As We Are and As We May Be by Sir Walter Besant
page 64 of 242 (26%)
page 64 of 242 (26%)
![]() | ![]() |
|
burying ground long since built over lay at the back of Botolph's Lane
in Thames Street. That is built over and forgotten. There is another where lies the dust of the marvellous boy Chatterton. I am due that of the thousands who every day seek this spot not one can tell or remember that it was once a burying ground. On this spot the paupers of the parish of St. Andrew's, Holborn, were buried--Chatterton, that poor young pauper! with them. And it is now a market, Farringdon Market--close to Farringdon Street--opposite the site of the Old Fleet Prison whence came so many of the bodies which now lie beneath these flags. Or, a pilgrim may consider the City with special reference to the great Houses which formerly stood within its walls. There were palaces in the City--King Athelstan had one; King Richard II. lived for a time in the City; Richard III. lived here; Henry V. had a house here. Of the great nobles, the Beaumonts, Scropes, Arundells, Bigods all had houses. The names of Worcester House, Buckingham House, Hereford House, suggest the great Lords who formerly lived here. And the names of Crosby Hall, Basinghall, Gresham House, College Hill, recall the merchants who built themselves palaces and entertained kings. Again, there are the City Companies and their Halls. Very few visitors ever make the round of the Halls: yet they are most curious, and contain treasures great and various. It is not always easy to see these treasures, but the conscientious pilgrim, who, by the way, must not seek entrance into these Halls on the Sunday morning, will persevere until he has managed to see them all. As for the sights of the City--the things which Baedeker enumerates, and which foreign and country visitors run to see--the Tower, the |
|