HERALD'S COLLEGE,

St. Bennet's Hill. A brick edifice: the front is ornamented with rustic work, on which are placed four Ionic pilasters, supporting an angular pediment; the sides have arched pediments, also supported by Ionic pilasters. The north-west corner, a uniform quadrangle, was erected at the sole charge of Sir William Dugdale. Within is a large room for keeping the Court of Honour; and all the offices are spacious and convenient.

SION COLLEGE,

London Wall. Founded in the year 1625, on the site of Elsing Hospital, by the Rev. Dr. Thos. White, rector of St. Dunstan's in the West, for the improvement of the London clergy. The whole body of rectors and vicars within the city are fellows of this college, and all the clergy in and near London have free access to its extensive and valuable library. The edifice consists of plain brick buildings, surrounding a square court. In the hall and library are several curious portraits and other paintings. Under the library are almshouses for twenty poor persons.

WESTMINSTER SCHOOL,

Dean's Yard, Westminster. Founded in 1560, by Queen Elizabeth, for forty boys, called the "Queen's Scholars," who receive an education to prepare them for the university. Many of the sons of the first nobility and gentry are placed under the tuition of the masters and assistants of this school. Several very celebrated per-sons have at different periods presided over this estab

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lishment; among others, Camden, Author of the Britannia;" Dr. Richard Busby, famous for his classical knowledge and his severity; Dr. Markham, Archbishop of York; Dr. William Vincent, Author of the "Voyage of Nearchus ;" and Dr. Cary, Bishop of Exeter.

ST. PAUL'S SCHOOL,

St. Paul's Churchyard. Founded in 1509, by Dr. John Colet, Dean of St. Paul's, son of Sir Henry Colet, twice Lord Mayor of London. The present building consists of a centre and wings, ornamented with a colonnade; and was erected in 1829, from the designs and under the direction of Mr. George Smith, architect. The school is divided into eight classes or forms; and is under the superintendence of a master, an usher, and a chaplain. The Mercer's Company are the trustees and guardians.

MERCHANT TAILORS' SCHOOL,

Suffolk Lane, was founded in 1861. The present spacious fabric is supported on the east side by stone pillars, forming a handsome cloister, containing apartments for the ushers. Adjoining is the chapel, and a well-furnished library. Three hundred boys receive a classical education, one-third of them free, and the rest for a very small stipend. It sends several scholars annually to St. John's Oxford, in which there are fortysix fellowships belonging to it.

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CHAPTER XVII.

CITY HALLS.

The number of the City Companies comprising the Livery is eighty-one, of which forty-nine possess Halls, many of which are of a splendid and interesting character, and may be attractive to strangers; some being remarkable for their magnitude and architectural beauty, or from the paintings and antiquities they possess. Many of the Companies are extremely rich, possessing clear annual revenues of from thirty to forty, and fifty thousand pounds.

Hardwick. It is an imposing building of Portland stone, in the Italian style, the front having six noble Corinthian columns, over which is a rich entablature of the same order. It is considerably larger than the old hall, built shortly after the Great Fire, which stood on the same site, and was taken down in 1829.

The Goldsmiths' Company have the privilege of assaying all gold and silver plate before it can be exposed for sale. This office they were appointed to exercise by letters patent of Edward III., in which it is commanded that all work ascertained to be of the proper fineness shall have upon it "a stamp of a puncheon with a leopard's head." They are also required to assist at "the trial of the pix," that is, the examination of the coinage, for the purpose of ascertaining whether it is of the sterling weight and purity. The pix (from the Latin pyxis) is the box in which the coins to be weighed and analysed are contained. The jury of goldsmiths summoned usually consists of twentyfive, and they meet in a vaulted chamber on the east side of the cloisters at Westminster, called the Chapel of the Pix.

MERCHANT TAILORS' HALL,

Threadneedle Street. The entrance is by a large handsome gateway, above which are the arms of the company, finely executed on stone. Within are tapestry hangings, containing the history of their patron, St. John the Baptist, exceedingly curious. The great_hall is extensive, and from its size admirably adapted for public meetings, to which purpose it is occasionally applied. It contains the portraits of some eminent personages, and a charter granted to the company by Henry VII.

London Bridge. Erected in 1833 (a little to the west of the site of the former hall, built by Sir Christopher Wren, and which was taken down for the approaches to London Bridge).

It is faced with Portland stone; and there are three distinct fronts: that to the east, being the entrance front, consists of a range of attached columns in the centre, and two wings adorned with pilasters, with a lofty attic surmounting the entablature. The Thames Street front presents a receding centre and two projecting wings; and the River front is ornamented by a colonnade of granite, which supports a terrace. These fronts being all separate compositions, do not produce that unity of effect which would have been desirable.

Among other relics, the company possess a curiously carved wood statue of Sir William Walworth, grasping a dagger, said to be the identical one with which he slew Wat Tyler, in Smithfield.