“We have now arrived at the days of King Henry the Eighth, about the period when Pope Alexander the Sixth sent over the celebrated Polydore Vergil to receive the tribute called Peter-pence, of which he was the last Collector in England. As he was already celebrated for his Poems and his books, ‘_On the Invention of Things_,’ and ‘_on Prodigies_,’ he met with great encouragement in this country; where he not only received several ecclesiastical preferments, being made Archdeacon of Wells, and Prebendary of St. Paul’s, but in 1521 he was employed by the King to write a History of England, which he performed in most elegant Latin, and which was first printed at Basil, bearing the date of 1533 for 1534. He left England in 1550, and died at his birth-place, Urbino, in Italy, in 1555. The best edition of this work, entitled ‘_Polydori Vergilii Urbinatis Historiæ Angliæ_,’ which contains a descriptive eulogy on London Bridge, is that of Leyden, 1651, octavo;--though I quote from the Basil folio of 1570,--and if you turn to page 4 of that volume, you will find the passage commencing ‘_Is fluvius amoenissimus_,’ &c. of which I shall attempt to give you a translation. ‘This most delightful river’--the Thames,--‘rises a little above the road to Winchcomb, whence flowing several ways, it is first increased at Oxford; and the beautiful wonder, having washed the City of London, pours itself into the Gallic Ocean, who welcomes it into the impetuous waves of his seas; from which, twice in the space of twenty-four hours, it flows and returns more than the distance of sixty miles, and is of the greatest national advantage, for, by it, merchandise may easily be returned to the City. In this River there is a stone Bridge, certainly a most wonderful work! for it is erected upon twenty square piers of stone, 60 feet in height, 30 feet in breadth, and distant from each other about 20 feet, united by arches. Upon both sides of the Bridge there are houses erected, so that it might appear not to be a Bridge, but one substantial and uninterrupted street.’ The same author, at page 25 of the same ‘_History_,’ says farther of London Bridge:--‘This part of the City, which looks Southward, is washed by the River Thames, in which stands the Bridge, as we have said before, leading towards Kent, erected upon 19 arches, and having a series of extensive magnificent houses standing upon both sides of it.’--But I fear you are drowsy, Mr. Barbican; take another draught of the sack, good Master Geoffrey, and then we’ll to it again.”