smith, lord mayor, in 1545, said to be by Holbein ; this gentleman presented the company with an elegant cup, which he received by right of his office, at the coronation of queen Elizabeth; it is still carefully preserved among their plate. Sir Hugh Myddleton, bart. the illustrious character, who expended his entire fortune in for warding the noble design of supplying the metropolis with water, by means of the New River. This is a fine picture, in the style of Vandyke. Sir Hugh is pourtrayed in a black habit, with his hand resting upon a shell: near him the words Fontes Fodina' are inscribed. He bequeathed a share in the New River to this company, for the benefit of its decayed members. Sir Thomas Viner, goldsmith, lord mayor in 1653; and Charles Hosier, esq. In the drawing-room, which is a large apartment, very handsomely decorated, is a full length portrait of his late majesty, George the Third; and a porrtait of the late T. Lane, esq. clerk of the com→ pany for upwards of 36 years. This portrait is also a full length, by sir W. Beechy, R.A. In another apartment is a large picture by Hudson, containing likenesses of s.x lord mayors, all goldsmiths, namely, sir Henry Marshall, lord mayor in 1745; William Benn, esq. 1747; John Blachford, esq. 1750; Robert Alsop, esq. 1752; Edmund Ironside, esq. and sir Thomas Rawlinson, both in 1754, the former having died during his mayoralty; these gentlemen are represented seated at a table, at which Blachford presides. The assay office, belonging to the Goldsmiths' company, adjoins to the hall on the south side, the front entrance being in Cary-lane.

On the west side of Foster-lane stood the parish church of St. Leonard, which was founded about the year 1236, by William Kirkham, dean of St. Martin's-le-Grand, in the court-yard of the collegiate church, for the use of the inhabitants of the sanctuary. It derived its name from its dedication to a French saint, and its situation was added to distinguish it from another church, dedicated to the same saint in Eastcheap.

It is a rectory, the patronage of which was anciently in the dean and canons of St. Martin's-le-Grand; in whom it continued till that deanery was annexed to the abbey of Westminster; the dean and chapter of which still possess it. The church not being rebuilt after the great fire in 1666, the parish was annexed to that of Christ church, Newgate-street. A portion of the east wall of this church remains on the west-side of Foster-lane; it will be destroyed when the new post-office is completed. On a building in the church-yard, before the ground was cleared, was a stone with the following inscription :—

BEFORE THE DREADFVLL

FIRE ANNO DOM 1666
HERE STOOD THE PARISH
CHVRCH OF ST. LENARD

FOSTER LANB

Opposite the north end of Goldsmiths' hall, in Maiden-lane, was a spacious house, with a large court-yard, handsomely paved with free-stone, formerly belonging to sir Thomas Bludworth, knt., lord mayor in 1666, and since to Richard Levet, esq. son of sir Richard Levet, knt., lord mayor in the year 1700; in which house he kept his mayoralty. It was afterwards rebuilt, and converted into an office for the Union Insurance against losses by fire. It is now in the occupation of Messrs. Neville, warehousemen.

The church of St. Mary Staining, or Stone church, before the fire in 1666, stood on the north side of Oat-lane. The reason why it received the additional epithet of Staining is very uncertain; some imagining it to be derived from the painter-stainers, who might probably live near it, while others suppose that it was originally called Stany, or Stony, from its being built with stone, to distinguish it from those in the city, built with wood, &c. This church not being rebuilt after the fire, the parish was united to that of St. Michael, Wood-street; but, in consideration of the small endowment of this parish, it was provided by the act which united them, that the patrons of St. Michael's should present twice in three times.

The advowson of this rectory was anciently in the prioress and convent of Clerkenwell, in whom it continued till their suppression by Henry VIII. when it came to the crown, in whom it still remains.

On the piers of the burying ground, in Oat-lane, opposite the north end of Staining-lane, are the following inscriptions cut on separate stones :—

WEST

Before the Dreadfull Fire
Anno Dom 1666,

Here stood the Parish Church
of St. Mary Stayning.

EAST.

This Church Yard Wall was
Repair'd and new Iron Gates

Erected Anno Dom. 1766.
ALEX. SUTTON Church-
ALEX. STRONGS wardens.

