The Length Of The Building On The Outside Is Two Hundred And Three
Feet, The Breadth A Hundred And Seventy-One, And The Height Fifty-
Six.
On the front towards Cornhill also is a noble piazza,
consisting of ten pillars; and another on the opposite side next
Threadneedle Street, of as many; and in the middle of each a
magnificent gate.
Over the Cornhill gate is a beautiful tower, a
hundred and seventy-eight feet high, furnished with twelve small
bells for chimes; and underneath the piazzas are capacious cellars,
which serve for warehouses.
The whole building is of Portland stone, rustic work; above the
arches the inward piazza is an entablament, with fine enrichments;
and on the cornice a range of pilasters, within entablature, and a
spacious compass pediment in the middle of the corners of each of
the four sides. Under the pediment on the north side are the king's
arms; on the south those of the City; and on the east the arms of
Sir Thomas Gresham. And under the pediment on the west side the
arms of the Company of Mercers, with their respective enrichments.
The intercolumns of the upper range are twenty-four niches, nineteen
of which are filled with the statues of the kings and queens regent
of England, standing erect with their robes and regalia, except that
of King James II. and King George II., which are habited like the
Caesars.
On the south side are seven niches, of which four are filled, viz.:-
1.
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