his tenement and tavern in the highway, at the corner of Keirion Lane. Richard Chawcer was buried here in 1348. After the Fire, the parishes of St. Mary Aldermary and St. Thomas the Apostle were united; and as the advowson of the latter belonged to the cathedral church of St. Paul's, the presentation is now made alternately by the Archbishop of Canterbury and by the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's." "Crooked Lane," says Cunningham, "was so called of the crooked windings thereof." Part of the lane was taken down to make the approach to new London Bridge. It was long famous for its bird-cages and fishing-tackle shops. We find in an old Elizabethan letter "At my last attendance on your lordship at Hansworth, I was so bold to promise your lordship your lordship's fine bird to live in than that she was in when I was there, which by this bearer I trust I have performed. It is of the best sort of building in Crooked Lane, strong and well-proportioned, wholesomely provided for her seat and diet, and with good provision, by the wires below, to keep her feet cleanly." (Thomas Markham to Thomas, Earl of Shrewsbury, Feb. 17th, 1589.) express condition that the new spire should resemble the old one of Keeble's. The old benefactor of St. Mary's was not very well treated, for no monument was erected to him till 1534, when his son-in-law, William Blount, Lord Mountjoy, laid a stone reverently over him. But in the troubles following the Reformation the monument was cast -down, and Sir William Laxton (Lord Mayor in 1534) buried in place of Keeble. The church was destroyed in the Great Fire, but soon rebuilt by Henry Rogers, Esq., who gave £5,000 for the purpose. An able paper in the records of the London and Middlesex Archæological Society states that "the tower is evidently of the date of Kebyll's work, as shown by the old four-centre-headed door leading from the tower into the staircase turret, and also by the Caen stone of which this part of the turret is built, which has indications of fire upon its sur-to send you a much more convenient house for face. The upper portion of the tower was rebuilt in 1711; the intermediate portion is, I think, the · work of 1632; and if that is admitted, it is curious as an example of construction at that period in an older style than that prevalent and in fashion at the time. The semi-Elizabethan character of the - detail of the strings and ornamentation seems to - confirm this conclusion, as they are just such as might be looked for in a Gothic work in the time · of Charles I. In dealing with the restoration of the church, Wren must have not only followed the · style of the burned edifice, but in part employed the old material. The church is of ample dimensions, being a hundred feet long and sixty-three feet broad, and consists of a nave and side aisles. The ceiling is very singular, being an imitation of fan tracery executed in plaster. The detail of this is most elaborate, but the design is odd, and, being an imitation of stone construction, the effect is very unsatisfactory. It is probable that the old roof was of wood, and entirely destroyed in the Fire; consequently no record of it remained as a guide in the rebuilding, as was the case with the clustered pillars, which are good and correct in form, and only mongrel in their details. In some of the furniture of the church, such as the pulpit and the carving of the pews, the Gothic style is not followed; and in these, as in the other parts where the great master's genius is left unshackled, we perceive the exquisite taste that guided him, even to the minutest details, in his own peculiar style. The sword-holder in this church is a favourable example of the careful thought which he bestowed upon his decoration. 1 . The sword-holder is almost universally found in the City churches. ... Amongst the gifts to this church is one by Richard Chawcer (supposed by Stow to be father of the great Geoffrey), who gave "The most ancient house in this lane," says Stow, "is called the Leaden Porch, and belonged some time to Sir John Merston, Knight, the 1st Edward IV. It is now called the Swan in Crooked Lane, possessed of strangers, and selling of Rhenish wine.” "In the year 1560, July 5th," says Stow, "there came certain men into Crooked Lane to buy a gun or two, and shooting off a piece it burst in pieces, went through the house, and spoiled about five houses more; and of that goodly church adjoining, it threw down a great part on one side, and left never a glass window whole. And by it eight men and one maid were slain, and divers hurt." In St. Michael's Church, Crooked Lane, now pulled down, Sir William Walworth was buried. In the year in which he killed Wat Tyler (says Stow), "the said Sir William Walworth founded in the said parish church of St. Michael, a college, for a master and nine priests or chaplains, and deceasing 1385, was there buried in the north chapel, by the quire; but this monument being amongst others (by bad people) defaced in the reign of Edward VI., was again since renewed by the Fishmongers. This second monument, after the profane demolishing of the first, was set up in June, 1562, with his effigies in alabaster, in armour richly gilt, by the Fishmongers, at the cost of William Parvis, fishmonger, who dwelt at the 'Castle,' in New Fish Street." The epitaph ran thus :— aldermen had taken upon them to turn out of the Common Council men at their pleasure; and that the Mayor and superiors of the City had deposed Walter Henry from acting in the Common Council, because he would not permit the rich to levy tollages upon the poor, till they themselves had paid their arrears of former tollages; upon which Sir John Gisors, some time Lord Mayor, and divers of the principal citizens, were summoned to attend the said justices, and personally to answer to the accusations laid against them; but, being themselves under the difficulty of the