Source Book of London History, from the earliest times to 1800

When Richard I. set out on his crusade, he left the government of England in the hands of William Longchamp, as Chancellor. This man made himself most unpopular by his tyrannical acts, and John, the King's brother, for purposes of his own, joined the malcontents. Longchamp attempted to gain the support of London, and at a meeting of citizens in the Guildhall he denounced John as aiming at the crown, and prayed them to uphold the King. The citizens, however, received John with welcome, and he was given to understand that he would receive the support of the City on certain terms, to which, of course, he agreed. This "commune," which was granted by John and the barons, was the first public recognition of the citizens of London as a body corporate.

John, with almost all the bishops and barons of England in attendance on him, entered London on that day (October 7, 1191), and on the following day John and the Archbishop of Rouen and all the bishops and barons, and with them the 23citizens of London, met in St. Paul's church, and accused the chancellor of many things, especially with regard to the injuries which he had wrought to the Archbishop of York, the Bishop of Durham, and his son Henry. Moreover the colleagues of the chancellor, whom the King had associated with him in the government of the country, accused him of many crimes, saying that he had performed everything without their counsel and consent. Then the Archbishop of Rouen and William Marshall showed to the assembly the King's letter, by which it was ordered that if the chancellor did any foolish thing to the harm of the King or the realm, the said Archbishop of Rouen was to be appointed in his stead.... Therefore John the King's brother, and all the bishops and barons and the citizens of London, decided that the chancellor should be deposed from the government of the kingdom.... John and the Archbishop of Rouen, and all the bishops and barons of the kingdom who were present, granted to the citizens of London their commune, and swore that they would guard it and the liberties of the city of London, as long as it pleased the King; and the citizens of London and the bishops and barons swore allegiance to King Richard, and to John the King's brother, and undertook to accept John as their lord and King, if the King died without issue.

On that day was granted and confirmed the commune of London, to which the barons of the whole kingdom and the bishops of every diocese gave their consent. On that occasion for the first time London realized that the kingdom was without a king, by this conspiracy which neither Richard himself nor his father Henry would have allowed to take place for a million marks. A commune puffs up the people, threatens the kingdom, and weakens the priesthood.

John granted five charters to the City, and in this third charter he restored to the citizens two privileges, of which 24they had been deprived by Matilda and Henry II. The latter, wishing to bring the City under the direct supervision of the Crown, had retained the appointment of sheriffs in his own hands; Matilda had annulled the arrangement by which the citizens were to have the farm of Middlesex on payment of £300 every year. The restoration of the right of electing the sheriffs was not of very great importance, for during the period which had elapsed since Henry II. assumed this privilege the office of Mayor had become established, and this had considerably lessened the importance of the sheriffs.

John, by the grace of God, king of England, lord of Ireland, duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and earl of Anjou; to his archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, barons, justices, sheriffs, rulers, and to all his bailiffs and loving subjects.

Know ye, that we have granted, and by this our present writing confirmed, to our citizens of London, the sheriffwicks of London and Middlesex, with all the customs and things to the sheriffwick belonging, within the city and without, by land and by water, to have and to hold, to them and their heirs, of us and our heirs, paying therefor three hundred pounds of blank sterling money, at two terms in the year; that is to say, at the Easter exchequer, one hundred and fifty pounds; and at the Michaelmas exchequer, one hundred and fifty pounds; saving to the citizens of London all their liberties and free customs.

And further, we have granted to the citizens of London, that they amongst themselves make sheriffs whom they will; and may amove them when they will; and those whom they make sheriffs, they shall present to our justices of our exchequer, of these things which to the said sheriffwick appertain, whereof they ought to answer us; and unless they shall sufficiently answer and satisfy, the citizens may answer and satisfy us the amerciaments and farm, saving to the said citizens their liberties as is aforesaid; and saving to the said sheriffs the 25same liberties which other citizens have: so that, if they which shall be appointed sheriffs for the time being, shall commit any offence, whereby they ought to incur any amerciament of money, they shall not be condemned for any more than to the amerciament of twenty pounds, and that without the damage of other citizens, if the sheriffs be not sufficient for the payment of their amerciaments: but, if they do any offence, whereby they ought to incur the loss of their lives or members, they shall be adjudged, as they ought to be, according to the law of the city; and of these things, which to the said sheriffs belong, the sheriffs shall answer before our justices at our exchequer, saving to the said sheriffs the liberties which other citizens of London have.

Also this grant and confirmation we have made to the citizens of London for the amendment of the said city, and because it was in ancient times farmed for three hundred pounds: wherefore we will and steadfastly command, that the citizens of London and their heirs may have and hold the sheriffwick of London and Middlesex, with all things to the said sheriffwick belonging, of us and our heirs, to possess and enjoy hereditarily, freely and quietly, honourably and wholly, by fee-farm of three hundred pounds; and we forbid that none presume to do any damage, impediment or diminishment to the citizens of London of these things, which to the said sheriffwick do or were accustomed to appertain: Also we will and command, that if we or our heirs, or any of our justices, shall give or grant to any person any of those things which to the farm of the sheriffwick appertain, the same shall be accounted to the citizens of London, in the acquittal of the said farm at our exchequer.

It is possible that there was a London Bridge in Roman times, and there certainly was one, built of wood, before the Conquest. The modern structure was finished in 1831, and this replaced the old bridge, which was built between 1176 and 1209, about 200 feet east of the present one. 26It consisted of twenty arches, a drawbridge for large vessels, and a chapel and crypt in the centre, dedicated to St. Thomas of Canterbury. It was afterwards covered with houses and shops on both sides, like a street. The last of these buildings was removed in 1757.

The following letter was written by King John to the citizens of London during the construction of the bridge, and shows that the erection and maintenance of this important means of communication was a matter for royal and national, as well as local, consideration.

John, by the Grace of God, King of England, etc.

To his faithful and beloved the Mayor and Citizens of London, greeting.

Considering how the Lord in a short time has wrought, in regard to the Bridges of Xainctes and Rochelle, by the great care and pains of our faithful, learned and worthy clerk Isenbert, Master of the Schools of Xainctes: We therefore, by the advice of our Reverend Father in Christ, Hubert, Archbishop of Canterbury, and that of others, have desired, directed and enjoined him to use his best endeavour in building your bridge, for your benefit, and that of the public: For we trust in the Lord, that this bridge, so necessary for you, and all who shall pass the same, will, through his industry, and the Divine blessing, soon be finished: Wherefore, without prejudice to our right, or that of the City of London, We will and grant, that the rents and profits of the several houses that the said Master of the Schools shall cause to be erected upon the bridge aforesaid, be for ever appropriated to repair, maintain and uphold the same.

And seeing that the necessary work of the said bridge cannot be accomplished without your aid, and that of others; We charge and exhort you kindly to receive and honour the above-named Isenbert, and those employed by him, who will perform everything to your advantage and credit, according to his 27directions, you affording him your joint advice and assistance in the premises. For whatever good office or honour you shall do to him, you ought to esteem the same as done to us. But should any injury be offered to the said Isenbert, or the persons employed by him (which we do not believe there will), see that the same be redressed, as soon as it comes to your knowledge.

Witness myself at Molinel, the eighteenth day of April (1202).

Perhaps no monarch was ever more detested by the citizens of London than was Henry III.—a weak and foolish ruler, who subjected every class to his exactions and oppressions. He was himself preyed upon by swarms of favourites, and enticed into all manner of expensive projects, and could only free himself from his debts and difficulties by abusing his royal prerogative. On one occasion he sold his plate and jewels to the Londoners. "These clowns," he said, "who assume to themselves the name of barons, abound in everything, while we are reduced to necessities." Henry certainly seemed to regard their resources as inexhaustible; false charges were repeatedly made against them, for the purpose of exacting money; exorbitant sums were demanded for purchasing the King's good-will, and for the granting of charters; no occasion of soliciting presents was allowed to pass by; schemes of begging and robbing were carried on so assiduously by this infatuated monarch that the citizens were driven, in the end, to offer and render active assistance to the barons who leagued themselves against him. During this disturbed period the City did not prosper; it needed a firm and steady Government, and not till Edward I. ascended the throne did London resume its career of progress.

The King began now sedulously to think how he could entirely dry up the inexhaustible well of England. For, on meeting with a just repulse from the community of nobles, as above mentioned, who stated that they would no longer lavish their property to the ruin of the kingdom, he studied, by other cunning devices, to quench the thirst of his cupidity. Immediately after the festivities of the said season, he entered upon the following plan of harassing the citizens of London: he suspended the carrying on of traffic in that city, as has been before mentioned, for a fortnight, by establishing a new fair at Westminster, to the loss and injury of many; and immediately afterwards he sent letters by his agents, containing subtle and imperious entreaties, asking them for pecuniary aid. On receipt of this message, the citizens were grieved to the heart, and said: "Woe to us, woe to us; where is the liberty of London, which is so often bought; so often granted; so often guaranteed by writing; so often sworn to be respected? For each year almost, like slaves of the lowest condition, we are impoverished by new talliages, and injuriously harassed by fox-like arguments; nor can we discover into what whirlpool the property of which we are robbed is absorbed." At length, however, although immense sums were demanded, the citizens, although unwillingly and not without bitterness of heart, yielded their consent to a contribution of two thousand pounds, to be paid to the King at a brief period....

About the same time, the City of London was excited in no slight degree, because the King exacted some liberties from the citizens for the benefit of the abbot of Westminster, to their enormous loss, and the injury of their liberties. The mayor of the city and the whole of the community in general, as far as lay in their power, opposed the wish (or rather violence and raving) of the King; but he proved harsh and inexorable to them. The citizens, therefore, in a state of great excitement, went with sorrowful complaints to Earl Richard, the earl of Leicester, and other nobles of the Kingdom, telling them how 29the King, perhaps bent into a bow of wickedness, by the pope's example, shamelessly violated their charters, granted to them by his predecessors. The said nobles were much disturbed at this, fearing that the King would attempt a similar proceeding with them; they therefore severely reproached him, adding threats to their reproaches, and strongly blamed the abbot, who, they believed, was the originator and promoter of this wrong, heaping insult upon insult on him; which, however, it does not become us to relate, out of respect to the order. Thus the prudence of the nobles happily recalled the King from his conceived design.

When, in medieval England, the central authority was weak, injustice and oppression were rife throughout the country, and at such times the men of London were often hard pressed to maintain intact their privileges. Under the feeble and vacillating Henry III. there was little restraint upon corrupt and unscrupulous barons, such as the Hugh Bygot of the following passage. The right to attend to the administration of justice within the borders of the City was one of the most essential elements of the citizen's freedom; no interference in this direction could possibly be tolerated if the hardly won charters were to be of any avail. It is not surprising, therefore, that the arbitrary conduct of this justiciar, who pretended to act by royal authority, being a King's servant, aroused great resentment among the citizens.

This year, John de Gizors was chosen Mayor, and that too, even in his absence. This year, after a Parliament held by the Barons at Westminster, Hugh Bygot, the Justiciar, went to Saint Saviour's, and having Roger de Turkelby for his 30associate, held there all the Pleas which pertain unto the Justiciars Itinerant in the County of Surrey; and not only did he there amerce several bailiffs and others who had been convicted of offences committed against those subject to them, but he caused them to be imprisoned, clerks as well as laymen. And yet he ransomed one person for twenty marks, and certain others for forty marks, and more; while several others, for but trifling reasons, he immoderately aggrieved.

