At No. 153 the ground-floor is occupied by a bric-à-brac shop. Below the parapet there is a curious triangular pediment let into the brickwork. This encloses a round stone with an inscription on it, of which the first word seems to be “incendio”; on either side is a small shelf. The London Joint Stock Bank is a few doors off. No. 140, an Aerated Bread Shop, is fantastically built, in imitation of an old style. The Peninsular & Oriental Steamship Company is in a stone and terra-cotta building, with well-designed figures in slight relief in the corners of the windows. =Aldgate=, spelt otherwise Alegate or Algate, was probably, but not certainly, opened and constructed by Queen Matilda, Consort of Henry I., who is also said to have built the bridge over the Lea at Bow. There seems no reason for doubting the story. On the spelling of the name Professor Skeat writes, September 18, 1897: “It occurs to me to say that in any case of interpreting spellings, the date of the spelling is of the greatest service. We now know the meanings of all the vowel symbols at all dates. If we can obtain a few early spellings of Aldgate, with approximate dates, we ought to be able to decide it. We have to remember that _all_, in composition meant ‘wholly,’ and was adverbial as in Al-mighty, and ‘wholly gate’ gives no sense. If ‘for all’ were intended, it would be _alra_, _aller_, or _alder_, the genitive of plural. This is not a question of etymology but of grammar. On the other hand, if the M.E. _Ald_ [now spelt _Old_] were meant, I have proof that a Norman scribe would be apt to omit the _d_; so that _Alegate_ would, in fact, be quite regular. And it would _not_ necessarily become _Oldgate_ in course of time; just as Acton, though it means _Oaktown_, is called Acton still. This is due to what we call the preservation of a short or shortened vowel, owing to stress.” And again, writing on 21st September, he says: