352 TABULAR RECORD OF MORTALITY. is still less, being only seven minutes. In fact, these planets are grouped together near the boundary of Libra and Scorpio; Mercury, on the 10th, being very close to Antares, the brightest star in the latter constellation. They are too near the Sun to attract attention, else their proximity to each other would excite a deep interest. Jupiter will be on the meridian on the 6th at 7h., and on the 22d at 6h., in the evening, altitude twenty-five degrees. On the 2d, at 8h. in the evening, all the satellites will be on the west side of the planet, in the order second, first, third, fourth, beginning with the one next the planet. On the 5th all will be east of the disc, in the order first, second, fourth, third; the third and fourth being most remote from the planet, and very close to one another. On the 12th all will be again east of the planet, in the order fourth, first, second, third. On the 16th the second satellite will be very close to the disc on the east; the other three west, in the order first, third, fourth. On the 20th, the first, fourth, and second will be grouped close together on the west, the third a good way off to the east. On the 22d, the second and fourth will be to the east of the planet, the third on the disc, and the first invisible. On the 26th all will be east; the first and third close together, the second a little farther from the planet, and the fourth a good way off. On the 27th the first and second will be close to one another to the west, the third and fourth to the east. The grouping, on the 29th, at the same hour, will be peculiar: the first close to the planet to the west; the fourth close to the east; the third very near the fourth; and the second a little farther off to the east. On the 30th, the third will be furthest from the planet to the west, the fourth close to the third, the second to the east, and the first on the disc. The most interesting eclipses of the satellites will be those of the 3d. It will disappear on the 10th, at 10h. 10m. 128. in the evening, and reappear at 1h. 31m. 11s. on the morning of the 11th. On the morning of the 18th it will disappear at 2h. 12m. 25s., and reappear at 5h. 32m. 41s. On the 5th the planet will set very close to the Moon, two minutes before midnight. THE ward of Farringdon Without is now not the least busy, and certainly not the least smoky, of the districts which compose the metropolis. It is not easy to say what was the original character of those appendages of the City of London, properly so called. Possibly, such outlying portions of the dominions of that powerful potentate, the Lord Mayor, were first assigned to the City for the purposes of defence; or, perhaps, they owe their origin to the variety of nationalities, from which, in the course of ages, the English people has been made up. Certain it is, that a part of the ward mentioned is stated by antiquaries to have formed an important part of Saxon London, as contradistinguished from the Roman-Celtic Londinium, or Augusta. And it is equally certain that, just beyond the limits of the ward, are to be found traces of a Danish colony, perpetuated in the name of a church and parish, St. Clement Danes. This locality was not always the smoky scene of an incessant and noisy traffic. Rather more than three hundred years ago, it was covered chiefly with smiling gardens and verdant fields, intersected by VOL. XIII. Second Series.-DECEMBER, 1867. Z 354 FETTER-LANE CHAPEL. the rural road called the "Old Bourne," and the avenue, then already bounded by opposite rows of houses, called Fleet-street. The district was particularly marked by the Inns of Court, quaint old buildings, surrounded by gardens, and embowered in ancient trees, extraparochial, and jealously guarding their precincts against the encroachments of the City authorities. Nearly north stood the town residence of the Bishops of Ely, with its extensive gardens; subsequently transferred to Queen Elizabeth's "dancing" Chancellor, Sir Christopher Hatton. These gardens were famous for their saffron-beds, their vines, and their "beautiful" strawberries. A picture-map of Old London, exhibited in the South Kensington Museum, presents all these features as they existed about the reign of Henry VIII. This map shows a roadway, running from south to north, from Fleet-street to Holborn, called "Fewtors'-lane." It was such a back-way as may at this time be seen in the outskirts of old towns; a somewhat muddy thoroughfare, bounded by hedges, decked in summer with the white convolvulus and purple nightshade, alternating with semi-rustic palings, beyond which appeared gardens, more or less trimly kept, and adorned with civic summer-houses, and the like. The origin of the name given to this lane is rather obscure. Some antiquaries say that it was so called from "fewtors,” or, idle persons, who lounged in its neighbourhood. A doubt as to this etymology arises from the fact that, while idle persons were probably met with, even in those unsophisticated times, in various parts of Old England, they appear to have been called "fewtors" only in this particular locality. It has been suggested that the appellation may be supposed, with greater likelihood, to have arisen from some corruption of the name of one or other of the old hostelries which marked the spot: just as "Leather-lane," on the opposite side of Holborn, is, doubtless, so called from an ancient inn, the modern successor of which is known as the "Leathern Bottle." In the troublous days of "bloody" Queen Mary, a spectator, looking towards the north-east, might often have observed a portentous cloud of smoke blotting the pure horizon. If he inquired whence this arose, he would be told, according to the character of his informant, that it was from Smithfield, "where heretics were being roasted," or, "where some of the Lord's martyrs were witnessing 'a good confession.'" Those were indeed times of sifting; and some who were "weighed in the balances" of persecution were found grievously "wanting," while others stood the test with steadfastness. Tradition says that, in those days of trial, there was, on the eastern side of Fewtors' (or Fetter) lane, a carpenter's yard, with its common feature, a sawpit. Possibly the carpenter was a concealed Protestant; but, however this may have been, a few of those who adhered, though only secretly, to Protestant doctrines, were in the habit of resorting to this yard by night, and reading their Bibles in the sawpit by the light of a lantern. When better times came, this spot FETTER-LANE CHAPEL. 