time. Gerard's Hall, Basing Lane, Bread Street (re-conscious of guilt, they fled from justice, screening moved for improvements in 1852), and latterly an hotel, was rebuilt, after the Great Fire, on the site of the house of Sir John Gisors (Pepperer), Mayor in 1245, Henry III. The son of the Mayor was Mayor and Constable of the Tower in 1311, Edward II. This second Gisors seems to have got into trouble from boldly and honestly standing up for the liberties of the citizens, and his troubles began after this manner. In the troublesome reign of Edward II. it was ordained by Parliament that every city and town in England, according to its ability, should raise and maintain a certain number of soldiers against the Scots, who at that time, by their great depredations, had laid waste all the north of England as far as York and Lancaster. The quota of London to that expedition being 200 men, it was five times the number that was sent by any other city or town in the kingdom. To meet this requisition the Mayor in council levied a rate on the city, the raising of which was the occasion of continual broils between the magistrates and freemen, which ended in the Jury of Aldermanbury making a presentation before the Justices Itinerant and the Lord Treasurer sitting in the Tower of London, to this effect:-"That the commonalty of London is, and ought to be, common, and that the citizens are not bound to be taxed without the special command of the king, or without their common consent; that the Mayor of the City, and the custodes in their time, after the common redemption made and paid for the City of London, have come, and by their own authority, without the King's command and Commons' consent, did tax the said City according to their own wills, once and more, and distrained for those taxes, sparing the rich, and oppressing the poor middle sort; not permitting that the arrearages due from the rich be levied, to the disinheriting of the King and the destruction of the City, nor can the Commons know what becomes of the monies levied of such taxes." How long Sir John Gisors remained absent from London does not appear; but probably on the dethronement of Edward II. and accession of Edward III., he might join the prevailing party and return to his mansion, without any dread of molestation from the power of ministers and favourites of the late reign, who were at this period held in universal detestation. Sir John Gisors died, and was buried in Our Lady's Chapel, Christ Church, Faringdon Within, Christ's Hospital. Later in that century the house became the residence of Sir Henry Picard, Vintner and Lord Mayor, who entertained here, with great splendour, no less distinguished personages than his sovereign, Edward III., John King of France, the King of Cyprus, David King of Scotland, Edward the Black Prince, and a large assemblage of the nobility. "And after," says Stow, "the said Henry Picard kept his hall against all comers whosoever that were willing to play at dice and hazard. In like manner, the Lady Margaret his wife did also keep her chamber to the same effect." We are told that on this occasion "the King of Cyprus, playing with Sir Henry Picard in his hall, did win of him fifty marks; but Picard, being very skilled in that art, altering his hand, did after win of the same king the same fifty marks, and fifty marks more; which when the same king began to take in ill part, although he dissembled the same, Sir Henry said unto him, My lord and king, be not aggrieved; I court not your gold, but your play; for I have not bid you hither that you might grieve;' and giving him his money again, plentifully bestowed of his own amongst the retinue. Besides, he gave many rich gifts to the king, and other nobles and knights which dined with him, to the great glory of the citizens of London in those days." Gerard Hall contained one of the finest Norman crypts to be found in all London. It was not an ecclesiastical crypt, but the great vaulted warehouse of a Norman merchant's house, and it is especially They also complained that the said Mayor and mentioned by Stow. "On the south side of Basing Lane," says Stow, in Walbrook Ward, destroyed in the Great Fire, "is one great house of old time, built upon arched and not rebuilt. It occupied part of the site vaults, and with arched gates of stone, brought of the Mansion House, and derived its name from Caen, in Normandy. The same is now a from a beam for weighing wool that was kept there common hostrey for receipt of travellers, commonly till the reign of Richard II., when customs began and corruptly called Gerrarde's Hall, of a giant to be taken at the Wool Key, in Lower Thames said to have dwelt there. In the high-roofed hall of Street. Some of the bequests to this church, as this house some time stood a large fir-pole, which mentioned by Stow, are very characteristic. Elihu reached to the roof thereof, and was said to be one Fuller: "Farthermore, I will that myn executor of the staves that Gerrarde the giant used in the shal kepe yerely, during the said yeres, about the wars to run withal. There stood also a ladder of tyme of my departure, an Obit—that is to say, the same length, which (as they say) served to Dirige over even, and masse on the morrow, for ascend to the top of the staff. Of later years this my sowl, Mr. Kneysworth's sowl, my lady sowl, hall is altered in building, and divers rooms are and al Christen sowls." One George Wyngar, by made in it; notwithstanding the pole is removed his will, dated September 13 1521, ordered to to one corner of the room, and the ladder hangs be buried in the church of Woolchurch, "besyde broken upon a wall in the yard. The hostelar of the Stocks, in London, under a stone lying at my that house said to me, 'the pole lacketh half a Lady Wyngar's pew dore, at the steppe comyng up foot of forty in length.' I measured the compass to the chappel. Item. I bequeath to pore maids' thereof, and