something which helps to bring about some result.

40. ELIZABETHAN LONDON. PART I.

~Stow~ (born 1525, died 1605): a famous writer in Queen Elizabeth's
reign on the antiquities of London and other places.

~Whitechapel~ takes its name from a white chapel-of-ease built to
relieve Stepney, in which parish this district was till 1763.

~tenters~: pegs for stretching cloth. Sometimes hooks were used, from
which we get the phrase 'to be on tenter hooks'--to be on a stretch with
anxiety.

~St. Katharine's~ has given its name to the great docks east of the
Tower.

~bull-, bear-baiting~: the sport of setting dogs to worry bulls or
bears.

~Alsatia~: for a vivid picture of this haunt of rogues in the reign of
James I. the reader is referred to Sir W. Scott's 'Fortunes of Nigel.'

~Austin Friars~: the space known as Drapers' Gardens (because the hall
of the Drapers' Company is adjoining) in Throgmorton Street is on the
site of this monastery.

~Canwicke (now Cannon) Street~ was so called because the wax-chandlers
and candle-makers lived in that part.

41. ELIZABETHAN LONDON. PART II.

~William Shakespeare~ (born 1564, died 1616): the prince of poets, who
lived in the reigns of Elizabeth and James I.

~ruins of the monasteries~ which had been suppressed by Henry VIII. in
1536-1540.

~Cold Harbour~: a merchant's mansion once standing on the bank of the
Thames in Thames Street.

~Genevan bands~: a kind of collar worn by Protestant clergymen, so
called because Geneva, the home of Calvin, was the centre of
Protestantism.

~palaces along the Strand~: if you walk along the Strand you will notice
that many of the short streets leading down to the river bear the names
of noblemen, such as Arundel Street, Norfolk Street, Salisbury Street,
&c. from the old palaces which once stood there.

~Staples Inn~: a picturesque group of old houses in Holborn was formerly
a wool-market (_staple_ means a fixed market). ~Wych Street~ is near
Holywell Street in the Strand.

~Cloth Fair~ is now a poor neighbourhood near Smithfield.

42. ELIZABETHAN LONDON. PART III.

~Impressment~: in the absence of some orderly arrangement, such as
conscription (where all serve) or a voluntary system (like our own), the
press-gang used to kidnap people and force them to serve.

~animosity~: anger, ill feeling against.

~The Steelyard~, on the site of which Cannon Street railway station now
stands, was the house of the Hanse merchants (_