In these pleas the men of Southwark and others of the County of Surrey made complaint against the Sheriffs and citizens of London, that they unjustly took custom without the Stone Gate on the Bridge, seeing that they ought to possess no such rights beyond the Drawbridge Gate. The citizens, coming with their Sheriffs who had been summoned by the Justiciars, appeared at Saint Saviour's, before the Justiciars, and bringing with them their Charters, said that they were not bound to plead there, nor would they plead without the walls of the City; but without formal plea, they were willing to acknowledge that it was quite lawful for the Sheriffs of London to take custom without the gate aforesaid, and that too, even as far as the staples placed there, seeing that the whole water of Thames pertains unto the City, and always did pertain thereto; and that too, sea-ward as far as the New Weir. At length, after much altercation had taken place between the Justiciars and the citizens, the Justiciars caused inquisition to be made, on the oath of twelve knights of Surrey—and this, although the citizens had not put themselves on such inquisition—whether the Sheriffs of London had taken any custom beyond their limits. Who said, upon oath, that the Sheriffs aforesaid might rightfully take custom there, for that as far the staples before-mentioned, the whole pertains unto the City, and no one has any right upon the Thames, as far as the New Weir, save and except the citizens of London.

After this, the Justiciar before-mentioned, having as his associate Roger before-named, came to the Guildhall of London, and there held Pleas from day to day, as to all those who wished to make plaint; and at once, without either making reasonable 31summons or admitting any lawful excuses, determined the same, observing no due procedure of justice; and that too against the laws of the City, as also against the laws and customs of every freeman of the English realm. This, however, the citizens persistently challenged, saying that no one except the Sheriffs of London ought to hold pleadings in the City as to trespasses there committed; but to no purpose. Still however, the citizens had judgment done upon all persons abiding in the City, who had been convicted, or had been cast in making a false charge. At the same time also, the Justiciar summoned before himself and before the Earl of Gloucester all the bakers of the City who could be found, together with their loaves; and so, by some few citizens summoned before them, judgment was given in reference to their bread; those whose bread did not weigh according to the assay of the City, not being placed in the pillory, as they used to be, but, at the will of the Justiciar and Earl aforesaid, exalted in the tumbrel, against the ancient usage of the City and of all the realm.

The Steelyard was the residence of the Hanse Merchants, who obtained a settlement in London as early as 1250. Valuable privileges were granted to them by Henry III., and these were renewed and confirmed by Edward I., who was anxious to encourage the trade of the City by all possible means. Many privileges were also conceded to the Steelyard merchants by the City, in return for which they undertook to maintain Bishopsgate in good repair and to assist in its defence when necessity arose. In spite of the jealousy of the English merchants, the foreigners flourished exceedingly, but towards the end of the sixteenth century their power began to fail. As English traders became more enterprising, the monopoly of the Steelyard merchants disappeared, and finally, in 1598, Elizabeth expelled them from the country.

Next to this (Cosin) lane on the east, is the steelyard (as they term it) a place for merchants of Almaine, that used to bring hither, as well wheat, rye and other grain, as cables, ropes, masts, pitch, tar, flax, hemp, linen cloth, wainscots, wax, steel, and other profitable merchandizes: unto these merchants in the year 1259 Henry the third, at the request of his brother Richard earl of Cornwall, king of Almaine, granted that all and singular the merchants, having a house in the City of London, commonly called Guilda Aula Theutonicorum, should be maintained and upholden through the whole realm, by all such freedoms, and free usages or liberties, as by the King and his noble progenitors time they had, and enjoyed, etc. Edward the first renewed and confirmed that charter of Liberties granted by his Father. And in the tenth year of the same Edward, Henry Wales being Mayor, a great controversy did arise between the said Mayor, and the merchants of the Haunce of Almaine, about the reparations of Bishopsgate, then likely to fall, for that the said merchants enjoyed divers privileges, in respect of maintaining the said gate, which they now denied to repair: for the appeasing of which controversy the king sent his writ to the Treasurer and Barons of his Exchequer, commanding that they should make inquisition thereof, before whom the merchants being called, when they were not able to discharge themselves, since they enjoyed the liberties to them granted for the same, a precept was sent to the Mayor, and sheriffs, to distrain the said merchants to make reparations, namely Gerard Marbod Alderman of the Haunce, Ralph de Cussarde a citizen of Colen, Ludero de Deneuar, a Burgess of Triuar, John of Aras, a Burgess of Triuon, Bartram of Hamburdge, Godestalke of Hundondale, a Burgess of Triuon, John de Dele a Burgess of Munstar, then remaining in the said City of London: for themselves, and all other merchants of the Haunce, and so they granted 210 marks sterling to the Mayor and Citizens, and undertook that they and their successors should from time to time repair the said gate, and bear the 33third part of the charges in money, and men to defend it when need were. And for this agreement, the said Mayor and Citizens granted to the said merchants their liberties which till of late they have enjoyed, as namely amongst other, that they might lay up their grain which they brought into this realm, in Inns, and sell it in their garners, by the space of forty days after they had laid it up: except by the Mayor and Citizens they were expressly forbidden, because of dearth or other reasonable occasions. Also they might have their Aldermen as they had been accustomed, forseen always that he were of the City, and presented to the Mayor and Aldermen of the City, so oft as any should be chosen, and should take an oath before them to maintain justice in their courts, and to behave themselves in their office according to law, and as it stood with the customs of the City. Thus much for their privileges: whereby it appeareth, that they were great merchants of corn brought out of the East parts hither, in so much that the occupiers of husbandry in this land were enforced to complain of them for bringing in such abundance, when the corn of this realm was at an easy price: whereupon it was ordained by Parliament, that no person should bring into any part of this realm by way of merchandise, wheat, rye or barley, growing out of the said realm, when the quarter of wheat exceeded not the price of 6 shillings 8 pence, rye 4s. the quarter, and barley 3s. the quarter, upon forfeiture the one half to the King, the other half to the seizer thereof. These merchants of Haunce had their Guild hall in Thames street in place aforesaid, by the said Cosin lane. Their hall is large, builded of stone, with three arched gates towards the street, the middlemost whereof is far bigger than the other, and is seldom opened, the other two be mured up, the same is now called the old hall.

It would appear from contemporary evidence that the Londoners must have been somewhat turbulent during 34the thirteenth century. Owing to the smallness of the houses and the insufficient accommodation for families, the greater part of the population constantly filled the streets; and, although the watch and ward arrangements for the protection of the City may have been sufficient in quiet times, they were quite inadequate when troubles arose. In spite of stringent regulations frequent quarrels and riots occurred in the crowded streets, and punishments, fines, and imprisonments were common. The commonest offences, to judge by the records of trials, were night-walking after curfew, robbery with violence, frequenting taverns, and gambling. The following passages illustrate some of the efforts which were continually being made to devise improvements in the administration of the City and the safeguarding of its inhabitants:

(a) On Wednesday next before the Feast of Pentecost, in the 10th year of the reign of King Edward, by Henry le Galeys, Mayor, the Aldermen, and the then Chamberlain of Guildhall, the following provisions were subscribed:—

As to the trades: that every trade shall present the names of all persons in that trade, and of all who have been serving therein; where they dwell, and in what Ward.

Also, each Alderman, with two of the best men of his Ward, shall make inquisition as to persons keeping hostels, and the persons lodging in the same, making enquiry one by one, and from house to house; that so he may know how many, and who, and of what kind or condition they are, clerks or laymen, who are residing in his Ward, of the age of twelve years and upwards.

To be remembered:—as to provision made how suspected persons, when found, ought to be removed, or under what security to remain.

35Secondly, as to the safe-keeping of the City:—All the Gates of the City are to be open by day; and at each Gate there are to be two serjeants to open the same, skilful men, and fluent of speech, who are to keep a good watch upon persons coming in and going out; that so no evil may befall the City.

At every Parish Church, curfew is to be rung at the same hour as at St. Martin's le Grand; so that they begin together, and end together; and then all the Gates are to be shut, as well as all taverns for wine or for ale; and no one is then to go about the streets or ways. Six persons are to watch in each Ward by night, of the most competent men of the Ward thereto; and the two serjeants who guard the Gates by day, are to lie at night either within the Gates, or near thereto.

The serjeants of Billingsgate and Queen Hythe are to see that all boats are moored on the City side at night, and are to have the names of all boats; and no one is to cross the Thames at night. And each serjeant must have his own boat with four men, to guard the water by night, on either side of the bridge.

The serjeants at the Gates are to receive four pence each per day, and the boatmen at night, one penny each.

(b) Henry le Galeys, Mayor of the City of London, presented a writ of our Lord the King, in these words:—

Edward by the grace of God, etc., to the Mayor and Sheriffs of London, greeting. Forasmuch as we have heard that the bakers, and brewsters, and millers, in the city aforesaid, do frequently misconduct themselves in their trades, and that misdoers by night going about the city aforesaid with swords and bucklers, and other arms, as well at the procuration of others as of their own malice, do beat and maltreat other persons, and are wont to perpetrate many other offences and enormities, to no small damage and grievance of our faithful subjects: We, of our counsel, wishing to apply a fitting remedy to all the premises, and to strike both them and others with fear of so offending, do command you, and strictly enjoin, that you will so chastise such bakers, brewsters, and misdoers, with corporal punishments, and so visit the other offences, at your 36discretion, that they may excite in others in like case a fear of so offending. And that all corn to be ground at mills within the city aforesaid, and without, shall be weighed by the millers, and that such millers shall answer in like weight in the flour coming therefrom. And the matters aforesaid, and all other things which unto the office of the Mayoralty of the same city, and to the preservation there of our peace, do pertain, you are to cause to be inviolably observed. Witness myself, at York, the 28th day of May, in the 26th year of our reign.

The attitude of the City towards the Sovereign was invariably determined by the respect which the latter paid to the liberties and privileges of the citizens, who were generally disposed to be loyal enough if they were treated with proper consideration. The change from the powerful and competent rule of Edward I. to the feeble government of his son produced its inevitable effect on London as well as on the kingdom; but the letter quoted below shows that the citizens were prepared to support the King during the early years of his reign. Later, however, his arbitrary measures and foolish actions led to a complete revulsion of feeling, which expressed itself in actual revolt.

To the most noble Prince, and their very dear liege lord, our Lord the King of England, his lieges, Richer de Refham, Mayor of his city of London, and the commonalty of the same city, all manner of reverence, service, and honour, as unto their liege lord. Whereas, Sire, we have heard good news of you, Sire, and of your successful prosecution of your war in Scotland, God be thanked; we do send you, by the bearers of these letters, one thousand marks, in aid and in prosecution of your war; and we do pray you, as being our most dear lord, that 37you will be pleased to accept the same; and that, if aught shall please you as regards your said city, you will signify your will unto us, as being your liege men. Our Lord have you in his keeping, body and soul; and may he give you a good life, and long.

These articles were drawn up by the citizens and submitted to Edward II. for his approval, which he duly gave in exchange for £1,000. It is clear that there had been dissensions in the city; the officials had been endeavouring to obtain favour at Court, and in doing so they had acted, as the citizens alleged, against their interests. The mayor, when it suited the interests of the City magistrates, was re-elected at pleasure; the citizens were taxed in an oppressive manner while the magistrates are stated to have lowered their own assessments. The citizens were unable to obtain satisfactory redress from the King's judges, and proposed these new constitutions, which were accepted by the King and afterwards incorporated into the charter of Richard II. It is to be noted that henceforth the only way to the civic franchise was by becoming a member of the civic gilds.

Edward, by the grace of God, king of England, lord of Ireland, and duke of Aquitaine, to all to whom the present letters shall have come, greeting.

Know ye, that whereas our beloved and faithful the mayor and aldermen, and the other citizens of our city of London, had lately ordained and appointed among themselves, for the bettering of the same city, and for the common benefit of such as dwell in that city, and resort to the same, certain things to be in the same city perpetually observed, and had instantly besought us that we would take care to accept and confirm the same.

38We having seen certain letters, patentwise, signed with the common seal of that city, and the seal of the office of the mayoralty of that city, upon the premises, and to us exhibited, have caused certain articles to be chosen out of the foresaid letters, and caused them in some things to be corrected, as they are underneath inserted, viz.

1. That the mayor and sheriffs of the same city be elected by the citizens of the said city, according to the tenor of the charters of our progenitors, heretofore kings of England, made to them thereby, and not otherwise.

