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time immemorial; being a vestige of the ancient times, when the Norman "curfew tolled the knell of parting day;" those days when the will of the Conqueror decreed that every light should be extinguished, and every fire raked out, by a prescribed hour. As late as the year 1469 we find the Common Council ordering that Bow Bell shall be rang every night at nine o'clock. Probably it was a signal to the London 'prentices that they might close their masters' shops, and betake themselves to their amusements; but at all events we have evidence that the sound of the evening bells of Bow Church was formerly anxiously waited for in the neighbourhood of Cheapside.

Clerk of the Bow bell, with the yellow locks,
For thy late ringing thy head shall have knocks.

And the clerk replies :—

Children of Cheape, hold you all still,

For you shall have the Bow bell rung at your will.

Allusions to "Bow-bells" may be found in many of our old writers; and Pope exclaims, in a wellknown line

Far as loud Bow's stupendous bells resound.

To be born "within the sound of Bow-bells" is an expression of old date, and is still in use to define a cockney. Beaumont and Fletcher speak of "Bow-bell suckers," which has been explained as persons brought up within the sound of the bells.

Another ancient and interesting custom, con

nected with old Bow Church, was one which we have previously referred to, of displaying illuminated lanterns on the summit of its lofty tower, to serve as beacons to those who journeyed to London from the north, in the days when the present richly-cultivated uplands of Hampstead and Highgate consisted of trackless forest-ground, and when the only means of entering the city were through some occasional postern-gate in its fortified walls.

The Church of St. Mary-le-Bow is said to stand on the site of a Roman temple, and was certainly a place of Christian worship, at least as early as the days of William the Conqueror. In the reign of his successor (1091) occurred that terrific hurricane, which laid low upwards of six hundred houses, destroyed several churches, and which swept away London Bridge from its foundations. But the most singular disaster was that which it occasioned to the church of St. Mary-leBow. The roof of the church was carried forcibly away to a considerable distance, and when it fell, it was with such violence, that four of its rafters, each of twenty-six feet in length, forced their way through the ground, to the depth of upwards of twenty feet.

According to Stow, Bow Church derives its name from the circumstance of its having been built on arches of stone, and consequently, having been dedicated to St. Mary de Arcubus; though he elsewhere infers that it may have owed its

peculiar designation to the stone arches, which anciently supported the lantern on the top of the tower. The Court of Arches derives its name from its having been formerly held in this church.

In the reign of Richard Cœur de Lion, Bow Church was one of the principal scenes of those formidable riots, which were brought to a close in 1196, by the seizure and execution of the popular idol, William Longbeard. For some time he successfully defended himself against the authorities in Bow Church; till at length the King's Justiciary gave orders to fire the steeple, on which he made a desperate effort to escape, at the head of his devoted followers. He was taken prisoner, however, in the attempt, and after a hurried trial, was hanged, as we have already related, in Cheapside.

In 1284, in the reign of Edward the First, Bow Church was the scene of another outrage, characteristic of the lawlessness of the times. One Lawrence Ducket, a goldsmith, having wounded one Ralph Crepin, in Cheapside, he sought the protection of sanctuary in Bow Church, where he shut himself up, accompanied only by a youth, who had voluntered to share his solitude. The friends of the wounded man having discovered the place of Ducket's retreat, entered the church stealthily at night, and dragging him from the steeple, where he had sought to conceal himself, put him to death. They then so disposed of the

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body, by suspending it from one of the windows, as to induce the impression that he had committed suicide; and accordingly the corpse was dragged by the feet to a ditch without the city walls, and there interred with the customary indignities. The boy, however, from his hiding-place, had witnessed in fear and trembling the whole of the transaction; and in consequence of the evidence which he subsequently gave, several persons were apprehended, of whom sixteen were hanged, and one, a woman, who was the principal instigator of the crime, was burned alive. This tragedy created so painful a sensation, that for a time divine service was ordered to be discontinued in Bow Church, and the windows were even filled up with brambles.

The old church of St. Mary-le-Bow having been burnt down in the great Fire of 1666, the present stately edifice was commenced by Sir Christopher Wren, in 1671. The interior can boast but little architectural beauty, and that little is destroyed by those cumbrous galleries, which deface so many of the fine churches in the city of London. The great merit of Bow Church is its exterior, and especially its beautiful steeple. It has justly been observed that, "to describe, or criticise at length the steeple of Bow Church would now be supererogatory; opinion having stamped it as one of the most successful works of its class, both as regards design and construction; and did Wren's reputation as an architect rest solely on this one

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building, it would be perfectly secure.' The steeple of Bow Church, surmounted by its conspicuous gilt ball and dragon, is two hundred and twenty-five feet in height. The fine old Norman crypt still exists, and is well worthy of a visit. Unfortunately, having been converted into a burialvault, the coffins conceal much of its architectural beauties.

Bow Church, as regards its sepulchral monuments, is singularly deficient in interest; nor are we aware that a single illustrious, or even remarkable individual, lies interred within its walls. It contains, however, a stately monument to the memory of Bishop Newton, who was rector of the church for twenty-five years, but whose remains were buried in St. Paul's Cathedral.

Over the doorway of Bow Church, as seen from the side of Cheapside, may be observed a small balcony, to which considerable interest attaches itself. When tournaments were held in Cheapside, and when all great processions passed through this important thoroughfare, there stood on the north side of the old church, as early as the reign of Edward the Third, a stone building, called the Crown-sild or shed, in which the Kings of England and their consorts sat as spectators; and from this circumstance, there can be little doubt that the balcony to which we have alluded owes its origin. It was in the Crown- sild, in 1509, that Henry the Eighth sat, disguised in the garb of a yeo

* "Churches of London," by Godwin and Britton.

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