neighbouring villages to consider it as a place of security, it must have contributed to increase the number of its inhabitants; the growth of the city was, however, frequently checked by the ravages of fire, particularly in 1077, 1087, and 1092, when it suffered severely from that calamity; to which, like all other large cities consisting of ill-constructed wooden houses, it was in continual danger of becoming a prey.

About the year 1140, according to Peter of Blois, London contained 40,000 inhabitants. If the accounts of W. Fitz Stephen were to be depended on, the population must have been much greater; but as he appeared to have paid little attention to correctness in other particulars, his assertions in this respect may be justly doubted. Considering the number just mentioned as the nearest to the truth that can be now ascertained, it will appear, that in the course of the next two hundred years, notwithstanding some severe calamities, the population must have increased very considerably, otherwise the loss of more than 50,000 inhabitants, who were carried off by the plague, which broke out towards the end of the year 1348, would have entirely depopulated the city. The privileges granted by Henry III, and several of his successors, probably allured great numbers from the country, and from foreign parts, to settle in London, and had it not been continually subject to pestilential diseases, the increase of inhabitants must have been very rapid.

In 1407, about 30,000 persons are said to have died of the plague in London, and nearly as many in 1478, by the same disorder. In 1485, the epidemic disease, called the sweating sickness, raged with violence; and in 1499, the plague again swept away about 30,000 persons. The frequent returns of this terrible Scourge seem to warrant a suspicion, that in some instances it was ingendered by the filthy and confined state of the metropolis, which at least must have considerably increased its malignity, and prolonged its continuance. At length some steps were taken for putting a few of the principal streets into a better condition: in 1533, an act was passed for paving the high street from Holbornbridge to Holborn-bars; the streets of Southwark were, by the same statute, also directed to be paved, and every person was to maintain the pavement before his own ground, or forfeit six-pence for every square yard, A similar act was passed in 1541, directing the following streets to be paved, viz. the street leading from Aldgate to Whitechapel church; the upper part of Chancerylane; the way leading from Holborn-bars westward, towards St. Giles's in the Fields, as far as there were any houses on both sides of the street; Gray's-inn-lane; Shoe-lane; and Fetter-lane; which are all described as " very foul, and full of pits and sloughs; very perilous and noisome, as well for the king's subjects on horseback, as on foot, and with carriages." Another act was passed about three years after, for paving several other streets in the out parts of London, and in each instance it was done, not by a rate or assessment, but by obliging the owners of the lands and tenements

adjoining

adjoining the streets to pave the length of their property, and put it annually in repair. This attention to the state of the ways seems to indicate an increase of the traffic and wealth of the city, and therefore probably also of the number of the inhabitants.

From the map of London about the year 1558, republished by Mr. Nichols, in his collection of the progresses and public processions of Queen Elizabeth, it appears that at that time there were few houses at Charing-Cross; and though the Strand were built on each side, open fields extended behind it from St. James'sPark to Holborn, almost down to Chancery-lane. At Moorgate there were but few houses without the city wall, or in the now populous parish of Shoreditch; still less in Spitalfields, Bethnalgreen, &c. Though so much less extensive than at present, it appears to have been far more unhealthy, as it was seldom long free from the plague, in a greater or less degree. In 1563, there died in the city and liberties, containing 108 parishes, of all diseases, 20,372 persons, of which number 17,404 died of the plague; and in the eleven out-parishes, there died of all diseases 3,288 persons, of whom 2,732 died of the plague; in the whole, therefore, there died of the plague 20,136, and of other disorders 3,524; the latter number, however, must have been much less than the usual number of deaths in the years free from the plague; from which it may be presumed, that the whole number of inha bitants at this period could not be less than 110,000. In 1564 the plague ceased: and though it has always been found that the population of London has recovered very speedily from the effects of this calamity, its restoration must, in this instance, have been considerably promoted by the settlement of many of the French and Flemish protestants, who took refuge in this country, and by the improvements they introduced in many of the arts and manufactures, contributed much to draw additional hands to London and other manufacturing towns. In 1567, there were found, on enquiry, to be 4,851 strangers of all nations, in London; and, on a similar inquisition, taken in 1580, of all foreigners residing in the city and liberties, they were found to be 6492. that at this time the suburbs of the city were increasing considerably, as it was thought necessary to issue a proclamation, forbidding any buildings to be erected on new foundations, within three miles of the city gates, and ordering that only one family should inhabit each house.

It appears

On the plague breaking out again, in March 1592, a regular account of the number of deaths was begun; and in 1594 the weekly bills of mortality were first published, probably to convince the people of the decrease of the plague, as they were discontinued as soon as it entirely ceased; the number of persons that died of the plague in 1592, was 11,503; and in the following year 10,662; its re-appearance seemed to the Parliament to justify the apprehensions that had been entertained of the ill consequences of the increase of the metropolis; they accordingly enacted, that no new buildings should be erected within three miles

of

of London or Westminster, nor any one dwelling-house converted into more, that there should be no inmates or under-sitters, and that commons or waste lands lying within three miles of London should not be inclosed.

On the plague increasing again in 1603, another proclamation was issued, for more effectually restraining the increase of the city; and the publication of the bills of mortality was renewed, which has been regularly continued ever since. These bills, though very deficient and incorrect, are almost the only documents from which any estimate of the population of London can be formed; but though they are too incomplete to furnish the means of determining with accuracy the whole number of inhabitants, they shew with much greater certainty the increase or decline of the population, from the period of their establishment to the present time.

PLUMB POPE.

