The Fleet. Its Rivers, Prison, and Marriages

"Another great Grievance the distressed and miserable Prisoners are subject to, is, their being obliged to pay the Turnkey twelve Shillings per Month, for no other Service than that of opening the Door to let in Gifts and Charities sent to the Prison, which often amount to little more than what he receives.

"The Under Steward is an Assistant, or Deputy, to the Upper Steward, in whose Absence or Indisposition he performs the several Functions of his Office.

"The Assistants, being seven in Number, are chosen Monthly with the Stewards; one whereof, officiating daily, his Business is to attend in the Hall, to enter all Charities, and keep an Account of the Money taken out of the Boxes, which are opened at five o'Clock in the Afternoon, and at Nine at Night; which Money he pays to the Upper Steward, at the passing of whose Accounts the Assistants are Auditors.

"Every Person put in Nomination for the Office of an Assistant, refusing to serve, forfeits one Shilling to the Use of the Publick, or, in lieu thereof, to be put in Fetters for three Days. The officiating Assistant is invested with a magisterial Power, whereby he can commit a Prisoner to the Stocks or Shackles, for the Abuse of any Person. This Officer is to see the Cellar cleared every Night, by ten o'Clock of all the Prisoners; for which he receives six Pence out of the Charity Money; two Pence whereof to his own Use, two Pence to the Upper Steward, and two Pence to the Running Assistant. This Office was anciently in such Esteem, that the Assistant, at his entering upon it, used nightly, at Eight o'Clock, to be ushered into the Hall, by an Illumination of forty or fifty great Candles, carried by so many Prisoners.

"The Running Assistant's Business is, to attend upon the Criers at the Gates, to change Money; and open the Boxes: to put up Candles in their respective Places, attend upon the Stewards and Assistants, look after the Clock, ring the Bell for Prayers; and to be Crier at the Sale of Provisions. His Salary is four Shillings and eight Pence per Month, and an eighth part of the Garnish Money.

"The Churchwardens are chosen from among the youngest Prisoners. The Upper Warden's Office is, to call to Prayers on Sundays, after the Bell has done ringing; and the Under Warden's is to call the Prisoners to Prayers all other Days. They are likewise to take cognizance of all Persons who are upon the Charity Foundation; who in default of Attendance are fined one Penny each. The Under Warden's Salary for this Service is four Pence per Month; and the Penalty for not serving, when duly elected, is four Pence.

"The Scavenger's Office is, to keep clean the Prison, and to fetter, and put in the Stocks all Offenders; for which he is intitled to receive from each Criminal one Penny, together with a Salary of five Shillings and eight Pence per Month, and two Pence out of every sixteen Pence of the Garnish Money.

"The Chamberlain is chosen by the Keeper of the Prison, whose Office it is to take Care of all the Bedding and Linen belonging to the Keeper; to place Men at their coming in, and to furnish them with Sheets, and to give Notice to Strangers to depart the Prison by Ten o'Clock at Night. This Officer, formerly, was obliged to make the Charity-Men's Beds, for which he received two Pence per Month.

"The Running Post's Business is, to fetch in a Basket the broken Meat from the Lord-Mayor, Clerk of the Market, private Families, and Charities given in the Streets, which are often so inconsiderable as not to admit of a Dividend; wherefore it is disposed of by Sale or publick Market, as aforesaid. The Salary annexed to this office, is four Shillings per Month; one Penny per Month out of each Man's Dividend, and one Penny out of every sixteen Pence of Garnish money.

"The Criers are six in Number; two whereof daily beg at the Grates; he at the Grate within is allowed one Fourth of what is given, and he at that on Blackfriars Side one Moiety of what is given there."

This custom is alluded to in the Spectator, No. lxxxii.:

"Passing under Ludgate the other Day I heard a Voice bawling for Charity, which I thought I had somewhere heard before. Coming near to the Grate, the Prisoner called me by my Name, and desired I would throw something into the Box. I was out of Countenance for him, and did as he bid me, by putting in half a Crown."