2. That the mayor remain only one year together in his mayoralty.

3. That sheriffs have but two clerks and two serjeants; and that they take such for whom they will answer.

4. That the mayor have no other office belonging to the city, but the office of mayoralty; nor draw to himself the sheriff's plea in the chamber of London, nor hold other pleas than those the mayor, according to ancient custom, ought to hold.

5. That the aldermen be removed from year to year, on the day of St. Gregory the Pope, and not re-elected; and others chosen by the same wards....

7. That no stranger be admitted into the freedom of the city in the husting; and that no inhabitant, and especially English merchant, of any mistery or trade, be admitted into the freedom of the city, unless by surety of six honest and sufficient men of the mistery or trade that he shall be of, who is so to be admitted into the freedom; which six men may undertake for him, of keeping the city indemnified in that behalf. And that the same form of surety be observed of strangers to be admitted into the freedom in the husting, if they be of any certain mistery or trade. And if they are not of some certain mistery, then that they be not admitted into the freedom without the assent of the commonalty. And that they who have been taken into the freedom of the city (since we undertook the government of the realm) contrary to the forms prescribed, and they who have gone contrary to their oath in this behalf, 39or contrary to the state of the city, and are thereof lawfully convicted, lose the freedom of the said city.

Saving always, that concerning apprentices the ancient manner and form of the said city be observed.

8. That each year in the same city, as often as need shall be, inquiry be made, if any of the freedom of the same city exercise merchandises in the city, of the goods of others not of the same freedom, by calling those goods their own, contrary to their oath, and contrary to the freedom of the said city; and they that are lawfully convicted thereof to lose the freedom of the said city....

12. That weights and scales of merchandises to be weighed between merchants and merchants, the issues coming of which belong to the commonalty of the said city, remain in the custody of honest and sufficient men of the same city, expert in that office, and as yet to be chosen by the commonalty, to be kept at the will of the same commonalty; and that they be by no means committed to others than those so to be chosen....

14. Merchants who are not of the freedom of the city, not to sell, by retail, wines or other wares, within the city or suburbs....

16. That the common harbourers in the city and suburbs, although they are not of the freedom of the same, be partakers of the contingent burdens for maintaining the said city, according to the state of it, as long as they shall be so common harbourers, as other like dwellers in the city and suburbs shall partake, on account of those dwellings. Saving always, that the merchants of Gascony, and other foreigners, may, one with another, inhabit and be harboured in the said city, as hitherto they have accustomed to do.

17. That the keeping the bridge of the said city, and the rents and profits belonging to that bridge, be committed to be kept to two honest and sufficient men of the city, other than the aldermen, to be chosen to this by the commonalty, at the will of the said commonalty, and not to others, and who may answer thereupon to the said commonalty....

20. That the goods of the aldermen, in aids, tallages, and 40other contributions, concerning the said city, be taxed by the men of the wards in which those aldermen abide, as the goods of other citizens, by the said wards.

Which articles, as they are above expressed, and the matters contained in the same, we accept, approve and ratify; and we yield and grant them, for us and our heirs, as much as in us is, to the aforesaid citizens, their heirs and successors, in the aforesaid city and suburbs, for the common profit of those that inhabit therein, and resort thither, to obtain the same, and to be observed perpetually.

Moreover, we, willing to show ampler grace to the mayor, aldermen and citizens, at their request have granted to them, for us and our heirs, that the mayor, aldermen, citizens and commonalty of the commoners of the city, and their heirs and successors, for the necessities and profits of the same city, may, among themselves of their common assent assess tallages upon their own goods within that city, as well upon the rents as other things; and as well upon the misteries as any other way, as they shall see expedient, and levy them, without incurring the danger of us or our heirs, or our ministers whomsoever. And that the money coming from such tallages remain in the custody of four honest and lawful men of the said city, to be chosen to this by the commonalty, and be laid out, of their custody, for the necessities and profits of the said city, and not otherwise. In witness whereof, etc.

Witness the King, at York, the eighth day of June, in the twelfth year of our reign.

Although the citizens were at first sufficiently well disposed towards Edward II., his misgovernment led ultimately to grave dissatisfaction, which expressed itself in riots and revolt. The King was induced by his worthless advisers to make claims and attacks upon the rights of the citizens. He was always in want of money, and 41believed, like many other Kings, that the wealth of the City was inexhaustible. In 1321 he deprived the citizens of their cherished right of electing their own Mayor, and from that time the condition of the City was perfectly wretched until the close of his reign. There was no proper authority at all; the King deposed one Mayor and set up another; the city generally supported Queen Isabella, and received her and Mortimer with enthusiasm. All who were thought to favour the King were in danger, and the attitude of the City was to a considerable extent responsible for the unhappy King's deposition.

At this time, at Saint Michael, Lady Isabele, the Queen, and Sir Edward, her son, sent their letters to the commons of London, to the effect that they should assist in destroying the enemies of the land; but received no answer in return, as to their wishes thereon, through fear of the King. Wherefore a letter was sent to London by the Queen and her son, and was fixed at daybreak upon the Cross in Chepe, and a copy of the letter on the windows elsewhere, upon Thursday, that is to say, the Feast of Saint Denis [October 9], to the effect that the commons should be aiding with all their power in destroying the enemies of the land, and Hugh le Despencer in especial, for the common profit of all the realm; and that the commons should send them information as to their wishes thereon. Wherefore the Commonalty proceeded to wait upon the Mayor and other great men of the City, at the Black Friars Preachers in London, upon the Wednesday before the Feast of Saint Luke [October 18] which then fell on a Saturday; so much so, that the Mayor, crying mercy with clasped hands, went to the Guildhall and granted the commons their demand, and cry was accordingly made in Chepe, that the enemies to the King, and the Queen, and their son, should all quit the City upon such peril as might ensue. It happened also on the same day, at the hour of noon, that some persons 42had recourse to arms, and seized one John le Marchal, a burgess of the City, in his own house near Wallbrook, who was held as an enemy to the City and a spy of Sir Hugh le Despencer; and he was brought into Chepe, and there despoiled and beheaded.

The frequent proclamations for the preservation of peace and order in the City seem to show that some difficulty was experienced in this direction; it is, at any rate, interesting to note that the authority of the King is invoked to assist in the discipline and control of lawless inhabitants. The restriction as to the bearing of arms is very significant, and the instructions regarding night-walkers and tavern-keepers, which continually recur in similar documents, show whence arose the greatest dangers to life and property.

This proclamation was ordered by the Mayor and Aldermen, on Saturday the morrow of St. Dunstan [May 19], in the 3rd year of the reign of King Edward the Third; and on the Sunday following throughout the City proclaimed; our said Lord the King being about to cross over to the parts of France on the Friday next ensuing, there to do his homage; and to the end that, while the King was there, his peace might be the more strictly observed.—

We do command, on behalf of our Lord the King, that his peace shall be preserved and kept between both denizens and strangers, throughout all the franchise of this city.

Also,—that no person, native or stranger, shall go armed in the same city, or shall carry arms by night or by day, on pain of imprisonment, and of losing his arms; save only, the serjeants-at-arms of our Lord the King, and of my Lady the Queen, and the vadlets of the Earls and Barons; that is to 43say, for every Earl or Baron one vadlet, carrying the sword of his lord in his presence; and save also, the officers of the City, and those who shall be summoned unto them, for keeping and maintaining the peace of the City.

We do also forbid, on behalf of our said Lord the King, that anyone shall be so daring, on pain of imprisonment, as to go wandering about the City, after the hour of curfew rung out at St. Martin's le Grand; unless it be some man of the City of good repute, or his servant; and that, for reasonable cause, and with light.

And that no one shall hold covin or congregation, to make persons pay fine, by imputing to them that they have committed against them divers grievances or offences: but let those who feel themselves aggrieved, shew their grievances unto the officers of the City, and they will do them speedy right, according as the law demands. And that no one of the City, of whatsoever condition he be, shall go out of this city, to maintain parties, such as taking seisins, or holding days of love, or making other congregations, within the City or without, in disturbance of the peace of our Lord the King, or in affray of the people, and to the scandal of the City. And if any person, of whatsoever condition or estate he be, shall from henceforth be found guilty thereof, let him be taken and put in the Prison of Newgate; and let him remain for a year and a day, without being reprieved; and if he be free of the City, let him for ever lose his freedom.

And whereas misdoers, going about by night, have their resort more in taverns than elsewhere, and there seek refuge, and watch their time for misdoing; we do forbid that any taverner or brewer keep the door of his tavern open after the hour of curfew aforesaid, on the pain as to the same ordained; that is to say, the first time, on pain of being amerced in the sum of 40d.; the second time, half a mark; the third time, 10s.; the fourth time, 20s.; the fifth time, let him forswear the trade for ever.

44

The Black Death, which broke out in England in 1348, was a terrible calamity, and it is estimated that at least half of the population of the country perished by the pestilence, including a large proportion of the inhabitants of London. The churchyards were speedily filled, and additional pieces of land were given by the Bishop of London and other persons for the burial of the victims of this fearful plague. The most important result of the 47pestilence was the dearth of labour which was immediately caused, and the consequent rise in wages was a source of considerable trouble to the legislature and to all employers of labour. Parliament passed the Statutes of Labourers, which were intended to fix the wages of workpeople at the rates which had been customary before the plague, and in London an attempt was made towards the same object by this Proclamation, in which wages are laid down "to be observed for ever." It seems strange that in a commercial city like London it should be considered possible to regulate wages and prices by an arbitrary enactment of this kind, and it does not appear that the ordinance was obeyed. There is little doubt that it was generally ignored, and the craftsmen continued to make the most of the situation, just as the agricultural labourers and craftsmen in the country were able, on the whole, to set at defiance the Statutes of Labourers.

To amend and redress the damages and grievances which the good folks of the City, rich and poor, have suffered and received within the past year, by reason of masons, carpenters, plasterers, tilers, and all manner of labourers, who take immeasurably more than they have been wont to take, by assent of Walter Turk, Mayor, the Aldermen, and all the Commonalty of the City, the points under-written are ordained, to be held and firmly observed for ever; that is to say.—

In the first place,—that the masons, between the Feasts of Easter and St. Michael [September 29], shall take no more by the working-day than 6d., without victuals or drink; and from the Feast of St. Michael to Easter, for the working-day, 5d. And upon Feast-days, when they do not work, they shall take nothing. And for the making or mending of their implements they shall take nothing.

Also,—that the carpenters shall take, for the same time, in the same manner.

48Also,—that the plasterers shall take the same as the masons and carpenters take.

Also,—that the tilers shall take for the working-day, from the Feast of Easter to St. Michael 5½d., and from the Feast of St. Michael to Easter 4½d.

Also,—that the labourers shall take in the first half year 3½d., and in the other half 3d.

Also,—that the master daubers (layers on) shall take between the Feasts of Easter and St. Michael 5d., and in the other half year 4d.; and their labourers are to take the same as the labourers of the tilers.

Also,—that the sawiers shall take in the same manner as the masons and carpenters take.

Also,—that no one shall pay more to the workmen aforesaid, on pain of paying 40s. to the Commonalty, without any release therefrom; and he who shall take more than the above, shall go to prison for forty days....

Also,—that one person of every company may see that the vessel into which their wine is drawn is clean, and from what tun their wine is drawn; on pain of imprisonment, and of paying to the Chamber, for the first time, half a mark; for the second time, one mark; for the third time, 20s.; and every other time a person shall be found in like default, let his fine be increased by half a mark.

Also,—that the measures shall be standing upright, and sealed with the seal of the Alderman of the Ward; and he who shall sell by other measures, let him go to prison, and further, be amerced in half a mark.

Also,—that the pelterers shall make their furs according to the ancient ordinances, of olden time ordained, and according to the purport of their Charter; on pain of forfeiture and punishment for the same, as of old ordained.

Also,—that no one should go to meet those who are bringing victuals or other wares by land or by water to the City for sale, for the purpose of buying them or bargaining for them, before that they shall have come to certain places assigned thereto, where they ought to be sold; on pain of forfeiture of the 49victuals and other wares, and of their bodies being committed to prison, until they have been sufficiently punished, at the discretion of the Mayor and Aldermen.

