“In the year 1716, a very remarkable phenomenon occurred at London Bridge, when, in consequence of the long drought, the stream of the River Thames was reduced so low, and from the effects of a violent gale of wind, at West-South-West, was blown so dry, that many thousands of people passed it on foot, both above and below the Bridge, and through most of the arches. Strype, in his edition of Stow’s ‘_Survey_,’ volume i., page 58, states, that he was an eye-witness to this event; and observes that, on September 14th, the channel in the middle of the River was scarcely ten yards wide, and very shallow; the violence of the wind having prevented the tide from coming up for the space of four and twenty hours. Whilst the Thames remained in this state, many interesting observations were made on the construction and foundation of London Bridge; and the ‘_Weekly Packet_,’ from September the 15th to September the 22d, states, that a silver tankard, a gold ring, a guinea, and several other things which had been lost there, were then taken up. “The author of ‘_Wine and Walnuts_,’ in one of his chapters, which relate to this edifice, volume ii., page 112, gives a few notices of a feast held upon it in April, 1722, whilst some repairs were carrying on about the Draw-Bridge: and states, that it being settled that the Bridge should be shut on the Saturday and Sunday, the old street was empty and silent; tables were set out in the highway, where, besides the residents, several of the wealthy tradesmen in the vicinity sat drinking through the afternoon; that they might be enabled to say--adds Malcolm,--who notices the circumstance in his ‘_Anecdotes of the Manners and Customs of London during the Eighteenth Century_,’ London, 1808, quarto, volume ii., page 233,--‘however crowded the Bridge is, I have drank punch upon it for great part of a day.’ Though I do not find this festivity recorded in any of the public prints, yet in the ‘_Daily Courant_’ for Friday, April the 13th, 1722, is a notice from the Wardens of London Bridge, that the Draw-Bridge Lock, through which hoys, lighters, and other vessels usually passed, would be boomed up on the following Wednesday, the 18th, for repairing; whilst in the same paper for Friday, April the 20th, a second notice appeared, that on Saturday, the 12th of May, between the hours of 9 and 10 in the evening, the Draw-Bridge itself would be taken up in order to lay down a new one, which was completed by the Thursday following. At the same time, the Rulers of the Company of Watermen issued a notice, that the Stairs at Pepper Alley would be dangerous during the repairs; and that persons were requested to take water higher up the River. It is also stated in the ‘_Daily Post_’ of Tuesday, May the 15th, that the new Draw-Bridge was to be considerably stronger than the old one, both in wood and iron; and that the former had been laid down in the Whitsun holidays, exactly fifty years previously, on May the 12th, 1672, the