270 DAVID BARCLAY CHAP. 



church of St. Mary-le-bow, and built upon them " a great 

 messuage " known by the sign of the Bear. Hither came 

 King Charles II. and his suite in 1671 to view the Lord 

 Mayor's Show, the first held since the Fire, seating them- 

 selves on a balcony under a canopy of state. On a later 

 visit Waldo was knighted by the king. William and 

 Mary seem to have come to the house in like manner to 

 see the Show in 1689, and Queen Anne in 1702. When 

 Barclay occupied the building, it contained warehouse, 

 counting-houses, parlour and kitchen on the ground floor, 

 and a large drawing-room with balcony on the next 

 story. Here Barclay and his family had the pleasure 

 of entertaining on Lord Mayor's Day two British kings 

 in succession. An account has come down to us of the 

 visit of George III. in 1761. As Barclay declined any 

 more conspicuous honour, he and his family were allowed 

 as a mark of the king's favour to kiss hands without 

 kneeling. The king and his young and gracious bride 

 were most affable, staying over four hours in the house, 

 kissing the children, and remaining behind without any 

 guards, after sending away their nobles. Ten dozen of 

 wine was sent in by the city, but the king tasted nothing, 

 nor did he sit down the whole time. The queen drank 

 tea. The puritan maidens in their simple Quaker attire, 

 like a parcel of nuns amidst the glittering company, 

 seemed to charm by contrast. A company of life-guards 

 was drawn up by royal order opposite the house all night, 

 in case the mob should injure the rich damasks and other 

 adornments of the canopy. 1 



1 The house, No. 108 Cheapside, is readily recognised in old views of Bow 

 Church as a tall square mansion opposite the church, standing detached, 

 higher and wider than its neighbours ; the ground-floor shop projects forward 

 under the balcony and the four upper stories, with their rows of tall oblong 

 windows It must have occupied the site of Messrs. Benetfink's warehouse. 

 The house was pulled down in 1861 : the dark oak panelling of the dining- 

 room, carved in fruit and foliage, perhaps by Grinling Gibbons, was taken to 

 Gungrog Hall, Welshpool, now in the possession of Mr. Morris Paterson Jones. 

 The panels are still in good condition : around the fireplace is a design of 

 oak-leaves and acorns. See Collection of Prints (Cordwainer Ward) in the 

 Guildhall Library ; J. G. Nichols, Herald and Genealogist, ii. 237, reviewing 

 M. C. Jones's Notes respecting the Family of Waldo, 1863 ; Gent. Mag., 1808, 

 ii. 1068-1070 ; Tritton, the Place and the Family, pp. 287 ff., where several 

 accounts of George III.'s visit are quoted ; Bidwell, Annals of an East Anglian 



