Ludgate Hill

“ At the bottom of Ludgate Hill we come to the valley in which the once celebrated Fleet River, now only a covered sewer, ran north and p. 22south from St. Pancras to Blackfriars, where it entered the Thames. A new street, called Victoria Street, formed by pulling down many poor and dilapidated houses, marks part of this valley; while Farringdon Street, where a market, mostly for green stuff, is held, occupies another part. Newgate Street and Ludgate Hill are on the east of the Fleet Valley; Holborn and Fleet Street on the west. The Holborn Valley Viaduct crosses at this spot. ”

“ It was here, too, that Shakespeare places an act of his play of Henry VIII.
The wonderful City of London was once a cluster of huts on a wooded slope of ground which in these days is known as Ludgate Hill. Roman London was enclosed by a wall which extended from about where the Tower is now to Ludgate Hill, and from Ludgate Circus to the Thames River. It had several gates now called to mind by the streets Aldgate, Bishopsgate, Moorgate, Cripplegate, Aldersgate, Newgate and Ludgate. This wall was built of brick and cement as hard as stone. ”

“ It was not uncommon to surmount church spires with hollow vessels and to take note of their capability of holding. Sometimes they were made in form of a ship, especially near ports where corn was imported.]
FOOTNOTES, CHAPTER II [Footnote 1: In old times the name Ludgate Hill was given to that part which ran up from the Fleet to the City Gate. Inside the Gate the street was called "Bowyer Row," from the trade carried on in it. But it was also frequently called "Paul's." Ludgate was pulled down in 1760, and then Ludgate Hill became the name of the whole street.] ”

“ It seemed he would stay all day; and presently he sent me a message to a stationer on Ludgate Hill, which I must needs take, and so leave him and Ludar alone in the house.
While out, I got a great fright. For the watch were abroad in search of the notable villain who had late escaped from her Majesty’s Tower, and who was reported to have been seen lurking in the disguise of a carter, not many days since, near Newgate. And it was said, I heard, that he had been seen even later than that—to wit, yesterday—at Smithfield, where he had suddenly left his cart and disappeared. ”

“ You walk out with the conviction that consistency is a jewel, and tread a pavement that is classical to every lover of books. Paternoster Row receives you, and you slowly saunter through it. Nobody walks rapidly through Paternoster Row. Situated midway between the bustle and turmoil of Ludgate Hill and Cheapside, it is a kind of resting-place for pedestrians. They breathe the more quiet air of bookland there, and the windows are a temptation which few loiterers can withstand. ”

“ Allen says: “At the back of the London Coffee-house, Ludgate Hill, a circular tower and staircase was discovered; and about 3 ft. below the pavement some remains of Roman art were found.” An etching of the stones published by T. Fisher in 1807 describes them as “dug out of the foundations of the wall of the City, a few yards north of Ludgate.” Archer, speaking of an inscribed pedestal, says it was found “in extending the premises at the back of the London Coffee-house. ”

“ That left only one other route of escape—namely, the open thoroughfare of Ludgate Hill.
This also Westerham set aside as being unnecessary to consider. That any man should attempt to escape down that broad street at a time of night when it would be almost empty was too ridiculous to contemplate.
He decided, therefore, that two motor-cars would be sufficient for his purpose, and having ordered them, he sent for Lowther and Mendip, to whom he explained his plans. ”

“ The setts will have disappeared, to be replaced by wood pavement, and the traffic will have increased tenfold; until, in fact, it has become a continuous stream. There will be strange vehicles, too, unknown in 1837,—omnibuses,{38} hansom-cabs, and motor cars, and where Ludgate Hill joins Fleet Street there will be a Circus and an obstructive railway-bridge.
‘AN OLD GENTLEMAN, A COBBETT-LIKE PERSON.’
We proceed in leisurely fashion down Ludgate Hill, and halt for passengers and parcels at the ‘Bolt-in-Tun,’ Fleet Street, which is now a railway receiving office. ”

