disease,

That beaten are with boisterous waves, and toss'd in dreadful seas.

Great Christopher that painted is with body big and tall,

Doth even the same, who doth preserve and keep his servants all

From fearful terrors of the night, and makes them well to rest,

By whom they also all their life with diverse joys are blest.

St Agatha defends the house from fire and fearful flame,

But when it burns, in armour all doth Florian quench the same.'

It will be learned, with some surprise, that these notions of presiding angels and saints are what have led to the custom of choosing magistracies on the 29th of September. The history of the middle ages is full of curious illogical relations, and this is one of them. Local rulers were esteemed as in some respects analogous to tutelar angels, in as far as they presided over and protected the people. It was therefore thought proper to choose them on the day of St Michael and All Angels. The idea must have been extensively prevalent, for the custom of electing magistrates on this day is very extensive.

'September, when by custom (right divine)

Geese are ordained to bleed at Michael's shrine '

says Churchill. This is also an ancient practice, and still generally kept up, as the appearance of the stage-coaches on their way to large towns at this season of the year amply testifies. In Blount's Tenures, it is noted in the tenth year of Edward IV., that John de la Hay was bound to pay to William Barnaby, Lord of Lastres, in the county of Hereford, for a parcel of the demesne lands, one goose fit for the lord's dinner, on the feast of St Michael the archangel. Queen Elizabeth is said to have been eating her Michaelmas goose when she received the joyful tidings of the defeat of the Spanish Armada. The custom appears to have originated in a practice among the rural tenantry of bringing a good stubble goose at Michaelmas to the landlord, when paying their rent, with a view

rent,

They bring some fowl at Midsummer, a dish of fish in Lent,

At Christmas a capon, at Michaelmas a goose,

And somewhat else at New-year's tide, for fear their lease fly loose.'

We may suppose that the selection of a goose for a present to the landlord at Michaelmas would be ruled by the bird being then at its perfection, in consequence of the benefit derived from stubblefeeding. It is easy to see how a general custom of having a goose for dinner on Michaelmas Day might arise from the multitude of these presents, as landlords would of course, in most cases, have a few to spare for their friends. It seems at length to have become a superstition, that eating of goose at Michaelmas insured easy circumstances for the ensuing year. In the British Apollo, 1709, the following piece of dialogue occurs:

'Q.-Yet my wife would persuade me (as I am a sinner)

To have a fat goose on St Michael for dinner :
And then all the year round, I pray you would mind
it,

I shall not want money-oh, grant I may find it!
Now several there are that believe this is true,
Yet the reason of this is desired from you.

A. We think you're so far from the having of more,
That the price of the goose you have less than before:
The custom came up from the tenants presenting
Their landlords with geese, to incline their relenting
On following payments, &c.'

Born.-John Tillotson, archbishop of Canterbury, 1630, Sowerby, Yorkshire; Thomas Chubb, freethinking author, 1679, East Harnham, Wilts; Robert, Lord Clive, founder

of the British empire in India, 1725, Styche, Shropshire; William Julius Mickle, translator of Camoens's Lusiad, 1734, Langholm, Scotland; Admiral Horatio Nelson, naval hero, 1758, Burnham-Thorpe, Norfolk.

Died.-Pompey the Great, killed in Egypt 48 B. C.; Gustavus Vasa, king of Sweden, 1560, Stockholm; Conrad Vorstius, German divine, 1622, Toningen, Holstein; Lady Rachel Russell, heroic wife of William, Lord Russell, 1723, Southampton House; Charles François Dupuis, astronomer and author, 1809, Is-sur-Til.

SIR HUGH MYDDELTON, AND THE WATER
SUPPLY OF OLD LONDON.

Michaelmas Day, 1613, is remarkable in the annals of London, as the day when the citizens assembled to witness, and celebrate by a public pageant, the entrance of the New River waters to the metropolis.