Of this Grate there is a pretty and romantic story told by Stow.75

"When the Prison was in this Condition, there happened to be Prisoner there one Stephen Foster, who (as poor Men are at this Day) was a Cryer at the Grate, to beg the benevolent Charities of pious and commiserate Benefactors that passed by. As he was doing his doleful Office, a rich Widow of London hearing his Complaint, enquired of him, what would release him? To which he answered, Twenty Pound, which she in Charity expended; and, clearing him out of Prison, entertained him in her Service; who, afterward, falling into the Way of Merchandize, and increasing as well in Wealth as Courage, wooed his Mistress, Dame Agnes, and married her.

"Her Riches and his Industry brought him both great Wealth and Honour, being afterwards no less than Sir Stephen Foster, Lord Mayor of the Honourable City of London: Yet whilst he lived in this great Honour and Dignity, he forgat not the Place of his Captivity, but, mindful of the sad and irksome Place wherein poor Men were imprisoned, bethought himself of enlarging it, to make it a little more delightful and pleasant for those who in after Times should be imprisoned and shut up therein. And, in order thereunto, acquainted his Lady with this his pious Purpose and Intention; in whom likewise he found so affable and willing a Mind to do Good to the Poor, that she promised to expend as much as he should do for the carrying on of the Work."

And they did spend their money on it right royally, building, amongst many other conveniences, a Chapel for the inmates, A.D. 1454, which they endowed, so as to maintain a "preacher" or chaplain. Sir Stephen Foster likewise provided that the place "should be free for all Freemen, and that they, providing their own Bedding, should pay nothing at their Departure for Lodging, or Chamber rent (as now they call it), which to many poor Men becomes oftentimes as burdensome as their Debts, and are by the Keeper detained in Prison as for Debt, only for their Fees, though discharged and acquitted of what they were committed for."

Nor did his charitable goodness end here, for he gave a supply of water gratis to the prisoners, as was recorded on a brass in the Chapel, very pithily —

"Devout Souls that pass this wayFor Stephen Foster, late Maior, heartily pray,And Dame Agnes, his Spouse, to God consecrate,That of Pity this House made for Londoners in Ludgate.So that for Lodging and Water, Prisoners have nought to pay,As their Keepers shall all answer at dreadful Doomsday."

Dame Agnes survived her husband, but was ultimately buried by his side in the Church of St. Botolph, Billingsgate.

For a Prison, Ludgate compared more than favourably with every other in London. As we have seen, the prisoners were select; they were helped, in the matter of food, by the king of the City, the Lord Mayor: their fees were infinitesimal as compared with other debtors' prisons. Strype (ed. 1720, book ii. p. 179) says: —

"Formerly Debtors that were not able to satisfy their Debts, put themselves into this Prison of Ludgate, for shelter from their Creditors. And these were Merchants and Tradesmen that had been driven to want by Losses at Sea. When King Philip in the Month of August 1554 came first through London, these prisoners were Thirty in number; and owed £10,000, but compounded for £2,000. Who presented a well penned Latin Speech to that Prince, to redress their Miseries, and, by his Royal Generosity, to free them. 'And the rather, for that that Place was not Sceleratorum Carcer, sed miserorum Custodia; i. e., a Gaol for Villains, but a Place of Restraint for poor unfortunate Men. And that they were put in there, not by others, but themselves fled thither; and that not out of fear of Punishment, but in hope of better Fortune.' The whole Letter was drawn by the curious Pen of Roger Ascham, and is extant among his Epistles, Lib. iii.

"If a Freeman or Freewoman of London be committed to Ludgate, they are to be excused from the ignominy of Irons, if they can find Sureties to be true Prisoners, and if the Sum be not above £100. There is another Custom of the liberal and mild Imprisonment of the Citizens in Ludgate, whereby they have Indulgence and Favour to go abroad into any place by Baston, as we term it, under the guard and superintendency of their Keeper, with whom they must return again to the Prison at Night."

CHAPTER XVII

THE Course of the Fleet is nearly run, but, before closing this account of the river, we should not forget the residence of the mighty King-maker, the Earl of Warwick, whose pleasant gardens ran down to the Fleet; and there, in Warwick Lane, after the great Fire, was built the College of Physicians, described thus by Dr. Garth, in his "Dispensary": —

"Not far from that most celebrated Place,Where angry Justice shews her awful Face;Where little Villains must submit to Fate,That great ones may enjoy the World in State,There stands a Dome, majestick to the sight,And sumptuous Arches bear its oval height;A golden Globe plac'd high with artful skill,Seems, to the distant sight, a gilded Pill."

