BURY-STREET, ST. MARY AXE.-Independent. Dr. Savage was interred in Bunhill-Fields, beneath a handsome tomb-stone, bearing the following inscription. Sacred To the Memory of the REV. SAMUEL MORTON SAVAGE, D. D. A Congregational Church among Protestant Dissenters Formerly under the care of The eminently pious and learned Dr. ISAAC WATTS; In the Academy late at Hoxton, Founded by William Coward, of Walthamstow, Esq. His superior natural abilities, extensive literature, and uniform piety, To discharge the duties of private and public life. Though attended with circumstances peculiarly trying, And Christian fortitude, And joyful hope. He died the 21st February, 1791, In the 70th year of his age. As Dr. Savage preached only in the morning at Burystreet, he had various ministers to assist him in the afternoon. The first statedly engaged in this service was the Rev. THOMAS PORTER, for about four or five years. He 'was followed by the late Rev. JOSIAH THOMPSON, who preached several years at Bury-street, in the afternoon, after he went to reside in St. Mary Axe. Of both these ministers we shall have occasion to speak elsewhere, and therefore, forbear enlarging upon their characters in this place. After Mr. Thompson's removal to Clapham, the afternoon service in Bury-street was discontinued till 1779, when the use of the place for that portion of the Lord's-day was granted to the General Baptist Societies under the care of Mr. Joseph Brown, and Dr. Joseph Jeffries, till they removed to Worship-street, in 1781. BURY-STREET, ST. MARY AXE. -Independent. THOMAS BECK, the present minister of Bury-street meeting, was born in Bermondsey parish, Southwark, about the year 1755. His first serious impressions are said to have been received under the preaching of the Rev. John Langford, minister of a meeting in Blacksfields; but while he was an apprentice, he frequently attended public worship at the places in connexion with the late Rev. John Wesley. He began to preach before he was out of his time, and the sphere of his early labours is said to have been Kennington, near Newington, in the county of Surry. At his setting out in the ministry, he was extremely popular; and very soon had an invitation to Morpeth, in Northumberland. But this he declined, intending at that time to go to the Countess of Huntingdon's College at Trevecca; though through some means or other, his intention was never fulfilled. About 1776, or 1777, he had a chapel taken for him in Hermitage-street, Wapping; where he preached about a twelvemonth. After this, he was introduced to Mr. Whitefield's connexion, preached sometimes at the Tabernacle, and under the patronage of Mr. Keene, went frequently to Mitcham, and occasionally to Bristol. He also became acquainted with Dr. Peckwell, for whom he sometimes preached at Westminster chapel. From the Tabernacle connexion, he had a call to Gravesend, which he accepted, and continued there about nine years. While at this place, he published a sermon occasioned by the death of Mrs. Susannah Link, who died Jan. 30, 1781, aged 22 years. This we believe was the only sermon he ever printed. While at Gravesend, he also published an allegorical poem, entitled, "The Three Youths;" and an Elegy on the death of Dr. Peckwell. In the month of April, 1788, Mr. Beck was invited to succeed Dr. Savage, at Bury-street. The congregation was then in a very low state, and notwithstanding the attempts that have been made to revive it, has continued so ever since. BURY-STREET, ST. MARY AXE.-Independent. Some time after his settlement at Bury-street, Mr. Beck had an invitation from the church in East-Lane, Walworth, before Mr. Swain was chosen pastor. But this he declined. A few years ago he built a small chapel in his own garden at Deptford, where there is service every Lord's-day in the winter season, and three times in summer. Since his settlement in London, Mr. Beck has given to the public several specimens of his abilities as a poet. In 1795, he published, "The Passions taught by Truth; an allegorical Poem :" in which "the excellence of evangelical truth, in its application to the passions and interests of mankind, is clearly demonstrated, and embellished with much fertility and vivacity of imagination.' In the following year appeared "The Mission, a Poem;" and since then several Elegies as one for Dr. Hunter; another for Cowper, the poet; and a third for the late Rev. John Newton. In 1806, he presented the public with a small volume, of a satirical nature, entitled, "The Age of Frivolity; by Timothy Touch'em;" which came to a second edition in the following year. We understand he has another volume of Poems in the press, nearly ready for publication. There is a good endowment belonging to this church, and it would have been still more considerable had not part of the principal been sunk in the time of Dr. Savage, to defray the expences of repairs.+ • Evangelical Mag. for June, 1795, p. 256. + Private Information. CROSBY-SQUARE. INDEPENDENT.-EXTINCT. CROSBY-SQUARE, situated on the East side of Bi shopsgate-street, takes its name from Sir John Crosby, grocer and woolman, who erected a magnificent mansion on the site; Alice Ashfield, Prioress of St. Helen's, having granted him a lease of certain lands and tenements, for ninety-nine years, from 1466, at an annual rent of 111. 6s. 8d. The house was built of stone and timber, very large and beautiful, and the highest at that time in London. Sir John was sheriff and alderman of London, in 1470, knighted by Edward III. in the following year, and died in 1475— so short a time did he live to enjoy this stately structure›! In the reign of Edward V. it was the city residence of Richard Duke of Glocester, afterwards Richard III. who here contrived the measures that eventually secured him the crown, by dethroning his nephew, and murdering the two innocents in the tower. In 1542, Henry VIII. made a grant of these premises to Antonio Bonvici, a rich Italian merchant, who made them his residence. In the reign of Elizabeth, Crosby-House was appropriated to foreign ambassadors. Henry Ramelius, chancellor of Denmark, resided here in 1586, as did the ambassador of France. It was afterwards purchased by Sir John Spencer, alderman of London, who kept his mayoralty here, in 1594. The chief part of this noble structure has been long since pulled down, and the site built upon;, the hall mis-called Richard the IIId.'s chapel, still remains, and is very entire. It is a beautiful Gothic building, with a bow window on one side; VOL. I. U U CROSBY-SQUARE.-Independent, Extinct. the roof is of timber and much to be admired. In the reign of Charles the Second, it was appropriated to the Nonconformists, who occupied it as a meeting-house for upwards of a century. For the last thirty years it has been used for inferior purposes; and is at present occupied by a woolpacker. The Society assembling in Crosby-Square was collected soon after the act of Uniformity, by the Rev. Thomas Watson, the ejected minister of St. Stephen's, Walbrook. He was an eminent Presbyterian Divine, and laid the foundation of a very flourishing society. During the early part of the ministry of Dr. Grosvenor, the congregation was very large and rich, and, at one time, made the largest annual collection for the fund, of any Presbyterian church in London. But as the Doctor grew in years, he became incapacitated for active exertion, and a disorder in his palate contributed not a little to lessen his popularity, so that the congregation gradually declined; nor did the preaching of his successors ever succeed in causing a revival. At length, upon the expiration of the lease, in 1769, the church not finding itself in a condition sufficiently prosperous to warrant a renewal of it, agreed to dissolve; and the remaining members joined themselves to other societies. After this, a lease of the meetinghouse was taken by the well-known Mr. James Relly, who preached here to a Society of his own formation, till his death. With respect to the Presbyterian church, the following is, we believe, a pretty accurate list of the ministers who have been connected with it, whether as pastors or assistants. • Histories of London, by Strype, Maitland, and Pennant. |