in the following year.

During his period of office he effected many reforms in the City prisons.

John Timbs, in his _Walks and Talks about London_, tells us that Phillips's colleague in the shrievalty was one Smith, who afterwards became Lord Mayor: The _personnel_ of the two sheriffs presented a sharp contrast.
Smith loved aldermanic cheer, but was pale and cadaverous in complexion; whilst Phillips, who never ate animal food, was rosy and healthful in appearance.

One day, when the sheriffs were in full state, the procession was stopped by an obstruction in the street traffic; when droll were the mistakes of the mob: to Smith they cried, 'Here's Old Water-gruel!' to Phillips, 'Here's Roast Beef! something like an Englishman!' Two volumes before me show Phillips as the precursor of many of the publishers of one-volume books of reference so plentiful in our day.

_A Million of Facts_ is one of them, and _A Chronology of Public Events Within the Last Fifty Years from 1771 to 1821_ is another, while one of the earliest and most refreshing guides to London and its neighbourhood is afforded us in _A Morning Walk from London to Kew_, which first appeared in _The Monthly Magazine_, but was reprinted in 1817 with the name 'Sir Richard Phillips' as author on the title-page.