Stowe, in his Survey of London, says, "Neere unto Paul's Schoole, on the north side thereof, was of old time a great and high _Clochier_, or Bell-house, four square, builded of stone; and in the same, a most strong frame of timber, with foure bels, the greatest that I have heard: these were called Jesus Bels, and belonged to Jesus Chappell, but I know not by whose gift. The same had a great spire of timber, covered with lead, with the image of St. Paul on the top; but was pulled downe by Sir Miles Partridge, knight, in the reign of Henry the Eighth. The common speech then was, that hee did set one hundred pounds upon a caste at dice against it, and so won the said clochier and bels of the king; and then causing the bels to be broken as they hung, the rest was pulled downe. This man was afterwards executed on the Tower Hill, for matters concerning the Duke of Somerset, the fifth of Edward the Sixth. In place of this clochier, of old time, the common bel of the citie was used to be rung, for the assembly of the citizens to their Folke-motes." * * * * * ALDERMAN KENNETT. Passing by Blackfriars Bridge, I missed the magnificent gates (iron) erected by Brackly Kennett, Esq. the inactive Lord Mayor of London, A.D. 1780, during the time of the riots, and who used to pass his time at the "Jacob's Well," Barbican. I could not help remembering these lines, which were related to me long ago-- "When Rome was burning, poets all agree, Nero sat playing on his tweedle-dee; So Kennett,[3] when he saw sedition ripe, And London burning, calmly smoked his pipe." [3] For which he was committed to the Tower, where he died. * * * * * VALENTINE'S DAY Had its origin with the Romans, and was fathered upon St. Valentine in the early ages of the Church to christianize it. Brand, in his Popular Antiquities, supposes that the observance originated in an ancient Roman superstition of choosing patrons on this day for the ensuing year--a custom which gallantry took up when superstition, at the reformation, had been compelled to let it fall. H.H. * * * * * PITT'S DIAMOND. (_To the Editor._) Allusion being made the other evening by Sir R. Inglis, in the debate on Lord John Russell's reform motion, relative to a gentleman of the name of Pitt sitting in that House in right of possessing a very large diamond, the following particulars may not prove uninteresting to the numerous readers of the _Mirror_:-- Thos. Pitt, Esq., anciently of Blandford, in the county of Dorset, afterwards Earl of Londonderry, was, in the reign of Queen Anne, made Governor of Fort St. George, in the East Indies, where he resided many years, and became possessed, by trifling purchase, or by barter, of a diamond, which he sold to the King of France for 135,000l. sterling, weighing 127 carats, and commonly known at that day by the name of Pitt's Diamond. JAC-CO.