f St.
Mildred as a chapel till their own church could be rebuilt. The garden
turret, used as a record office, was fitted up for the clerk's
residence, and a meeting place for the court; and, "for better order,
decorum, and gravity," pipes and pots were forbidden in the court-room
during the meetings.

At Grocers' Hall, "to my great surprise," says vivacious Pennant, "I met
again with Sir John Cutler, Grocer, in marble and on canvas. In the
first he is represented standing, in a flowing wig, waved rather than
curled, a laced cravat, and a furred gown, with the folds not
ungraceful; in all, except where the dress is inimical to the sculptor's
art, it may be called a good performance. By his portrait we may learn
that this worthy wore a black wig, and was a good-looking man. He was
created a baronet, November 12th, 1660; so that he certainly had some
claim of gratitude with the restored monarch. He died in 1693. His
kinsman and executor, Edmund Boulton, Esq., expended L7,666 on his
funeral expenses. He served as Master of the Company in 1652 and 1653,
in 1688, and again a fourth time."

In 1681 the Hall was renovated at an expense of L500, by Sir John Moore,
so as to make it fit for the residence of the Lord Mayor. Moore kept his
mayoralty here, paying a rent of L200. It continued to be used by the
Lord Mayors till 1735, when the Company, now grown rich, withdrew their
permission. In 1694 it was let to the Bank of England, who held their
court there till the Bank was built in 1734. The Company's present hall
was built in 1802, and repaired in 1827, since which the whole has been
restored, the statue of Sir John Cutler moved from its neglected post in
the garden, and the arms of the most illustrious Grocers of antiquity
set up.

The Grocers' charities are numerous; they give away annually L300 among
the poor of the Company, and they have had L4,670 left them to lend to
poor members of the community. Before 1770, Boyle says, the Company gave
away about L700 a year.

Among the bravest of the Grocers, we must mention Sir John Philpot,
Mayor, 1378, who fitted out a fleet that captured John Mercer, a Scotch
freebooter, and took fifteen Spanish ships. He afterwards transported an
English army to Brittany in his own ships, and released more than 1,000
of our victualling vessels. John Churchman, sheriff in 1385, was the
founder of the Custom House. Sir Thomas Knolles, mayor in 1399 and 1410,
rebuilt St. Antholin's, Watling Str