LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FACING PAGE THE MANSION HOUSE Frontispiece CHURCH OF ST. LAWRENCE JEWRY AND FRONT OF THE GUILDHALL THE MARTYRS' MEMORIAL, SMITHFIELD 16 22 32 STAPLE INN, LOOKING TOWARD HOLBORN Nooks and Corners of Old London ONE WITHIN SOUND OF Bow BELLS AID the Italian sculptor Canova, "Gladly Swould I Jouliney to London it only to see Somerset House, St. Paul's and St. Stephen's, Walbrook." Just behind the Mansion House, in the ancient by-way called Walbrook, stands hidden away the church of St. Stephen's, Walbrook, planned by Sir Christopher Wren. Its name recalls one of the little streams of the London of centuries ago, called the Brook by the Wall. Outwardly the only thing to take notice of is the shop which has been built into its side, and it is a surprise to note its lofty dome as seen from within. The Corporation was very proud of St. Stephen's when it was first built, and after many expressions of gratitude as to the skill and economy evidenced by the great architect, presented Lady Wren with a purse of ten guineas. On the tower of the Royal Exchange rests a great gilded grasshopper, eleven feet in length, put up when the Exchange, founded by Sir Thomas Gresham, was built. It has been there for more than three hundred years. The Great Fire of 1666 destroyed the building, but the metal grasshopper was rescued from the ruins and raised above the dome when a new structure was erected. In 1838 the Exchange was again burned, but the tower on which the emblem rests was saved. The grasshopper was believed to cast a spell of enchantment, insuring riches and good fortune, at least so the old Romans used to think. Close by the Mansion House the street called Poultry ends. This homely name has clung to it for more than three hundred years, ever since the poulterers had their chief market here. Where the house numbered 31 stands, Thomas Hood, who wrote the "Bridge of Sighs," was born in 1799. Elaborate terra cotta panels on the house No. 14, commemorate the royal processions that passed through Poultry in 1546, 1561, 1660 and 1844. The thoroughfare called Old Jewry was occupied by the Jews whom William I. brought over from Rouen, and came by its name from a synagogue which was located in this street up to the time of the persecution of the Jews in 1291. Bucklersbury enters from the south where Poultry ends and Cheapside begins, taking its name from the Bukerels, quite a famous family of the 13th century, one member of whom was made the Lord Mayor. The thoroughfare was for centuries a market place for fruits and herbs, and here dealers in medicines and drugs had their shops. In "The Merry Wives of Windsor," Shakespeare tells of those who smell like Bucklersbury in simple time. At this end of Bucklersbury there stood, in the middle of the road, set up in 1285, the Great Conduit or cistern, round, and of stone, to which water was brought underground in leaden pipes from Paddington. Beside the Great Conduit, Jack Cade, the Kentish rebel, beheaded Lord Say, the king's favourite. Here Lady Jane Grey was proclaimed queen, here DeFoe was put in the |