y may be
dismissed, and put down from playing: and that four, or two of the
Churchwardens, &c. shall present the cause with a collector of the
Boroughside, and another of the Bankside." The presentation of this
petition did not produce the desired effect; for some time afterwards the
play-houses not having been put down, the Churchwardens of St. Saviour's,
as appears from an entry in their Parish Register, endeavoured to obtain
tithes and poor-rates from the owners and managers of the theatres on the
Bankside.[5] This corresponds with the state of the English theatre, at
this period, at the height of its glory and reputation. Dramatic authors
of the first excellence, and eminent actors equally abounded; every year
produced a number of new plays; nay, so great was the passion for show or
representation, that it was the fashion for the nobility to celebrate
their weddings, birthdays, and other occasions of rejoicing, with masques
and interludes; the king, queen, and court frequently performing in those
represented in the royal palaces, and all the nobility being actors in
their old private houses. Alas!

What's gone and what's past help
Should be past grief.

Dryden sung

Support the stage,
Which so declines that shortly we may see
Players and plays reduced to second infancy!

--What would he sing in these times!

Among the numerous memoranda of the topography of this interesting
district, we find that the well-known iron foundry of Messrs. Bradley, now
occupies the site of a Bear-garden. The Falcon public-house adjoining the
foundry of that name, was once the most considerable inn in the county of
Surrey, the adjoining foundry being anciently a part of it: and it is said
that very near the Falcon was once a mill for the grinding of corn, for
the Priory of St. Mary Overy.

To conclude. The accompanying Cuts are copied from one of a series of
prints illustrative of the antiquities of the metropolis, published by
Messrs. Boydell, in the year 1818.

[1] Hist. and Antiq. St. Saviour, Southwark, 1795.

[2] The first we read of Bear-baiting in England, was in the
reign of King John, at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, where "thyss
straynge passtyme was introduced by some Italyans for his
highness' amusement, wherewith he and his court were highly
delighted."

[3] Reliq. Wotton, p. 425. Edit. 1685

[4] Winwood's Memorials, vol. iii. p. 469.

[5] Annals of th