Rothschilds, the greatest people on 'Change, occupy a pillar on the south side of the Exchange. In the open space before the west front of the Royal Exchange is a colossal equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington by Sir Francis Chantrey. The first Royal Exchange was founded by Sir Thomas Gresham ; the first stone was laid June 7, 1566, and the building opened by Queen Elizabeth in person, January 23, 1570-1571. The Queen's Majesty, attended with her nobility, came from her house at the Strand called Somerset House, and entered the city by Temple Bar, through Fleet Street, Cheap, and so by the north side of the burse, through Threedneedle Street, to Sir Thomas Gresham's house in Bishopsgate Street, where she dined. After dinner her Majesty, returning through Cornhill, entered the burse on the south side; and after that she had viewed every part thereof above the ground, especially the pawn, which was richly furnished with all sorts of the finest wares in the city, she caused the same burse, by a herald and trumpet, to be proclaimed “The Royal Exchange," and so to be called from thenceforth, and not otherwise.-Stow. After the Royal Exchange, which is now [1631] called the Eye of London, had been builded two or three years, it stood in a manner empty; and a little before her Majesty was to come thither to view the beauty thereof, and to give it a name, Sir Thomas Gresham, in his own person, went, twice in one day, round about the upper pawn, and besought those few shopkeepers then present that they would furnish and adorn with wares and wax-lights as many shops as they either could or would, and they should have all those shops so furnished rent free that year, which otherwise at that time was 40s. a shop by the year; and within two years after he raised that rent unto four marks a year; and within a while after that he raised his rent of every shop unto £4:10s. a year, and then all shops were well furnished according to that time; for then the milliners or haberdashers in that place sold mouse-traps, bird-cages, shoeing-horns, lanthorns, and Jews' trumps, etc. There were also at that time that kept shops in the upper pawn of the Royal Exchange, armourers that sold both old and new armour, apothecaries, booksellers, goldsmiths, and glass-sellers, although now [1631] it is as plenteously stored with all kinds of rich wares and fine commodities as any particular place in Europe, into which place many foreign princes daily send to be best served of the best sort. -Howes, ed. 1631, p. 869. The materials for the construction of the Exchange were brought from Flanders, or, as Holinshed has it, Gresham "bargained for the whole mould and substance of his workmanship in Flanders," and a Flemish builder of the name of Henryke was employed.1 October 26, 1570.-Sir Thomas Gresham to Cecil. Requests a special license for a ship to go to Flanders with alabaster, as he had a special license for transportation of his stores from Antwerp to his Burse.-Cal. Eliz., p. 394. In general design the Exchange was not unlike the Burse at Antwerp -a quadrangle, with a cloister running round the interior of the building, a corridor or pawn above, and attics or bedrooms at the top. Just. Phew! excuses! You must to the Pawn to buy lawn; to St. Martin's for lace, etc.-Westward Ho! (1607), vol. ii. p. 1. On the south or Cornhill front 1 Burgon's Life of Gresham, vol. ii. p. 115. 2 Bahn (German), Baan (Dutch), a path or walk. These were divided into stalls, and formed a kind of bazaar. In 1712 there were 160 stalls was a bell-tower, and on the north let at a yearly rent of £20 and £30 each (Burgon, vol. ii. p. 513). These were all vacant in 1739, when Maitland published his History of London (Maitland, p. 467). a lofty Corinthian column, each surmounted by a grasshopper-the crest of the Greshams. The bell, in Gresham's time, was rung at twelve at noon and at six in the evening.1 In niches within the quadrangle, and immediately above the cloister or covered walk, stood the statues of our kings and queens, from Edward the Confessor to Queen Elizabeth. James I., Charles I., and Charles II. were afterwards added. Charles I.'s statue was thrown down immediately after his execution, and on the pedestal these words were inscribed in gilt letters, Exit tyrannus Regum ultimus-"The tyrant is gone, the last of the Kings." Hume concludes his History of Charles I. with this little anecdote of City disaffection, which no doubt was in Addison's mind when he made his Tory fox-hunter satisfied that the London merchants had not turned republicans "when he spied the statue of King Charles II. standing up in the middle of the crowd, and most of the Kings in Baker's Chronicle ranged in order over their heads." 