355 was, by those who had thus made use of it, looked on with a degree of veneration. Some of these persons appear to have belonged to the early Puritans. By them a "convențicle," probably of wood, was erected on the well-known spot; but at what date is uncertain. To this was afterwards added a more substantial dwelling for the Minister, which still exists. From its wainscoted rooms, large casement windows, deeply moulded mantelpieces, and dark oak stairs, it would appear to have been erected in the reign of James I., if not earlier. At a subsequent period it would seem that the first place of worship was succeeded by a plain but capacious brick chapel. The former building had, doubtless, been found too small, and its successor was constructed wider, if not longer. The architect, evidently, did not wish to interfere with the already existing Minister's house. The latter, therefore, encroaches on the eastern portion of the chapel, narrowing it by several feet. Hence the building is of an irregular oblong shape, and its eastern wall is not at right angles with the remainder. The site was already masked by the houses, which, by that time, formed a continuous row in Fetter-lane. It is even doubtful whether it originally had any entrance from the street. It appears, however, to have been furnished with doors from the pulpit, the galleries, and the body of the chapel; a provision which, as well as its secluded position, was rendered desirable by the persecutions to which Nonconformists were long exposed. Thus far we have had only the guidance of probable tradition. We e now arrive at historical notices, which are, however, only few and far between. The chapel escaped the Great Fire of 1666. It was then in possession of that section of the Nonconformist body known as Presbyterians. A few years previously, the Independents had erected a place of worship in Fetter-lane; but whether this was in consequence of a secession from the older congregation or not, has not been ascertained. In the Presbyterian Chapel Richard Baxter preached in the uneasy times of Charles the Second; but it does not appear that he was ever the stated Minister. After this the Presbyterian interest seems to have gradually declined, the congregation probably suffering from the deadening influence of the Arian doctrines which were so general at that period. Nevertheless, the Presbyterians appear to have retained and used the chapel until the period of the Sacheverell riots, in the reign of Queen Anne, when this place of worship, like many others belonging to the Dissenters, was attacked by the High Church mob, and reduced almost to a state of ruin. The Presbyterians seem never to have resumed possession of the place after this catastrophe. For some time the chapel seems to have been temporarily occupied, for brief periods, by Independent and Baptist congregations, and subsequently closed. In the year 1728, a religious society, which had been used to hold its meetings at the house of James Hutton, a bookseller, near Temple Bar, and the members of which had derived much 356 FETTER-LANE CHAPEL. benefit from the efforts of certain persons connected with the Church of the Brethren, (Moravian,) who had been providentially directed to London, had become so large as to require further room for its assemblies. Hutton was, therefore, requested to inquire for some more spacious locality in the neighbourhood, and his attention was soon directed to the old, empty chapel in the rear of No. 32, Fetter-lane. Its use was speedily secured, though upon what terms we have no means of ascertaining. The members of the Society which now occupied the chapel were connected with the Church of England and various dissenting bodies. Amid the lack of vital religion they deeply valued "the truth as it is in Jesus," which they heard occasionally from their Moravian friends; and, in the intervals, they sought to provide for their mutual edification by the appointment of suitable officers. Stirring scenes were witnessed in the old chapel; for a movement had commenced scarcely less extensive and important than that Reformation, some of the touching incidents connected with which had first invested the locality with peculiar interest. Here the Wesleys, Ingham, Delamotte, and, subsequently, Gambold, Cennick, and others, were built up in that holy faith which they afterwards made known with a power that stirred the whole nation, and the results of which we still witness and enjoy. From 1742 the history of the chapel in Fetter-lane has been closely connected with that of the Church of the Brethren in Britain. A drawing of the exterior, about the year 1784, shows the roof surmounted by a cupola, with the Lamb and Flag as a vane. This has since disappeared. In the No-Popery riots of 1780, the chapel narrowly escaped a fate similar to that which befell it in the reign of Queen Anne.* The venerable building, for the foregoing particulars respecting which we are indebted to a writer in the "Messenger," has an abiding interest for Methodists, on account of its association with the early religious life of John Wesley. Under date of May 1st, 1738, he writes: "This evening our little Society began, which afterwards met in Fetter-lane." The "fundamental rules" which it was agreed to observe, "in obedience to the command of God by St. James, and by the advice of Peter Böhler," ‡ were evidently the germ of the regulations which, at a future period, he adopted for the guidance of his own "Societies." A few months after his own conversion, he writes :— * As an illustration of the carelessness of the founders of this place of worship, respecting ecclesiastical arrangements, it is interesting to observe that this chapel stands in two parishes, the boundary between that of St. Bride, and that of St. Dunstan in the West passing just in front of the pulpit. Hence, during the service, the Minister is in the former, and the auditory in the latter. On this account the eastern window of the lower tier on the south has a sash, to admit the passage of a boy, when the parish authorities "beat the bounds" on Holy Thursday. † A Magazine of the Church of the United Brethren. "Works," vol. i., p. 92. |