few years afterwards. The buildings are of brick, and surround a square court, paved; the front being ornamented with stone corners wrought in rustic, and a large arched entrance, which exhibits a high pediment, supported on Doric columns, and open at the top, to give room for a shield of the Company's arms.* The Hall itself, which is on the east side of the court, is a spacious and lofty apartment, paved with black and white marble, and most elegantly fitted up. The wainscotting is very handsome, and the ceiling and its appendages are richly stuccoed; an enormous flower adorning the centre, and the City and Goldsmiths' arms, with various decorations, appearing in its other compartments. A richly carved screen, with Composite pillars, pilasters, &c. a balustrade with vases, terminating in branches for lights, (between which are displayed the banners and flags used on public occasions,) and a beaufet of considerable size, with white and gold ornaments, form part of the embellishments of、 this splendid room.

The balustrade of the stair-case is elegantly carved, and the walls exhibit numerous reliefs of scrolls, flowers, and instruments of music. The Court Room is another richly wainscotted apartment, and the ceiling is loaded with embellishments, which give it a grand, though somewhat heavy effect. The chimneypiece is of statuary marble, and very sumptuous; the sides being adorned with male caryatides, and the whole enriched by scrolls, grapes, &c. Above it is a painting of St. Dunstan, the Patron saint of the Company, in conversation with the Holy Virgin, having in the back ground a representation of the Saint burning the Devil's nose, as described in the ancient le

The Goldsmiths' arms, are quarterly, gules and azure, in the first and fourth, a Leopard's head, Or, in the second and third, a cup covered, between two buckles, all of the last crest, a demy Goldsmith, in the dress of Elizabeth's reign, his right hand sustaining a pair of scales, his left hand holding an ingot; supporters, unicorns; motto, " To God only be all Glory." The crest and supporters, were granted by Robert Cooke, Clarencieux,

in 1571.

gend, when assailed by the fiend with temptation. Here, also, are the following portraits: Sir Martin Bowes, Goldsmith, Lord Mayor in 1545, said to be by Holbein; this gentleman presented his Company with an elegant Cup, (still carefully preserved among their plate,) which is thought to have been originally a Royal gift. Sir Hugh Middleton, Bart. the illustrious character, who expended his entire fortune in forwarding 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 Fodine' 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 Ball Room, which is a large apartment, very handsomely decorated, is a portrait of his Majesty, George the Third: in another apartment is a large picture by Hudson, containing likenesses of six 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.

This affluent Community is governed by a Prime, and three other Wardens, and a numerous Court of Assistants. Its revenues are very considerable; and its disbursements for charitable purposes, are stated to amount to more than 10001. annually: this sum is principally expended in the support of Alms-houses and Free-schools. Before the business of BANKING became a regular trade, about the middle of the seventeenth century, and also for many years afterwards, the Goldsmiths were the chief Bankers, their general opulence occasioning them to be regarded

as

as the most trust-worthy of the various classes of Tradesmen, that inhabited the City.

THE SKINNERS' COMPANY was incorporated by Edward the Third, in the year 1327, by the appellation of the Master and Wardens of the Guild or Fraternity of the body of Christ, of the Skinners of London.' At that period, the Skinners, who had long formed a very affluent and respectable class of citizens, were divided into two brotherhoods, one at St. Mary Spital, the other at St. Mary Bethlehem, but Richard the Second, in his eighteenth year, consolidated the two bodies, and Henry the Sixth, in 1438, confirmed their former grants, and directed that every person when admitted to the freedom of the Company, should in future be presented to the Lord Mayor; this custom is still observed.*

The Skinners' Company was particularly flourishing when sables, lucerns, and other rich furs were accustomed to be worn by the Monarchs, Nobility, and Gentry of England; but as commerce extended in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, other garments came into use, and the trade declined. Henry Lane, a correspondent of Hackluit, the collector of Voyages, in a Letter written in 1567, remarks, that it was " a great pity but it [the wearing of furs] should be renewed; especially in Courts and among Magistrates, not only for the restoring of an old worshipful Art and Company, but also because they are for our climate wholesome, delicate, grave, and comely, expressing dignity, comforting age, and of long continuance; and better with small cost

In the times of Catholic superstition, it was customary for the Company of Skinners, to make a grand procession through the principal streets of the City on Corpus Christi day in the afternoon, in which, says Stow's Continuator> Munday, were borne more than one hundred torches of wax (costly garnished, burning light,) and above two hundred Clerks and Priests in surplices and copes, singing: after which came the Sheriffs' servants, the Clerks of the Compters, Chaplains for the Sheriffs, the Mayor's Serjeants, the Councell of the City, the Mayor and Aldermen in scarlet, and then the Skinners in their best liveries." Stow's Sur. p. 248. Edit. 1633.