John Wilkes: his Birth and Parentage--The _North Briton_--Duel with Martin--His Expulsion--Personal Appearance--Anecdotes of Wilkes--A Reason for making a Speech--Wilkes and the King--The Lord Mayor at the Gordon Riots--"Soap-suds" _versus_ "Bar"--Sir William Curtis and his Kilt--A Gambling Lord Mayor--Sir William Staines, Bricklayer and Lord Mayor--"Patty-pan" Birch--Sir Matthew Wood--Waithman--Sir Peter Laurie and the "Dregs of the People"--Recent Lord Mayors 410 CHAPTER XXXVI. THE POULTRY. The Early Home of the London Poulterers--Its Mysterious Desertion--Noteworthy Sites in the Poultry--The Birthplace of Tom Hood, Senior--A Pretty Quarrel at the Rose Tavern--A Costly Sign-board--The Three Cranes--The Home of the Dillys--Johnsoniana--St. Mildred's Church, Poultry--Quaint Epitaphs--The Poultry Compter--Attack on Dr. Lamb, the Conjurer--Dekker, the Dramatist--Ned Ward's Description of the Compter--Granville Sharp and the Slave Trade--Important Decision in favour of the Slave--Boyse--Dunton 416 CHAPTER XXXVII. OLD JEWRY. The Old Jewry--Early Settlements of Jews in London and Oxford--Bad Times for the Israelites--Jews' Alms--A King in Debt--Rachel weeping for her Children--Jewish Converts--Wholesale Expulsion of the Chosen People from England--The Rich House of a Rich Citizen--The London Institution, formerly in the Old Jewry--Porsoniana--Nonconformists in the Old Jewry--Samuel Chandler, Richard Price, and James Foster--The Grocers Company--Their Sufferings under the Commonwealth--Almost Bankrupt--Again they Flourish--The Grocers' Hall Garden--Fairfax and the Grocers--A Rich and Generous Grocer--A Warlike Grocer--Walbrook--Bucklersbury 425 CHAPTER XXXVIII. THE MANSION HOUSE. The Palace of the Lord Mayor--The Old Stocks' Market--A Notable Statue of Charles II.--The Mansion House described--The Egyptian Hall--Works of Art in the Mansion House--The Election of the Lord Mayor--Lord Mayor's Day--The Duties of a Lord Mayor--Days of the Year on which the Lord Mayor holds High State--The Patronage of the Lord Mayor--His Powers--The Lieutenancy of the City of London--The Conservancy of the Thames and Medway--The Lord Mayor's Advisers--The Mansion House Household and Expenditure--Theodore Hook--Lord Mayor Scropps--The Lord Mayor's Insignia--The State Barge--The Maria Wood 435 CHAPTER XXXIX. SAXON LONDON. A Glance at Saxon London--The Three Component Parts of Saxon London--The First Saxon Bridge over the Thames--Edward the Confessor at Westminster--City Residences of the Saxon Kings--Political Position of London in Early Times--The first recorded Great Fire of London--The Early Commercial Dignity of London--The Kings of Norway and Denmark besiege London in vain--A great _Gemot_ held in London--Edmund Ironside elected King by the Londoners--Canute besieges them, and is driven off--The Seamen of London--Its Citizens as Electors of Kings 447