, who is emptying a large vase, and near him is an
anchor and cable. On London's left is Plenty, kneeling and pouring out
fruit from a cornucopia, and behind Plenty are two naked boys with bales
of goods, as emblems of Commerce. The complaint is that the principal
figures are too large, and crowd the rest, who, compelled to grow
smaller and smaller, seem sheltering from the rain.

Beneath the portico are two series of windows, and above these there
used to be an attic storey for the servants, generally known as "the
Mayor's Nest," with square windows, crowned with a balustrade. It is now
removed.

The Mansion House is an oblong, has an area in the middle, and at the
farthest end of it is situated the grand and lofty Egyptian Hall (so
called from some Egyptian details that have now disappeared). This noble
banquet-room was designed by the Earl of Burlington, and was intended to
resemble an Egyptian chamber described by Vitruvius. It has two
side-screens of lofty columns supporting a vaulted roof, and is lit by a
large west window. It can dine 400 guests. In the side walls are the
niches, filled with sculptured groups or figures, some of the best of
them by Foley. "To make it regular in rank," says the author of "London
and its Environs" (1761), "the architect has raised a similar building
on the front, which is the upper part of a dancing-gallery. This rather
hurts than adorns the face of the building." Near the end, at each side,
is a window of extraordinary height, placed between complex Corinthian
pilasters, and extending to the top of the attic storey. In former times
the sides of the Mansion House were darkened by the houses that crowded
it, and the front required an area before it. It has been seriously
proposed lately to take the Poultry front of the Mansion House away, and
place it west, facing Queen Victoria Street. In a London Guide of 1820
the state bed at the Mansion House, which cost three thousand guineas,
is spoken of with awe and wonder.

There are, says Timbs, other dining-rooms, as the Venetian Parlour,
Wilkes's Parlour, &c. The drawing-room and ball-room are superbly
decorated; above the latter is the Justice-room (constructed in 1849),
where the Lord Mayor sits daily. In a contiguous apartment was the state
bed. There is a fine gallery of portraits and other pictures. The
kitchen is a large hall, provided with ranges, each of them large enough
to roast an entire ox. The vessels for boiling vegetable