2 According to the valuation made at Gresham's death The Royal Exchange with all Howses, Buildings, Pawnes, Vawtes, and Proffittes thereof, amounte to the clere yearely vallew of £751: 5s. per ann. over all chardges and reprises.3 Of this, the first or Gresham's Exchange, there are two curious contemporary views in the library of the Society of Antiquaries at Burlington House. A still more interesting view, representing a full Exchange-High 'Change, as Addison calls it-was made in 1644 by Wenceslaus Hollar. It is true to Dekker's description of the Exchange in 1607. "At every turn," says Dekker, "a man is put in mind of Babel, there is such a confusion of languages." Hollar has given the picturesque dresses of the foreign merchants. There was then no necessity for printed boards to point out the particular localities set apart for different countries. The merchants of Amsterdam and Antwerp, of Hamburgh, Paris, Venice, and Vienna, were unmistakably distinguished by the dresses of their respective nations. The places of business were at this time distinguished by signs. On January 11, 1635, Cromwell addressed a letter ("Oliver's first extant letter," as Carlyle notes) "To my very loving friend Mr. Storie, at the Sign of the Dog in the Royal Exchange, London." Gresham's Exchange was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666. Pepys describes its appearance as "a sad sight, nothing standing there of all the statues or pillars, but Sir Thomas Gresham in the corner." When the Royal Exchange was destroyed a second time by fire (January 10, 1838), the statue of Sir Thomas Gresham escaped again uninjured. The second Exchange was designed by Edward Jarman or Jerman, the City surveyor. This also, like the Exchange of Gresham, was a quadrangular building, with a clock-tower of timber on the south or Cornhill front; its inner cloister, or walk; its pawn above, for the sale 3 Strype, Second App., p. 6. 1 Burgon, vol. ii. p. 345. 2 Freeholder, June 1, 1716. of fancy goods, gloves, ribbons, ruffs, bands, stomachers, etc;1 and its series of statues (placed in niches as before) of our kings and queens, from Edward I. downwards, carved for the most part by Caius Gabriel Cibber, father of Colley. Later were added the first two Georges by Rysbrack, the third George by Wilton, and George IV. Gresham's statue was by Edward Pierce, and the statue of Charles II., in the centre of the quadrangle, by Grinling Gibbons.2 Jarman's Exchange, which is said to have cost £58,962, was destroyed by fire, January 10, 1838. In excavating for the new Royal Exchange the workmen came upon a remarkable hole measuring 50 feet by 34, which had apparently been a gravel pit in the time of the Romans, but closed and built over some time before they left the island. Numerous Roman remains, fragments of pottery, knives, combs, sandals, and other articles of domestic and personal use were found in it, apparently thrown there when worn out or broken. These were carefully collected by Mr. Tite (who drew up and printed an elaborate Descriptive Catalogue of them), and are now in the City Museum, Guildhall. Royal Exchange Buildings, facing the east front of the Royal Exchange, were built in 1846 from the designs of the late Edward I'Anson. The ground is the property of Magdalen College, Oxford. At the north end of Royal Exchange Buildings was erected in 1869 a seated statue in bronze of George Peabody, an American, who so munificently provided improved dwellings for the London poor. The statue was modelled by Mr. Peabody's countryman, Mr. W. W. Story, and was cast at Munich. When first set up it was of a bright golden hue, but has already become so black as to render the features almost undistinguishable—a matter the more to be regretted as the likeness was pronounced by Mr. Peabody's friends to be both true and characteristic. Near the statue was erected in 1879 a very pretty drinking-fountain with a marble statue of Charity. It cost £1500. Royal Free Hospital, east side of GRAY'S INN ROAD. This hospital was founded in 1828, "to receive all Destitute Sick and Diseased Persons, to whatever Nation they may belong, who may choose to present themselves as Out-Patients, and as great a number of In-Patients as the state of the Charity will permit." Previously there was no medical establishment in London into which the destitute poor, when overtaken by disease, could find instant admission without a letter of recommendation. The hospital has recently been much enlarged, and now contains 150 beds. It admits into its wards about 1900 in-patients, and administers advice and medicine to over 21,000 out-patients annually. The income in 1888 from charitable contributions and legacies was £11,250, and from invested funds £1077The hospital relieves the sick of a very poor and thickly inhabited. district. 1 See the Fair Maid of the Exchange, by T. Heywood, 4to, 1607. 