"Draper" originally meant a cloth-maker, not, as now, a dealer in cloth. In the Middle Ages the drapers both made it and sold it, but gradually their particular work was confined to supervising the manufacture and selling the finished article. The Drapers' Gild must have been one of the earliest associations of craftsmen, and was incorporated by royal charter in 1364. One of the most important features of this charter seems to be the instruction that the mistery of drapery should be definitely separated from those of the tenterers, tellers, and fullers; it appears to have been impossible to exercise proper supervision in a trade which involved so many different operations, and the remedy was obviously to split it up into several trades, each of which might have its own organisation.

The King, to the Mayor and Sheriffs of London, greeting. Whereas, amongst other things ordained in our last parliament, it was for certain causes proposed, and in the same parliament ordained, that no English merchant should use merceries or merchandizes by himself or another by any manner of covine, unless one only, and which he should choose before the feast of Candlemas last past, as in the said ordinances is more fully contained.

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And whereas it has been shown to us and to our council, that people of divers misteries of the city of London intermix themselves with the mistery of Drapery, and cause divers deceits and frauds in the use of the same mistery,—to the 50great damage of us and of our people, and contrary to the ordinances aforesaid.

We, willing the said ordinances should be kept and maintained in all points, accordingly have, by the assent of the great and others of our council, ordained and granted, that none shall use the Mistery of Drapery in the city of London, nor in the suburbs of the same, unless he has been apprenticed in the same mistery, or in other due manner been admitted by the common assent of the same mistery. And that each of the misteries of tenterers, tisters, and fullers, keep himself to his own mistery, and in no way meddle with the making, buying, or selling of any manner with cloth or drapery, on pain of imprisonment and loss of all the cloth so by them made, bought, or sold, or the value thereof to us.

And that none who has cloth to sell in the said city, or in the suburbs, do sell the same unless to drapers enfranchised in the said mistery of drapery, or that it be in gross to the lords and others of the commons, who will buy the same for themselves or servants by retail, under the same penalty.

And that the drapers enfranchised in the mistery of drapery in the said city, may elect each year four of their own mistery, who may be sworn twice a year in the presence of the Mayor, to oversee that no default or deceit be used or committed in the mistery aforesaid, and to rule and govern the said mistery of drapery in the same city, to the common profit of the people, and that due punishment be done on them in whom defaults shall be found, according to the advice and discretion of the said four persons, by the aid of the Mayor and Sheriffs when need is; the which Mayor and Sheriffs we will shall be intendants to the said four persons, when they shall be required by them.

And we also will and give power to the said four persons who may be elected and sworn, to take an oath of all those who shall be received into the said mistery of drapery in the same city, to use and do whatever appertains to the same mistery well and lawfully, without fraud, evil design, or subtle management against the points and ordinances aforesaid.

51Saving always to our beloved in God the prior of St. Bartholomew, in Smithfield, and other lords who have fairs in the said suburbs by grant of our progenitors, their fairs, franchises, and free-customs, which they have exercised in their said fairs, from the time of the said grants, so that no damage or prejudice shall be done to them in any way under colour of this our ordinance and grant; and saving the franchises by us granted to the merchants, vintners of England and Gascoigny, which we will shall remain in force in all points in manner as in our letters patent to the said drapers is more fully contained.

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Wherefore we command and firmly enjoin you forthwith that at your peril you cause to be proclaimed and published in the said city and suburbs, and all places where it should be done, that all the said things so by us granted may be firmly held and kept in form aforesaid.

And hereof in no manner fail.

The Battle of Crecy had first demonstrated the immense superiority of archers over mounted knights in battle. It became necessary to insist that Englishmen should be fully and properly trained in the use of the bow and arrow, if this superiority was to be maintained. The youths of London appear to have been addicted at this time to more exciting and less serviceable sports than the old exercise of archery, and Edward III.'s letter is at once a reprimand and an instruction.

The King to the Sheriffs of London, greeting.

Because the people of our realm, as well of good quality as mean, have commonly in their sports before these times exercised the skill of shooting arrows; whence it is well known, that honour and profit have accrued to our whole realm, and to us, by the help of God, no small assistance in 52our warlike acts; and now the said skill being, as it were, wholly laid aside, the same people please themselves in hurling of stones and wood and iron; and some in hand-ball, foot-ball, bandy-ball, and in Cambuck, or Cock fighting; and some also apply themselves to other dishonest games, and less profitable or useful: whereby the said realm is likely, in a short time, to become destitute of archers.

We, willing to apply a seasonable remedy to this, command you, that in places in the foresaid City, as well within the liberties as without, where you shall see it expedient, you cause public proclamation to be made, that every one of the said City, strong in body, at leisure times on holidays, use in their recreations bows and arrows, or pellets, or bolts, and learn and exercise the art of shooting; forbidding all and singular on our behalf, that they do not after any manner apply themselves to the throwing of stones, wood, iron, hand-ball, foot-ball, bandy-ball, cambuck, or cock-fighting, nor such other like vain plays, which have no profit in them, or concern themselves therein, under pain of imprisonment.

Witness the King at Westminster, the twelfth day of June (1365).

Modern English poetry may be said to have begun in London. Chaucer was born in London, was the descendant of a long line of Londoners, and lived in London the greater part of his life. Many of his contemporaries, including Gower, Occleve, and Lydgate, were connected with London, and spent much of their time there.

Chaucer's father was a citizen and vintner of London, and owned a house in Thames Street, close to Walbrook. Geoffrey Chaucer was in all probability born in this house; it became his own property, and he parted with it in 1380. Six years before this he acquired the lease of the dwelling-house above the city-gate of Aldgate, on 53condition that he kept it in good repair; he seems to have made this his usual residence till 1385. In it he must have composed several of his poems, including The Parlement of Foules, The House of Fame, and Troilus. He did not commence the Canterbury Tales until the following year.

To all persons to whom this present writing indented shall come, Adam de Bury, Mayor, the Aldermen, and the Commonalty of the City of London, greeting. Know ye that we, with unanimous will and assent, have granted and released by these presents unto Geoffrey Chaucer the whole of the dwelling-house above the Gate of Aldgate, with the rooms built over, and a certain cellar beneath, the same gate, on the South side of that gate, and the appurtenances thereof; to have and to hold the whole of the house aforesaid, with the rooms so built over, and the said cellar, and the appurtenances thereof, unto the aforesaid Geoffrey, for the whole life of him, the same Geoffrey. And the said Geoffrey shall maintain and repair the whole of the house aforesaid, and the rooms thereof, so often as shall be requisite, in all things necessary thereto, competently and sufficiently, at the expense of the same Geoffrey, throughout the whole life of him, the same Geoffrey. And it shall be lawful for the Chamberlain of the Guildhall of London, for the time being, so often as he shall see fit to enter the house and rooms aforesaid, with their appurtenances, to see that the same are well and competently, and sufficiently, maintained and repaired, as aforesaid. And if the said Geoffrey shall not have maintained or repaired the aforesaid house and rooms competently and sufficiently, as is before stated, within forty days after the time when by the same Chamberlain he shall have been required to do so, it shall be lawful for the said Chamberlain wholly to oust the before-named Geoffrey therefrom, and to re-seise and resume the same house, rooms, and cellar, with their appurtenances, into the hand of the City, to the use of the Commonalty aforesaid; and to hold the same 54in their former state to the use of the same Commonalty, without any gainsaying whatsoever thereof. And it shall not be lawful for the said Geoffrey to let the house, rooms, and cellar, aforesaid, or any part thereof, or his interest therein, to any person whatsoever. And we, the Mayor, Aldermen, and Commonalty aforesaid, will not cause any gaol to be made thereof, for the safe-keeping of prisoners therein, during the life of the said Geoffrey; but we and our successors will warrant the same house, rooms, and cellar, with their appurtenances unto the before-named Geoffrey, for the whole life of him, the said Geoffrey, in form aforesaid: this however excepted, that in time of defence of the city aforesaid, so often as it shall be necessary, it shall be lawful for us and our successors to enter the said house and rooms, and to order and dispose of the same, for such time, and in such manner, as shall then seem to us to be most expedient. And after the decease of the same Geoffrey, the house, rooms and cellar aforesaid, with their appurtenances, shall wholly revert unto us and our successors. In witness whereof, as well the Common Seal of the City aforesaid as the seal of the said Geoffrey, have been to these present indentures interchangeably appended.

Given in the Chamber of the Guildhall of the city aforesaid, the 10th day of May, in the 48th year of the reign of King Edward, after the Conquest the Third.

Beneath Pierce's statue of Walworth in Fishmongers' Hall is an inscription:

55It seems that it has always been a popular belief that the weapon represented in the arms of the City is "Walworth's dagger"; but, as Stow points out, it is intended to represent the sword of St. Paul, who was the patron saint of this Corporation.

It hath also been, and is now grown to a common opinion, that in reward of this service done, by the said William Walworth against the rebel, King Richard added to the arms of this City, (which was argent, a plain cross gules) a sword or dagger, (for so they term it) whereof I have read no such record, but to the contrary. I find that in the fourth year of Richard the second in a full assembly made in the upper chamber of the Guildhall, summoned by this William Walworth, then Mayor, as well of Aldermen as of the common Council in every ward, for certain affairs concerning the king, it was there by common consent agreed and ordained, that the old seal of the office of the Mayoralty of the city being very small, old, unsuitable, and uncomely for the honour of the city, should be broken, and one other new should be had, which the said Mayor commanded to be made artificially, and honourable for the exercise of the said office thereafter in place of the other: in which new Seal, besides the images of Peter, and Paul, which of old were rudely engraven, there should be under the feet of the said images, a shield of the arms of the said City perfectly graved, with two lions supporting the same with two sergeants of arms, on either part one, and two tabernacles, in which above should stand two Angels, between whom above the said images of Peter and Paul, shall be set the glorious virgin: this being done, the old seal of the office was delivered to Richard Odiham Chamberlain, who brake it, and in place thereof, was delivered the new seal to the said Mayor to use in his office of Mayoralty, as occasion should require. This new seal seemeth to be made before William Walworth was knighted, for he is not here entitled Sir, as afterwards he was: and certain it is that the same new seal 56then made, is now in use and none other in that office of the Mayoralty, which may suffice to answer the former fable, without shewing of any evidence sealed with the old seal, which was the Cross, and sword of Saint Paul, and not the dagger of William Walworth.

Froissart's description of the Peasants' Revolt is one of our main sources of information concerning this important event, and seems likely to be fairly accurate. He himself was, of course, an aristocrat, and was in no way disposed to be favourable to the "wicked rebels"; but he seems anxious to represent their case as fairly as possible, although he is plainly out of sympathy with the ideas and arguments of the rebels. It is noteworthy that the rising was almost simultaneous in many parts of the country, but its chief headquarters were in Kent, one of the most prosperous counties in the kingdom, where actual distress was least likely to be prevalent; and it is probable that the peasants in this county had benefited to no small extent by the economic changes which succeeded the Pestilence of 1349, and had improved both their material conditions and their intellectual outlook. The ideas of liberty which formed the motive of the revolt were somewhat vague, but were strengthened by numerous concrete instances of injustice and injury; and the concentration of the insurgents upon London forms one of a long series of indications of the importance of the city as the determining factor in vital issues.

In the mean season there fell in England great mischief and rebellion of the common people, by which deed England was at a point to have been lost without recovery....