There were present Sir John Swinnerton the lord mayor, Sir Henry Montague the recorder, and many of the aldermen and citizens; and a speech was written by Thomas Middleton the dramatist, who had before been employed by the citizens to design pageants and write speeches for their Lord Mayors Shows, and other public celebrations. On this occasion, as we are told in the pamphlet descriptive of the day's proceedings, 'warlike music of drums and trumpets liberally beat the air' at the approach of the civic magnates; then 'a troop

WATER SUPPLY OF OLD LONDON.

of labourers, to the number of threescore or upwards, all in green caps alike, bearing in their hands great a business, with drums before them, marching the symbols of their several employments in so twice or thrice about the cistern, orderly present themselves before the mount, and after their obeisance, the speech is pronounced.' It thus

commences:

'Long have we labour'd, long desir'd, and pray'd
For this great work's perfection; and by the aid
Of heaven and good men's wishes, 'tis at length
Happily conquer'd, by cost, art, and strength:
After five years' dear expense in days,
Travail, and pains, beside the infinite ways
Of malice, envy, false suggestions,
Able to daunt the spirit of mighty ones
In wealth and courage, this, a work so rare,
Only by one man's industry, cost, and care,
Is brought to blest effect, so much withstood,
His only aim the city's general good.'

A similar series of mere rhymes details the construction of the works, and enumerates the labourers, concluding thus:

'Now for the fruits then: flow forth, precious spring, So long and dearly sought for, and now bring Comfort to all that love thee: loudly sing, And with thy crystal murmur struck together, Bid all thy true well-wishers welcome hither!' 'At which words,' we are told, 'the flood-gate opens, the stream let into the cistern, drums and trumpets giving it triumphant welcomes,' a peal of small cannon concluding all.

This important work, of the utmost sanitary by the indomitable energy of one individual, after value to London, was commenced and completed it had been declined by the corporate body, and opposed by many upholders of 'good old usages,' the bane of all improvements. The bold man, who came prominently forward when all others had timidly retired, was a simple London tradesman, Hugh Myddelton. He was of Welsh parentage, the a goldsmith, dwelling in Basinghall Street, named sixth son of Richard Myddelton, who had been governor of Denbigh Castle during the reigns of Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth. He was born on his father's estate at Galch Hill, close to Denbigh, 'probably about 1555,' says his latest biographer, Mr Smiles, for the precise date of his birth is unknown.' At the proper age, he was sent to London, where his elder brother, Thomas, was established as a grocer and merchant-adventurer, and under that brother's care he commenced his career as a citizen by being entered an apprentice of the Goldsmiths' Company. In due time he took to business on his own account, and, like his brother, joined the thriving merchantadventurers. In 1597, he represented his native town of Denbigh in parliament, for which he obtained a charter of incorporation, desiring further to serve it by a scheme of mining for coal, which proved both unsuccessful and a great loss to himself. His losses were, however, well covered by his London business profits, to which he had now added cloth manufacturing. On the accession of James I., he was appointed one of the royal

* Lives of the Engineers. Until the publication of this work in 1862, there was no good memoir extant of Myddelton, all being overlaid by a mass of inaccuracy and downright fable.

jewellers, being thus one of the most prosperous and active of citizens.

The due supply of pure spring water to the metropolis, had often been canvassed by the corporation. At times it was inconveniently scanty; at all times it was scarcely adequate to the demand, which increased with London's increase. Many projects had been brought before the citizens to convey a stream toward London, but the expense and difficulty had deterred them from using the powers with which they had been invested by the legislature; when Myddelton declared himself ready to carry out the great work, and in May 1609 'the dauntless Welshman' began his work at Chadwell, near Ware. The engineering difficulties of the work and its great expense were by no means the chief cares of Myddelton; he had scarcely began his most patriotic and useful labours, ere he was assailed by an outcry on all sides from landowners, who declared that his river would cut up the country, bring water through arable land, that would consequently be overflowed in rainy weather, and converted into quagmires; that nothing short of ruin awaited land, cattle, and men, who might

WATER SUPPLY OF OLD LONDON.

