The Committee, inspecting the plan made by Mr. Jerman for rebuilding the Exchange, on the 9th of December, 1667, resolved " that porticos should be built on the north and south sides, according as his Majesty desires, and as are described in the aforesaid draft ; and that houses shall be built on the heads of the said porticos, mid shops underneath." Mr. Malcolm has collected many particulars relating to this noble edifice, in his " Londinium Redivi vum," and amongst others, the following extract from a book produced to a Com mittee of the House of Commons, 1747. The said book begins the 27th of Octo ber, 1666, and ends July 12, 1676 ; and it thereby appears that the total expense of rebuilding the Royal Exchange amounted unto 58,962l.; the Company's moiety whereof was the sum of 29,4811. To de fray which expense, it appeared the Com pany were obliged to borrow money upon their seal, insomuch that, in the year 1682, they had taken up money on their bonds, on account of the trust of Sir Thomas Gresham, to the amount of 45,795/." It appeared, on this occasion, from the evi dence of a Mr. Crumpe, " that the com pany had hitherto contributed equally with the city in the repairing of the Roy al Exchange, and paying Sir Thomas Gresham's lectures and charities ; and that, in or about the year 1729, one of the lecturers of Sir Thomas Gresham filed a bill, in Chancery, against the City of London, and the Mercer's Company : to answer which, it became necessary to draw out and state an account between the Mercer's Company, and Sir Thomas Gresham's trust estates, as also between the City and Company and the said estate; and, accordingly, such accounts were drawn up : and thereby it appears, that there was due to the Mercer's Com pany, for their moiety of the expense of building the Royal Exchange, and other payments up to that time, the sum of 100,6591. 18s. 10d." Mr. Cawne, the then Clerk of the Company of Mercers, pro duced a continuation of this account to the Committee above mentioned, down to 1745, when the principal and interest amounted to the enormous sum of Id.
In the year 1767, it was represented to the Legislature that essential repairs were required in different parts of the Royal Exchange, which procured a grant of 10,000/. and these were completed under the direction of Mr. Robinson, surveyor, who thought proper to rebuild the west side.
During the time occupied in rebuilding the present structure, the merchants of London transacted their business at Gresham College ; and the new building was opened for that purpose, September 28, 1669: in 1703, the following notice appeared in the public papers : " An act of the Lord Mayor and Court of Alder men is affixed at the Exchange, and other places in this City, by which all persons are prohibited coming upon the Royal Exchange to do business before the hours of twelve o'clock, and after the hour of two, till evening change: Wherein it is further enacted, that for a quarter of an hour before twelve the Exchange bell shall ring, as a signal of change time ; and shall also begin to ring a quarter of an hour before two, at which time the change shall end : and all persons shall quit it, up on pain of being prosecuted to the utmost, according to law. That the gates shall then be shut up, and continue so till evening change time; which shall be from the hours of six to eight from Lady-day till Michael mas, and from Michaelmas to Lady-day from the hours of four to six ; before and after which hours the bell shall ring as above said. And it is further enacted, that no persons shall assemble in compa nies, as stock jobbers, &c. either in Ex change Alley, or places adjacent, to stop up and hinder the passage from and to the respective houses thereabouts, under pain of bring immediately carried before the Lord Mayor, or other Justice of the Peace, and prosecuted." There are at present numerous shops encircling the Royal Exchange, but they are confined to the ground floor, under the arches or piazza ; many years past the upper rooms were used for this purpose, and it has been said to the amount of two hundred. Lloyd's Coffee House now
occupies the greater part of the upper story.
Before the present unhappy war, the Royal Exchange of London presented an epitome of the world, where specimens of all the varieties of man might be seen and studied ; in which point of view it was equally valuable to the philosopher, as to the merchant for his extended pur suits, nor was it less useful to the ob server of the manners of different na tions; now, unfortunately, neither the philosopher, the observer of manners, nor the merchant, finds it a place of its original attraction. The frantic decrees against the commerce of England, on the continent, and the necessary reprisals of our own government, are the causes which have rendered the area of the Royal Exchange a splendid desert, corn. pared to what it has been ; but the enter prising spirit of our traders, which out strips all the cold calculations of poli ticians, may serve to convince the world, that though this spirit may be checked for a short time, it can never be extin guished, nor will all the yowers, of the earth combined produce the growth of grass between the stones of its pave ment.
The architectural decorations render the exterior and interior fronts, of the Royal Exchange an ornament to the vast metropolis of England. The form is square, and the area the same ; there are four gates which face the cardinal points, but the principal is in Cornhill. Mr. Malcolm informs us that the statues of George 1. and George II. are by Rys brack ; his present Majesty's by Wil ton, which was erected in March, 1764; and that most of the Kings previously to Charles II. were sculptured by Cibber; that of the latter King, which originally stood in the area, is the work of Grinlin Gibbons, the unrivalled carver in wood; those of Charles I. and II., on the princi pal front, are by Bushnell. The statue of Charles II., in the area, was a few years since replaced by another in a Roman habit, the performance of Mr. Spiller. We shall conclude this slight sketch of the history of the Royal Exchange with a brief description by the author just mentioned. The grand gateway is in the centre intercolumniation of four Corin thian pillars, which are the whole height of the front, and have a complete entab lature, the great arch reaching to the architrave. In the attic, directly over the gate, are the royal arms, and this forms the base of the steeple, on which there are three gradations, or stories, each bounded by pilasters and pillars, with entablatures and balustrades, and busts in place of vases, the usual orna ments of this sort of magnificent edifices ; except the third, which has pediments on each side, with a cupola arising from the centre. On this is a globe and gilt grasshopper.
Over each side intercolumniation of the front are circular pediments ; above them are attics and balustrades, with the Mercers' crest and the City supporters. The lesser entrances have divided pedi ments, and over them Corinthian niches, and pediments containing statues of Kings Charles the First and Second. The wings of the front are five arches in 1,ength, on each side of the gates, three of these form'a piazza; the two remaining retire into the main building. The base ment in which they are turned is rustic, and the story above them Corinthian, with four pillars, an entablature, and ba lustrade. The three windows of the projection, and those of the building, are exactly attic in their borders, though placed in Corinthian intercolumniations. The four sides of the quadrangle are magnificent, and richly decorated with the basement arches of the walks, the cornices over them, the niches, statues, pillars, circular windows, entablatures, and balustrade, all in correct proportion and arrangement.