Hall marks on gold & silver plate

38
HALL MARKS ON PLATE.
credit, as he was elected Mayor a few years after. Evelyn,
in his
"Diary," June 19, 1679, says : "I dined at Sir Robert Clayton's with
Sir Robert Viner, the great banquet."
"
Sir Robert Viner erected at his own charge at Stocks Market
Conduit, upon a pedestal eighteen feet high, an equestrian statue
of Charles II trampling on an enemy with his horse's feet. On the
pedestal was his coat of arms within a compartment of fishes."
The great civil war, though it ruined thousands, was nevertheless
the cause of many large fortunes being acquired. Viner was
one of these lucky men. In one transaction, recorded by Pepys, he
cleared ;^io,ooo by a timely loan to Charles II. The statue alluded
to above has a curious history. Sir Robert, wishing to show his
loyalty and gratitude at as cheap a rate as possible, obtained through
his agent at Leghorn, a white marble group which was to have been
erected in honour of John Sobieski, King of Poland, commemorating
his conquest of the Turks, representing that hero on horse-
back, the animal trampling upon a prostrate Mussulman. A little
alteration, not by any means an improvement, was made in the faces
of the figures. Sobieski was converted into a very indifferent likeness
of Charles II and the prostrate foe into that of Oliver Cromwell
but the artist ;
omitting to erase the turban on the Mussulman's
head, ludicrously revealed the imposture. This group was unveiled
on the day the King attended the mayoral banquet at Guildhall.
It was taken down in 1736 (having remained in situ for sixty-one
years), to make room for the Mansion House, built on the site of
the old Stocks Market. For many years it lay neglected in a
builder's shed, till an enterprising innkeeper set it up in his backyard.
At last, in 1779, the Corporation presented it to Robert Viner,
Esq., a descendant of the loyal Lord Mayor, who forthwith removed
it to decorate his country seat.
Sir Robert contributed largely towards the rebuilding of St.
Mary Wolnoth, " a memorial whereof," says Strype, " are the Vines
that adorn and spread about that part of the church that fronts his
house and the Street (Lombard Street), insomuch that the church
was used to be called Sir Robert Viner's church." His house was
on the spot where the Post Ofhce now stands in Lombard Street.
1666. Sir Charles Doe, goldsmith. For preserving the Goldsmiths'
Company's plate and writings, and other their concerns, dur-
ing the Great Fire, and placing them in a place of security at
Edmonton: "For this careful and prudent act of the said Sir
Charles Doe, the thanks of the Wardens and Assistants present were
given him."
1666. Robert South, John Terry, William Symonds, Mr.
Maninge, and Williajn Daniel were goldsmiths, and donors of plate
to the Goldsmiths' Company previous to the Great Fire of 1666, at
which time their gifts were melted down into coin to supply funds
for rebuilding the <strong>Hall</strong>, etc.