structive subject to produce; and it appeared to us that this would be the time of all others to commence, whilst all the old books, papers, &c. are in a transition state, previously to being stowed away for an unlimited period, or perhaps destroyed. We are pleased to record that our labours have been amply repaid; for from the many interesting documents to which we have had access, and from information obtained from other sources, we are enabled to publish the following records of the old Bank. In olden days it was customary for tradesmen to adopt signs, which they were in the habit of displaying on the outside of their houses. A house known by any particular sign generally retained it, under a succession of occupants, without regard to the avocation, calling, or trade of the new comer. After 1764 signs abutting into the street were no longer tolerated, but were in some cases affixed to the walls of houses, and finally were abolished. It is said that Wood Street and Whitecross Street were among the last from which signs were taken down, and that these signs existed as late as the year 1773. The sign of the Bank of Messrs. Child and Co. was the Marygold, which may still be seen in the water-mark of the present cheques. The original sign is still preserved in the front shop, over the door which leads into the back premises. It is made of oak, the ground stained green, with a gilt border, marygold and sun; the motto beneath it is, Ainsi mon âme." Many of the customers of the Bank used to address their cheques to "Mr. Alderman Child and Partner, goldsmiths, at y sign of ye Marygold, next dore to Temple Barr;" and in 1694 we find a cheque addressed to Mr. John Rogers, goldsmith (who was a partner with Sir Francis Child), "at ye signe of ye Marygold, next dore to ye Devill Taverne in Fleet Streete ;" and again, in 1732, when the second Sir Francis Child was Lord Mayor, we find that the second Earl of Oxford addressed his cheques to "The Worshipful, the Lord Mayor and Company at Temple Bar ;" and another cheque we find addressed to Mr. Francis Child, "a goole Smyth, att Temple barr, in London." The sign of the Marygold, in Fleet Street, next Temple Bar, appears to have originated in the sign of a tavern; at any rate it was first mentioned with reference to a tavern, as may be gathered from the following paragraph, extracted from Beaufoy's 'Tokens,' p. 75:-"The Banking-house of Messrs. Childs was, in King James the 1st's reign, a public ordinary, the sign being the 'Marygold.' As an ordinary it appears to have borne a riotous character, and at the wardmote held on St. Thomas's day, December 21, 1619, Richard Crompton, keeping an ordinary at the Marygold, in Fleet Street, was presented for disturbing the quiet of John Clarke, being next neighbours, late in the nights, from time to time by ill disorder." By an old lease, dated 1676, we find that Robert Blanchard rented the Marygold for sixty-one years of John and Elizabeth Land, which at the decease of Robert Blanchard in 1681 was taken on by Francis Child, until 1706, when we find that John Land died and left the premises to the parish of St. Dunstan's. By the following extract from a parish lease it will be seen that Sir Francis Child rented these premises of that parish: : "John Land late of the Parish of St Martins Ludgate, London, Gent deed in and by his will dated 26 April 1697 did give and devise all his freehold messuage of tenements with appurtenances situated lying and being in Fleet Street on the South side of the same street next adjoyning to Temple Bar in the Parish of St Dunstans now in the occupation of Sir Francis Child, and his other Freehold messuage &c on the south side of the same street and adjoyning unto the last mentioned messuage and late in the occupation of John Dutton and now or late in the tenure or occupation of William Biggins. And all that the said messuage, or tenement with the appurtenances commonly called and known by the name of the Sugar loaf and Green Lettice situate. &c in Fleet St aforesaid on Sth side of the street and adjoyning to the said last mentioned messuage in tenure and occupation of Willm Biggins, together with all shops, cellars, Chambers, Yards, rooms, lights, passages &c to ye Minister and Church Wardens of the parish of St Dunstans in the West for ever. The premises in occupation of Sir Francis Child from the feast of St Michael the Archangel 1707 and the premises known as the Sugar Loaf in occupation of Will Biggins from the feast of St Michael &c 1714 at the yearly rental of £60 for 61 years." An agreement was entered into that Sir Francis Child. should lay out £800 in building. Of the Sugar Loaf and Green Lettice we cannot glean any history; it was situated immediately in the rear of the Marygold, and the kitchen of the present Bank is a part of those premises, and puts one greatly in mind of what the dining-room at Dick's Coffee-house used to be when kept by Mr. Quelch, and closely resembles the interior of the old Rainbow tavern. But both of these latter coffee-houses were established after the Marygold ceased to exist as a tavern; the date of Dick's, according to Cunningham, was 1680, and that of the Rainbow 1657. In many of the passages in the old house over the kitchen, and the house beyond it (which is connected), are long rows of hat-pegs, which possibly originated in the old tavern, and could never have been used since for that purpose, especially as a great many may still be seen in the larder. This part of the house appears to date back to the latter part of the 16th century. We must dispel the idea which has been cherished by many, that the old kitchen and the house above it ever belonged to the Devil Tavern, but hold that it was a part and parcel of the Sugar Loaf Tavern; then the fine commodious cellarage, which occupies the whole base of the house, likewise rather points to a tavern for its origin. In Sir Francis Child's account, in the year 1707, is the following entry : : "Cost of new building the Sugar loaf £350.” The following is a curious bill relating to this tavern, found amongst the old papers over Temple Bar: July ye 8th 1719 Receaved the full Contents of this Bill Dorortey Biggins her mark. We do not see any reason for discrediting the statement that the whole of the Devil Tavern was pulled down in 1787, and of its having been purchased by Messrs. Child & Co. for the sum of £2800, and in the year following the row of houses now known as Child's Place was built upon the site. It may be worth recording that excellent cellars also run beneath the open space in front of those houses, as they were in all probability the cellars in which Simon Wadlow (the landlord, at the sign of "St Dunstan pulling the Devil by the nose," commonly known as the "Old Devil") kept his celebrated wines. As Messrs. Child & Co. are the possessors of a few interesting relics of the Devil Tavern, it may not be considered out of place if the following paragraph from Peter Cunningham's Handbook of London' is quoted here :"In the time of Ben Jonson, who has given a lasting reputation to the house, the landlord's name was Simon Wadloe, the original of Old Sir Simon the King,' the |