142 ON THE TRACK OF THE MAIL-COACH 



bought up the leather, or as much of it as his money 

 would purchase, got it by some means uj) to London, 

 amassed a fortune, built a public granary, became 

 Lord Mayor, and was knighted. He erected, if not 

 the first Leaden Hall itself, at any rate a handsome 

 chapel near at hand, provided wedding portions for 

 young maids, and died in 1459. He reproduced, even 

 if he did not anticipate, the story of Eichard Whitting- 

 ton and his cat, and he was certainly the prototype of 

 Sir Titus Salt, who purchased for a mere song the 

 neglected parcel of alpaca at Liverpool, and turned it 

 to such account that with the produce he built the 

 model township of Saltaire and achieved more than 

 one good end. 



Penzance has a strong claim on the good-will of 

 the miner — outside the old post - office stood, I 

 recollect, the statue of one of her sons, a benefactor 

 of mankind — the great Sir Humphry Davy. 



