dean and chapter of St. Paul's, who have continued patrons to the present time. The original church is recorded to have been beautiful; but it became ruinous before the year 1460, when it was rebuilt; and that church continued till the fire in 1666 entirely consumed it and all its monuments, and made way for the present structure, the walls of which are of brick, strengthened with rustic work at the corners; and the body is well enlightened by a single series of large windows: at the east end, where the top is terminated by an arch, are three windows, one of them tall and upright, is bricked up; the two others circular: the pillars are Corinthian; here is also a good organ. The steeple is a tower, crowned with a turret, from which rises a kind of spire. It was begun in 1676, and finished in 1679. The length of this church is seventy feet, the breadth fifty, height forty-two, and the tower seventy five feet. Burials in the old church, according to Stow: Sir James Yarford, lord mayor of London, 1519, from which time the mayors were usually knighted. Sir John Ayliffe, surgeon and sheriff. Nicholas Bakhurst, sheriff. Sir Wolston Dixie lord mayor of the city of London, 1585. Sir Leonard Holyday, lord mayor, 1605, when the GunPowder treason was happily discovered. Sir John Gresham, lord mayor, 1574. MODERN MONUMENTS: On a grey marble grave stone, near the east end of the south aisle, this inscription: Here lyeth the Body of Sir Rowland Aynsworth, knight, whe departed this life the 14th of January, 1702, in the 48th Year of his Age. On a grey marble stone, at the south end of the altar-rail, an inscription, in memory of Paris and Elizabeth Slaughter. On a grey marble grave stone, at the east end of the middle aisle, this inscription: VOL. III. No. 62. Na H. S. E. H. S. E. Edwardus Smith, A. M. ubi per viginti & septem an nos Magistro suo Domino Jesu Christo cum æquabili & Humillima Pietate, rerum Divinarum debitâ administratione, concionibus assiduis & Exemplo Vitæ Fideliter famulatus est. Nemini molestus, omnibus Charus; Erat enim Ingenio miti & suavissimo, Viduam & unicum Filium post se reliquit. Externis rebus, satis beatus, Sed intus & animo miserè Mærentes. Quippe erat desideratissimus, & Maritus, & Pater. Obiit 22 Octob. A.D. MDCCI. Ætat. suæ 58. His arms are cut on the stone. In this church is also interred the body of JOHN Kirkman, Esq. alderman of Cheap Ward, and sheriff elect of London, in the year 1780. This gentleman, during the above troublesome year, when almost every one was afraid of doing his duty, headed a body of young citizens, afterwards denominated THE LONDON ASSOCIATION, and eventually preserved this great and opulent city from the destruction of an infatuated banditti. Mr. Alderman Kirkman's illness originated with a violent cold, caught when he headed the city volunteers during several rainy nights; the cold brought on a brain fever, which terminated in his dissolution, at Margate. The death of so worthy a citizen, when the suffrages of his fellow citizens had elected him member of parliament, was a shock for which they were not prepared. A public funeral was appointed on the 25th of September, and the greatest concourse of people almost ever known were assembled early in the afternoon in all the streets through which the procession was to pass, from the Obelisk in St. George's Fields to the church. About four o'clock the corpse arrived at the Obelisk, where it was received by the horse and foot London Association; the procession then began in the following order: Four staff-men on horseback. London Foot Association; their arms reversed. Twelve light horse volunteers. Board of feathers. Pall Band of music, playing the Dead March in Saul. An officer. The chief mourner's coach. Three other mourning coaches. Aldermen's coaches. Coaches of the election committee. In this manner they proceeded to Black-friars Bridge, where they were joined by the associations of the different wards of the city, by the lord mayor, aldermen Alsop, Crosby, Sawbridge, Lewes, Plomer, Hayley, Newnham, Clark, Hart, Wright, Pugh, Sainsbury, Kitchen, and Burnell, in mourning, and their coachmen and footmen with black silk hat-bands; also by Mr. Kirkman's committec, in deep