Here they were housed until 1825, and, from the Fleet, could be seen the Apothecaries' Hall, in Water Lane, Blackfriars,

"Nigh where Fleet Ditch descends in sable StreamsTo wash his sooty Naiads in the Thames;There stands a Structure on a Rising Hill,Where Tyro's take their Freedom out to Kill."

Then there was the Monastery of the Dominicans, or Blackfriars, which has given its name to a whole district; and there was a fortification, or postern, on the little river, near Ludgate Hill; and, close to its junction with the Thames, was Bridewell Bridge, so called from the Royal Palace of that name, which, in its turn, received its cognomen from another well, which went to form the "River of Wells," St. Bridget's or Bride's Well. This bridge is shown in the frontispiece, and was necessarily made very high in order to allow sailing craft to go under it.

It was here that Pope, in his "Dunciad" (book ii.), thus sings:

"This labour past, by Bridewell all descend,(As morning pray'r, and flagellation end)To where Fleet-ditch with disemboguing streamsRolls the large tribute of dead dogs to Thames,The King of Dykes! than whom, no sluice of mud,With deeper sable blots the silver flood.'Here strip, my children! here at once leap in,Here prove who best can dash thro' thick and thin.'"76

Ward bursts into song over Bridewell, thus: —

"'Twas once the Palace of a Prince,If we may Books Confide in;But given was, by him long since,For Vagrants to Reside in."

The Royal Palace of Bridewell stood on the site of the Castle of Montfichet, who is believed to have come over with William the Conqueror. Tradition assigns it a still earlier date, even Roman, but then, I don't say there was not a Roman fortress here, but I cannot say there was. Certainly Cardinal Wolsey lived here, and Henry VIII. held occasional Court.

Strype, in his edition of Stow (1720) says that after the destruction of Montfichet Castle and its Stone being given away: —

"This Tower or Castle being thus destroyed, stood, as it may seem, in Place where now standeth the House called Bridewell. For, notwithstanding the Destruction of the said Castle or Tower, the House remained large, so that the Kings of this Realm long after were lodged there and kept their Courts. For, in the Ninth Year of Henry the Third, the Courts of Law, and Justice were kept in the King's House, wheresoever he was lodged, and not else where. And that the Kings have been lodged, and kept their Law Courts in this Place, I could shew you many Authorities of Record…

"More, (as Matthew Paris hath) about the Year 1210, King John, in the Twelfth Year of his Reign, summoned a Parliament at S. Brides in London; where he exacted of the Clergy, and Religious Persons the Sum of One Hundred Thousand Pounds; And besides all this, the White Monks were compelled to cancel their Privileges, and to pay £4000 to the King, &c. This House of S. Brides (of later Time) being left, and not used by the Kings, fell to Ruin; insomuch that the very Platform thereof remained (for great part) waste, and as it were, but a Lay Stall of Filth and Rubbish, only a fair Well remained there. A great part whereof, namely, on the West, as hath been said, was given to the Bishop of Salisbury; the other Part toward the East remained waste, until King Henry the Eighth builded a stately and beautiful House, thereupon, giving it to Name, Bridewell, of the Parish and Well there. This House he purposely builded for the Entertainment of the Emperor Charles the Fifth;77 who in the Year 1522 came into this City… Being in Decay, and long disused, King Edward VI. gave it to the City in the Seventh78 Year of his Reign.

"It is seated near to Blackfriars; from which it is severed by the Canal of the Fleet-ditch. It was obtained of the King at first for an Harbour of poor Harbourless People, that lay abroad in the Streets. It was soon after improved to be a Workhouse, not only to give Lodging to poor, idle, wandring Persons, Beggars, and others; but to find them Work, to help to maintain themselves. But tho' this was granted in the Year 1553, yet it seems, it was not before Two Years after, that the City entred and took possession of it by Gerard their Maior, having obtained Queen Mary's Confirmation.

"In the time of Queen Elizabeth, about the Year 1570 and odd, one John Pain, a Citizen, invented a Mill to grind Corn; which he got recommended to the Lord Maior, for the Use of Bridewell. This Mill had Two Conveniences: One was, That it would grind a greater Quantity considerably than any other Mills of that Sort could do. And the other (which would render it so useful to Bridewell) was, That the Lame, either in Arms or Legs, might work at it, if they had but the Use of either. And, accordingly, these Mills were termed Hand-Mills or Foot-Mills.

