“‘_A wonderfull fair, or a fair of wonders; being a new and true
illustration and description of the several things acted and done on
the river of Thames in the time of the terrible frost, which began
about the beginning of Dec. 1683, and continued till Feb. 4, and held
on with such violence that men and beasts, coaches and sledges, went
common thereon. There was also a street of booths from the Temple to
Southwark, where was sold all sorts of goods: likewise bull-baiting,
and an ox roasted whole, and many other things, as the map and
description do plainly shew._’ Engraved and printed on a sheet, 1684.
“A volume of coarse and worthless narratives, entitled ‘_An historical
account of the Late Great Frost, in which are discovered, in several
Comical Relations, the various Humours, Loves, Cheats, and Intreagues
of the Town, as the same were mannaged upon the River of Thames during
that season_.’ London. 1684. 12mo.
“‘_Freezland-Fair, or the Icey Bear Garden. 1682._’
“‘_News from the Thames; or the frozen Thames in tears. January
1683-4._’ Half sheet, folio.
“‘_A winter wonder, or the Thames frozen over; with remarks on the
resort there. 1684._’
“‘_A strange and wonderfull relation of many remarkable damages
sustained, both at sea and land, by the present unparaleled Frost._’
London. 1684. Half sheet small folio, 2 pages.
“Notwithstanding the admiration with which London Bridge had long
been regarded, on account of its appearance as an actual street over
the Thames; in 1685 its very confined limits seem to have attracted
attention, and to have produced at least somewhat of reformation. There
is a tradition extant, though I have not as yet been able to trace it
to any printed authority, that the cross over the dome of St. Paul’s
having been cast in Southwark, the street of London Bridge was too
narrow, and its numerous arches too low, to allow of it being that
way brought into the City: and Hatton, in his ‘_New View of London_,’
volume ii., page 791, shews us that in his time the enlarging of the
Bridge was recorded upon the North side of the Nonesuch House, in the
following inscription:--
“‘ANNO MDCLXXXV., ET PRIMO JACOBI II. REGIS,
This Street was opened and enlarged from 12, to the
width of 20 foot:
SIR JAMES SMITH, KNIGHT, LORD MAYOR.’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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