Two days afterwards, Admiral Montagu was invested with the George and Garter, on board his own ship, as General Monck had also been, at Canterbury, on the preceding day. The King entered London on his birth day, May the 29th; and "with him, says Evelyn, in his "Diary," under that date, "a triumph of above 20,000 horse and foote, brandishing their swords and shouting with inexpressible joy; the wayes strew'd with flowers, the bells ringing, the streetes hung with tapissry, fountaines running with wine; the Maior, Aldermen, and all the Companies in their liveries, chaines of gold, and banners: Lords and Nobles clad in cloth of silver, gold, and velvet; the windowes and balconies all set with ladies; trumpets, music, and myriads of people flocking, even so far as from Rochester, so as they were seven houres in passing the Citty, even from 2 in y' afternoone till 9 at night.

"I stood in the Strand and beheld it," continues Evelyn," and blessed God."

DRAPERS' COMPANY, AND HALL.

The Drapers' Company, although an ancient fraternity, or guild, was not incorporated till 1439, when Henry the Sixth granted them a charter, under the style of "The Master, Wardens, Brethren and Sisters of the Guild or Fraternity of the blessed Mary, the Virgin, of the mystery of Drapers," &c. It is governed by a Master, four Wardens, and a Court of Assistants. About a hundred Lord Mayors are recorded to have been members of this respect

able community; and the names of many other eminent persons are enrolled among its freemen.

DRAPERS' HALL, which is situated in Throgmorton-street, near its junction with Broad-street, was erected on the site of a large mansion, that had been built in the time of Henry VIII. "in the place of olde and small tenements," by Thomas Cromwell, Mayster of the King's Jewel-house," and afterwards Earl of Essex. Cromwell's house, which he had thus constructed for a City residence, was subsequently purchased by the Drapers, and made their "Common Hall;" till about the period of the Great Fire, which was here stopped in its progress northward. The present edifice, which was built partly on the site of the ancient mansion, consists of a spacious quadrangle, enclosing an open court, having a broad arcade, or piazza, surrounding it. The buildings are chiefly of brick, but the entrance front, in Throgmorton street, is highly enriched with ornamental stone-work, and has an air of much elegance. Over the gateway is a large sculpture of the Drapers' Arms, in which, however, the supporters are erroneously represented as lions instead of leopards. A frieze and cornice, the former displaying lions' heads, rams'

The Drapers? Arms are, azure, three clouds proper, radiated, or, each surmounted by a triple crown, of the last, supported by Leopards; crest, a ram couchant: motto, "Unto God only be the Honour and Glory." The arms were granted by Sir William Bruges, knt. Garter King at Arms: the crest and supporters by William Harvey, Clarencieux, in 1561.

heads, &c. in small circles, with various other architectural decorations, are likewise exhibited on this front, which was built by the Adams' architects, about fifty years ago, shortly after a disastrous fire that broke out in the vaults beneath the Hall (which had been let as a storehouse) had destroyed a considerable part of the building, together with many houses in Austin Friars.

On the eastern side of the quadrangle is the Hall, the ascent to which is by an elegant staircase, coved, and highly embellished with stucco-work, gilding, &c. The Hall is a magnificent apartment: the ceiling is divided into numerous compartments, chiefly circular, displaying in the centre, Phœbus in his car, and surrounding him, the signs of the Zodiac and other enrichments. Above the Screen, which is a stately piece of workmanship, curiously carved, is a very masterly painting of the great Nelson, by Sir. William Beechey, who received 400 guineas for executing it, from this Company. Over the Master's Chair is a half-length, on pannel, of Henry FitzAlwyn, Fitz-Leofstan, the first Mayor of London, whom the Drapers claim as a member of their own Community, in contradiction to Stow and other writers, who describe him as belonging to that of the Goldsmiths.

In the Court Room, another apartment of great elegance, which was re-built at the same period as the Hall, is the interesting picture assumed to represent Mary, Queen of Scots, and James, her son, afterwards King of England, when a child of four or

five years of age. This painting is ascribed to Zucchero, but by what means it came into the possession of this Company, is uncertain.* It exhibits the interior of a matted room, wherein is a beautiful Lady with a laced ruff, and a close black habit, elegantly decorated her hair is light coloured; in her left hand is a book her right hand is placed on the head of a little boy, arrayed in a reddish-coloured vest, of a closely-wrought pattern, and holding a flower. They are both standing; and on a table, near them,

I was informed, by the late Mr. Smith, an aged Solicitor to the Drapers' Company, that the tradition of the house was, that the above Picture had been thrown over the garden wall into the Company's premises during the Fire of London, and never afterwards owned. Other particulars concerning it may be seen in the 48th and 49th volumes of the Gentleman's Magazine. It has been cleaned and copied by Spiridione Roma, and was engraved by Bartolozzi. An objection to the authenticity of this painting, as representing the Queen of Scots, has been raised from "the hair of the Lady being light coloured, whilst, in most of the genuine portraits of the Queen, her hair is dark or black. There is, however, a passage in Haynes's" State Papers," p. 511, which renders that objection nugatory: speaking of Mary, when a prisoner at Tutbury, the writer says, "She is a goodly personage; hath an alluring grace, a pretty Scottish speech, a searching wit, and great mildness. Her hair of itself is black, but Mr. Knolls told me, that she wears hair of sundry colours." Another and stronger objection is, that this unfortunate Queen, whose beauty, talents, and errors, have engaged the pen of so many able writers, never saw her son after he was a twelvemonth old; and, consequently, they could not have been painted together, as here represented.