bouring coffee-house, asked him for a shilling; and Otway, going away, bought a roll, and was choked with the first mouthful." Such, at the age of thirty-three, is said to have been the fate of "poor Tom Otway," to whose imaginative genius we owe "The Orphan," and "Venice Preserved."

Tower Hill is associated with a name scarcely less celebrated than that of Otway, that of a man of a widely different character and fortunes. We allude to William Penn, the founder and legislator of Pennsylvania, who was born here on the 14th of October, 1644.

During the time that her husband was a prisoner in the Tower, we find Lady Raleigh fixing her residence on Tower Hill.

To the north-west of Tower Hill is Great Tower Street, where the witty and profligate Earl of Rochester practised on a raised stage his memorable pranks as an Italian physician and fortune-teller. His lodgings were at a goldsmith's, next door to the "Black Swan ;" and here he was to be seen and consulted between the hours of three o'clock in the afternoon and eight at night. Burnet informs us that his disguise was admirable, tised physic "not without success," for some weeks. His fame, which at first was merely local, at last reached the ears of the court. Rochester was, of

and that he prac

course, equally well acquainted with the scandal of the day, as with the persons and characters of those who figured in it; and, accordingly, having recognised the female attendants of some of the

In a

ladies of the court, he sent them back to Whitehall sufficiently amazed at his supernatural powers to excite the curiosity of their mistresses. masquerading, and still more in a superstitious age, it was not unnatural that many a fair lady, under the convenient guise of the then fashionable mask, should have sought to dive into futurity by means of the Italian fortune-teller; or that she should have been startled and put to the blush by the disagreeable truths which he communicated to her.*

On the south side of Great Tower Street may be seen a public-house named the Czar's Head, so called from its having been frequently the resort of Peter the Great; who, after his favourite boating expeditions on the river, used to pass his evenings here, imbibing almost incredible draughts of brandy and beer. His prowess in drinking appears to have been a matter of astonishment to all who approached him; indeed we are assured that, at their social meetings, the usual drink of the Czar and of his cicerone, the Marquis of Carmarthen, was "hot pepper and brandy." On one particular day he is mentioned as having drunk no less than a pint of brandy, a bottle of sherry, and eight bottles of sack, and yet he was able to attend the theatre in the evening.

Rochester's address to the public, in which he signs himself "Alexander Bendo," and professes to cure all disorders, to restore beauty, and a hundred other absurdities, will be found in the different editions of his works.

+ The house has been rebuilt since the time of Peter the Great.

In Little Tower Street, Thomson was residing in 1726; and here he composed his "Summer," which was published in 1728.

On the west side of Tower Hill is the ancient and interesting church of Allhallows Barking. Hither were conveyed the headless remains of more than one illustrious person after their decapitation on the neighbouring hill. Here rested the body of the Earl of Surrey, till its removal, in 1614, to Framlingham, in Suffolk; and here, also, rested the remains of the pious and ill-fated John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, till they were transferred to the Tower Chapel, to mingle with the dust of his illustrious friend, Sir Thomas More. In the chancel was interred Archbishop Laud, who was beheaded in 1645, and whose remains continued here till the month of July, 1663, when they were removed to St. John's College, Oxford, of which society he had been president. In the same grave which had been tenanted by Laud, was afterwards buried the learned and pious Dr. John Kettlewell, who, as his monument at the east end of the church informs us,-" Animam Deo reddidit. Ap. 12, 1695. Etat. 42.

The church of Allhallows Barking derives its name from "all Hallows," or all Saints, and from the manor of Barking, in Essex; the vicarage having originally belonged to the abbess and convent of that place. The date of its foundation is not known. We learn, however, from Stow, that a chapel was originally founded on the spot by

Richard Cœur de Lion; and it has been said that the heart of that chivalrous monarch was long preserved within its walls, though, according to other accounts, he himself bequeathed his heart to the citizens of Rouen, in gratitude for their loyalty and attachment. But, whatever may have been the motive, there can be no doubt that our early sovereigns took an especial interest in the prosperity of this religious foundation, and that it was munificently endowed by successive princes. At this spot the warlike Edward the First frequently came to offer up his devotions. When he was Prince of Wales, it is said that he had been assured by a vision that he should be victorious over all nations, and more especially over Scotland and Wales, on condition that he should erect an image to the Holy Virgin, in King Richard's Chapel, and should pay his adorations to her there five times in each year. Edward religiously followed the injunctions of the vision, and when, subsequently, one military success followed another, "our Lady of Barking" grew into such great repute, that pilgrims flowed to her shrine with rich presents from all parts of England. King Edward the Fourth, subsequently endowed the chapel with a brotherhood, consisting of a master and brethren, under the name of the King's Chapel, or Capella Beata Maria de Barking; and lastly, King Richard the Third rebuilt the Chapel and founded there a college, consisting of a dean and six canons. This college was suppressed in 1548. Stow informs us that in the successive

reigns of Edward the Sixth, Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth, the ground on which it stood was used as a garden. There is no doubt, however, that a considerable part of the ancient structure was allowed to remain, and that it is incorporated with the present church. The general aspect, indeed, is of the Tudor age, but the pillars on each side of the nave, towards the western extremity, are evidently Norman, and these, as well as its ancient monuments and funeral brasses-the latter among the best in the metropolis-prove that its construction is of no recent period. We learn from Pepys that the church had a very narrow escape during the Great Fire, in 1666; the dial and porch having been both burnt.

At the west end of the church is Seething Lane, anciently called Sidon Lane. Here, formerly, stood a spacious mansion, the residence of Sir John Allen, who was a Privy Councillor, and Lord Mayor of London, in the reign of Henry the Eighth. It was afterwards inhabited by the celebrated courtier and statesman, Sir Francis Walsingham, who died here on the 6th of April, 1590, and from him descended to his grandson, Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, scarcely less celebrated as the Parliamentary general during the Civil troubles. Pepys was for many years a resident in Seething Lane.

Seething Lane leads us into Crutched Friars, so called from the Crossed Friars, or Fratres Sanctæ Crucis, who had a house here, founded by two citizens of London, Ralph Hosier, and William