“And now, Sir,” recommenced my visitor, “that our history may not be without the mention of at least one strange fish, connected with London Bridge, let me tell you, that on Christmas day in the year 1391, as Stow tells us in his ‘_Annals_,’ page 30 b, ‘a Dolphin came forth of the Sea, and played himself in the Thames at London to the Bridge; foreshewing, happily, the tempests that were to follow within a weeke after; the which Dolphin being seene of Citizens, and followed, was, with much difficulty, intercepted and brought againe to London, shewing a spectacle to many of the height of his body, for he was tenne foote in length. These Dolphins are fishes of the sea, that follow the voices of men, and reioyce in playing of instruments, and are wont to gather themselves at musick. These, when they play in rivers, with hasty springings or leapings, doe signifie tempests to follow. The seas containe nothing more swift nor nimble, for oftentimes with their skips, they mount ouer the sailes of ships.’ The original of this story is to be found, with many more particulars concerning Dolphins, in the ‘_Historia Brevis_,’ of Thomas Walsingham, London, 1574, folio, the admirable edition by Archbishop Parker, page 380. “As the political troubles which succeeded the appearance of this monster, were productive of a very sumptuous triumph upon London Bridge, I shall take the freedom to remind you, that King Richard being greatly attached to regal magnificence and banquets, naturally found his revenues very insufficient to support the splendours of his Court; for, as Walsingham and Knyghton, the best historians of the time, assert, he valued himself upon surpassing all the other Sovereigns of Europe in magnificence; they add that he daily entertained no less than six thousand individuals; that three hundred servants were employed in his kitchen alone; and that his Queen had an equal number of females in her service. To supply the means for this extraordinary splendour, he endeavoured to procure aid from the Citizens of London; and sent to borrow from them the large sum of £1000; but it then was an unhappy time in England, for a dreadful Plague and Famine had overspread the land, and they not only refused his Majesty’s request, but, upon a Merchant of Lombardy offering to comply with it, they violently attacked, and almost slew him. This was early in the year 1392; and on the 25th of May following, the King, incensed to a very great degree, summoned a Parliament at Stamford, when the City Charter was seized; the Law Courts were removed to York; and the Mayor, Sheriffs, and principal Citizens, deposed and imprisoned; until, by the mediation of Queen Anne, the Bishop of London, and the Duke of Gloucester, the King’s anger was in some degree pacified, and he consented to indulge the Londoners with an audience at Windsor. At this interview the Citizens, after submitting themselves to the King’s pleasure, offered