nomination can be bought of the company; though the shares already purchased may be, and are, continually transferred from one person to another. This being the case, there is frequently a great disproportion between the original value of the shares and what is given for them when transferred; for, if there are more buyers than sellers, a person who is indifferent about selling will not part with his share without a considerable profit to himself; and, on the contrary, if many are disposed to sell, and few inclined to buy, the value of such shares will naturally fall, in proportion to the impatience of those who want to turn their stock into specie.

The real value of one stock above another, on account of its being more profitable to the proprietors, or any thing that will really, or only in imagination, affect the credit of a company, or endanger the government by which that credit is secured, must naturally have a considerable effect on the stocks. Thus, with respect to the interest of the proprietors a share in the stock of a trading company which produces 51. or 61. per cent. per annum, must be more valuable than an annuity with government security, that produces no more than 37. or 41. per cent. per annum; and consequently such stock must sell at a higher price than such an annuity.Though it must be observed, that a share in the stock of a trading company producing 5l. or 6l. per cent. per annum, will not fetch so much money at market as a government annuity producing the same sum, because the security of the company is not reckoned equal to that of government; and the continuance of their paying so much per annum, is more precarious, as their dividend is, or ought to be, always in proportion to the profits of their trade.

As the prices of the different stocks are continually fluctuating above and below par, so when a person, who is not acquainted with transactions of that nature, reads in the newspapers the prices of stocks, where Bank stock is marked perhaps 127, India ditto 134 a 1344, South Sea ditto 974, &c. he is to understand, that 100/. in those respective stocks sell at such a time for those several sums. X

× Fee 8.60.586

At the bottom of Bartholomew Lane is THROGMORTON STREET; which originally consisted of old and small tenements, till in the reign of Henry VIII. Thomas Cromwell, master of the Jewel House, and ultimately earl of Essex, erected a large and spacious mansion for his city residence.Stow mentions an act of agression by that great courtier, which does not redound in the least to his credit "This house," says he, "being finished, and having some reason. able plot of ground left for a garden, he caused the pales of the gardens adjoining to the north part thereof on a sudden to be taken down, twenty-two feet to be measured directly into the north of every man's ground, a line there to be drawn, a trench to be cast, a foundation laid, and an high brick wall to be built. My father had a garden there, and a house standing close to his south pale; this house they loosed from the ground, and carried on rollers into my father's garden twenty-two feet, before my father heard thereof; no warning was given, nor any other answer, when he heard thereof and spake to the surveyors of that work, but that their master, Sir Thomas, commanded them to do so. No man durst go to argue the matter, but each man lost his land; and my fa. ther paid his whole rent, which was 6s. and 8d. a year, for that half which was left. And so much of my own knowledge have I thought good to note, that the sudden rising of some men causeth them to forget themselves."

The manner in which Stow's house was removed, exhibits very strikingly the mode of habitation belonging to the lesser classes of citizens, which could not be very substantial, since they could be removed at pleasure, like the huts of the Rus sian peasantry. The extent of the liberty of the subject, in those days of arbitrary domination is also evidently ascertained.

After the attainder and execution of the earl of Essex, this house having been forfeited to the crown, was purchased by the Draper's Company, by whom it is now occupied.

DRAPERS' HALL.

This is a spacious and noble edifice, composing the four sides of a quadrangle, each of which is elevated on columns,

and

and adorned with arches, formed in a piazza round a square court; and between each arch is a shield, mantling, and other fret-work. On the east side is the common hall, the ascent to which is by a grand staircase, and it is adorned with a stately skreen and fine wainscot. On the skreen, between the two doors, hangs the picture, a three-quarter's length, of Henry Fitz-Alwine, a draper, and the first lord mayor of London; no doubt a fictitious likeness. At the north end of this room are the full length pictures of William III. in his stadtholder's under his royal robes, and of George I. and George II. in their royal robes. At the north-west angle of this room a door opens into another spacious room, called the Court Room, richly wainscoted and furnished: at the east end of this room hangs a picture of Mary queen of Scots, at full length, with her infant son, king James I. in her hand. This could not be drawn from the life, for Mary never saw her son after he was a year old. The picture has been engraved. From this court room another door, at the west end, opens into a long gallery, at the north end of which a folding sash door opens into a grand square room, called the Ladies Chamber, in which the time was that the company treated their wives and friends with a ball. In the centre of this room' hangs a large and beautiful chandelier, the gift of Sir Joseph Eyles, Knight. Here are besides portraits of Sir Joseph Sheldon, lord mayor, 1677, and of Sir Robert Clayton, lord mayor, 1680. The latter of these chief magistrates was an excellent character; he was a considerable benefactor to Christ's Hospital, and to St. Thomas's Hospital, Southwark. He is painted with a benevolent countenance, sit

ting in a chair.