mourning, in four coaches. In this manner they proceeded (the music playing in a solemn manner) up Ludgate Street, round St. Paul's, through Cheapside, King Street, to the end of Basinghall Street; at which place the coffin was taken out of the hearse, covered with a pall ornamented with escutcheons, and the gorget, shash, and white wand laid upon it. The London Horse Association dismounted, and some of them assisted as pall bearers. The lord mayor, aldermen, &c. also alighted at the same place, whence the cavalcade on foot, went to St. Michael's church, where they arrived about six o'clock. The London Foot Association lined the street, and when the funeral service was ended, fired three vollies over the grave. Mr. Kirkman was only thirty-nine years of age, though he had been an alderman twelve years; having been elected on the decease of Sir Samuel Fludyeṛ, in February 1768. Nn 2 Benefactors 1632 Mr John Lock gave to Christ Hospital the And twenty more of lesser note. Lower down, on the opposite side of the street, is situated GIRDLERS' HALL: A handsome and convenient building, finished in 1681, well wainscoted within, and adorned with a skreen of the Composite order, for transacting the affairs of the company, which was incorporated in the 27th of Henry VI. on the 6th of August, 1449; and were re-incorporated with the Pinners and Wire-drawers by queen Elizabeth, on the 12th of October, 1568, by the name of "The Master and Wardens or Keepers of the Art or Mystery of the Girdlers of London,' and is governed by a master, three wardens, and a court of assistants; it is also a livery company. Turning out of Basinghall Street at London Wall, we proceed westward to Aldermanbury, and notice SION COLLEGE, THE plot of ground on which this college was erected, had been formerly occupied by a nunnery; but being in a state of decay, William Elsynge, citizen and mercer of London, founded an hospital bearing his name, in the reign of Edward III. and the year 1329, for a warden, priest, and one hundred blind paupers. It was afterwards improved into a priory a priory of canons regular by the name of THE PRIORY OF ST. MARY OF ELSYNGE, the founder being the first prior. Upon the dissolution, 31 Henry VIII. it was valued at 1931. 15s. 5d. and granted to John Williams, Esq. afterwards Sir John, and ultimately Lord Williams of Thame; being also master of the king's jewels, who converted the hospital, with the lodgings of the prior and canons into a dwelling house; the church-yard he transformed into a garden plot, and the cloister he reduced to a gallery; whilst the apartments of the poor blind brethren were converted to stabling for horses. During Lord Williams's residence, on Christmas eve, 1541, an accidental fire broke out in the gallery, which burnt with such fierceness, that the whole house and other buildings were consumed, and several of the royal jewels were destroyed and embezzled. The house having been rebuilt, Margery, daughter of Lord Williams, and wife of Lord Norris, after the death of her father, conveyed the whole estate to Sir Rowland Hayward, alderman and lord mayor of London, for the sum of 700l. Sir Rowland's son, Sir John, sold it to Mr. Robert Parkhurst, alderman, reserving a quit rent and 4l. per annum, left by his father to the poor of St. Alphage, for ever. SION COLLEGE, built upon the site of the hospital and priory, owes its foundation to Dr. THOMAS WHITE, vicar of St. Dunstan in the West, Fleet Street, who directed by his will, dated October 1st, 1623, that 3000/. should be applied in building a college for the use of the London clergy, who were incorporated by Charles I. by the name of "THE PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF THE COLLEGE OF SION, WITHIN THE CITY OF LONDON;" and for almeshouses for twenty persons, ten men and ten women. For the endowment of which, Dr. White left 1601. per annum, of which the sum of 1201. per annum was appropriated to the almshouses; and the remaining 401. to the support of the common expenditures of the college; out of which, it was ordered that the clergy should have four annual dinners, and on those days quarterly, to have Latin sermons. The bishop of London was appointed visitor, by the char |