BENJAMIN POPE, Esq. who lately died in the Fleet-prison, in

the 67th year of his age, after an imprisonment of eleven years and about three months, was nearly as remarkable a character as that of old Elwes, of usurious and penurious memory! He was origi nally a tanner in Southwark, and dealt so largely and extensively in this branch, that his stock in trade was for many years supposed to be worth 60 or 70,000l.

In the latter part of his time in this trade, and when he was well known to be worth so much money as to be called Plumb Pope, he took to the lending of money, discounting, and buying annuities, mortgages, &c.

In this branch of business, it appears, Mr. Pope was not so successful as in his former trade; for the name of Pope the Usurer every now and then appears in the proceedings of our courts of law, when our sages in the law commonly differed widely from Mr. Pope in their opinion of his practices in this branch of business.

The most remarkable, and the last instance of this sort, was, when he was cast in 10,000l. damages for some usurious or illegal practices, in some money transactions with Sir Alex. Leith.

This was generally thought a smart sentence, and perhaps the well-known and well-scouted character of the man contributed not a little towards it. Mr. Pope himself thought it so oppressive and unjust, that he never in all his life afterwards left off complaining loudly of it, and even printed a case, setting forth the hardship and great loss he suffered.

At first Mr. Pope, to be up with his plaintiff, went abroad to France with all his effects and property, where a man in his advanced years, ample fortune, and without any family but his wife, a most worthy and respectable woman, might certainly have lived

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very

very comfortably: but Mr. Pope abroad, was removed from his friends and customers; and his money being idle, which was always considered by him as a great misfortune, he resolved to come home; and to shew his resentment (as he said, to all his oppression) submitted to imprisonment rather than pay the money. This he did most heroically, and has suffered the long imprison ment of eleven years and three months.

In the course of this time, Mr. Pope's affairs wore very different complexions, and at one time he might have got his liberty for a thousand pounds; but he remained inflexible, and sent them word, -That this would be acknowledging the justness of their debt, which he would die sooner than do, and he kept his word.

Mr. Pope, in prison, had many opportunities of indulging those propensities he had all his life been remarkable for; he looked always at the pint pot of small beer before he paid for it, to see that it was full; a measure that in him was somewhat excusable, as the pint lasted him generally two days, water being his common drink; and as to strong beer, it used to be a note of admiration, among his fellow prisoners, when he drank any with them at their apartments; but as for his sending for any for himself, of that he never was guilty.

His three-farthing candle he always bought by weight, that is, had the heaviest of six, eight, or ten for his money.

In all this time, near twelve years, he has never had a joint of meat on his table; his greatest luxury was a groat plate from the cook's shop, and that served him for two-meals generally; but in these points he was not much at a loss; for his family, though living at a great distance, knowing of his penurious disposition, sent to him frequently a very comfortable supply; and on these occasions, he has even been known, sometimes, to give some leavings to his errand girl, or else to some distressed object.

To do justice to so eccentric a character as Mr. Pope, it is proper to state, that, while in trade, he had early begun the benevolent practice of giving away, every week, a stone, and better, of meat among his workmen and poor neighbours; and this practice he never left off, not even when he was every day weighing his candle, or looking after the measure of his small beer.

In many transaction, Mr. Pope suffered many frauds and impositions in prison: as he had not that scope of customers in his confined state, and always bent upon making the most of his money, he was more easily imposed upon; so that he is supposed to have lost, by such means, more money than would have paid his debt and costs, large as they were.

When old Pope was told by his apothecary that his dissolution was rapidly approaching- "Well, (said he, with a kind of lambent smile) in that case I shall wipe off a debt of 10,000l.” the sum for which he was confined.

GLEANINGS.

GLEANINGS.

THE SPLEEN,

THE hip is supposed to be a disorder peculiar to Englishmen,

and hardly ever seen to advantage but amidst the fogs and damps of our humid climate. Cellini, the sculptor, however, in his life, describes an instance of it in the person of the constable of the castle of St. Angelo, which mocks any thing that Cheney or Mandeville have ever recorded:

"The Constable," says he, "had annually a certain periodical disorder, and when the fit came upon him, he was talkative to excess. Every year he had some different whim. One time he conceived himself metamorphosed into a pitcher of oil; another time he thought himself a frog, and began to leap like that animal; another time he imagined that he was dead, and it was found necessary to humour his imagination by making a sham-burying: sometimes he fancied himself a bat, and when he went a walking he would make such noises as bats make, and he used strange gestures with his body, as if he were going to fly."

MUSIC.

WHEN Agamemnon set out for Troy, (Homer tells us) he committed his wife to the care of a musician, as the best of guardians and preceptors. Nor could the adulterer, Ægysthus, seduce her, till he had taken off the musician, whose instruction, while he hved, kept the princess in the path of virtue.

How different in those days must the character of a musician, and the use of music, have been from their character and use at present!

Of all the arts and sciences, music is the only one that affords a solitary pleasure. The rest require companions to see, to hear, and admire; but this alone gives the performer sufficient enjoy

ment in his own sensation.

MANNERS.

Quid Leges sine moribus is the old proverb.-The following anec dote puts the superior efficacy of manners in a strong light :

In the time of the late Empress of Russia, assemblies were frequently held composed of deputies from all the different nations of her empire, to assist her majesty in forming a system of legisla tion. At one of these meetings, the Empress asked the two Samoid deputies to suggest such laws as they apprehended would promote the welfare of their nation. One of them replied, that they had very few laws, and did not desire any more. "How," said the Empress, "have you no crimes! Have you no persons among you guilty of theft, murder, or adultery? If you have

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crimes