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FIFTH ROUTE

From the Royal Exchange, through Bartholomew Lane, Throgmorton Street, Austin Friars, Winchester Street, to London Wall, and Fore Street; hence to Coleman Street, Old Jewry, and the Poultry, to the Bank of England:

OPPOSITE the north door of the Royal Exchange is Bartholomew Lane; so called from the parish church of ST. BARTHOLOMEW THE LITTLE.

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THE earliest account of this church is, that in the reign of Edward III. Richard De Plessis, archdeacon of Col. chester, and dean of the Arches, founded a chautry here for the benefit of his soul. He died in 1361.

Thomas Pyke, alderman, with the assistance of Nicholas Yoo, one of the sheriffs, new built this church about the year 1438. Margery, the wife of Sir John Lepington, and daughter of Sir John Fray, founded a chantry here, 21 Edw. IV. Sir William Capell, mayor, added a chapel on the south side, in the year 1509. And James Wilford, citizen and taylor, one of the sheriffs, anno 1499, appointed a doctor in divinity to preach a sermon on the subject of Christ's passion every Good Friday.

This church was consumed by fire in 1666, and rebuilt

in 1679.

As

As to the nature of the building, order, and ornament: the building is supported by columns, and has large arches of the Tuscan order; the key-pieces of which have each a seraphim. The roof is flat, divided into quadrangles or pannels, with fret-work; and that part over the chancel is adorned with cherubims.

The body of the church is handsomely wainscoted; and there are three fine door cases on the north, south, and west sides, the pilasters, entablature, and pediments of which are of the Corinthian order, adorned with cherubims, shields, festoons, &c. that toward the south being particularly spacious and elegant.

The pews are also regular and convenient; and in the gallery at the west end is a large fine toned organ.

The altar-piece consists of four columns of the Corinthian order; between the two middle columns are the Commandments in gold upon black, over which is exhibited a spacious radiance painted on the figure of a sacrificed lambskin. The radiance is placed between two gilt cheru; bims, above which is an open pediment, and the arms of England finely carved. Between the Commandments are painted the portraits of Moses and Aaron, with the Lord's Prayer and Creed. This altar-piece is adorned with doves, palm branches, lamps, cartouches, shields, festoons, &c. &c. finely carved in Norway oak, and inclosed with a double rail.

The pulpit is also of the same wood carved and veneered, with enrichments of cherubims, vases, and an imperial

crown

The outer door fronting Bartholomew Lane is adorned with a cherub, and a large festoon of fresco work.

This church has a tower, the top of which, instead of pinnacles, a spire, or turrets, is crowned with arches, supported by Corinthian columns.

*Expressing, that as by the Levitical law the priest was to have the skin of the lamb offered; so that here placed, is to demonstrate, that our high priest Christ Jesus, the lamb of God, hath offered himself a sacrifice, of which that under the law was only a type.

The

The length of the building is seventy-eight feet, breadth sixty, and altitude forty-one, and that of the tower is about ninety feet: it is of stone, and the roof of the church covered with lead.

Among the MONUMENTS mentioned by Stow were the following:

J. Wilford, Merchant Taylor, alderman, 1544; Sir James Wilford, anno 1550; and Sir Geo. Barne, mayor, 1552. On a fair plated stone on the ground in the chancel, that which follows:

In Obitum Reverendissimi Patris

MILANIS COVERDALE*. Ogdoasticon.
Hic tandem requiemque ferens finemq; laborum,
Ossa COVERDALI mortua Tumbus habet,
Oxoniæ qui Præsul erat dignissimus olim,
Insignia vita Vir probitate suæ.
Octoginta annos grandevus vixit, & nullum
Indigni passus sæpius exilium.

Sic dimitti variis jactabam casibus, ista
Excepitur gremio terra benigna sua.

On a plated stone in the chancel:

Here lycth the Body of John Dent, Citizen and Merchant of London, born at Holloughton in Leicestershire, and free of the Salters, Spanish, and Muscovy Companies; he was chosen Sheriff of London, and Alderman, and fined for the same; his last Fine was 1000 Marks toward the Repair of Christ's Hospital in London. He died Dec. 10, 1595. Aged 63.