It was a marvellous thing, and of poor foundation, that this 57mischief began in England, and to give ensample to all manner of people, I will speak thereof as it was done, as I was informed, and of the incidents thereof. There was an usage in England, and yet is in divers countries, that the noblemen have great franchises over the commons, and keep them in servage, that is to say, their tenants ought by custom to labour their lords' lands, to gather and bring home their corn, and some to thresh and to fan, and by servage to make their hay and to hew their wood and bring it home. All these things they ought to do by servage, and there be more of these people in England than in any other realm. Thus the noblemen and prelates are served by them, and specially in the counties of Kent, Essex, Sussex, and Bedford. These unhappy people of these said counties began to stir, because they said they were being kept in great servage, and in the beginning of the world, they said, there were no bondmen, wherefore they maintained that none ought to be bond, without he did treason to his lord, as Lucifer did to God.... And of this imagination was a foolish priest in the county of Kent, called John Ball, for which foolish words he had been three times in the Bishop of Canterbury's prison: for this priest used oftentimes on the Sundays, after mass, when the people were going out of the minster, to go into the cloister and preach, and made the people to assemble about him, and would say thus: "Ah, ye good people, the matters goeth not well to pass in England, nor shall not do till everything be common, and that there be no villains nor gentlemen, but that we may be all united together, and that the lords be no greater masters than we be. What have we deserved, or why should we be kept thus in servage? We be all come from one father and from one mother, Adam and Eve: whereby can they say or show that they be greater lords than we be, saving by that they cause us to win and labour for that they dispend.

"They are clothed in velvet and camlet furred with grise, and we be vestured with poor cloth: they have their wines, spices, and good bread, and we have the rye, the bran, and the straw, and drink water: they dwell in fair houses, and we 58have pain and travail, rain and wind in the fields: and by that that cometh of our labours they keep and maintain their estates: we be all called their bondmen, and, without we do readily them service, we be beaten: and we have no sovereign to whom we may complain, nor that will hear us, nor do us right. Let us go to the king, he is young, and show him what servage we be in, and show him how we will have it otherwise, or else we will provide us of some remedy; and if we go together, all manner of people that be now in any bondage will follow us to the intent to be made free; and when the king seeth us, we shall have some remedy, either by fairness or otherwise."

Thus John Ball said on Sundays, when the people issued out of the churches in the villages: wherefore many of the mean people loved him, and such as intended to no goodness said, how true; and so they would murmur one with another in the fields, and in the ways as they went together, affirming how John Ball said truth.

Of his words and deeds there was much people in London informed, such as had great envy at them that were rich and such as were noble; and then they began to speak among them, and said how the realm of England was right evil governed, and how that gold and silver was taken from them by them that were named noblemen: so thus these unhappy men of London began to rebel, and assembled them together, and sent word to the foresaid counties that they should come to London, and bring their people with them, promising them how they should find London open to receive them, and the commons of the city to be of the same accord, saying how they would do so much to the king that there should not be one bondman in all England.

This promise moved so them of Kent, of Essex, of Sussex, of Bedford, and of the counties about, that they rose and came towards London to the number of 60,000. And they had a captain called Walter Tyler, and with him in company was Jack Straw and John Ball: these three were chief sovereign captains, but the head of all was Walter Tyler, and he was 59indeed a tiler of houses, an ungracious patron. When these unhappy men began thus to stir, they of London, except such as were of their band, were greatly affrayed. Then the Mayor of London and the rich men of the city took counsel together, and when they saw the people thus coming in on every side, they caused the gates of the city to be closed, and would suffer no man to enter into the city. But when they had well imagined, they advised not so to do, for they thought they should thereby put their suburbs in great peril to be brent; and so they opened again the city, and there entered in at the gates in some places a hundred, two hundred, by twenty or thirty; and so when they came to London, they entered and lodged: and yet, of truth, most of their people could not tell what to ask or demand, but followed each other like beasts. In like wise these villains and poor people came to London, a hundred miles off, sixty mile, fifty mile, forty mile, and twenty mile off, and from all counties about London, but the most part came from the counties before named, and as they came they demanded ever for the king.

The gentlemen of the counties, knights and squires, began to doubt when they saw the people began to rebel; so the gentlemen drew together as well as they might.

This rebellion was well known in the king's court ere any of these people began to stir out of their houses; but the king nor his council did provide no remedy therefor, which was great marvel.

In the morning on Corpus Christi Day King Richard heard mass in the Tower of London, and all his lords, and then he took his barge with the Earl of Salisbury, the Earl of Warwick, the Earl of Oxford, and certain knights, and so rowed down along the Thames to Rotherhithe, where were descended down the hill 10,000 men to see the king and speak with him. And when they saw the king's barge coming, they began to shout, and made such a cry, as though all the devils of hell had been among them. And they had brought with them Sir John Newton, to the intent that, if the king had not come, they would have stricken him all to pieces, and so they had promised 60him. And when the king and his lords saw the demeanour of the people, the best assured of them were in dread; and so the king was counselled by his barons not to take any landing there, but so rowed on down the river. And the king demanded of them what they would, and said how he was come thither to speak with them, and they said all with one voice: "We would that ye should come aland, and then we shall show you what we lack." Then the Earl of Salisbury answered for the king, and said: "Sirs, ye be not in such order nor array that the king ought to speak with you." And so with these words no more was said: and then the king was counselled to return to the Tower of London, and so he did.

And when the people saw that, they were inflamed with ire, and returned to the hill, where the great band was, and then showed them what answer they had, and how the king was returned to the Tower of London. Then they all cried out: "Let us go to London," and so they took their way thither: and in their going they beat down abbeys and houses of advocates and of men of the court, and so came into the suburbs of London, which were great and fair, and there beat down divers fair houses, and specially they brake up the king's prisons, as the Marshalsea and others, and delivered out all the prisoners that were within: and then they did much hurt; and on the bridge foot they threatened them of London because the gates of the bridge were closed, saying how they would bren all the suburbs and so conquer London by force, and slay and bren all the commons of the city. There were many within the city of their accord, and so they drew together and said: "Why do ye not let these good people enter into the city? They are our fellows, and that that they do is for us." So therewith the gates were opened, and then these people entered into the city, and went into houses and sat down to eat and drink. They desired nothing but it was incontinent brought to them, for every man was ready to make them good cheer, and to give them meat and drink to appease them.

Then the captains, as John Ball, Jack Straw, and Wat Tyler, went throughout London, 20,000 with them, and so came to the 61Savoy on the way to Westminster, which was a goodly house, and it pertaineth to the Duke of Lancaster. And when they had entered, they slew the keepers thereof, and robbed and pillaged the house; and when they had so done, then they set fire on it, and clean destroyed and brent it. And when they had done that outrage, they left not therewith, but went straight to the fair hospital called St. John's, and there they brent house, hospital, minster, and all. Then they went from street to street and slew all the Flemings that they could find in church or in any other place, there was none respited from death.

And they brake up divers houses of the Lombards, and robbed them and took their goods at their pleasure, for there was none that durst say them nay. And they slew in the city a rich merchant called Richard Lyon, whom before that time Wat Tyler had served in France; and on a time this Richard Lyon had beaten him, while he was his varlet, which Wat Tyler then remembered, and so came to his house and strake off his head, and caused it to be borne on a spear-point before him all about the city....

The Saturday the king went to Westminster and heard mass in the church there, and all his lords with him; and then he leapt on his horse, and all his lords, and so the king rode toward London; and when he had ridden a little way, on the left hand there was a way to pass without London.

The same morning Wat Tyler, Jack Straw, and John Ball had assembled their company together in a place called Smithfield, where every Friday there is a market of horses; and there were together all of one affinity more than 20,000, and yet there were many still in the town, drinking and making merry in the taverns, and paying nothing, for they were happy that made them best cheer.

And therewith the king came the same way unaware of them, for he had thought to have passed that way without London, and with him forty horse.... The mayor of London came to the king with twelve horsemen well armed under their coats, and so he broke the press and saw and heard how Wat Tyler demeaned himself, and said to him: "Ha, thou knave, 62how art thou so hardy in the king's presence to speak such words? It is too much for thee to do so." Then the king began to chafe and said to the mayor: "Set hands on him." And while the king said so, Tyler said to the mayor: "A God's name, what have I said to displease thee?" "Yes, truly," quoth the mayor, "thou false knave, shalt thou speak thus in the presence of the king, my natural lord?" And with these words the mayor drew out his sword and strake Tyler so great a stroke on the head, that he fell down at the feet of his horse, and as soon as he was fallen, they environed him all about, whereby he was not seen of his company. Then a squire of the king alighted, called John Standish, and he drew out his sword and put it through Wat Tyler's body, and so he died.

Then the ungracious people there assembled, perceiving their captain slain, began to murmur among themselves and said: "Ah, our captain is slain, let us go and slay them all;" and therewith they arrayed themselves on the same place in manner of battle, and their bows before them. Then the king began a great deed; howbeit, all turned to the best: for as soon as Tyler was on the earth, the king departed from all his company, and all alone he rode to these people, and said to them: "Sirs, what aileth you? Ye shall have no captain but me: I am your king: be all in rest and peace." And so the most part of the people that heard the king speak and saw him among them, were shamefast and began to wax peaceable and depart.

This poem is generally ascribed to John Lydgate, a disciple of Chaucer, but the authorship is doubtful. Whatever its poetical merit may be, it is full of interest as a picture of contemporary life in London, and the description of the adventures of the poor countryman, endeavouring to obtain legal justice in the metropolis, lacks neither pathos nor humour.

Richard Whittington was the son of a Gloucestershire knight, and was born in 1350. The familiar stories of his roadside adventure in Highgate and of his fortune-making cat are, in common with many other delightful and picturesque incidents of history, rejected by historians; but he is certainly a great and famous man, even when his story is robbed of these interesting particulars. He was four times Mayor, and his justice and patriotism became proverbial. He vigorously opposed the admission of foreigners to the freedom of the City; he was exceedingly generous, and performed many deeds of charity. The following account of his second election to the highest dignity of the City illustrates the form and manner in which the appointment was made in the Middle Ages.

On Wednesday, the Feast of the Translation of St. Edward the King and Confessor [October 13], in the 8th year etc., John 67Wodecok, Mayor of the City of London, considering that upon the same day he and all the Aldermen of the said city, and as many as possible of the wealthier and more substantial Commoners of the same city, ought to meet at the Guildhall, as the usuage is, to elect a new Mayor for the ensuing year, ordered that a Mass of the Holy Spirit should be celebrated, with solemn music, in the Chapel annexed to the said Guildhall; to the end that the same Commonalty, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, might be able peacefully and amicably to nominate two able and proper persons to be Mayor of the said city for the ensuing year, by favour of the clemency of Our Saviour, according to the customs of the said city.

Which Mass having in the said Chapel been solemnly celebrated, there being present thereat the said John Wodecok, the Mayor, John Prestone, Recorder, Nicholas Wottone and Geoffrey Broke, Sheriffs, the Prior of the Holy Trinity, John Hadlee, William Staundone, Richard Whytyngtone, Drew Barentyn, Thomas Knolles, John Shadworth, William Askham, William Bramptone, John Warner, William Walderne, William Venour, Robert Chychely, Thomas Fauconer, Thomas Polle, William Louthe, William Crowmere, Henry Bartone, and Henry Pountfreyt, Aldermen, and many reputable Commoners of the City aforesaid; the same Mayor, Recorder, Sheriffs, Aldermen, and Commoners, entered the Guildhall, where the precept of the said Mayor and Aldermen, as the cause of the said congregation, was becomingly set forth and declared by the said Recorder to the Commoners aforesaid; to the end that such Commoners should nominate unto the said Mayor and Aldermen such able and proper persons as had before filled the office of Sheriff in the City aforesaid; it being for the said Commoners to take no care which one of the persons so to be nominated should be chosen by the Mayor and Aldermen to be Mayor for the ensuing year. Which being done, the said Mayor, Recorder, Sheriffs, and Aldermen, went up into the Chamber of the Mayor's Court, within the Guildhall aforesaid, there to await the nomination of such two persons. Whereupon, the Commoners peacefully and amicably, 68without any clamour or discussion, did becomingly nominate Richard Whytyngtone, mercer, and Drew Barentyn, goldsmith, through John Westone, Common Countor of the said city, and presented the same.

