to erect a similar building on their manor of Leadenhall. The Court of
Common Council, however, were of opinion that such a removal of the
seat of business would be impracticable, and the scheme was therefore
dropped; but in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, Sir Thomas Gresham, who
succeeded to the Antwerp agency, happily accomplished what had been
denied to the hopes of his father. In 1564 Sir Thomas proposed to the
Corporation--"That if the City would give him a piece of ground, in a
commodious spot, he would erect an Exchange at his own expense, with
large and covered walks, wherein the merchants might assemble and
transact business at all seasons, without interruption from the weather,
or impediments of any kind." The Corporation met the proposal with
a spirit of equal liberality; and in 1566 various buildings, houses,
tenements, &c. in Cornhill, were purchased for rather more than £3,530,
and the materials re-sold for £478, on condition of pulling them down
and carrying them away.--The ground plot was then levelled at the charge
of the City, and possession given to Sir Thomas, who in the deed is
styled, "Agent to the Queen's Highness," and who laid the foundation of
the new Exchange on the 7th of June following; and the whole was covered
in before November 1567.

The plan adopted by Sir Thomas, in the formation of his building, was
similar to the one at Antwerp. An open area was inclosed by a quadrangle
of lofty stone-buildings, with a colonnade as at present, supported,
by marble columns of the Doric order, over which ran a cornice, with
Ionic pilasters above, having niches between, containing statues of the
English Sovereigns. The entrances were from Cornhill and Broad-street.
Over the first, between two Ionic three-quarter columns, were the Royal
Arms, and on either side were those of the City and Sir Thomas; on the
north side, but not exactly in the centre, rose a Corinthian pillar
to about the same height as the tower in front surmounted with the