2 Gibbons received £500 for it. See Wright's Publick Transactions, 12mo, 1685, p. 198. ROYAL INSTITUTION OF great briTAIN 185 Royal Geographical Society. [See Geographical Society, Royal.] Royal Horticultural Society. [See Horticultural Society, Royal.] Royal Humane Society. [See Humane Society.] Royal Institute of British Architects. British Architects, Royal.] [See Institute of Royal Institution of Great Britain, 21 ALBEMARLE STREET, PICCADILLY, established March 9, 1799, at a meeting held at the house of Sir Joseph Banks, for diffusing the knowledge and facilitating the general introduction of useful mechanical inventions and improvements, etc. Count Rumford was its earliest promoter, and in a Poetical Epistle to him some portions of the scheme were handled with considerable humour, more particularly the "Refreshment Room." With rapture have I visited thy house And marvell'd at thy vast extent of vous. Soup, tea and toast, and coffee may be found; And wine, and punch, and porter-freshening draught, Thus a new birth shall Rumford's glory tell, And from its bowels spring a grand Hotel. The front of the building-a row of half-engaged Corinthian columns -was designed by Mr. Lewis Vulliamy; and what, before 1837, was little better than a perforated brick wall, was thus converted into an ornamental façade. Here are a convenient lecture-theatre, one of the best for its acoustic properties of any in London, an excellent library of about 50,000 volumes, and a good reading-room, with weekly courses of lectures throughout the season, on science, philosophy, literature, and art. Members are elected by ballot. The admission fee is 5 guineas, and the annual subscription 5 guineas. Annual subscribers pay the same subscription, with an entrance fee of one guinea. A syllabus of each course may be obtained of the secretary at the Institution. The Friday evening meetings of the members, at which some eminent person is invited to deliver a popular lecture on some subject of interest connected with science, art, or literature, are well attended. Campbell delivered his lectures on poetry here in 1812, but "was nervous about his Caledonianisms." guineas for the five, then a large honorarium.1 to lecture but was advised not. He was paid 100 July 1, 1813.-I was solicited very flatteringly to lecture at the Royal Institution next year. Campbell has just ended his lectures. I should not have disliked it, but by Rogers' advice, and that of some other friends (who thought it infra dig.) I declined it.-Life of Thomas Moore, vol. viii. p. 145. 1 Life, vol. ii. p. 212. 186 ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN In the laboratory of the Royal Institution Davy made his great discoveries on the metallic bases of the alkalies and the earths, aided by the large galvanic apparatus of the establishment. His laboratory note-books, in which these discoveries are recorded, are preserved in the library. And here his assistant and successor carried out those investigations in chemistry, electricity and magnetism which placed him in the foremost rank among the scientific men of Europe. Faraday was appointed laboratory assistant, and went to reside "in two rooms at the top of the house," on March 1, 1813; and here he resided continuously until 1858, when Her Majesty gave him a residence at Hampton Court. He delivered his last "Juvenile Course" on "The Chemistry of a Candle" in 1860, and on June 20, 1862, his last Friday evening discourse; but he retained his post as laboratory director till 1865. Royal Military Asylum (popularly THE DUKE OF YORK'S SCHOOL), CHELSEA. Built from the designs of John Sanders in 1801. Founded for the maintenance and education of orphan children of British soldiers. The children, 500 in number, are admitted between the ages of ten and twelve and leave when fourteen. Royal Society, BURLINGTON HOUSE. Incorporated by royal charter, April 22, 1663, as "the Royal Society of London for the advancement of Natural Science," King Charles II. and his brother the Duke of York entering their names as members of the Society. This celebrated Society (boasting of the names of Newton, Wren, Halley, Cavendish, Watt, Herschel, Davy and Faraday among its members) originated in a small attendance of men engaged in the same pursuits, and dates its beginning from certain weekly meetings held in London as early as the year 1645; "sometimes," as Wallis relates, "at Dr. Goddard's lodgings in Wood Street; sometimes at a convenient place [the Bull Head Tavern] in Cheapside; and sometimes at Gresham College, or some place near adjoining." The merit of suggesting such meetings is assigned by Wallis (himself a foundation member) to Theodore Haak, a German of the Palatinate, then resident in London. The Civil War interrupted their pursuits for a time; and Wilkins, Wallis and Goddard removing to Oxford, a second Society was established, Seth Ward, Ralph Bathurst, Dr. (afterwards Sir William) Petty and the Honourable Robert Boyle joining their number, and taking an active part in the furtherance of their views. With the Restoration of the King a fresh accession of strength was obtained, new members enlisted, meetings were again held in Gresham College, and on November 28, 1660, a resolution was adopted to establish the meetings on a regular basis, the memorandum of this meeting being, according to the Society's historian, "the first official record of the Royal Society." It was agreed, December 12, 1660, to hold the meetings of the Society weekly at Gresham College, where "a subject" was 1 1 Weld, Hist. of Royal Soc., vol. ii. p. 65. |