the 'George,' in Bred Street, he
gave to the salters; they to find a priest in the said church, to have
six pounds thirteen and fourpence the year. To every preacher at St.
Paul's Cross, and at the Spittle, he left fourpence for ever; to the
prisoners of Newgate, Ludgate, from rotation to King's Bench, in
victuals, ten shillings at Christmas, and ten shillings at Easter for
ever," which legacies, however, it appears, were not performed.

CHAPTER XXX.

CHEAPSIDE TRIBUTARIES, NORTH.

Goldsmiths' Hall--Its Early Days--Tailors and Goldsmiths at
Loggerheads--The Goldsmiths' Company's Charters and Records--Their
Great Annual Feast--They receive Queen Margaret of Anjou in State--A
Curious Trial of Skill--Civic and State Duties--The Goldsmiths break
up the Image of their Patron Saint--The Goldsmiths' Company's
Assays--The Ancient Goldsmiths' Feasts--The Goldsmiths at
Work--Goldsmiths' Hall at the Present Day--The Portraits--St.
Leonard's Church--St. Vedast--Discovery of a Stone
Coffin--Coachmakers' Hall.

In Foster Lane, the first turning out of Cheapside northwards, our first
visit must be paid to the Hall of the Goldsmiths, one of the richest,
most ancient, and most practical of all the great City companies.

The original site of Goldsmiths' Hall belonged, in the reign of Edward
II., to Sir Nicholas de Segrave, a Leicestershire knight, brother of
Gilbert de Segrave, Bishop of London. The date of the Goldsmiths' first
building is uncertain, but it is first mentioned in their records in
1366 (Edward III.). The second hall is supposed to have been built by
Sir Dru Barentyn, in 1407 (Henry IV.). The Livery Hall had a bay window
on the side next to Huggin Lane; the roof was surmounted with a lantern
and vane; the reredos in the screen was surmounted by a silver-gilt
statue of St. Dunstan; and the Flemish tapestry represented the story of
the patron saint of goldsmiths. Stow, writing in 1598, expresses doubt
at the story that Bartholomew Read, goldsmith and mayor in 1502, gave a
feast there to more than 100 persons, as the hall was too small for that
purpose.

From 1641 till the Restoration, Goldsmiths' Hall served as the Exchequer
of the Commonwealth. All the money obtained from the sequestration of
Royalists' estates was here stored, and then disbursed for State
purposes. The following is a description of the earlier hall:--

"The buildings," says Herbert, "were of a fine red br