“A large and coarse engraving on wood, representing the sports, tents, and buildings on the ice, taken from opposite the Temple buildings, which are shewn in the back ground; beneath are 106 lines of very inferior verse, and the title:--‘_A true description of Blanket-Fair, upon the River Thames, in the time of the great Frost. In the year of our Lord 1683._’ Broadside sheet, 12-3/4 inches by 16-1/2.
“‘_Wonders on the deep, or the most exact description of the frozen river of Thames; also what was remarkably observed thereon in the last great frost, which began about the middle of December, 1683, and ended the 8th of February following: together with a brief Chronology of all the memorable strong frosts for almost 60 years, and what happened in the Northern kingdoms._’ A wood-cut.
“‘_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:--