And hereupon, the Mayor and Aldermen, with closed doors, in the said chamber chose Richard Whytyngtone aforesaid, by guidance of the Holy Spirit, to be Mayor of the City for the ensuing year: after which, the Mayor and Aldermen, coming down from the Chamber into the Hall, to the Commoners there assembled as the custom is, notified by the Recorder unto the same Commoners, how that, by Divine inspiration, the lot had fallen upon the said Richard Whytyngtone, as above stated.

The Lollards were disciples of Wyclif, and increased very considerably in numbers and in power at the beginning of the fifteenth century. A large number of the citizens of London appear to have become attached to the new doctrines, which repudiated some of the most important dogmas of the Church. The clergy were active in their efforts to suppress the new beliefs, and applied to the King for assistance. Whatever may have been the personal views of Henry IV. and Henry V. on the matter, they were compelled by force of circumstances to keep on good terms with the Church, and measures of repression were adopted. The leader of the Lollards, Sir John Oldcastle, a man of distinguished military ability, was imprisoned, but rescued from the Tower by a band of Londoners. A huge meeting was held in St. Giles's Fields, but was prevented from doing any damage by Henry V.'s vigilance; the party was vigorously persecuted, and Oldcastle was captured and hanged. After this Lollardry languished, and gradually disappeared.

Inasmuch as we have been given to understand that certain priests, not privileged by law for this purpose, nor licensed by the diocesan of the place, nor permitted by the Church, who are said to be of this new sect of the Lollards, have been preaching in public places within the aforesaid city, and in the suburbs and vicinity thereof, in order to excite and win over some who are ill disposed to the Catholic faith and the doctrine of holy mother Church; and by their own rashness, and contrary to the laws and ordinances of the Church, they have preached, nay, rather have profaned the Word of God; or at least under pretext of preaching they have in such places been emboldened to propagate discord among our people on the pestiferous seeds of Lollardism and evil doctrine, after the manner of preachers; and as some of our people of our said city and its vicinity, under pretence of hearing such preaching, have assembled to those places, and have congregated together in large multitudes; and, in consequence, murmurs and seditions have in part arisen, and will probably arise, to the disturbance and no small marring of our peace, unless a remedy be more quickly applied to abolish such meetings and pull down such conventicles:

We, desiring especially to provide for the defence of the Catholic faith, the laws and ordinances of the Church, and for preserving our peace, command you, that you cause proclamation publicly to be made, within our city aforesaid, and its suburbs, in every place where you shall find it expedient:

That no chaplains, of whatsoever degree, state, or condition they may be, shall henceforward hold, cherish, affirm, preach, or defend such opinions, heresy, or error, contrary to the decision of holy mother Church; and that none other our lieges and subjects in this matter adhere to or abet them, or lend them counsel or assistance, under penalty of imprisonment of their bodies, and the forfeiture of all their goods and chattels, to our will and disposal. We further command and positively enjoin you that, if henceforth you shall be able to find within your bailiwick any such chaplains preaching and affirming 70publicly or secretly, contrary to the aforesaid rescript, or any other our lieges and subjects making conventicles and meetings, or receiving the same chaplains, or being under probable or great suspicion concerning the premises, or in any way counselling, favouring, or helping such chaplains in this matter, then arrest ye them without delay, and commit them to prison, there to remain, until they shall obey the commands of the diocesan in whose diocese they may have preached....

Witness the King, at Westminster, the 21st day of August, 1413.

Reluctance to accept positions of dignity and importance is rarely met with nowadays; we are accustomed to witness keen competition for the honour and privilege—even if there be no more solid advantage—of a seat in Parliament or a civic office. But in medieval times there was frequently considerable unwillingness to hold these now coveted posts; most men had their own affairs to attend to, and these were almost certain to be seriously prejudiced by the distractions of public life. More especially was this the case where Parliamentary representation of a remote constituency was concerned. The danger, expense, and time involved in the necessary journeys to the capital were a very serious consideration, and fines had to be imposed frequently upon burgesses or knights of the shire, who resented the greatness which their constituents thrust upon them. The following instance shows that even in London pressure had to be applied in order to induce the acceptance of an important office; and it was not until the holders of such posts began to realise the possibility of deriving profit from them, as, for example, by exempting their own property from taxation, that these difficulties were entirely overcome.

Forasmuch as a laudable custom which has hitherto prevailed in the City of London, has so prescribed and ordained, that the inhabitants of each of the Wards of the said city are at liberty to elect an Alderman whensoever they need one, to rule them in their own Ward; provided always, that the person so elected is presented to the Mayor and Aldermen, for the time being, and by them is deemed worthy to be admitted and approved.—And whereas, on the 3rd day of January, in the 2nd year of the reign of King Henry etc. one Ralph Lobenham, late Alderman of the Ward of Farndone Without, having voluntarily resigned the rule of that Ward, the inhabitants of the Ward thereupon, according to the usual custom, met together at the usual place within the Ward, for the purpose of electing an Alderman thereof, and there unanimously chose one John Gedeney, citizen and draper, to hold the office of Alderman of the Ward aforesaid....

The said John Gedeney appeared before the Mayor and Aldermen, in the Chamber aforesaid, and after the reason for his being summoned had been first stated to him, precept was given to him forthwith to take his seat there in Court, that he might take the oath that pertains unto the office and rank of Alderman. Whereupon, the same John Gedeney, after first setting forth his excuses on the ground of his inability, and his insufficiency for the office, wholly refused to accept it: upon which, he was informed by the Court that he could not refuse this office, to which, as being a fit person, he was admitted by the Court, without breach of his freedom, and of the oath which by him, when he was admitted to the freedom of the City, had been made; and this the more especially, as every freeman is bound to be a partaker in Lot, which is liability to hold office, and in Scot, which means contribution to taxes and other charges, by reason of such oath.

But all and singular the matters before stated notwithstanding, he altogether refused to accept the office, like a person who was utterly obdurate. And hereupon, the matter 72having been considered by the Mayor and Aldermen, because that it appeared to them that if any one, when elected to such office, should be at liberty at his own will and pleasure to refuse the post, and pass it by, not improbably the City before long would be left destitute, as it were, of all rule and governance whatsoever; the same John Gedeney was by the said Mayor and Aldermen committed to prison, there to remain until the Court should be better advised what to do as to the matters aforesaid.

The following extracts are from the Liber Albus, a book on the government of the City of London, by John Carpenter, who was Town Clerk from 1417 to 1438. It contains a complete description of the administration of the City at this interesting point in its history, and gives particulars of the duties and responsibilities of all the civic officers. The author explains that before the office of Mayor was established, the chief person in the City was the Portreeve, who was also the King's representative and justiciar. Then the "Barons of the City," who may have been the Aldermen, obtained the privilege of electing their own Mayor every year; and gradually a custom arose for the Mayor, Aldermen, Sheriffs, and certain chosen commoners to meet for the purpose of choosing a new Mayor. At first the same Mayor was frequently re-elected, so long as there was no expense attached to the office; but when it became customary for him to give feasts and liveries, the cost was generally too great for him to continue in office for more than one year, and the practice arose for the Mayor to retire at the end of his term, when the Aldermen might offer him a second year. The Aldermen held their office for life, and had almost despotic authority in their ward, having their own serjeants to attend them.

You shall swear, that well and lawfully you shall serve our lord the King in the office of the Mayoralty of the City of London, and the same City you shall surely and safely keep to the behoof of the King of England, and of his heirs, Kings of England; and the profit of the King you shall do in all things that unto you belong to do, and the rights of the King, in so far as unto the Crown they belong within the said City, you shall lawfully keep. You shall not assent unto the decrease, or unto the concealment of the rights or of the franchises of the King; and where you shall know the rights of the King or of the Crown, be it in lands, or in rents, or in franchises, or in suits, to be concealed or withdrawn, to your utmost power you shall do to repel it; and if you cannot do it, you shall tell it unto the King, or unto them of his Council, of whom you shall be certain that they will tell it unto the King. And that lawfully and rightfully you will treat the people of your bailiwick, and right will do unto everyone thereof, as well unto strangers as to denizens, to poor as to rich, in that which belongeth unto you to do; and that neither for highness, nor for riches, nor for promise, nor for favour, nor for hate, wrong you shall do unto any one; nor the right of anyone shall you disturb, nor shall you take anything whereby the King may lose, or by which his right may be disturbed. And that in all things which unto the Mayor of the said City it pertaineth to do, as well in the regulation of victuals as in all other things, well and lawfully you shall behave yourself.

So God you help, and the Saints.

---

You shall swear, that well and lawfully you shall serve our lord the King in the City of London, in the office of Alderman in the Ward of N, wherein you are chosen Alderman, and shall lawfully treat and inform the people of the same Ward of such things as unto them pertain to do, for keeping the City, and for maintaining the peace within the City; and that the laws, usages, and franchises of the said City you shall keep and maintain, within town and without, according to your wit and 74power. And that attentive you shall be to save and maintain the rights of orphans, according to the laws and usages of the said City. And that ready you shall be, and readily shall come, at the summons and warning of the Mayor and ministers of the said City, for the time being, to speed the Assizes, Pleas, and Judgments of the Hustings, and other needs of the said City, if you be not hindered by the needs of our lord the King, or by other reasonable cause; and that good lawful counsel you shall give for such things as touch the common profit in the same City. And that you shall sell no manner of victuals by retail; that is to say, bread, ale, wine, fish or flesh, by you, your apprentices, hired servants, or by any other; nor profit shall you take of any such manner of victuals sold during your office. And that well and lawfully you shall (behave) yourself in the said office, and in other things touching the City. So God you help, and the Saints.

The rebellion headed by Cade was a manifestation of discontent at the incompetence of the Government. An expensive and unsuccessful war had been carried on in France, and there was very little disposition in England to aid the inadequate resources of the royal treasury, or to relieve the King from the load of debt which had been contracted. The King's Ministers were forced to have recourse to arbitrary measures, and the affections of the people were completely estranged. Cade was able, by holding out the prospect of redress of grievances, to collect about him a formidable body of malcontents. They were admitted into the City, where at first they conducted themselves with comparative moderation; but very soon indications of violence showed themselves, and the citizens realised their danger and were able to hold the rebels at bay until, dispirited by the opposition which they encountered, they dispersed.

The captain being advised of the King's absence, came first into Southwark, and there lodged at the White Hart, prohibiting to all men, Murder, Rape, or Robbery: by which colour he allured to him the hearts of the common people. But after that he entered into London, and cut the ropes of the drawbridge, sticking his sword on London stone, saying: Now is Mortimer lord of this city, and rode in every street like a lordly Captain. And after a flattering declaration made to the Mayor of the city of his thither coming, he departed again to Southwark. And upon the third day of July, he caused Sir James Fynes, Lord Say, and Treasurer of England, to be brought to the Guildhall of London, and there to be arraigned: which being before the King's justices put to answer, desired to be tried by his peers, for the longer delay of his life.

The captain perceiving his dilatory plea, by force took him from the officers, and brought him to the standard in Cheape, and there before his confession ended, caused his head to be cut off, and pitched it on a high pole, which was openly borne before him through the streets. And this cruel tyrant not content with the murder of the Lord Say, went to Mile end, and there apprehended Sir James Cromer, then sheriff of Kent, and son in law to the said Lord Say, and him without confession or excuse heard, caused there likewise to be beheaded, and his head to be fixed on a pole, and with these two heads, this bloody butcher entered into the city again, and in despite caused them in every street to kiss together, to the great detestation of all the beholders.