Here lyeth Richard Croshaw, some time master of the company of Goldsmiths, and deputy of this ward. He was very li beral to the poor, and in the time of the great Plague, 1625, neglecting his own safety, he abode constantly in this city, to pro

Dr. Miles Coverdale, was a native of Yorkshire, and an Augustine friar, but conforming to the Reformation, was appointed bishop of Exeter by Edward VI. August 30, 1551. Upon the accession of Queen Mary I. he was deprived of his bishopric, and imprisoned; whence he was delivered at the importunate request of the king of Denmark: he was afterwards a fugitive in Germany, and returned to England at the commencement of the reign of Queen Elizabeth; he did not, however, resume his episcopal functions, but lived retired in London, to a great age, and was buried in this church.

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vide for their relief. He did many charitable acts in his time; and by his will he left above 4000l. to the maintaining of Lectures, relief of the Poor, and other pious uses. He dwelt in this parish 31 years, and being 70 years old, he dyed the 2d of June, anno 162. MODERN MONUMENTS. On a small plain white marble tablet in the chancel:

To the memory of the Rev. EDWARD DICEY, M. A. twelve years rector of this parish; whose conduct, influenced by piety, was the fruit of sentiments uniformly upright and just. He departed this life March 31, 1790, aged 69, to receive, through Divine Mercy, the reward of a well-spent time.

On a pillar, another tablet, with a bas-relief of Time mowing down a flower:

Near this place lie interred the dear remains of ANTHONY RICHARD BACON, the only child of ANTHONY BACON, Esq. who departed this life May 26, 1770, aged 12 years; whom neither the fervour of parental piety, nor a profusion of friendly tears, nor all the powers of well-adapted medicine, nor every effort of the tenderest affection, could rescue from the hand of death.

Reader! contemplate and adore! nor dare to cavil at the rays of Providence: This happy object of his Saviour's love, thus young, was ripe for glory.

On the south wall, a small neat tablet to the memory of JOHN ELLIS, many years deputy of this ward; senior member of the common council, and of the antient living company of Scriveners; was respected by the literati of his time as a scholar and poet, and esteemed by all who knew him as an honest man. He died at the advanced age of ninety-four years, on the 31st of December 1791.

We shall have occasion to mention this gentleman more fully when we come to the parish of St. Clement Danes, of which he was a native.

Among the rectors of eminence belonging to St. Bartholomew, we notice the following:

ROBERT HILL, D. D. 1613, a learned man and an excellent preacher. JOHN GRANT, D. D. sequestered during the civil wars. PHILIP NYE, A. M. He was in orders, and officiated at St. Michael's, Cornhill, in 1630. In 1633, he

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retired to Holland to avoid various ecclesiastical impositions with which he was dissatisfied, and returned to England at the commencement of the Long Parliament, and by the interest of the earl of Manchester was minister of Kimbolton, in Huntingdonshire. In 1643, he was one of the assembly of divines, and succeeded Dr. Featly in the rectory of Acton; at this time he was a great champion of the Presbyterian party, in defence of which he wrote several treatises. He afterwards joined the Independents, and was one of the commissioners sent to negociate with Charles I. in the Isle of Wight, for which service he received 5007. He made himself particularly obnoxious to the royalists; and it was de-. bated after the Restoration, whether he should not be excepted out of the general pardon. It was at length determined, that if in future he accepted any office, either civil or ecclesiastical, he should then be precluded from the benefits of the pardon. He was remarkable for the singularity of his beard, and rode to Acton every Lord's day in a coach drawn by four horses, to exercise there. Butler has celebrated his beard in the following couplet:

"With greater art and cunning rear'd

Than Philip Nye's thanksgiving beard."

RALPH BRIDOAK, D. D. was born at Chitham-bill, near Manchester, and admitted a student in Erazen-nose college, Oxon, where, July 15, 1630, he took one degree in arts, though but sixteen years of age. Six years afterwards he was created A. M. and having been appointed chaplain to the earl of Derby, was at Latham House, during the whole siege. Though the royal cause declined, he continued faithful to the earl, and was a powerful solicitor for his life to speaker Lenthall; but was unsuccessful. The speaker was so struck with his fidelity, that he not only appointed Mr. Bridoak his chaplain, but obtained for him to be preacher at the Rolls; by the same influence he became vicar of Witney, in Oxfordshire, to which, by the speaker's means, the rectory was annexed. He was also promoted to the rectory of St. Bartholomew, to which he was regularly admitted at the Restoration, at which time he was appointed chaplain to

Charles

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