The front in Cheapside, which alone can be seen, is narrow, but floridly adorned with carvings and architectural ornaments.  The door is enriched with the figures of two cupids, mantling the arms, festoons, &c. and above the balcony, it is adorned with two pilasters, entablature, and pediment of the Ionic order; the intercolumns are the figures of Faith and Hope, and that of Charity, in a niche under the cornice of the pediment, with other enrichments.  The interior is very handsome.  The hall and great parlour are wainscoted with oak, and adorned with Ionic pilasters.  The ceiling is of fret-work, and the stately piazzas are constituted by large columns, and their entablature of the Doric order.

The arms of the Mercers, as they are sculptured over the gateway, present for their distinguishing feature a demi-virgin with dishevelled hair:  it was in allusion to this circumstance, that in the days of pageantry, at the election of Lord Mayor, a richly ornamented chariot was produced, in which was seated a young and beautiful virgin, most sumptuously arrayed, her hair flowing in ringlets over her neck and shoulders, and a crown upon her head.  When the day’s diversions were over, she was liberally rewarded and dismissed, claiming as her own the rich attire she had worn.

From this place likewise was formerly a solemn procession by the Lord Mayor, who, in the afternoon of the day he was sworn at the Exchequer, met the Aldermen; whence they repaired together to St. Paul’s, and there prayed for the soul of their benefactor, William, Bishop of London, in the time of William the Conqueror, at his tomb.  They then went to the churchyard to a place where lay the parents of Thomas a Becket, and prayed for all souls departed.  They then returned to the chapel, and both Mayor and Aldermen offered each a penny.

Attached to the original foundation or hospital was a grammar-school, which has been subsequently continued at the expense of the Mercers’ Company, though not on the same spot.  It was for some time kept in the Old Jewry, whence it has been removed to College Hill, Upper Thames Street.  Among the masters may be mentioned William Baxter, nephew to the non-conformist, Richard Baxter, and author of two Dictionaries of British and Roman Antiquities.

Nearly opposite the entrance to Mercers’ Hall, is a handsome stone-fronted house, built by Sir Christopher Wren.  The houses adjoining the Hall were of similar ornamental character; although the unenclosed shop-fronts present a strange contrast with some of the improvements and superfluities of modern times.  The Hall front has lately been renovated, and presents a rich display of architectural ornament.

* * * * *

THE LONE GRAVES.

(For the Mirror.)

  Why should their sleep thus silent be, from streams and flow’rs away,
  While wanders thro’ the sunny air the cuckoo’s mellow lay;
  Those forms, whose eyes reflected heaven in their mild depth of blue,
  Whose hair was like the wave that shines o’er sands of golden hue?