It has been occupied by several aldermen, some of whom held their mayoralty there, amongst others, Alderman Bond, who added a turret to the building; Sir John Spencer, who built a large warehouse behind it; Sir Bartholomew Read, Lord Mayor, who entertained Catherine of Arragon for two or three days within its walls, previous to her marriage with Prince Arthur. The Emperor Maximilian lodged there when in London in 1502; Queen Elizabeth came there in 1594 to witness a masque by some law students, and the famous Countess of Pembroke made it her residence for some time, where it is probable Shakespeare visited her. During the Civil War it was made a prison for captured Royalists, after which the great hall was converted into a Presbyterian chapel. In 1678 the drawing-room and throne room were used as warehouses by the East India Company, and afterwards as a packer's workrooms, when they sustained a great deal of mutilation. In 1831, it was advertised to be sold for demolition, but some spirited persons came forward and rescued it from that fate, besides restoring and repairing it. From 1842 to 1860 it was a literary institute, and is now a restaurant, the proprietor having with great good taste preserved all the old features, and in the necessary additional buildings has adhered to the same style. It is supposed to have consisted originally of two quadrangles, separated by the great hall, and that it had a facade of 100 feet in length to Bishopsgate Street. Sir John gave 500 marks towards the restoration of St. Helen's Church, and his arms were placed on the walls and in the windows. He was thrice married, and had an only son, who died without issue, the line thus becoming extinct. Sir Paul Pindar was a notable merchant and diplomatist, minister of James I. in Turkey, who was born about the end of the sixteenth or beginning of the seventeenth century, and died in 1650. On his return from Turkey he brought with him a diamond valued at £30,000, which the king wished to purchase "on tick," but the cautious merchant, not having sufficient confidence in his credit, declined to let him have it on those terms. However, he agreed to lend it to him to flash it in the eyes of his subjects on State occasions. He afterwards sold it to Charles I., but most probably was never paid for it. He was reputed to have been worth a quarter of a million sterling at one time, an enormous sum for that period. He gave £18,000 towards the repairs of St. Paul's Cathedral, and expended other sums on charitable and philanthropic objects, but although so wealthy he lost so much money in bad debts, arising out of loans to Kings James I. and Charles I. that he fell into comparative poverty, and died in debt himself.