"This Mill he shewed to the Lord Maior, who saw it grind as much Corn with the Labour of Two Men, as they did then at Bridewell with Ten. That is to say, Two Men with Hands, two Bushels the Hour; or Two Men with Feet, two Bushels the Hour. If they were Lame in their Arms, then they might earn their Livings with their Legs. If Lame in their Legs, then they might earn their Livings with their Arms."

– This, perhaps, is the earliest mention of the treadmill, as a punishment.

Still quoting Strype, (same edition):

"The Use of this Hospital now is for an House of Correction, and to be a Place where all Strumpets, Night-walkers, Pickpockets, vagrant and idle Persons, that are taken up for their ill Lives, as also incorrigible and disobedient Servants, are committed by the Mayor and Aldermen, who are Justices of the Peace within the said City; And being so committed are forced to beat Hemp in publick View, with due Correction of whipping, according to their Offence, for such a Time as the President and Court shall see Cause."

Bridewell is well shown by Hogarth in the fourth picture of the "Harlot's progress," where both men and women are seen "beetling" hemp.79

In a very rare tract called "Mr. William Fullers Trip to Bridewell" (1703) he gives a fairly graphic description of a prisoner's entry therein. "As soon as I came there, the Word was Strip, pull off your Cloaths, and with much intreaty, I prevail'd to keep on my Westcoat; then I was set to a Block, a punny of Hemp was laid thereon, and Ralph Cumpton (a Journy Man in the Shop) presented me with a Beatle, bidding me knock the Hemp with that, as fast as I could. This Beatle is of Brazel, 80 and weigh'd about 12 pounds."

Previously to this, poor Fuller had to stand twice in the pillory, on one of which occasions he was nearly killed by the mob, and when taken to Bridewell, all black and blue as he was, he had a whipping: – "My Hands were put in the Stocks, and then Mr. Hemings the Whipper, began to noint me with his Instrument, that had, I believe, about a dozen Strings notted at the end, and with that I had Thirty Nine Stripes (so that according to a certain Almanack Maker, who reckoned Dr. Oates's Stripes by every String, I had twelve times Thirty Nine). I had given the Rascal Half a Crown, but he afforded me very little favour, but struck home at every stroak; I confess I could not forbear bawling out, but good Sir Robert 81 knockt at last, and I was let out of the Stocks."

The prisoners, if they chose, could find their own food, but they were kept strictly at work as is quaintly put by Fuller —

"I had, in each Shop, the Thieves for my Fellow-labourers, and the Journeymen, our Deputy Task Masters, were frequently calling to the Prisoners, Why don't you Work there, strike hard: Then threaten, and sometimes beat them with a small Cane. These Task-masters are so accustomed to keeping their Prisoners hard at Work, that I have heard themselves say, they have, frequently, (forgetting themselves) called out, when they had no Prisoner in the Shop, as before, Why don't you work there."

Ward (in the "London Spy") gives an almost too graphic account of this prison, but expresses unmitigated disgust at the whipping of women, which took place there, and solemnly protested against its continuance. His description of a woman being flogged, is as follows: —

"My Friend Re-conducted me cc Quadrangle, and led me up a pair of Stairs into a Spacious Chamber, where the Court was sitting in great Grandeur and Order. A Grave Gentleman, whose Awful Looks bespoke him some Honourable Citizen, was mounted in the Judgement-Seat, Arm'd with a Hammer, like a Change-Broker at Lloyd's Coffee House, when selling Goods by Inch of Candle, and a Woman under the Lash in the next Room; where Folding doors were open'd, that the whole Court might see the Punishment Inflicted; at last down went the Hammer, and the Scourging ceas'd… Another Accusation being then deliver'd by a Flat-Cap against a poor Wench, who having no Friend to speak in her behalf, Proclamation was made, viz. All you who are willing E – th T – ll, should have present Punishment, pray hold up your hands. Which was done accordingly:

And then she was order'd the Civility of the House, and was forc'd to shew her tender Back and Breasts to the Grave Sages of the August Assembly, who were mov'd by her Modest Mein, together with the whiteness of her Skin, to give her but a gentle Correction."

