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high, they soon communicated to the opposite corners, so that all the four were on fire at the same time, and three of them were entirely destroyed. All the houses from Cornhill to the Church of St. Martin Outwich, in Bishopsgate Street, were burnt down, and the Church and Parsonage House were considerably damaged, as well as the back part of Merchant Taylors' Hall, and several houses in Threadneedle Street. The White Lion Tavern, which had been purchased for 30007. on the preceding evening, and all the houses in White Lion Court, were burnt down, together with five houses in Cornhill, and several others in Leadenhall Street. Several lives were lost, not only by the fire, but by the falling of chimnies and walls, and on the following day eight persons were killed by the sudden fall of a stack of chimnies. Several lives, however, were providentially saved by means of a gentleman who had ventured among the ruins, and "waving his hat to engage the attention of the spectators, declared that he was sure that many persons were actually under the spot on which he stood." Upon this, the firemen went to work with their pickaxes, and on removing the rubbish, two men, three women, a child about six years old, two dogs and a cat, were taken out alive.

ANECDOTES OF QUEEN ELIZABETH AND KING JAMES

THE FIRST.

The following Anecdotes of the above Sovereigns are given in the 1st volume of the "Nugæ Antiquæ," p. 170,182, from the "Breefe Notes and Remembraunces" of Sir John Harington; but the years in which the circumstances respectively occurred are not speci

Queen Elizabeth.-"One Sunday (April last) my Lorde of London preachede to the Queenes Majestie, and seemede to touche on the vanitie of deckinge the bodie too finely. Her Majestie tolde the ladies, that If the Bishope helde more discorse on suche matters, shee wolde fitte him for Heaven, but he shoulde walke thither withoute a staffe, and leave his mantle behind him.'-Perchance the Bishope hathe never soughte her Highnesse wardrobe, or he woulde have chosen another texte."

James the First.-"I thys day heard the kynge deliver hys speeche to the commons and lordes, and notede one parte thereof, wherein his Majestie callede the Devil ‹ a busy Bishope, sparinge neither laboure nor paines.' My Lorde of London tolde me, he thoughte his Majestie mighte have chosen another name."

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EARTHQUAKES IN LONDON.

Great alarm was excited throughout the Metropolis and its neighbourhood, in the beginning of the year 1761, by two shocks of Earthquakes; the one occurring on the 8th of February, and the other on the 8th of March. The first shock was most sensibly felt along the banks of the Thames from Greenwich to near Richmond: at Limehouse and Poplar, several chimnies were thrown down by it, and in several parts of London the furniture was shaken, and the pewter fell to the ground: at Hampstead and Highgate it was also very perceptible. The second and more violent shock occurred between five and six o'clock in the morning, the air being very warm, and the atmosphere, at the moment, clear and serene; though, till within a few minutes preceding, there had been a strong, but confused, lightning darting its flashings in

quick succession. The violence of the motion caused many people to start from their beds and fly precipitately to the street, under the impression that their houses were falling. In St. James's Park, and the squares and open spaces about the west end of the town, where the shock is thought to have been most powerful, the tremulous vibration of the earth was clearly distinguishable; it seemed to move in a south and north direction, with a quick return towards the centre, and was accompanied with a loud noise as of rushing wind. The damage was not great, and was chiefly confined to the shaking down of chimnies and a few old houses.*

* The credulous apprehensions of the people were so awakened by these Earthquakes, that the ridiculous predictions of a crazy Life-guard's man, named Bell, who prophesied, that " as the second Earthquake had happened exactly four weeks after the first, so there would be a third exactly four weeks after the second, which would lay the entire cities of London and Westminster in ruins,” spread the greatest dismay and consternation over the whole Metropolis. So strong was the panic, that within a few days of the expected time, vast numbers of persons quitted London; and all the principal places within the distance of twenty miles were crowded with alarmed fugitives. To those whom necessity obliged to remain in the devoted City, the predicted night was a scene of the most dreadful disquietude; some sought refuge in boats upon the river, and the adjacent fields were crowded by multitudes who left their houses lest they should be buried in the ruins, and in the most fearful suspense passed away the hours till the dawn of morning restored them to hope and confidence; the alarm, however, did not entirely subside for

YORK-STAIRS WATER-GATE.

This handsome specimen of the architectural abilities of Inigo Jones, stands on the banks of the river Thames, at the southern extremity of Buckingham Street, in the Strand. It was erected about the year 1626, and originally belonged to George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, the ill-fated favourite of two Sovereigns, who was stabbed by Felton at Portsmouth, on the 23d of August, 1628, and lies buried in Henry the Seventh's Chapel at Westminster. The ancient Mansion which stood near this spot, and which had been a town residence of the Bishops of Norwich, and thence called the Bishop of Norwich's Inn, was splendidly fitted up by the above nobleman, after he had obtained from King James the First, either a grant or a lease of the estate, and on that occasion the Water-Gate was constructed near the middle of a long embattled wall that skirted the gardens by the river side.

Richard Nykke, or Nyx, Bishop of Norwich, exchanged his Inn for the Abbey of St. Bennet Holme, in Norfolk, in 1535; and in the following year it became vested in Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, also by exchange, for his mansion at SouthwarkPlace. The latter property, reverting to the crown,

some time. Bell, the author of the confusion, was subsequently confined in a mad-house. He afterwards kept a hosier's shop on Holborn Hill, during many years, and afterwards, having acquired a competency, retired to the neighbourhood of Edgeware, where he died a few years ago.

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