When he was sheriff in 1777," says Mr. Timbs, "he took Dr.
Johnson to a judges' dinner at the Old Bailey, the judges being
Blackstone and Eyre." The portrait of Chamberlain Clarke, in the Court
of Common Council in Guildhall, is by Sir Thomas Lawrence, and cost one
hundred guineas. There is also a bust of Mr. Clarke, by Sievier, at the
Guildhall, which was paid for by a subscription of the City officers.

Alderman Boydell, mayor in 1790, we have described fully elsewhere. He
presided over Cheap Ward for twenty-three years. Nearly opposite his
house, 90, Cheapside, is No. 73, which, before the present Mansion House
was built, was used occasionally as the Lord Mayor's residence.

Sir James Saunderson (Draper), from whose curious book of official
expenses we quote in our chapter on the Mansion House, was mayor in
1792. It was this mayor who sent a posse of officers to disperse a
radical meeting held at that "caldron of sedition," Founders' Hall, and
among the persons expelled was a young orator named Waithman, afterwards
himself a mayor.

1795-6 was made pleasant to the Londoners by the abounding hospitality
of Sir William Curtis, a portly baronet, who, while he delighted in a
liberal feast and a cheerful glass, evidently thought them of small
value unless shared by his friends. Many years afterwards, during the
reign of George IV., whose good graces he had secured, he went to
Scotland with the king, and made Edinburgh merry by wearing a kilt in
public. The wits laughed at his costume, complete even to the little
dagger in the stocking, but told him he had forgotten one important
thing--the spoon.

In 1797, Sir Benjamin Hamet was fined L1,000 for refusing to serve as
mayor.

1799. Alderman Combe, mayor, the brewer, whom some saucy citizens
nicknamed "Mash-tub." But he loved gay company. Among the members at
Brookes's who indulged in high play was Combe, who is said to have made
as much money in this way as he did by brewing. One evening, whilst he
filled the office of Lord Mayor, he was busy at a full hazard table at
Brookes's, where the wit and dice-box circulated together with great
glee, and where Beau Brummel was one of the party. "Come, Mash-tub,"
said Brummel, who was the _caster_, "what do you _set_?" "Twenty-five
guineas," answered the alderman. "Well, then," returned the beau, "have
at the mare's pony" (twenty-five guineas). The beau continued to throw
until he drove home the brewer's twelve ponies running, a