Another resort full of old-world memories—the London Coffee-house, on Ludgate Hill, where John Leech’s father and grandfather were proprietors—occupied a Roman site. In 1800, behind this house, in a bastion of the City Wall, was found a sepulchral monument, dedicated to a faithful wife by her husband, a Roman soldier. Here also were found a fragment of a statue of Hercules and a female head. In front of the coffee-house, immediately west of St. Martin’s Church, stood Ludgate. This coffee-house was within the rules of the Fleet Prison; and in the coffee-house were “locked up” for the night such juries from the Old Bailey Sessions as could not agree upon verdicts. In later days it became a tavern. A curious incident once occurred in this house. Mr. Broadhurst, the famous tenor, by singing a high note caused a wineglass on the table to break, the bowl being separated from the stem. Brayley, the topographer, was present at the time. Lloyd’s, now such a well-known institution, originated in a coffee-house of that name, which flourished as early as the very beginning of the eighteenth century. Lloyd’s Coffee-house was originally in Lombard Street, at the corner of Abchurch Lane, subsequently in Pope’s-head Alley, where it was called “New Lloyd’s Coffee-house”; but on February 14, 1774, it was removed to the north-west corner of the Royal Exchange, where it remained until the destruction of that building by fire. When the Royal Exchange was rebuilt, special rooms were set aside for Lloyd’s, which assumed the form in which it flourishes to-day. Lloyd’s, as a place for insuring ships, was at first started by an astute individual who saw the possibilities of a meeting-place for underwriters and insurers of ships’ cargoes. As early as the year 1740, it is recorded that Mr. Baker, Master of Lloyd’s Coffee-house, in Lombard Street, waited on Sir Robert Walpole with the news of Admiral Vernon’s capture of Portobello. This was the first account received thereof, and, as it proved to be true, Sir Robert was pleased to order Mr. Baker a handsome present.