found it fifteen inches. Reasons of the mariages £13 6s. 8d; to every pore householder pole could the master of the hostrey give none; of this my parish, 4d. a pece to the sum of 40s. but bade me read the great chronicles, for there Item. I bequeath to the high altar of S. Nicolas he had heard of it. I will now note what myself Chapel £10 for an altar-cloth of velvet, with my hath observed concerning that house. I read that name brotheryd thereupon, with a Wyng, and G John Gisors, Mayor of London in 1245, was owner and A and R closyd in a knot. Also, I wold thereof, and that Sir John Gisors, Constable of the that a subdeacon of whyte damask be made to the Tower 1311, and divers others of that name and hyghe altar, with my name brotheryd, to syng in, family, since that time owned it. So it appeareth on our Lady daies, in the honour of God and our that this Gisors Hall of late time, by corruption, Lady, to the value of seven marks." The following hath been called Gerrarde's Hall for Gisors' Hall. epitaph is also worth preserving:The pole in the hall might be used of old times (as then the custom was in every parish) to be set up in the summer as a maypole. The ladder served for the decking of the maypole and roof of the hall." The works of Wilkinson and J. T. Smith contain a careful view of the interior of this crypt. There used to be outside the hotel a quaint gigantic figure of seventeenth century workmanship. In 1844 Mr. James Smith, the originator of early closing (then living at W. Y. Ball and Co.'s, Wood Street), learning that the warehouses in Manchester were closed at one p.m. on Saturday, determined to ascertain if a similar system could not be introduced into the metropolis. He invited a few friends to meet him at the Gerard's Hall. Mr. F. Bennock, of Wood Street, was appointed chairman, and a canvass was commenced, but it was feared that, as certain steam-packets left London on Saturday afternoon, the proposed arrangement might prevent the proper dispatch of merchandise, so it was suggested that the warehouses should be closed "all the year round" eight months at six o'clock, and four months at eight o'clock. This arrangement was acceded to. "In Sevenoke, into the world my mother brought me ; In 1850, among the ruins of a Roman edifice, at eleven feet depth, was found in Nicholas Lane, near Cannon Street, a large slab, inscribed "NUM. CES. PROV. BRITA." (Numini Cæsaris Provincia Britannia). In 1852 tesselated pavement, Samian. ware, earthen urns and lamp, and other Roman vessels were found from twelve to twenty feet deep near Basing Lane, New Cannon Street. According to Dugdale, Eudo, Steward of the Household to King Henry I. (1100-1135), gave the Church of St. Stephen, which stood on the west side of Walbrook, to the Monastery of St. John at Colchester. In the reign of Henry VI. Robert Chicheley, Mayor of London, gave a piece of ground on the east side of Walbrook, for a new church, 125 feet long and 67 feet broad. It was in this church, in Queen Mary's time, that Dr. Feckenham, her confessor and the fanatical Dean St. Mary Woolchurch was an old parish church of St. Paul's, used to preach the doctrines of the old faith. The church was destroyed in the Great Fire, and rebuilt by Wren in 1672-9. The following is one of the old epitaphs here: "This life hath on earth no certain while, Example by John, Mary, and Oliver Stile, Who under this stone lye buried in the dust, And putteth you in memory that dye all must." The parish of St. Stephen is now united to that of St. Bennet Sherehog, Pancras Lane, the church of which was destroyed in the Fire. The cupola of St. Stephen's is supposed by some writers to have been a rehearsal for the dome of St. Paul's. "The area formed by the columns and their entablature and the cupola which covers it. The columns are raised on plinths. The spandrels of the arches bearing the cupola present panels containing shields and foliage of unmeaning form. The pilasters at the chancel end and the brackets on the side wall are also condemned. The windows in the clerestory are mean; the enrichments of the meagre entablature clumsy. The fine cupola is divided into panels ornamented with palm-branches and roses, and is terminated at the apex by a circular lantern-light. The walls of the church are plain, and disfigured," interior," says Mr. Godwin, "is certainly more worthy of admiration in respect of its general arrangement, which displays great skill, than of the details, which are in many respects faulty. The body of the church, which is nearly a parallelogram, is divided into five unequal aisles (the centre being the largest) by four rows of Corinthian columns, within one intercolumniation from the east end. Two columns from each of the two centre rows are omitted, and the area thus formed is covered by an enriched cupola, supported on light arches, which rise from the entablature of the columns. By the distribution of the columns and their entablature, an elegant cruciform arrangement is given to this part of the church. But this is marred in some degree," says the writer, "by the want of connection which exists between the square says Mr. Godwin, "by the introduction of those disagreeable oval openings for light so often used by Wren." The picture, by West, of the death of St. Stephen is considered by some persons a work of high character, though to us West seems always the tamest and most insipid of painters. The exterior of the building is dowdily plain, except the upper part of the steeple, which, says Mr. Godwin, slightly resembles that of St. James's, Garlick Hythe. The approach to the body of the church is by a flight of sixteen steps, in an enclosed porch in Walbrook quite distinct from the tower and main building. Mr. Gwilt seems to have considered this church a chef-d'œuvre of Wren, and says: "Had its materials and volume been as durable and extensive as those of St. Paul's Cathedral, Sir |