“ The main stream of the Fleet passes from the Thames to the foot of Ludgate Hill, but a short branch went in a north-eastward direction to Ludgate, joining there the town ditch. Mr. Loftie explains Ludgate as a postern,{32} and supposes it to have existed in the Saxon period as a postern gate.
All along the river front of London originally there was a wall, remains of which have been found at various times. Fitz-Stephen, writing in the twelfth century, says: ‘London formerly had walls and towers ... ”

“ This street is a continuation of Cheapside, but is not used much as a thoroughfare, though it communicates by transverse alleys or courts with St. Paul’s Churchyard, and, at its western extremity, by means of Ave-Maria Lane, leads into Ludgate Hill. Paternoster Row, or ‘the Row,’ as it is familiarly termed, is a dull street, only wide enough at certain points to permit two vehicles to pass each other, with a narrow pavement on each side. The houses are tall and sombre in their aspect, and the shops below have a dead look, in comparison with those in the more animated streets. ”

“ Ludgate is half-way up the hill that rises above the valley of the Fleet; passing through it we stand before the west front of St. Paul’s. The noble church must be reserved for another occasion. We walk through the churchyard, and so by the north-east gate of the Precinct find ourselves in Chepe.
This is the greatest market of the City. Hither come the craftsmen, for to174 each craft is assigned its own place in the market. Not only do the trades work together, but they sell their wares together, so that there is no underselling, and everything is offered at a fixed price. ”

“ I spent such another half-hour at Ludlow, which is a much grander and more famous monument. Ludlow, however, is a ruin—the most impressive and magnificent of ruins. The charming old town and the admirable castle 241 form a capital object of pilgrimage. Ludlow is an excellent example of a small English provincial town that has not been soiled and disfigured by industry; it exhibits no tall chimneys and smoke-streamers, no attendant purlieus and slums. The little city is perched upon a hill near which the goodly Severn wanders, and it has a remarkable air of civic dignity. ”

“ Sir, 'Your Ingratitude for the many Kindnesses I have done you, shall not make me unthankful for the Good you have done me, in letting me see there is such a Man as you in the World. I am obliged to you for the Diffidence I shall have all the rest of my Life: I shall hereafter trust no Man so far as to be in his Debt.'
R.
Footnote 1:
Ludgate was originally built in 1215, by the Barons who entered London, destroyed houses of Jews and erected this gate with their ruins. It was first used as a prison in 1373, being then a free prison, but soon losing that privilege. ”

“ Ludwell is the people’s well, Anglo-Saxon leod, people. This water springs out of a cave in the great limestone, where, in olden times, the Weardale folks might have congregated, for the Saxon prefix shows it to have been the well of the people, like Ludlaw, the people’s hill, suggesting the days of village communities, and the days of superstition when wells were in many cases held sacred. ”

“ History and the camera must wait; the first day must be given up to the sheer joy of the road.
So, as we shall not be able to hurry in Shropshire, seeing that there history cannot be ignored, we shall do well to cross its border in the evening, and spend the night in Ludlow. We will drop gently down the hill by Ludford House, and cross the Teme when the light is growing dim, and we can only tell by the deepening of the shadows in the trees on the left that the castle stands among them. ”

“ In making the descent by the same route as that by which we reached the summit, we see Loudon Hill taking a sly peep at us over the top of the town; we think of the time not so long ago when there was not a building save the kirk in the muir, in the vicinity of the now thriving town, and of Lord Dundonald’s unfortunate coal tar manufacturing experience here. ”

“ William Johnson, who, with a Colonial army and numerous Indian allies under the famous Mohawk chieftain Hendrick, was moving to meet the French at Lake George. The march from New Haven was made by way of Amenia and Dover, in Dutchess County, New York, to the Hudson River, and thence northward to the “dark and bloody ground” of the North Woods. Young Ludington was of a lively and venturesome disposition and, as family traditions show, had a propensity to practical joking which more than once put him in peril of not undeserved punishment, which, however, he managed to avoid. ”

