play at dice and hazard. In like manner the Lady Margaret, his wife, did also keep her chamber to the same effect." We are told that on this occasion, "the King of Cyprus, playing with Sir Henry Picard in his hall, did win of him fifty marks; but Picard, being very skilful in that art, altering his hand, did after win of the same king the same fifty marks, and fifty marks more; which when the same king began to take an ill part, although he dissembled the same, Sir Henry said unto him, My lord and king, be not aggrieved; I court not your gold, but your play, for I have not bid you hither that you might grieve;' and giving him his money again, plentifully bestowed of his own amongst the retinue. Besides, he gave many rich gifts to the king, and other nobles and knights which dined with him, to the great glory of the citizens of London in those days."

Worcester Place, on the west side of Vintners' Hall, points out the site of Worcester Inn, the residence of the learned and accomplished John de Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester, Chancellor and Lord Deputy of Ireland in the reign of Edward the Fourth. This remarkable man is said to have visited Rome for the express purpose of examining the library in the Vatican, on which occasion he addressed so eloquent an oration to Pope Pius the Second, as to draw tears from his Holiness. Being a stanch adherent of the house of York, the temporary restoration of Henry the Sixth, in 1470,

placed his life in great danger. Perceiving that his powerful enemy, the Earl of Warwick, was determined on bringing him to the block, he sought for safety in flight, but having been found concealed in the upper branches of a tree, he was conveyed to London, and shortly afterward perished by the hands of the executioner on Tower Hill.

On the north side of Thames Street, opposite to Three Cranes Lane, is College Hill, so called from a college dedicated to St. Spirit and St. Mary, founded by the celebrated Sir Richard Whittington, three times Lord Mayor of London.

In a pasquinade, preserved in the state poems, entitled the "D. of B.'s [Duke of Buckingham's] Litany," occur the following lines:

"From damning whatever we don't understand,

From purchasing at Dowgate, and selling in the Strand, From calling streets by our name when we've sold the land,' Libera nos, Domine.

"From borrowing our own house to feast scholars ill,

And then be un-chancellored against our will,

Nought left of a college but College Hill,

Libera nos," etc.

These verses allude to the circumstance of the witty and fantastic George Villiers, Duke of Buck

'Alluding to George Street, Duke Street, Villiers Street, Buckingham Street, etc., erected by the Duke of Buckingham on the site of his former residence in the Strand.

ingham, having purchased a "large and graceful" mansion on College Hill, probably for the purpose of extending his influence, and spreading sedition among the citizens of London, at the time when he was plotting against his too easy and confiding master, Charles the Second. Lord Clarendon, indeed, informs us that the duke "had many lodgings in several quarters of the city; and though his Majesty had frequent intelligence where he was, yet when the sergeant-at-arms, and others employed for his apprehension, came where he was known to have been but an hour before, he was gone from thence, or so concealed that he could not be found."

St. Michael's Paternoster Royal, which church stands on the east side of College Hill, was rebuilt by the executors of Whittington, who was buried beneath its roof under a sumptuous tomb, which probably shared the fate of the church in the great fire of 1666. In the reign of Edward the Sixth, a sacrilegious rector, one Thomas Mountain, caused the tomb to be broken open, being under the impression that it contained articles of considerable value. In the reign of Queen Mary the body was again disturbed for the purpose of being rewrapped in a leaden sheet, of which it had been despoiled in the preceding reign.

In St. Michael's Church also lies buried the cavalier, soldier, and poet, John Cleveland, of whom Echard observes that he was "the first

poetic champion" for Charles the First. The poets of the day, indeed, allied themselves, almost without an exception, to the broken fortunes of their unfortunate sovereign. Having been expelled by the ruling powers from his fellowship at St. John's College, Cambridge, for malignancy, Cleveland joined the king's camp at Oxford, and afterward served in garrison at Newark-upon-Trent. He subsequently fell into the hands of Cromwell, and was thrown into prison, where he remained for a few months. On his release he took up his abode in Gray's Inn, where Butler, the author of

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Hudibras," was his neighbour and chosen companion, and where they established a nightly club. Cleveland was also the friend of Bishop Pierson, who preached a funeral sermon over his remains in St. Michael's Church.1

The body of the present plain and substantial edifice was completed in 1694, after designs by Sir Christopher Wren. In this church is Hilton's much-admired picture of Mary Magdalen anointing the feet of Christ; but, with this exception, and some tolerable oak carving on the altar-piece beneath the picture, St. Michael's contains but little to render it worthy of a visit.

St. Michael's derives its appellation of Royal from a palatial fortress called the Tower Royal, which anciently stood nearly on the site of the

'Aubrey states that Cleveland was buried in St. Andrew's Church, Holborn. This is a mistake.

small street which still bears the name of Tower Royal. Here, according to Stow, resided more than one of our kings, among whom were King Stephen and Richard the Second. In the latter reign it obtained the name of the Queen's Wardrobe, probably from having been the residence of the king's mother, who for some time kept her court here. It was apparently of considerable strength; at least, if we may judge from the fact of that princess preferring it to the Tower as a place of security, and consequently taking refuge here from the violence of Wat Tyler and his lawless followers. "King Richard," says Stow, "having in Smithfield overcome and dispersed his rebels, he, his lords, and all his company, entered the city of London with great joy, and went to the lady princess, his mother, who was then lodged in the Tower Royal, called the Queen's Wardrobe, where she had remained three days and two nights, right sore abashed; but when she saw the king, her son, she was greatly rejoiced, and said, 'Ah, son, what great sorrow have I suffered for you this day!' The king answered and said, 'Certainly, madam, I know it well; but now rejoice, and thank God, for I have this day recovered mine heritage, and the realm of England, which I had near hand lost."" Shortly afterward we find the Tower Royal set apart by King Richard as the residence of Leon the Third, King of Armenia, when he sought an asylum in England, after having been