ishop of Winchester,
Lord Privy Seal, on his right hand; and on his left, Robert Willoughby,
Lord Broke, then Lord Steward of the Household. In niches are shown the
statues of Edward III. and John of Gaunt, the king's ancestors. In the
foreground the clerk of the Company is exhibiting the roll with the
names of the kings, &c., who were free of this Company. In the
background are represented the banners of the Company and of the City of
London. The Yeomen of the Guard, at the entrance of the palace, close
the view. On the staircase are likewise pictures of the following Lord
Mayors, Merchant Taylors:--Sir William Turner, 1669; Sir P. Ward, 1681;
Sir William Pritchard, 1683; and Sir John Salter, 1741.

The interior of the "New Hall, or Taylors' Inne," was adorned with
costly tapestry, or arras, representing the history of St. John the
Baptist. It had a screen, supporting a silver image of that saint in a
tabernacle, or, according to an entry of 1512, "an ymage of St. John
gilt, in a tabernacle gilt." The hall windows were painted with armorial
bearings; the floor was regularly strewed with clean rushes; from the
ceiling hung silk flags and streamers; and the hall itself was
furnished, when needful, with tables on tressels, covered on feast days
with splendid table linen, and glittering with plate.

The Merchant Taylors have for their armorial ensigns--Argent, a tent
royal between two parliament robes; gules, lined ermine, on a chief
azure, a lion of England. Crest--a Holy Lamb, in glory proper.
Supporters--two camels, or. Motto--"Concordia parvae res crescunt."

The stained glass windows of the old St. Martin Outwich, as engraven in
Wilkinson's history of that church, contain a representation of the
original arms, granted by Clarencieux in 1480. They differ from the
present (granted in 1586), the latter having a lion instead of the Holy
Lamb (which is in the body of the first arms), and which latter is now
their crest.

One of the most splendid sights at this hall in the earlier times would
have been (says Herbert), of course, when the Company received the high
honour of enrolling King Henry VII. amongst their members; and
subsequently to which, "he sat openly among them in a gown of crimson
velvet on his shoulders," says Strype, "_a la mode de Londres_, upon
their solemn feast day, in the hall of the said Company."

From Merchant Taylors' Hall began the famous cavalcade of the archers,
under their leader, as Duke of