th
the house No. 5 is a square vaulted chamber, twelve feet by seven feet
three inches high, with a slightly pointed arch of ribbed masonry,
similar to some of those of the Old London Bridge. There had been in the
centre of the floor an excavation, which might have been formerly used
as a bath, but which was now arched over and converted into a cesspool.
Proceeding towards Cheapside, there appears to be a continuation of the
vaulting beneath the houses Nos. 4 and 3. The arch of the vault here is
plain and more pointed. The masonry appears, from an aperture near to
the warehouse above, to be of considerable thickness. This crypt or
vault is seven feet in height, from the floor to the crown of the arch,
and is nine feet in width, and eighteen feet long. Beneath the house No.
4 is an outer vault. The entrance to both these vaults is by a depressed
Tudor arch, with plain spandrils, six feet high, the thickness of the
walls about four feet. In the thickness of the eastern wall of one of
the vaults are cut triangular-headed niches, similar to those in which,
in ancient ecclesiastical edifices, the basins containing the holy
water, and sometimes lamps, were placed. These vaultings appear
originally to have extended to Cheapside; for beneath a house there, in
a direct line with these buildings and close to the street, is a massive
stone wall. The arches of this crypt are of the low pointed form, which
came into use in the sixteenth century. There are no records of any
monastery having existed on this spot, and it is difficult to conjecture
what the building originally was. Mr. Chaffers thought it might be the
remains of the _Crown-sild_, or shed, where our sovereigns resorted to
view the joustings, shows, and great marching matches on the eves of
great festivals."

The ancient silver parish seal of St. Mary-le-Bow, of which we give an
engraving on page 337, representing the tower of the church as it
existed before the Great Fire of 1666, is still in existence. It
represents the old coronetted tower with great exactitude.

The first recorded rector of Bow Church was William D. Cilecester (1287,
Edward I.), and the earliest known monument in the church was in memory
of Sir John Coventry, Lord Mayor in 1425 (Henry VI.). The advowson of
St. Mary-le-Bow belongs to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and is the
chief of his thirteen _peculiars_, or insulated, livings.

Lovers of figures may like to know that the height of Bow steeple is