sand, that one with another cast yearly 57. a-piece of leader tokens, whereof the tenth remaineth not to them at the year's end, and when they renew their store, which amounteth to 15,000l. And all the realm cannot be inferior to the city in proportion.

"For the prejudice, since London, which is not the twentyfourth part of the people of the kingdom, had in it found above eight hundred thousand, by a late enquiry by order of the late queen, and so falleth out to be 2d. a person, in the active state it may be nothing, either of loss by the first uttering being so easy, nor burthen any with too great a mass at a time, since continual use will disperse so small a quantity into so many hands. But on the other side will be to the meaner sort (except the retailers that made as much advantage formerly of their own tokens as the king shall now) of necessary use and benefit. For the buyers hereafter shall not be tyed to one seller and his bad commodities, as they are still, when his tokens, hereafter made current by authority, shall have the choice of any other chapman; and to the poor in this time of small charity, it will be of much relief; since men are like to give a farthing alms, that will not part with a greater sum.'

In consequence of the above representation, on the 19th of May, 1613, king James's royal farthing tokens commenced by proclamation. They have on one side two sceptres in saltier, surmounted with a crown, and the harp upon the other, as would seem with intention, that if the English refused them currency, as was justly suspected, they might be ordered to pass in Ireland. For they were not forced upon the people in the light of farthings, or established coin, but nerely as pledges or tokens, for which the government were obliged to give other coin, if required. Their legend is the king's common titles rurning upon each side.

These pieces were by no means favourably received, but continued in a kind of reluctant circulation all this reign and the beginning of the succeeding. In 1635, Charles I. struck those with the rose instead of the harp. The vast number of counterfeits, and the king's death in 1648, put an utter * Posthumous Works, p. 199.

stop

stop to their currency; and the tokens of towns and tradesmen again took their run, increasing prodigiously till 1672, when farthings, properly so called, were first published by government.

These were of pure Swedish copper, and the dies were cast by Roettier. They continued till 1684, when some disputes arising about the copper, latterly had from English mines, tin farthings were coined with a stud of copper in the centre in 1685. Tin continued to be coined till 1692, to the value of 65,000l. In 1693, the tin was all called in, and the copper coinage again commenced.

The farthings of the reign of Anne are trial pieces, except those of her last year, 1714. The legitimate coinage of farthings has continued to the present period, and constitutes a very convenient portion of English money.*

Returning towards Coleman Street, the next object of at tention is the parish church of

SAINT MARGARET, LOTHBURY,

THIS church stands upon the watercourse of Walbrook, The original fabric was of antient foundation; for the abbess and convent of Barking in Essex presented John de Hasling Pinkerton's Essay on Medals, II. p. 80, et seq

G 2

field

field to the rectory, in the year 1303, and in that community the presentation continued till the suppression of the convent, when it was seized by the crown, and still remains in the gift of the lord chancellor.

The church was rebuilt in the year 1440, at which time Robert Lange, lord mayor, contributed to the vaulting over the water-course of Walbrook, running close to the said church.

That fabric was burnt down in 1666; and the present church built, neat and plain, of fine stone, sixty feet long, sixty-four broad, thirty-six high to the roof, and one hundred and forty feet to the top of the steeple. The body is well enlightened with a row of lofty windows; over which the wall is terminated by a balustrade; and the principal door is ornamented with Corinthian columns, which support an angular pediment. The tower has large windows in the uppermost stage, and is terminated a little above by a plain. cornice, upon which is raised a small dome, that supports a slender spire.

It is worth remarking, that the improvements in London, began at this place, by pulling down some despicable sheds, or shops, built on the pavement of broad stone, now the whole length before the church. These nuisances are exhibited in the old prints of this building..

The interior is handsomely wainscotted, the floor paved, the pulpit veneered, and the altar-piece ornamented; the font is beautifully designed, the bason being carved, representing the garden of Eden, and the fall of man; the salvation of Noah and his family in the ark; the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist, and Philip baptising the eunuch. The cover is adorned with the figures of St. Margaret, accompanied by Faith, Hope, and Charity.

