3. The figure of Time, with wings displayed, a scythe in his right hand, and an hour-glass in his left; at his foot is a cupid dormant, and under him a skeleton, eight feet long.

Near to the north-east corner of the Old Jewry stood the first synagogue of the Jews, which was destroyed in the massacre of that nation, when seven hundred Jews were murdered, and their goods spoiled by the citizens of London, in the year 1262, The site thereof was given by Queen Eleanor to the friars called de penitentia Jesus, or de Sacca, an order of begging friars, 56 Henry III. After whose suppression, by a decree of the council of Lyons, King Edward I. in the year 1305, granted leave to the said friars to assign unto Robert Fitz-Walter their chapel and church, of old time called the synagogue of the Jews, which near adjoined with its back front to the mansion place of the said Robert, now Grocers'-hall. The site of that synagogue, &c. after various alterations, is now partly covered with a good private dwelling house in front, and backward with a handsome capacious meeting-house of the presbyterian denomination; and with two alms-houses in Windmill-court, for nine poor widows of armourers and braziers, founded by Mr. Tindal, and endowed with six shillings per quarter, and nine bushels of coals annually: and with twenty shillings per quarter to those widows who are incapable of doing any business.

On this spot, in ancient times, stood a large stone building, erected on the site of the Jews' houses, which reached from the parish church of St. Olave to the north end of the Old Jewry, and from thence west to the north end of Ironmonger-lane; and from the corner of Ironmonger-lane, almost to the parish church of St. Martin; but of what antiquity, or by whom the same was built, or for what use, is un

certain ;

certain; more than that King Henry VI. in the sixteenth of his reign, gave the office of porter or keeper thereof to John Stent, for the term of his life, by the name of his principal palace in the Old Jewry. And King Richard III. committed the keeping of the prince's wardrobe (for so it was afterwards called) to his trusty servant John Kendall, his secretary, by his patent, dated December 12, 1483, and left him to dwell in the same. And in the third year of Edward VI, it was alienated from the crown, being called a great messuage, under the name of the Prince's Wardrobe, to which belonged divers houses, edifices, gardens, &c. being sold to Sir Anthony Cope, a privy councellor to that king, for sixty pounds, and in consideration of his services; the yearly value being reckoned at six pounds twelve shillings and four-pence.

Nearly opposite the north end of the Old Jewry is Coleman-street, which is a broad spacious street, and well inhabited by eminent merchants, and reputable tradesmen and shop-keepers. Near the north-east corner of this street stands Armourers' hall, which is an old plain brick building,

On the west side of this street, near the south end, stands the parochial church of St. Stephen, Coleman-street; so called from its dedication to St. Stephen, the protomartyr, and its situation.

This church is of great antiquity, and was origi nally a chapel belonging to the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's, who, between the years 1171, and 1181, granted the church of St. Olave, Jewry, toge ther with this chapel as an appendage to it, to the prior and abbot of Butley, in Suffolk.

This chapel was made parochial in the year 1456, but continued under the patronage of the prior and canons of Butley, till the suppression of that convent, when it came to the crown. However, in the

year

year 1577, Queen Elizabeth granted the patronage, together with the church and rectory, to Thomas Paskins, and others; and, in 1590, to William Daniel, serjeant at law, and other parishioners; which rectory impropriate, and right of advowson, have been held by the parish, in fee-farm of the crown, ever

since.

The old church sharing the common fate in the dreadful fire of London, the present structure was erected about four years after. It is a neat and solid building, principally of stone, strengthened with rustic at the corners, and enlightened by one series of large windows, with an handsome cornice, and has a very extensive roof, without a single pillar to support it. The steeple is a square tower, crowned with a lantern, which has four faces, and encloses a bell to call the parishioners to prayers. The front is adorned with a cornice, two pine-apples, and the figure of a cock, handsomely carved. The length of this church is seventy-five feet, its breadth thirty-five feet, the height of the roof, twenty-four feet, and that of the tower, sixty-five feet. On the north side is the church-yard, and on the south is a large pavement, that covers a burial vault, the whole length of the church. To this pavement there is an ascent by several steps, through a gate, over which is cut, in stone, a beautiful representation of the general resurrection.

Speaking of Lothbury, Stow says, "This street is possessed, for the most part, by founders, who cast candlesticks, chaffing-dishes, spice-mortars, and such like copper or latten wares, and do afterwards turn them with the foot, and not with the wheel, to make them smooth and bright, which turning and scratting, as some do term it, making a loathsome noise to the by-passers, that have not been used to the like, it is therefore. by them disdainfully called Lothbury."

This

This street is now well-built, and inhabited by merchants.

On the south side of it, at the east end, are the new buildings of the Bank, which occupy the whole of that side of the street, from Bartholomew-lane, farther west than the place where Princes-street formerly terminated.

Opposite to the west end of these buildings, is the parochial church of St. Margaret, Lothbury.

This church is so called from being dedicated to St. Margaret, a virgin saint of Antioch, who suf fered martyrdom in the reign of the Emperor Decius; and it received the additional epithet of Lothbury, from its situation, and to distinguish it from other churches dedicated to the same saint.

This church is a rectory, the foundation of which is of great antiquity, as appears from John de Haslingfield, who was presented to it, by the abbess and convent of Barking, in Essex, on the 16th of August, in the year 1303. The patronage continued in that convent till the general suppression ofreligious houses, when it fell to the crown, in whom it has continued to the present time.

The original church being greatly decayed by time, a new one was built in the year 1440; but that being destroyed by the general conflagration, the present edifice was erected in its stead, and completely finished in the year 1690. It is a plain, neat building, and is situated on the ancient watercourse of Wallbrook. It is sixty-six feet long, fifty-four broad, thirty-six in height, to the roof, and one hundred and forty feet to the top of the steeple. The body is well enlightened by a row of lofty windows, over which the wall is terminated by a balustrade, and the principal door is ornamented with Corinthian columns, which support an angular pediment. The tower has large windows in the uppermost stage, and is termi

nated