In Staining-lane, incorporated with the eastern wall of the buildings belonging to Leathersellers' hall are the remains of a strong wall built of flint and rough stones; and near to which is seen, above a low wooden porch, the gable of an old meeting-house, called Haberdashers'-hall chapel; the wall is built with red bricks; it has a large circular-headed window, and the parapet is broken in the style which preceded the improvements of sir Christopher Wren, and would almost lead to the belief that it was erected in the time of the commonwealth; the architect, however, in all probability, was a sted fast nonconformist, and probably rejected the architectural improvements brought about by the fire, as mere vanities.

Near the north end of Noble-street, on the east side, stands an extensive building, originally erected by the company of Scriveners.

for their hail; but, being reduced to low circumstances, they sold it to the company of Coachmakers, to whom it still belongs. They have let it for various purposes. It was once a debating society; and here lord George Gordon figured previous to the riots in the year 1780; afterwards it was opened by the Cecilian society, and Mrs. Billington, and many other eminent singers, occasionally performed here; and lastly, it was converted into warehouses and manufactories. The present occupiers of these extensive premises are Messrs. Holmes and Aubert, painter-stainers. In one of the rooms on the ground floor, probably that called the court-room, but now used as a counting-house, are the arms of the company of coach-makers within a gilt frame, and over the entrance a list of the benefactors to the company.

At the upper end of Fitche's court, near the last building, was, according to Maitland, 'an old timber house, where formerly Titchborn, some time alderman and lord mayor, dwelt. This house strangely escaped burning in the dreadful fire of London, when all the houses round it were quite consumed.' This house has been pulled down for a considerable time.

In this street, on the east side, was formerly the residence of sergeant Fleetwood.

The parish of Olave is a rectory, the small church of which stood at the south-west corner of Silver-street. Respecting its antiquity, Mr. Maitland says he could find no traces of it higher than 1593. The patronage of this church has been all along in the dean and chapter of St. Paul's, but subject to the archdeacon.

This church (which was situated on the south side of Silver-street, at the eastern corner of Noble-street) being consumed in the great fire of 1666, was not rebuilt.

At the entrance to the burying ground is a stone, bearing the following inscription, beneath a skull and cross bones.

THIS WAS THE PARISH CHVRCH
OF ST. OLAVE, SILVER STREET,
DESTROY'D BY THE DREADFVLL
FIRE IN THE YEARE 1666.

Bull and Mouth-street, a small part of which is in this ward, takes its name from an inn standing in it, and formerly known by the sign of Boulogne Mouth, or Harbour, of which the present appellation is a corruption.* At the corner of this street, in Aldersgate-street, was the city mansion of the earls of Northumberland. In the seventh year of his reign, king Henry VI. gave this house, with the tenements thereunto belonging, to his queen Jane, and it then acquired the appellation of her wardrobe.

Anciently the kings of England lodged here. A writ of king Edward I. was dated hence: Thomas de Clirowe de Blechweth captus et detent in prisona north. pro transgr. forrest, habet eras Rogero de Ĉliford Justic. Forrest. citra Trentam, quod

• So called from the harbour of that name to which Henry VIII. laid siege.

ponatur per ballium. Dat. apud S. Martinum Magnum, London, 20 die Octobris.

The Brethren of the Holy Trinity of St. Botolph without

Aldersgate.

In St. Botolph's church in 1378, the 48th of Edward III. a brotherhood of St. Fabian and St. Sebastian was founded, which was subsequently confirmed by Henry IV. in the 6th of his reign. The brothers and sisters of the fraternity were to find seven tapers of 21lb. of wax, to be lighted all seven on feast days, at all hours of the day, in the worship of God, his mother and Sts. Fabian and Sebastian, and of Allhallows, and on Sundays; on other common feasts, two to be lighted at high mass.

