The History of London Part 26

~tenters~: pegs for stretching cloth. Sometimes hooks were used, from which we get the phrase 'to be on tenter hooks'--to be on a stretch with anxiety.

~St. Katharine's~ has given its name to the great docks east of the Tower.

~bull-, bear-baiting~: the sport of setting dogs to worry bulls or bears.

~Alsatia~: for a vivid picture of this haunt of rogues in the reign of James I. the reader is referred to Sir W. Scott's 'Fortunes of Nigel.'

~Austin Friars~: the s.p.a.ce known as Drapers' Gardens (because the hall of the Drapers' Company is adjoining) in Throgmorton Street is on the site of this monastery.

~Canwicke (now Cannon) Street~ was so called because the wax-chandlers and candle-makers lived in that part.

41. ELIZABETHAN LONDON. PART II.

~William Shakespeare~ (born 1564, died 1616): the prince of poets, who lived in the reigns of Elizabeth and James I.

~ruins of the monasteries~ which had been suppressed by Henry VIII. in 1536-1540.

~Cold Harbour~: a merchant's mansion once standing on the bank of the Thames in Thames Street.

~Genevan bands~: a kind of collar worn by Protestant clergymen, so called because Geneva, the home of Calvin, was the centre of Protestantism.

~palaces along the Strand~: if you walk along the Strand you will notice that many of the short streets leading down to the river bear the names of n.o.blemen, such as Arundel Street, Norfolk Street, Salisbury Street, &c. from the old palaces which once stood there.

~Staples Inn~: a picturesque group of old houses in Holborn was formerly a wool-market (_staple_ means a fixed market). ~Wych Street~ is near Holywell Street in the Strand.

~Cloth Fair~ is now a poor neighbourhood near Smithfield.

42. ELIZABETHAN LONDON. PART III.

~Impressment~: in the absence of some orderly arrangement, such as conscription (where all serve) or a voluntary system (like our own), the press-gang used to kidnap people and force them to serve.

~animosity~: anger, ill feeling against.

~The Steelyard~, on the site of which Cannon Street railway station now stands, was the house of the Hanse merchants (_see_ note on Chapter XXII.).

~John Colet~, Dean of St. Paul's (born 1466, died 1519), was one of the leaders of the revival of learning in England. St. Paul's School, which he founded in 1512, has been moved to Hammersmith.

43. TRADE. PART I.

~Forestall their market~: that is, to buy things before they arrived at the market, so as to sell them at a higher price.

~Lubeck~: a large port in north Germany in the Baltic.

~staples~, originally all kinds of raw produce, came to be applied only to wool. Staples Inn was once a wool-market.

~instead of selling our wool~: Edward III. brought Flemish weavers into England to encourage manufactures. Till then England produced and exported wool to Antwerp and other manufacturing centres, but did not make it into cloth.

~Hamburg~ was a member of the Hanseatic League.

~The screen~ was presented to the Church of All Hallows the Great, Thames Street, in 1710, by the Hanseatic merchants.

44. TRADE. PART II.

~Incubus~: something that weighs down and hinders.

~religious wars in the Netherlands~: between the Protestant Dutch and the Catholic Spaniards, who were oppressing the country through great part of the sixteenth century.

~Bourse~: the same as ~Exchange~, where merchants meet to transact their business.

~English wool~ in Bruges, because it was much exported thither from England before the growth of home manufactures.

~Flemings~: the natives of Flanders; who were the chief manufacturers of Europe long before England took the lead.

~14 per cent.~: the height of this rate may be seen by comparing it with the 2 per cent., which is all England now pays as interest upon her debt.

~Bethlehem Hospital~, corrupted into Bedlam, is still a hospital, but only for the insane.

45. TRADE. PART III.

~Bruges ... civil wars~: that is, the religious wars referred to in Chapter XLIV.

~Venetians~: before the discovery of the sea route to India and the East Venice was the first maritime and commercial power in the world. The route round the Cape of Good Hope was discovered by Vasco de Gama in 1497.

~Moluccas~: a group of tropical islands between Celebes and New Guinea, rich in pearls, spices, and precious woods.

~Calicut~: the port in Madras, where Vasco de Gama first landed in May 1498. The cotton cloth called _calico_ was first brought thence.

~Moorish pirates~: North Africa has always been a haunt of pirates. In 1816 Lord Exmouth had to bombard Algiers, and even as late as 1860 the European Powers had to suppress piracy in Morocco.

~Dordrecht~: a commercial town in the south of Holland, near Rotterdam.

~The South Sea Company~ is celebrated above the other trading companies for the great speculation in its shares called the ~South Sea bubble~ in 1720.

46. PLAYS AND PAGEANTS. PART I.

~Mummers~: men who played in entertainments masked and in various disguises.

~masque~: a kind of play in which the actors wore masks. Milton's 'Comus' is a well-known masque of high character.

~mystery~: a name for a religious play representing some scene from the Bible or scenes from the life of a saint.

~admonition~: warning.