The apartments allotted for the residence of the clerk are commodious and elegant, and underneath are offices for transacting business. These apartments fill up the front of this noble hall next the street. The front has been within few years newly coated, with a large arched gateway into the quadrangle, over which the armorial bearings of the company are very tastefully cut in stone; on each side are large

See his character, Vol. II. page 30.

globe

globe lamps, the tops of which are ornamented with tiaras, allusive to the heraldic cognizance of the DRAPERS.

At the north-west angle of the quadrangle is a paved passage to the gardens, over this passage, upon an arch built of brick and stone, and covered with a large back or cistern of water, is the Record Room, where the company keep their writings, books, aud papers, and their plate, which, for quantity and workmanship, is said to exceed all the services. of plate in other companies.

The gardens are pleasant and commodious, being open every day, except Sundays and rainy days, for the recreation of genteel citizens. The ground which they occupy is near a square; the middle is inclosed by iron rails, and laid out in grass beds, gravel walks, and borders of flowers, with a statue of Flora in the center. Without the rails are spacious walks, kept in good order, and agreeably shaded with rows of lime trees. At the south-west corner is a very handsome' pavilion for the accommodation of company in hot weather. Near the north-east angle is a very neat commodious house for the use of the upper beadle of the company. The north side lies open to Carpenters' Hall; and at the south-east angle is a privy garden, inclosed with walls, on the south side of which, under the ladies chamber, is a private room, elegantly furnished, where the managers, or ruling part of the company, hold their secret committees, or previous meetings, before matters are brought before a general court of livery or assistants.

This hall received very considerable injury by a fire that happened in Throgmorton Street, on the 8th of May, 1772; and though the company had the good fortune to save most of their valuables, yet they lost a grand lanthorn at the bottom of the hall stairs that cost upwards of 2001. The damage, however, received by this accident has been since repaired, and the building restored to its former grandeur.

THE DRAPERS' COMPANY

is the third of the twelve principal companies, and was incorporated by letters patent granted by Henry VI. in the

year

year 1439, by the title of "The Master, Wardens, Brethren and Sisters of the Guild or Fraternity of the Blessed Mary the Virgin, of the Mystery of Drapers of the City of London." The corporation is governed by a master, four wardens, thirty assistants, and a livery. There have been upwards of one hundred and twenty lord mayors members of this respectable company. They support FREE SCHOOLS at Barton under Needwood, Staffordshire; Stratford le Bow, Middlesex; Worsborough, Yorkshire; Kirkham and Goosnargh, Lancashire; and at Greenwich. ALMSHOUSES at Sir John Milbourne's, near Tower Hill; Beech Lane; Mr. Lambard's, at Greenwich (he was a member of the company); Stratford le Bow; Shoreditch; St. George's Fields; St. Mary Newington; Mile End; and Bancroft's, near Stratford le Bow. HOSPITAL at Workingham, Berkshire. LECTURES at St. Michael, Cornhill; St. Margaret, Lothbury; and an ARABIC LECTURE at Cambridge. EXHIBITIONS for a scholar at Cambridge, and at Oxford. This company expends in charitable donations above 4000l. annually.

Eastward of Drapers' Hall is

AUSTIN FRIARS.

This site, now covered by streets and houses, was formerly an eminent religious house, founded by Humfrey de Bohun, earl of Hereford and Essex, in the year 1252, during the reign of Henry III.; and afterwards re-edified in the year 1351 by his descendant, Humfrey de Bohun, earl of Hereford and Essex, lord of Brecknock, and constable of England, who was buried in the choir of the church in 1361, during the reign of Edward III. This was the chief residence of the Augustine friars in England. These friars came from Italy in 1252. The order was originally formed of several eremite congregations, which were dispersed under various names, and united by pope Alexander IV. They conformed themselves to the monastic rule of St. Augustine, bishop of Hippo, in Africa, under one principal or general governor of the fraternity, who established various regulations, and ordered that one habit should distinguish

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