be in its course; and that the king's highway between London and Ware would be made impassable! All this mischief was to befall the countryfolks of Hertfordshire and Middlesex for Mr Myddelton's 'own private benefit,' as was boldly asserted, with a due disregard of its great public utility; and ultimately parliamentary opposition was strongly invoked. Worried by this senseless but powerful party, with a vast and expensive labour only half completed, and the probability of want of funds, most men would have broken down in despair and bankruptcy; Myddelton merely sought new strength, and found it effectually in the king. James I. joined the spirited contractor, agreed to pay one-half of the expenses in consider ation of one-half share in its ultimate profits, and to repay Myddelton one-half of what he had already disbursed. This spirited act of the king silenced all opposition, the work went steadily forward, and in about fifteen months after this new contract, the assembly took place at the New River Head, in the fields between Islington and London, to witness the completion of the great work, as we have already described it.

The pencil of the honest and indefatigable Hollar has preserved to us the features of this interesting locality, and we copy his view above. Mr Smiles observes that the site of the New River Head had always been a pond, "an open idell poole," says Hawes, "commonly called the Ducking-pond; being now by the master of this work reduced into a comley pleasant shape, and many ways adorned with buildings." The house adjoining it, belonging to the company, was erected in 1613. Hollar's view indicates the formal, solid, aspect of the place, and is further valuable for the curious view of Old London in the back

ground; the eye passing over Spa-fields, and resting on the city beyond; the long roof of St Paul's Cathedral appearing just above the boundary-wall of the New River Head; and the steeple of Bow Church to the extreme left. This view was fortunately sketched the year before the great fire, and is consequently unique in topographical value.

Myddelton's autograph, written during the last year of his great labour, is here engraved (see the next page). To it was prefixed the title 'Sir,' by the king's award, at the completion of the undertaking. James L. seems to have been fully aware,

much silver, and a contemporary declares that he obtained of puer silver 100 poundes weekly,' and that his total profits amounted to at least £2000 a month. The popular and oft-repeated story of Sir Hugh having died in poverty and obscurity, is only one of the numerous fables which have accumulated about his memory,' observes Mr Smiles. "There is no doubt that Myddelton realised considerable profits by the working of his Welsh mines, and that toward the close of his life he was an eminently prosperous man.' He died at the advanced age of seventy-six, leaving large sums to his children, an ample provision for his widow, many bequests to friends and relatives, annuities to servants, and gifts to the poor. All of which it has been Mr Smiles's pleasant task to prove from documentary evidence of the most unimpeachable kind.

In order to fully comprehend the value of

supply. Two or three conduits in the principal streets, some others in the northern suburbs, and the springs in the neighbourhood of the Fleet River, were all they had at their service. The Cheapside conduits were the most used, as they were the largest and most decorative of these structures. The Great Conduit in the centre of this important thoroughfare, was an erection like a tower, surrounded by statuary; the Little Conduit stood in Westcheap, at the back of the church of St Michael, in the Querne, at the north-east end of Paternoster Row. Our cut exhibits its chief features, as delineated in 1585 by the surveyor R. Treswell. Leaden pipes ran all along Cheapside, to convey the water to various points; and the City Records tell of the punishment awarded one dishonest resident, who tapped the pipe where it passed his door, and secretly conveyed the water to his own well. Except where conveyed to some public building, water had to be fetched for domestic use from these ever-flowing reservoirs. Large tankards,

THE LITTLE CONDUIT IN CHEAPSIDE.

Myddelton's New River to the men of London, we must take a retrospective glance at the older water

The favourite fable is, that he was ruined by his connection with the New River, applied for relief to the citizens, and got little, lived in great indigence, and died disregarded. It was even asserted that he hid his decadence beneath the name of Raymond, in a Shropshire village, where he was occasionally employed as a pavior.