Of the rectors who have been eminent, we notice SAMUEL BROOKES, D. D. master of Trinity College, Cambridge, and arch-deacon of Coventry. This divine wrote a treatise on predestination, which he communicated to Laud, bishop of London, and died in 1631. HUMFREY TABOR, who for his loyalty was plundered and sequestered during the grand rebellion.

FOUNDERS'

FOUNDERS' HALL

is situated at the north end of a court of the same name.Besides being appropriated to the business of the company, it is rented by a respectable congregation of Protestant Dis

senters.

The Founders Company is reckoned the thirty-third among the corporate societies of London, but was not incorporated by letters patent till the 14th of September, A. D. 1614. By this act the company were stiled, "The Master, Wardens, and Commonalty of the Mystery of Founders of the City of London:" with power to view and search all brass weights, and brass and copper wares, within the city of London, and three miles thereof; and all makers of brass weights within that circuit are obliged to have their several weights sized by the company's standard, and marked with their common mark: and such of these weights as are of Avoirdupois, to be sealed at the Guildhall of this city; and those of Troy weight at Goldsmith's Hall. The government of this company is in a master, two wardens, and a court of assistants. It enjoys the privilege of the livery.

.

Till the year 1765, the junction of Lothbury, Coleman Street, and the Old Jewry was fo inconvenient, that many accidents happened to passengers; the corporation of London, however, by their spirited endeavours removed the nuisance at their own expense, and rendered the passage as commodious and pleasant as circumstances can admit.

The angle formed by Lothbury and the Old Jewry, was covered by a Jewish synagogue in the reign of Henry III.

In a former part of this work,* an history of the Jews in England, and particularly in London, has been already given; we shall in this place, therefore, be brief in saying any further of them, than merely to illustrate some facts peculiar to the places described.

After the cruel massacre of seven hundred of these unfor tunate people in London, and the robbery of many others, the synagogue which they had lately erected in this place was burnt by the rabble in 1262, upon the pretence that a Jew

Vol. II. page 305.

had wounded a Christian in Colechurch Street,* who refused to pay the extortion of the former. Having recovered from this calamity and rebuilt what had been destroyed; another misfortune overtook them in 1271. It seems that they had been grievously oppressed by the assessment of, six thousand marks for the expence of prince Edward's journey to the Holy Land; and as they could not raise the whole sum so soon as wanted, the whole community were mortgaged to Richard earl of Cornwall, who taxed them very heavily the following year; but their greatest grievance was the loss of this synagogue, which was taken from them upon complaint of the Friars Penitents, "THAT THEY WERE NOT ABLE TO MAKE THE BODY OF CHRIST IN QUIET," as they blasphemously expressed themselves, "on account of the great howlings the Jews made there during their worship."

But the case really was, that those pharisaical locusts the friars, having but a small dark chapel belonging to their monastery, and imagining that the stately synagogue would be more convenient, took the advantage of the odium under which the Jews laboured at that time, and therefore begged it of the unprincipled Henry, who was easily prevailed upon to confirm the grant, grounded as it was upon so futile a reason!

ance.

The Fratres Sacci, or de Pænitentia, constituted part of an order of begging friars, called Franciscans, and was instituted for such married people as were desirous of repent The members of this order were not called religious, but they pursued a kind of religious life; and on account of not retaining the strict discipline of monachism, were not esteemed a regular order, though confirmed by pope Nicholas IV.The men took the name Fratres de Pænitentia Jesu Christi; and were known by another name Sacci, on account of the sackcloth which they wore; they were also called Continentes, not because they professed continency, as they were married; or, that they weekly observed abstinence certain days.

Upon their first coming into England, they had a house assigned for them without Aldersgate, and had licence to reThe antient name of the Old Jewry.