"In this Prodigious Yeare, a Burning Fever,
Did seize our Mother and of Breath bereave her:
She both in Lechery [and Flames] did Burne ;
Her ashes lye in an neglected Vrne,

Till that her Sons, doe expiate her Crime
By serving King and Cuntry in this time.
How ere, her Scorched Carkas dont dispise ;
A Phoenix from her ashes will arise."

GRESHAM COLLEGE, BISHOPSGATE STREET.

Stow, after speaking of Bishopsgate, and of " one faire Conduit hard by, within the gate," proceeds thus: "from this Conduit have ye (amongst many faire tenements) divers fayre Innes, large for receit of travellers, and some houses for men of worship, namely, one most spacious of all thereabouts, builded of Bricke and Timber, by Sir Thomas Gresham, knight, who deceased in the yeere 1579, and was buried in S. Helen's Church, under a faire monument, by him prepared in his life hee appointed by his testament, this house to be made a Colledge of Readers."*

Sir Thomas Gresham was a merchant of preeminent celebrity, the worthy descendant of "the right worshipful, ancient, pious, loyal, and charitable family of Gresham, of Gresham, in Norfolk."+ Sir Richard, his father, and Sir John Gresham, his uncle,

"Survey of London," p. 332: edit. 1618.

+ Vide Pedigree, by Le Neve, quoted in Ward's "Lives of the Professors of Gresham College," App. p. 11.

(the former of whom was Lord Mayor of London in 1537, and the latter in 1547) were highly celebrated for their knowledge of mercantile affairs, and of the general interests of the kingdom, as connected with trade and commerce. To Sir Richard, who was agent to King Henry the Eighth, for negotiating his affairs in foreign parts, and particularly at Antwerp, during his French wars," the Citizens are indebted for the original thought of the Burse, or Exchange, the erection of which was eventually accomplished by his son Sir Thomas, the munificent and enlightened founder of Gresham College.*

* Pennant (whose inaccuracies are most glaringly obvious to those acquainted with our metropolitan annals, and whose work obtained its celebrity from the want of that knowledge of civic history, which is now so generally spread,) has affirmed that the "original hint" of erecting an Exchange, was given to Sir Thos. Gresham by Richard Clough, a Welshman (afterwards knighted), who, having been first the servant of Sir Thos. was advanced by him to be "his correspondent and agent, in the then emporium of the world, Antwerp." But the erroneousness of that statement will be evident from the following extracts of a Letter written by Sir Robert Gresham to the Lord Privy Seal (Sir Thomas Audeley) in July, 1531, viz." The last yeere I shewyd your lordshipe a Platte, that was drawen howte for to make a goodely burse in Lombert strette for merchantis to repayer unto. I doo suppose yt wyll coste two thousand pounds and more, wyche shall be very beautyfull to the citty, and allsoe for the honor of our soveraynge lord the kinge." He then recommends that letters from the " kyngs highness" should be sent to Sir George Moneux, the owner of certaine houses in Lombard street, commanding him to

Some short time after the completion and opening of the Burse, it was inspected by Queen Elizabeth (January 23d, 1570-71), who was so highly gratified by its appearance and apparent utility, that she caused it,"by an herralde and a trompet," to be proclaimed the Royal Exchange," and so to be called from thenceforth, and no otherwise." On that occasion, the Queen, with her attendant nobility, dined with Sir Thomas Gresham, at his dwelling house; and it is traditionally stated, that during the banquet, her loyal host drank to her Majesty's health in a glass of wine, into which a very costly pearl, reduced into powder, had previously been thrown. This circumstance is alluded to in an Historical play, printed in quarto, 1623, consisting of two parts; the first, representing the troubles of Elizabeth, during the reign of her sister, Queen Mary; and the second, the building of the Exchange, and defeat of the Spanish Armada :-Sir Thomas

says,

"Here fifteen hundred pounds at one slap goes. Instead of sugar, Gresham drinks this Pearle Unto his Queen and Mistress: pledge it Lords.***

sell the said houses to the City at the cost price, as without them" the sayd bursse cannot be made."-He further states, that if the houses are obtained, he doubts not "but to gather oon thousand pounds towarde the buldynge," ere he departs from his office. Sir Richard was then Sheriff.

* Vide Ward's "Lives," &c. pp. 12 and 16.-The tradition states, that the Pearl, which "on account of the price had been refused by several persons of the first quality," was purchased by Sir Thomas of a foreigner.