After this shameful murder, succeeded open rapine and manifest robbery in divers houses within the City, and in especial in the house of Philip Malpas, Alderman of London, and divers others: over and beside ransoming, and fining of divers notable merchants, for the security of their lives and goods, as Robert Horne alderman, who paid 500 marks, and yet neither he, nor any other person was either of life or substance in a surety or safeguard. He also put to execution in Southwark 76divers persons, some for infringing his rules and precepts, because he would be seen indifferent, others he tormented of his old acquaintance, lest they should blaze and declare his base birth, and lousy lineage, disparaging him from his usurped surname of Mortimer, for the which, he thought and doubted not, both to have friends and fautors, both in London, Kent, and Essex. The wise Mayor, and sage magistrates of the City of London, perceiving themselves neither to be sure of goods nor of life well warranted, determined with fear to repel and expulse this mischievous head, and his ungracious company. And because the Lord Scales was ordained Keeper of the Tower of London, with Matthew Gough, the often named captain in Normandy, (as you have heard before), they purposed to make them acquainted both of their intent and enterprise. The Lord Scales promised them his aid, with shooting of ordinance, and Matthew Gough was by him appointed to assist the Mayor and the Londoners; because he was both of manhood, and experience greatly renowned and noised. So the Captains of the City appointed, took upon them in the night to keep the bridge of London, prohibiting the Kentish men, either to pass or approach. The rebels, which never soundly slept, for fear of sudden chances, hearing the bridge to be kept and manned, ran with great haste to open their passage, where between both parties was a fierce and cruel encounter. Matthew Gough, more expert in martial feats than the other chieftains of the City, perceiving the Kentish men better to stand to their tackling than his imagination expected, advised his company no further to proceed, toward Southwark, till the day appeared: to the intent, that the citizens hearing where the place of the jeopardy rested, might occur their enemies, and relieve their friends and companions. But this counsel came to small effect: for the multitude of the rebels drave the citizens from the staples at the bridge foot, to the draw bridge, and began to set fire in divers houses. Alas what sorrow it was to behold that miserable chance: for some desiring to eschew the fire, leapt on his enemies weapon, and so died; fearful women with children in their arms, amazed and appalled, 77leapt into the river: others doubting how to save themselves between fire, water, and sword, were in their houses suffocated and smouldered. Yet the Captains nothing regarding these chances, fought on the draw bridge all the night valiantly, but in conclusion, the rebels held the draw bridge, and drowned many, and slew John Sutton alderman, and Robert Heysande a hardy citizen, with many other, beside Matthew Gough, a man of great wit, much experience in feats of chivalry, the which in continual wars, had valiantly served the King and his father, in the parts beyond the sea (as before you have heard). But it is often seen that he, which many times hath vanquished his enemies in strange countries, and returned again as a conqueror, hath of his own nation afterward been shamefully murdered, and brought to confusion. This hard and sore conflict endured on the bridge, till 9 o'clock in the morning, in doubtful chance, and fortunes balance: for some time the Londoners were beaten back to the stulpes at Saint Magnes corner, and suddenly again the rebels were repulsed and driven back, to the stulpes in Southwark, so that both parties, being faint, weary and fatigued, agreed to desist from fight, and to leave battle till the next day, upon condition: that neither Londoners should pass into Southwark, nor the Kentishmen into London.

After this abstinence of war agreed, the lusty Kentish Captain, hoping on more friends, broke up the gaols of the Kings Bench and Marshalsea, and set at liberty a swarm of galants, both meet for his service and apt for his enterprise. The Archbishop of Canterbury, being then Chancellor of England, and for his surety lying in the Tower of London, called to him the Bishop of Winchester, which also for fear, lurked at Halywell. These two prelates seeing the fury of the Kentish people, by reason of their beating back, to be mitigate and minished, passed the River of Thames from the Tower, into Southwark, bringing with them under the King's great seal, a general pardon unto all the offenders: which they caused to be openly proclaimed and published. Lord how glad the poor people were of this pardon (the more than of the Jubilee of 78Rome) and how they accepted the same, in so much that the whole multitude, without bidding farewell to their captain, retired the same night, every man to his own home, as men amazed, and stricken with fear.

But John Cade desperate of help, which by the friends of the duke of York, were to him promised, and seeing his company thus without his knowledge suddenly depart, mistrusting the sequel of the matter, departed secretly in habit disguised into Sussex: but all his metamorphoses or transfiguration little prevailed. For after a Proclamation made, that whosoever could apprehend the aforesaid Jack Cade should have for his pains a thousand marks, many sought for him, but few espied him, till one Alexander Iden, esquire of Kent found him in a garden, and there in his defence, manfully slew the catiff Cade, and brought his dead body to London, whose head was set on London Bridge. This is the success of all rebels, and this fortune chanceth ever to traitors. For where men strive against the stream, their boat never cometh to his pretenced port.

One of the privileges of the Mayor which has been very jealously guarded is that upon which is founded his claim to supremacy in the City; only the Sovereign takes precedence, and from very early times the Mayors have insisted upon this pre-eminence. It was not often that their right was challenged in the City itself, but occasionally there was friction concerning the Mayor's position in places which were supposed to be outside his jurisdiction. The instance mentioned below is interesting, as showing the importance which a fifteenth-century Mayor attached to his office.

Thys yere (1464) abute mydsomyr, at the royalle feste of the Sargentys of the Coyfe, the Mayre of London was desyride 79to be at that feste. And at denyr time he come to the feste with his offecers, agreyng and acordyng to hys degre. For withyn London he ys next unto the Kyng in all maner thynge. And in tyme of waschynge the Erle of Worseter was take before the mayre and sette down in the myddis of the hy tabelle. And the mayre seynge that hys place was occupyd hylde hym contente, and went home agayne with-out mete or drynke or any thonke, but rewarde hym he dyd as hys dygnyte requyred of the cytte. And toke with hym the substance of hys bretheryn the aldyrmen to his place, and were sette and servyd also sone as any man couthe devyse, bothe of sygnet and of othyr delycatys i-nowe, that alle the howse mervelyd howe welle alle tynge was done in soo schorte a tyme, and prayde alle men to be mery and gladde hit shulde be a-mendyd a-nothyr tyme.

Thenn the offesers of the feste, fulle evylle a-schamyd, informyd the maysters of the feste of thys mysse-happe that ys be-falle. And they consyderynge the grete dygnyte and costys and change that longgyd unto the cytte, and anon sende unto the mayre a present of mete, brede, wyne, and many dyvers sotelteys. But whenn they that come with the presentys saw alle the gyftys, and the sarvyse that was at the borde, he was fulle sore a-schamyd that shulde doo the massage, for the present was not better thenn the servyse of metys was byfore the mayre, and thoroughe-owte the hyghe tabylle. But hys demenynge was soo that he hadde love and thonke for hys massage, and a grette rewarde with-alle. And thys the worschippe of the cytte was kepte, and not loste for hym. I truste that nevyr hyt shalle, by the grace of God.

These regulations are taken from Henry VII.'s charter, which cost the citizens no less than five thousand marks. The main object of the charter was to protect the City from the encroachments of foreigners and strangers, who appear to have been unusually active about this time in 80their attempts to gain a footing in the rapidly expanding trade of London. Their efforts met with great hostility on the part of the citizens, and these enactments are indicative of the general attitude of the Londoners towards strangers either from other towns or from across the sea.

Of all time, of which the memory of man is not to the contrary, for the commonweal of the realm and city aforesaid, it hath been used, and by authority of parliament approved and confirmed, that no stranger from the liberty of the city may buy or sell, from any stranger from the liberties of the same city, any merchandise or wares within the liberties of the same city, upon forfeiture of the same. The said mayor and commonalty, and citizens, and their predecessors by all the time aforesaid, have had and received, and have been accustomed to receive, perceive, and have, to the use of the said mayor, commonalty, and citizens, all and all manner of merchandises and wares bought and sold within the liberties of the same city as aforesaid, and forfeitures of the same merchandises and wares, until of late past time they were troubled or molested.

The same lord Henry the seventh, by his letters patent as aforesaid, for pacifying and taking away from henceforth controversies and ambiguities in that behalf, and to fortify and by express words to explain and declare the liberty and custom aforesaid to them the said mayor and commonalty and citizens, and their heirs and successors, and willing the said liberties to be peaceably and quietly had, possessed, and enjoyed to the said mayor and commonalty and citizens, and their successors, with the forfeitures aforesaid, against the said late lord King Henry, his heirs and successors granted, and by his said charter confirmed to the same mayor and commonalty and citizens, and their successors, that no stranger from the liberties of the same city may buy or sell from any other stranger to the liberty of the same city, any merchandises or 81wares within the liberties of the same city; and if any stranger to the liberty of the same city shall sell or buy any merchandises or wares within the liberty of the same city of any other stranger to the liberty of the same city, that the same mayor, commonalty and citizens, and their successors, may have, hold, and receive all and all manner of such like merchandises and wares, so bought and to be bought, sold or to be sold, within the liberty of the said city, between whatsoever strangers to the liberty of the same city, as forfeited; and all the forfeitures of the same, and also the penalties, fines, and redemptions whatsoever anyways forfeited, lost or to be lost, or to be forfeited or due thereon, to the use and profit of the same mayor and commonalty and citizens, and their heirs and successors, without hindrance of the same late king, his heirs or successors, and without any account or any other thing to be rendered or paid thereof to the late king, his heirs and successors, any statute, act, or ordinance of us or our progenitors made to the contrary notwithstanding; although the same mayor and commonalty, and citizens of the said city, or their predecessors, have before that time used, abused, or not used those customs and liberties: Saving always, that the great men, lords, and nobles, and other English and strangers, of what condition they shall be, may freely buy whatsoever merchandises in gross for their families and proper uses within the liberties of the said city, without any forfeiture, loss, or hindrance whatsoever, so that they do not sell again the said merchandises to any other.

And further, the same late king, of his ample grace, by his said letters patent, amongst other things, did give and grant to the mayor, commonalty, and citizens of the same city of London, and their successors, the office of gauger within the said city, and the disposing, ordering, surveying, and correcting of the same, to have, hold, exercise, and occupy the said office, and other premises, with all fees, profits, and emoluments to the said office in any manner belonging or appertaining, to the same mayor and commonalty, and citizens, by themselves, or by their sufficient deputy or deputies, from the twenty-second 82day of August, in the first year of his reign, for ever, without any account to be made thereof, or any other thing rendering or paying to the said lord Henry the seventh, his heirs or successors, as by the said letters patent doth more plainly appear.

The Marching Watch was a kind of annual military muster of the citizens, embodying all the companies, for the purpose of forming a regular guard for the City during the ensuing year. The contest for magnificence on the occasion described in the following extract created an expense so great and detrimental that Henry VIII. prohibited the show, and confined the citizens to the proper object of the assembly. It was afterwards revived on a more economical plan, and continued under the name of the "Standing Watch," till the force was finally superseded by the City Trained Bands.

Besides the standing watches all in bright harness, in every ward and street in this city and suburbs, there was also a marching watch that passed through the principal streets thereof, to wit, from the little conduit by Paul's gate to West Cheap, by the stocks through Cornhill by Leadenhall to Aldgate, then back down Fenchurch Street by Grace Church, about Grace church conduit and up Gracechurch Street into Cornhill, and through it into West Cheap again, and so broke up. The whole way ordered for this marching watch extendeth to three thousand two hundred taylor's yards of assize; for the furniture whereof with lights, there were appointed seven hundred cressets, five hundred of them being found by the Companies, the other two hundred by the Chamber of London.

Besides the which lights every constable in London, in number more than two hundred and forty, had his cresset; the charge of every cresset was in light two shillings and fourpence, 83and every cresset had two men, one to bear or hold in, another to bear a bag with light, and to serve it, so that the poor men pertaining to the cressets, taking wages, besides that every one had a straw hat, with a badge painted, and his breakfast, amounted in number to almost two thousand. The marching watch contained in number about two thousand men, part of them being old soldiers, of skill to be captains, lieutenants, serjeants, corporals, etc., wiflers, drummers, and fifes, standard and ensign bearers, demilances on great horses, gunners with hand guns, or half hakes, archers in coats of white fustian, signed on the breast and back with the arms of the city, their bows bent in their hands, with sheafs of arrows by their sides; pikemen in bright corslets, burganets, etc. halbards, the like the billmen in almain rivets, and aprons of mail in great number. There were also divers pageants, morris dancers, constables, the one-half which was one hundred and twenty on Saint John's Eve, the other half on St. Peter's Eve, in bright harness, some over gilt, and every one a jornet of scarlet thereupon, and a chain of gold, his henchman following him, his minstrels before him, and his cresset light passing by him, the waits of the city, the Mayor's officers for his guard before him, all in a livery worsted, or sea jackets parti-coloured, the Mayor himself well mounted on horseback, the sword-bearer before him in fair armour well mounted also, the Mayor's footmen, and the like torch bearers about him, henchmen twain upon great stirring horses following him. The Sheriffs' watches came one after the other in like order, but not so large in number as the Mayor's; for where the Mayor had, besides his giant, three pageants, each of the Sheriffs had, besides their giants, but two pageants; each their morris dance, and one henchman, their officers in jackets of worsted or sea, parti-coloured, differing from the Mayor's and each from other, but having harnessed men a great many.