“ But to the nation the best known of all the old homes of Loudoun has always been Oak Hill. When James Monroe, after long years of service to his country, came to look forward to his retirement, he owned a large tract of land on the Carolina Road nine miles south of Leesburg, long in the possession of his family, which had occupied a dormer-windowed cottage there. On a gentle elevation on the plantation, President Monroe, in the year 1820, erected the great brick house, three stories in height with its porticos and Doric columns which he named Oak Hill. ”

“ Hill wheeled the truck up to the door, and sat down on one of the handles whilst he wiped his face. It was an honest, though [309] cross face; habitually red. The house had a good large garden at its side, enclosed by wooden palings; with a shed and some pigstys at the back. Trees overshadowed the palings: and the fallen leaves, just now, inside the garden and out were ankle-deep.
“A fine labour I shall have, getting the place in order!” cried Hill, pointing to some broken palings and the overgrown branches. “Don’t think but what the Squire has the best of the bargain, after all!” ”

“ The sight of the bank-notes, the pressure of immediate distress, and the hopes of being able to support the style of life in which he had of late appeared, all conspired to tempt Ludgate. When he had, early in life, vaunted to his young companions that he despised his father’s old maxim, while he repeated his own, they applauded his spirit. They were not present, at this instant, to pity the wretched state into which that spirit had betrayed him. But our hero has yet much greater misery to endure. ”

“ Brandon was taken to Newgate, the most loathsome prison in London at that time, it being used for felons, while Ludgate was for debtors. Here he was thrown into an underground dungeon foul with water that seeped through the old masonry from the moat, and alive with every noisome thing that creeps. There was no bed, no stool, no floor, not even a wisp of a straw; simply the reeking stone walls, covered with fungus, and the windowless arch overhead. One could hardly conceive a more horrible place in which to spend even a moment. ”

“ On October 20 the battle of Chatterton Hill was fought, at White Plains, in which Colonel Ludington’s regiment was engaged, and in which he himself served as one of Washington’s aides, and thus began his acquaintance with the commander-in-chief. When Washington’s army crossed the Hudson River, however, for the “devil’s dance across the Jerseys,” and the superb turning at bay at Trenton, the New York militia levies remained at home, where indeed they were sorely needed. ”

“ It would not surprise me if Macintosh is taking care of him. The man’s not ill-natured.”
“I don’t understand why Hill should have told his mother David was gone to Worcester, unless he did go.” Neither did I.
“David never went to Worcester; rely upon that, Master Ludlow,” was her answer. “He is well known at Shrub Hill Station, and I could not have failed to hear of it, for one of the porters lodges in mother’s house; besides, David would have come down to us at once. Good night, sir. I dare say he will turn up before to-morrow.” ”

“ London; and on the 13th of April the same sheriffs (through the false suggestion of John Kingesell, jailor of Newgate) set from thence eighteen persons free men, and these were let to the compters, pinioned as if they had been felons; but on the sixteenth of June, Ludgate was again appointed for free men, prisoners for debt; and the same day the said free men entered by ordinance of the mayor, aldermen, and commons, and by them Henry Deane, tailor, was made keeper of Ludgate prison. ”

“ The distance from Darvel to Loudon Hill is three miles, although it seems much less to the traveller, from his having such a clear view of its rugged and well-defined outline straight before him. The hill springs up suddenly from the surrounding level, and it looks higher than it is. At Loudon Hill Inn, 21⁄2 miles from Darvel, a road to the left over the Irvine, which is here a mere burn, leads to the hill, which is easily accessible in more senses than one. ”

“ The passage through Ludgate to the water [i.e., Water Lane] is many times stopped up, people in their ordinary going much endangered, quarrels and bloodshed many times occasioned, and many disorderly people towards night gathered thither, under pretense of attending and waiting for those at the plays. ”

“ Ludgate was taken into custody for uttering forged bank-notes, there was a general uproar. Some declared it was shocking! others protested it was no more than might have been expected! The Ludgates lived so much above their circumstances! Then he was such a coxcomb; and she such a poor vain creature! Better for people to do like their neighbours—to make no show, and live honestly! ”