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61 Whitechappell. = 'Till within memory the district north
of the High Street was one of the very worst localities in London;
a region of narrow and filthy streets, yards and alleys, many of
them wholly occupied by thieves' dens, the receptacles of stolen
property, gin-spinning dog-holes, low brothels, and putrescent
lodging-houses,--a district unwholesome to approach and unsafe for
a decent person to traverse even in the day-time. '--Wh-C.

=1. 1. 61, 2 and so to Saint Kathernes. =
=To drinke with the Dutch there, and take forth their patternes. =
Saint Kathernes was the name of a hospital and precinct without
London. The hospital was said to have been founded by Queen
Matilda, wife of King Stephen. In _The Alchemist_ (_Wks. _ 4.
161), Jonson speaks of its having been used 'to keep the better
sort of mad-folks. ' It was also employed as a reformatory for
fallen women, and it is here that Winifred in _Eastward Ho_ (ed.
Schelling, p. 84) finds an appropriate landing-place.
From this hospital there was 'a continual street, or filthy
strait passage, with alleys of small tenements, or cottages,
built, inhabited by sailors' victuallers, along by the river of
Thames, almost to Radcliff, a good mile from the Tower. '--Stow,
ed. Thoms, p. 157.

The precinct was noted for its brew-houses and low drinking
places. In _The Staple of News_ Jonson speaks of 'an ale-wife in
Saint Katherine's, At the Sign of the Dancing Bears' (_Wks. _ 5.
226). The same tavern is referred to in the _Masque of Augurs_
as well as 'the brew-houses in St. Katherine's. ' The sights of
the place are enumerated in the same masque.

The present passage seems to indicate that the precinct was largely
inhabited by Dutch. In the _Masque of Augurs_ Vangoose speaks a sort
of Dutch jargon, and we know that a Flemish cemetery was located here
(see Wh-C). Cf. also Sir Thomas Overbury's _Character of A drunken
Dutchman resident in England_, ed. Morley, p.