John Howard, in his "State of the Prisons in England and Wales" (ed. 1777) gives the following description of Bridewell: —

"This building was formerly a Palace, near St. Bridget's (St. Bride's) Well; from whence it had the name; which, after it became a Prison, was applied to other Prisons of the same sort. It was given to the City by King Edward VI. in 1552.

"That part of Bridewell which relates to my subject has wards for men and women quite separate. 82 The men's ward on the ground floor, is a day room in which they beat hemp; and a night room over it. One of the upper chambers is fitting up for an Infirmary. – The woman's ward is a day room on the ground floor, in which they beat hemp; and a night room over it. I was told that the chamber above this is to be fitted up for an Infirmary. The sick, have, hitherto, been commonly sent to St. Bartholomew's Hospital. All the Prisoners are kept within doors.

"The women's rooms are large, and have opposite windows, for fresh air. Their Ward, as well as the men's, has plenty of water: and there is a Hand-Ventilator on the outside, with a tube to each room of the women's ward. This is of great service, when the rooms are crowded with Prisoners, and the weather is warm.

"The Prisoners are employed by a Hemp dresser, who has the profit of their labour, an apartment in the Prison, and a salary of £14. I generally found them at work: they are provided for, so as to be able to perform it. The hours of work are, in winter, from eight to four; in summer from six to six, deducting meal times. The Steward is allowed eightpence a day for the maintenance of each Prisoner; and contracts to supply them as follows: – On Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, a penny loaf, ten ounces of dressed beef without bone, broth, and three pints of ten shilling beer; on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, a penny loaf, four ounces of cheese, or some butter, a pint of milk pottage, and three pints of ten shilling beer… In winter they have some firing. The night rooms are supplied with straw. No other Prison in London has any straw, or other bedding… I found there in 1776: —

It continued as a House of Correction for the City of London until its abolition, with other Civic prisons by an Act of 40 and 41 Vict. cap. 21, entitled "An Act to amend the Law relating to Prisons in England." But there was an exception made in its favour, and it still remains a House of Correction in a mild way – thanks to the very kindly and fatherly wishes and representations of the Civic Authorities.

The good old days of Apprenticing boys to some craft for seven years, during which he was to serve his master faithfully, and in return, was to be housed, fed, and taught his business, have all but passed away, but not quite. There are still some refractory apprentices, as there ever have been. We know the common saying of "Boys will be boys," which is applied in mitigation of juvenile indiscretion, but there is also another apothegm, "Little boys, when they are naughty, must be smacked, and sent to bed." Bridewell has always been a place where idle or refractory City apprentices have had the opportunity of pondering over the errors of their ways, and in passing this Act, a special exemption was made, and there still exist six cells, which, I am sorry to say, are frequently occupied by erring youths. It is all done in the kindest, and most fatherly way. The City Chamberlain from the time of the Indentures of the lad being signed, to giving him his Freedom, acts as his guardian, to a great extent. Has the lad any complaint to make against his master it is to the Chamberlain he must appeal, and vice versâ. The Cause is heard in camerâ, and every effort is made to reconcile the parties, but, as will sometimes happen with a boy who is obstinate, sullen, or vicious, all attempts to bring him to a better sense fail, then the Chamberlain, by virtue of his office commits the boy to Bridewell, where he eats the bread, and drinks the water, of affliction for a while, a treatment, which combined with the confinement, hard work, and enforced sequestration from society, largely aided by the good advice of the Chaplain, very seldom fails to effect its object, and render that lad a decent member of the commonweal. It just arrests him in his downward path, there is no publicity, the thing is never chronicled in any Newspaper, as it might be, supposing no Bridewell existed, and the case was brought before a police magistrate – it need never be known outside his family circle, and he escapes the taint of being a gaol bird.

Bridewell seems to have been long associated with apprentices, not all of them "Thomas Idles," I am happy to say; and Hatton in "The New View of London" (1708) writes, showing the tender care that the City of London have always had for their poor:

"It is also an Hospital for Indigent Persons, and where 20 Art Masters (as they are called) being decayed Traders as Shoemakers, Taylors, Flax-dressers, &c., have Houses, and their Servants, or Apprentices (being about 140 in all) have Cloaths at the House Charge, and their Masters having the Profit of their Work do often advance by this means their own Fortunes, and these Boys, having served their time faithfully, have not only their Freedom, but also £10 each towards carrying on their respective Trades, and many have even arrived from nothing to be Governors."