Sir Thomas, an opulent merchant of London, descended from an ancient and honourable family of Norfolk, was born in 1519. He was, as his father had been before him, appointed king's agent at Antwerp,

It has often been said that the secret of the authorship of *Junius*, which is supposed to have been deposited in the shelves of the library at Stowe, would be disclosed after the death of Lord Grenville, when, as was alleged, there would no longer be any reason for withholding the revelation from the world; and it has further been presumed, that to his nephew, Lord Nugent, would probably be confided the agreeable task of satisfying the public curiosity on this much-agitated question. We understand from good authority, however, that there is no foundation for this surmise, and that the authorship of the celebrated letters bearing the signature of Junius is likely to remain as great a mystery as ever. and in 1551 he removed to that city with his family. This employment was suspended on the accession of Queen Mary; but on a proper representation being made in his favour, it was restored to him. Queen Elizabeth conferred the honour of knighthood upon him, and appointed him her agent in foreign parts. About this time he thought of providing himself in the city with a mansion-house, suited to his station and dignity; and with this view he built a large house on the west side of Bishopsgate Street, afterwards known by the name of Gresham College. His father had proposed building a house or exchange for the merchants to meet in, instead of walking in the open street; but this design it was reserved for the son to execute. Sir Thomas in fact went beyond his father. He offered, if the citizens would provide a proper piece of ground, to build a house at his own expense; and this offer being accepted, he fulfilled his promise, and built an exchange upon the plan of that at Antwerp. When the new edifice was opened, the queen, on the 29th of January 1570, came and dined with the founder, and caused a herald with a trumpet to proclaim it by the name of the Royal Exchange. In pursuance also of a promise to endow a college for the profession of the seven liberal sciences, he by a testamentary disposition bequeathed his house in London for that purpose; leaving one moiety of the Royal Exchange to the corporation of London, and the other to the mercers' company, for the salaries of seven lecturers in divinity, law, physic, astronomy, geometry, music, and rhetoric, at L50 per annum each. He left several other considerable benefactions, and died in 1579.

As to the college, it was afterwards pulled down in consequence of an application to parliament from the city, and the excise office erected in its stead. The lectures are read, or rather hurried through, in a chamber over the Royal Exchange. Sir Thomas Gresham had the happiness of a mind every way suited to his fortune; he was generous and benign; ready to perform any good action, and to encourage the same disposition in others. He was a great friend and patron of John Fox the martyrologist. He was acquainted with the ancient and several of the modern languages; he had a comprehensive knowledge of all affairs relating to commerce, whether foreign or domestic; and his success as a merchant was proportioned to his general attainments, for in his time he was esteemed the highest commoner in England. He transacted Queen Elizabeth's mercantile affairs so constantly, that he was called the royal merchant; and his house was sometimes appointed for the reception of foreign princes upon their arrival in London.