Hatton, in his "New View of London," 1708, gives, the boundary of the _Rules_, and also descants on the pleasantness of the Prison, as an abode. "Fleet Prison, situate on the East side of the Ditch, between Ludgate Hill and Fleet Lane, but the Rules extend Southward on the East side of Fleet Canal to Ludgate Hill, and thence Eastward to Cock Ally on the South side of Ludgate Hill, and to the Old Bayly on the North, and thence Northward in the Old Bayley both sides the Street, to Fleet Lane, and all that Lane, and from the West End, southward to the Prison again. It is a Prison for Debtors from any part of the Kingdom, for those that act or speak any thing in contempt of the Courts of Chancery and Common Pleas; and for the pleasantness of the Prison and Gardens, and the aforesaid large extent of its Rules, it is preferred before most other Prisons, many giving Money to turn themselves over to this from others."
[Footnote 108: Equal in our currency to about three times the amount.]
[Footnote 109: Reports of Cases, &c., by Sir James Dyer (ed. 1794) vol. ii. p. 204 a.]
Things got so bad that Parliament ordered a Committee to inquire into it, and they began their sitting in Feb. 25, 1729. But, previously, the prisoners had petitioned the Lord Chief Justice and other justices without effect, and those petitions with Huggins' (who was the Warden) replies were published in a folio pamphlet, which contains much information.[110] The first petition was in 1723, and it was mainly addressed to the extortions of the Master, the sixth Article alledging that the fees exacted by the Warden were in excess of those settled by Law, Nov. 14, 1693--instanced as follows:
Warden. Legal. For liberty of the House and Irons at first coming in £2 4 4 1 6 8 Chaplain 0 2 0 Entering every Name and Cause 0 0 4 Porter's fee 0 1 0 0 1 0 Chamberlain's Fee 0 3 0 0 1 0 The Dismission Fee for every Action 0 12 6 0 7 4 Turnkey's Dismission 0 2 6 --------------- £3 5 4 £1 16 4 ====== =======
The eleventh prayer of this Petition was, "And lastly, that for the better suppressing Prophaneness and Immorality among us, and that the Misery of Imprisonment may in some measure be alleviated by the Observance of good Manners, Cleanliness, and Quietude, we humbly pray your Lordships would enable us to regulate our selves in such Manner as the Prisoners in the King's Bench are empowered to do by a Rule of that Court, 20 _die post festim Sanctæ Trinitatis_. 11 Anne."