nlargement of Princes Street. For ground which had cost the Grocers, in
1433, only L31 17s. 8d., they received from the Bank of England more
than L20,000.

The Hall was often lent for dinners, funerals, county feasts, and
weddings; and in 1564 the gentlemen of Gray's Inn dined there with the
gentlemen of the Middle Temple. This system breeding abuses, was limited
in 1610.

In the time of the Commonwealth, Grocers' Hall was the place of meeting
for Parliamentary Committees. Among other subjects there discussed, we
find the selection of able ministers to regulate Church government, and
providing moneys for the army; and in 1641 the Grand Committee of Safety
held its sittings in this Hall.

[Illustration: INTERIOR OF GROCERS' HALL.]

In 1648 the Grocers had to petition General Fairfax not to quarter his
troops in the hall of a charitable Company like theirs. In 1649 a grand
entertainment was given by the Grocers to Cromwell and Fairfax. After
hearing _two_ sermons at Christ's Church, preached by Mr. Goodwin and
Dr. Owen, Cromwell, his officers, the Speaker, and the judges, dined
together. "No drinking of healths," says a Puritan paper of the time,
"nor other uncivill concomitants formerly of such great meetings, nor
any other music than the drum and trumpet--a feast, indeed, of
Christians and chieftains, whereas others were rather of Chretiens and
cormorants." The surplus food was sent to the London prisons, and L40
distributed to the poor. The Aldermen and Council afterwards went to
General Fairfax at his house in Queen Street, and, in the name of the
City, presented him with a large basin and ewer of beaten gold; while to
Cromwell they sent a great present of plate, value L300, and 200 pieces
of gold. They afterwards gave a still grander feast to Cromwell in his
more glorious time, and one at the Restoration to General Monk. On the
latter feast they expended L215, and enrolled "honest George" a brother
of the Company.

The Grocers' Hall might never have been rebuilt after the Great Fire, so
crippled was the Company, but for the munificence of Sir John Cutler, a
rich Grocer, whom Pope (not always regardful of truth) has bitterly
satirised.

Sir John rebuilt the parlour and dining-room in 1668-9, and was rewarded
by "a strong vote of thanks," and by his statue and picture being placed
in the Hall as eternal records of the Company's esteem and gratitude.
Two years later Grocers' Hall was granted to the parishioners o