TANKARD-BEARER.

holding from two to three gallons, were constructed for this use; and may be seen ranged round the conduit in the cut above given. Many poor men

lived by supplying water to the householders; 'a tankard-bearer' was hence a well-known London character, and appears in a curious pictorial series of the cries of London, executed in the reign of James I., and preserved in the British Museum. It will be seen from our copy (see engraving on the previous page), that he presents some peculiar professional features. His dress is protected by coarse aprons hung from his neck, and the weight of his large tankard when empty, partially relieved from the left shoulder, by the aid of the staff in his right hand. He wears the city flat-cap,' his dress altogether of the old fashion, such as belonged to the time of 'bluff King Hal.' When water was required in smaller quantities, apprentices and servant-girls were sent to the conduits. Hence they were not only gossipingplaces, but spots where quarrels constantly arose. A curious print in the British Museum-published about the time of Elizabeth-entitled Tittle Tattle, is a satire on these customs, and tells us in homely rhyme:

'At the conduit striving for their turn,
The quarrel it grows great,
That up in arms they are at last,

And one another beat.'

Oliver Cob, the water-bearer, is one of the characters in Ben Jonson's play, Every Man in his Humour, and the sort of coarse repartee he indulges in, may be taken as a fair sample of that used at

the London conduits. It was not till a considerable time after the opening of the New River that their utility ceased. Much difficulty and expense awaited the conduct of water to London houses. The owners of the ground near the New River Head exacted heavy sums for permission to carry pipes through their land, and it was not till February 1626, that Bethlehem Hospital was thus supplied. The profits of the New River Company were seriously affected by these expenses, until they secured themselves from exaction by the purchase of the land. The pipes they used for the conveyance of their water were of the simplest construction, formed of the stems of small elm-trees, merely denuded of the bark, drilled through the centre, cut to lengths of about six feet; one end being tapered, so that it fitted into the orifice of the pipe laid down before it; and in this way wooden pipes passed through the streets to the

extent of about 400 miles! The fields known as 'Spa-fields,' near the New River Head, were used as a depôt for these pipes; and were popularly termed the pipe-fields by the inhabitants of Clerkenwell. As the conveyance of water by means of these pipes was expensive to the company, and charged highly in consequence, water-carriers still plied their trade. Lauron, an artist who has depicted the street-criers of the time of William III., has left us the figure of the water-carrier he saw about London, crying, 'Any New River water here!' A penny a pail-full was his charge for porterage, and he occasionally enforced the superiority of his mode of serving it by crying, 'Fresh and fair New River water! none of your pipe-sludge !' The wooden pipes leaked considerably, were liable to rapid decay, burst during frosts, and were always troublesome; cast-iron pipes have now entirely superseded them, but this is only within the last thirty-five years; and it may be worth noting here

THE MAYOR OF NOTTINGHAM.

the curious fact, that the rude old elm-tree waterpipes were taken up and removed from before the houses in Piccadilly, extending from the Duke of

CEREMONIES FORMERLY CONNECTED WITH THE ELECTION OF THE MAYOR OF NOTTINGHAM.

On the day the new mayor assumed office (September 29), he, the old mayor, the aldermen, and councillors, all marched in procession to St Mary's Church, where divine service was said. After service the whole body went into the vestry, where the old mayor seated himself in an elbow-chair at a table covered with black cloth, in the middle of which lay the mace covered with rosemary and sprigs of bay. This was termed the burying of the mace, doubtless a symbolical act, denoting the official decease of its late holder. A form of electing the new mayor was then gone through, after which the one retiring from office took up the mace, kissed it, and delivered it into the hand of his successor with a suitable compliment. The new mayor then proposed two persons for sheriffs, and two for the office of chamberlains; and after these had also gone through the votes, the whole assemblage marched into the chancel, where the senior coroner administered the oath to the new mayor in the presence of the old one, and the town-clerk gave to the sheriffs and chamberlains their oath of office. These ceremonies being over, they marched in order to the New Hall, attended by such gentlemen and tradesmen as had been invited by the mayor and sheriffs, where the feasting took place. On their way, at the Weekday-Cross, overagainst the ancient Guild Hall, the town-clerk proclaimed the mayor and sheriffs; and at the next ensuing market-day they were again proclaimed in the face of the whole market at the Malt Cross.

The entertainment given as a banquet on these occasions will perhaps astonish some of their successors in office. "The mayor and sheriffs