there, happily still in existence. A favourable opportunity now occurs for describing a far more ancient relic hard by which survived until some ten years ago. This was a crypt which ran east and west, extending from Laurence Poultney Hill to Suffolk Lane. It was beneath an eighteenthcentury house, No 3 Laurence Poultney Hill, and was partly under and partly above ground, the principal chamber being entered at the east end from the street above. The ancient staircase had disappeared. This chamber was some 45 feet long by 18 feet to 20 feet wide, and consisted of two vaulted and groined bays, which together occupied about 40 feet of the length, and to the east a ribbed barrel vault about 5 feet wide. It was beautifully proportioned but somewhat plain. The groins were supported on attached shafts. There were no ridge ribs in the vaulting and no bosses. The floor was covered with modern planks, on the removal of which the ancient floor level was found about a foot below, the bases of the shafts being exposed to view. The height from this original floor to the crown of the vault was a little over 12 feet 6 inches. Traces of more than one arched opening were visible on the side walls. At the west end was an arched doorway some feet above the floor; while to the left of

it was a smaller arch filled up, in the jamb of which an iron hook might still be seen. The appearance of this chamber may be gathered from the accompanying illustration. Ascending by a ladder, and passing through the doorway, one entered a narrow vaulted passage running north and south, its floor being 4 feet 6 inches above the old floor of the crypt just described. This passage, only 5 feet wide and 9 feet high, was in part handsomely vaulted and groined; the ribs were supported on corbels decorated with ornament; upon these were placed moulded capitals. Some ancient stone pavement was here visible, and at one end there were fragments of encaustic tiles. In the west wall of this passage were two arched openings, one leading to a modern staircase which communicated with Suffolk Lane. The other led into a vaulted room only some 8 feet square and 9 feet 3 inches high, with a window, comparatively modern, which was above the level of the street.

In a paper read some years ago before the Society of Antiquaries of London the writer pointed out that this crypt had formed part of a famous house, thus mentioned in the play of Henry VIII. assigned to Shakespeare, Act I., Scene i.:

CRYPT OF SIR JOHN DE PULTENEY'S MANSION, LAURENCE POULTNEY HILL, 1894

This crypt, which ran east and west, was beneath an eighteenth-century house, No. 3 Laurence Poultney Hill. It had been part of the residence of Sir John de Pulteney, Mayor of London in 1331-32-34 and 37, who founded a college of priests at the neighbouring Church of St. Laurence. The crypt, which belonged to the Merchant Taylors' Company, was destroyed in 1894.