It appears, from the chartulary of this religious guild, in the possession of Mr. Hone,* that their landed property was considerable, and consisted of houses in Aldersgate-street, the Barbican, Lamb-alley, Fanchurch-street, and Long-lane; one of these was held on the annual payment of a rose, others in fee. They were proprietors of the Saracen's Head-inn, and the Falcon-on-the-Hoop brewery. In the 14th year of king Richard II. sir Rauff Kesteven, parson of St. Botolph, and the two churchwardens, granted a lease for twenty years to John Hertyshorn, of the Saracen's Head, with the appurtenances, at the yearly rent of ten marks; the appurtenances were two houses adjoining on the north side, and were included in that rental as worth eight shillings each by the year, and one on the south side, was valued at ten shillings. In the xxj yer of kyng Harry the vjte.,' the brethren received, For the rent of ij yere of Wyll'm Wylkyns, for the Sarresyn head vli. vjs. viijd. paynge by the yer liiijs. iiijd.'—and of the Fauconon-the-hope, for the same ij yer vili. that is to say, payng by the yer iijli.; but the same year they demised the Falcon brewhouse to Robert Halle and John Walpole, brewers, for four years, at eighty-four shillings per annum. Six years before, there is, in the churchwardens' account, an item for kerving and peinting of the seigne of the Faucon, vis.'

The account of their pageantry is very curious. In the accounts of the wardens for the x yer of king Harry the vtje.,' there is the charge of an item to the wexchaundeler, for making of the sepulcr', lyght iij tymes, and of other dyuers lyghts, that longyn to the Trinite, in dyu's places in the chirche, Ivijs. xd.' a large sum in those times, and must have produced a prodigious illumination. They also possessed a blake palle of blake damaske, with a white crosse, a staynede bordere with the fyve wondys of owre lorde, and a border of blak, with the kyng's armys and estryge ffethers conteyning' in len'th iij ells, iij q'rt'rs.

An account of this chartulary is printed by Mr. Hone in his Ancient Mys teries Described, &c.' 8vo. 1823.

It, Rolle of velom', cou'ed with a goldeskyn, contenyng diu'se pagents paynted and lemenyd with gold, that is to say of the holy Trinite, Seynt Fabyan, and Seynt Sebastyan, and Seynt Botulff; and the last pagent of the terement, and gen'all obyte, of the brether'n & suster'n, that be passed to God; with clayne obseruances & prayers, to stere the peple to the more devocion toward' the seyde bretherhode."

A myssall, new bounde, with derys leder, garnysshed wyth sylk; whereof the seconde lefe begynneth Asp' git aqua bened'ta, with claspys & burdons, weying iiij vnc.' iij c'r't and a half.

'A chaleys of sylver and gilt, with a crucifyx' in the fote, & a pateyn' to the same, with the Trinite enamelyd, weying xxv vnc'.

"A keybande of derys leder, wyth a keveryng of cheverell, wyth purses thereuppon', garnysshed, conteyning iij keyes, made and ordeyned alwey to be in the kepyng of the maist' for tyme beyng, accordyng to the statut's and ordenaunces thereof made, as it apperith in this blake boke, the xxxj lefe.

'A Blake Registre boke,* with a kalender, in the which is writen the dedes, testaments', wylles, evidences, and other writyng's, conc'nying' the ly velode of the breth'hode; & there registred for the well and more surete of the same.'

There does not appear in their registers any thing like a portion › which of the Scriptures; except we consider their myssall,' was most likely overlaid by prayers to saints, notices of indulgences, &c.

In the list of this fraternity appear the following names: 'Thos de Berkyng, Abbas de Seynt Osyes. Joh'es Roos, Armiger. GalD'us Joh'es Watford, P'or s'ti' Barthi fra Paynell, Armiger. Ric's Lancastre, Rex de Armis. Will's Yrby, Armiger. P'or s'ti Barthi. Rogerus Audelby, Rector de White Chapell. D'us Joh'es Newport, Rector de Grascherche.'

In the 2nd Henry V. Ric'us Deerh'm, Ep'us laudau' was the master of the brotherhood.

This fraternity was of some celebrity; for John Heywood, in his 'Four P's, a very merry enterlude of a Palmer, a Pardoner, a Poticary, and a Pedler,' brings in the Palmer relating that in his pilgrimages he has been at different parts of the world, and in enumerating them, he says,

'At Saint Botulphe and Saint Anne of Buckstone

Praying to them to pray for me

Unto the blessed Trinitie."

This is the book from which Mr.

Hone makes his extracts.

+ Dodsley' Old Plays, edit 1744, vol. 1, p. 88.