This midsummer watch was thus accustomed yearly, time out of mind, until the year 1539, the 31st of Henry VIII., in which year, on the 8th of May, a great muster was made by the citizens at the Mile's End, all in bright harness, with coats 84of white silk; or cloth and chains of gold, in three great battels, to the number of fifteen thousand, which passed through London to Westminster, and so through the Sanctuary, and round about the Park of St. James, and returned home through Oldborne. King Henry, then considering the great charges of the citizens for the furniture of this unusual muster, forbad the Marching watch provided for at midsummer for that year; which being once laid down, was not raised again till the year 1548, the 2nd of Edward VI., Sir John Gresham then being Mayor, who caused the marching watch, both on the eve of St. John Baptist and of St. Peter the Apostle, to be revived and set forth in as comely order as it hath been accustomed, which watch was also beautified by the number of more than three hundred demilances and light horsemen, prepared by the citizens to be sent into Scotland for the rescue of the town of Haddington, and others kept by the Englishmen.

It has already been noticed that the City was surrounded by ecclesiastical manors in the time of Domesday, and this was still the case at the beginning of the sixteenth century. It would appear from the following extract that the practice of enclosure, which at this time was being extensively adopted in many parts of England, was being attempted in the neighbourhood of London itself, greatly to the disgust of the Londoners, who naturally resented the proposed restrictions on their accustomed liberty.

Before this time the towns about London as Islington, Hoxton, Shoreditch and other, had so enclosed the common fields with hedges and ditches, that neither the young men of the city might shoot, nor the ancient persons might walk for their pleasure in the fields except either their bows and arrows 85were broken or taken away, or the honest and substantial persons arrested or indited, saying that no Londoner should go out of the city but in the highways. This saying sore grieved the Londoners, and suddenly this year a great number of the city assembled themselves in a morning, and a turner in a fool's coat came crying in the city, Shovels and spades, and so many people followed that it was wonder, and within a short space all the hedges about the towns were cast down, and the ditches filled, and every thing made plain, the workmen were so diligent. The King's Council hearing of this assembly came to the Gray Friars, and sent for the mayor and the council of the city to know the cause, which declared to them the nusiance done to the Citizens, and their commodities and liberties taken from them, though they would not yet the commonalty and young persons which were dampnified by the nusiance would pluck up and remedy the same. And when the King's council had heard the answer, they dissimuled the matter and commanded the Mayor to see that no other thing were attempted, and to call home the citizens, which when they had done their enterprise, came home before the King's council and the Mayor departed without any more harm doing, and so after, the fields were never hedged.

Although the City of Amaurote in "Utopia" is not to be identified exactly with London, it seems very likely that More had London in his mind while he was writing this description, which is generally regarded as drawn, to some extent, from the capital as it was in his day.

The River Anyder riseth four and twenty miles above Amaurote, out of a little spring: but being increased by other small floods and brooks that run into it: and, among others, two somewhat bigger ones. Before the City, it is half a mile broad (hardly so much now as it was in former days, being pent 86in and straitened to a narrower space, by the later buildings on each side): and further, broader. By all that space that lieth between the Sea and the City, and a good sort of land also above, the water ebbs and flows six hours together, with a swift tide; when the sea flows in to the length of thirty miles, it fills all the Anyder with salt water, and drives back the fresh water of the river; and somewhat further, it hangeth the sweetness of fresh water with saltness: but a little beyond that, the river waxeth sweet, and runneth foreby the City fresh and pleasant; and when the sea ebbs and goes back again, this fresh water follows it almost to the very fall into the sea.

They have also another river, which indeed is not very great, but it runneth gently and pleasantly: for it riseth even out of the same hill that the City standeth upon, and runneth down slope through the midst of the City into Anyder. And because it ariseth a little without the City, the Amaurotians have enclosed the head spring of it with strong fences and bulwarks; and so have joined it to the City: this done, to the intent that the waters should not be stopped nor turned away, nor poisoned, if their enemies should chance to come upon them. From thence the water is derived and brought down in channels or brooks divers ways into the lower parts of the city. Where that cannot be done by reason that the place will not suffer it, then they gather the rain water in great cisterns which doth them as good service. Then next for the situation and walls. That it stood by the side of a low hill, in fashion almost square. The breadth of it began a little beneath the top of the hill, and still continued by the space of two miles, until it came to the river Anyder. The length of it, which lieth by the river-side, was somewhat more.

The City is compassed about with an high and thick wall, full of turrets and bulwarks. A dry ditch, but deep and broad and overgrown with bushes, briers, and thorns, goeth about three sides or quarters of the City. To the fourth side, the river itself serveth for a ditch.

The streets be appointed and set forth very commodious and handsome, both for carriage and also against the winds. The 87streets be full twenty foot broad. The houses be of fair and gorgeous buildings: and in the street-side, they stand joined together in a long row through the whole street, without any partition or separation. On the backside of the houses, through the whole length of the street, lie large gardens which be closed in round about with the back parts of the street. Every house hath two doors, one to the street, and a postern door on the backside into the garden. These doors be made with two leaves, never locked nor bolted: so easy to be opened, that they will follow the least drawing of a finger, and shut again of themselves.

They set great store by their gardens. In these they have vineyards and all manner of fruits, herbs, and flowers, so pleasant, so well furnished, and so finely kept, that I never saw anything more fruitful, nor better trimmed in any place: and their study and diligence herein cometh not only of pleasure, but also of a certain strife and contention that is betwixt street and street, concerning the trimming, husbanding, and flourishing, of their gardens, every man for his own part: and verily, you shall not lightly find in all the City anything that is more commodious, either for the profit of the citizens, or for pleasure. And therefore it may seem, that the first founder of the city minded nothing more so much as he did these gardens. They say, that King Utopus himself, even at his first beginning, appointed and drew forth the platform of the City into this fashion and figure that it hath now, by his gallant garnishing and the beautiful setting forth of it. Whereunto he saw that one's man age would not suffice, that he left to his posterity.

Their chronicles, which they keep written with all diligent circumspection, containing the history of 1760 years, even from the first conquest of the Island, record and witness, that the houses in the beginning were very low, and likely homely cottages, or poor shepherds' houses, made at all adventures of every rude piece of wood that came first to hand: with mud-walls, and ridged roofs thatched over with straw. But now the houses be curiously builded after a gorgeous and gallant sort, with three stories, one over another.

88The outside of the walls be made of either hard flint, or of plaster, or else of brick: and the inner sides be well strengthened with timber-work.

The roofs be plain and flat, covered with a certain kind of plaster that is of no cost: and yet so tempered that no fire can hurt or perish it: and it withstandeth the violence of the weather, better than any lead.

They keep the wind out of their windows with glass: for it is there much used; and some were also with fine linen dipped in oil or amber: and that for two commodities: for by this means more light cometh in, and the wind is better kept out.

Riots were by no means infrequent in the City in the Middle Ages, and here is an account of a typical disturbance, in which, of course, the young and hot-headed apprentices took their share. Just at this time there was intense animosity against the foreign merchants and artisans; the citizens thought that the presence of the foreigners, pursuing their occupations within the walls, was not only harmful to their own interests, but a violation of their charters which had given them the privilege of exclusive trade. At last the common indignation broke out in the great riot of May Day, 1517, which was long remembered as Evil May Day. It had been for centuries a practice of the citizens to collect in bands on May Day to hold high holiday, and they would sally forth, headed by mock officers, into the neighbouring fields to indulge in various sports; on this particular occasion the holiday spirit was not turned to such innocent and harmless purposes.

The young and evil disposed people said, they would be revenged on the merchant strangers, as well as on the artificers 89strangers. On Monday the morrow after, the King removed to his manor of Richmond.

Upon this rumour the 28th day of April, divers young men of the City assaulted the Aliens as they passed by the streets, and some were stricken and some buffeted, and some thrown in the canal. Wherefore the Mayor sent divers persons to ward, as Stephen Studley skinner, and Bettes and Stephenson and divers other, some to one counter, and some to another and some to Newgate. Then suddenly was a common secret rumour, and no man could tell how it began, that on May day next, the City would rebel and slay all aliens, insomuch as divers strangers fled out of the City....

Then in all haste, every Alderman sent to his Ward that no man should stir after 9 of the clock out of his house but to keep his doors shut, and his servants within till 7 of the clock in the morning. After this commandment, Sir John Monday, Alderman, came from his Ward, and found two young men in Cheap playing at Bucklers, and a great company of young men looking on them for the commandment was then scarce known, for then it was but 9 of the clock. Master Monday seeing that, bade them leave, and the one young man asked him why? and then he said Thou shalt know, and took him by the arm to have had him to the counter. Then all the young men resisted the Alderman and took him from Master Monday, and cried 'Prentices and clubs. Then out at every door came clubs and weapons and the Alderman fled, and was in great danger. Then more people arose out of every quarter, and out came serving men, and water men and courtiers, and by 9 of the clock there were in Cheap 6 or 7 hundred. And out of Paul's Churchyard came 3 hundred, which wist not of the other, and so out of all places they gathered, and brake up the counters, and took out the prisoners, that the Mayor had thither committed for hurting of the strangers, and came to Newgate and took out Studley and Petyt, committed thither for that cause. The Mayor and Sheriffs were there present, and made proclamation in the King's name, but nothing was obeyed. Thus they ran a plump through Saint Nicholas Shambles, and at 90Saint Martins gate, there met with them Sir Thomas Moore and other, desiring them to go to their lodgings: And as they were entreating, and had also brought them to a stay: The people of Saint Martins threw out stones and bats and hurt divers honest persons, that were persuading the riotous people to cease, and they bade them hold their hands, but still they threw out bricks and hot water. Then a sergeant of arms called Nicholas Dounes, which was there with Master Moore, entreating them, being sore hurt, in a fury cried Down with them. Then all the misruled persons ran to the doors and windows of Saint Martin, and spoiled all that they found, and cast it into the street, and left few houses unspoiled. And after that they ran heading into Cornhill by Leadenhall to the house of one Mutuas a Frenchman or Picardy born, which was a great bearer of Frenchmen, where they pick purses, or how evil disposition soever they were of, and within his gate, called Grenegate, dwelled divers Frenchmen that calendared worsted, contrary to the King's laws: and all they were so born out by the same Mutuas, yet no man durst meddle with them, wherefore he was sore hated, and if the people had found him in their fury, they would have stricken off his head: but when they found him not, the watermen, and certain young priests that were there fell to rifling: some ran to Blanche-chapelton, and brake the strangers houses, and threw shoes and boots into the street. This from 10 or 11 of the clock, continued these riotous people during which time a knight called Sir Thomas Parr, in great haste went to the Cardinal and told him of this riot, which incontinent strengthened his house with men and ordnance. And after, this knight rode to the King to Richmond, and made the report much more than it was. Wherefore the King hastily sent to London and was truly advised of the matter, and how the riot was ceased, and many of the doers apprehended. But while this ruffling continued, Sir Richard Cholmeley knight, Lieutenant of the Tower, no great friend to the City, in a frantic fury loosed certain pieces of ordnance, and shot into the City, which did little harm, howbeit his good will appeared. About 3 of the clock, these 91riotous persons severed and went to their places of resort, and by the way they were taken by the Mayor and the heads of the City, and some sent to the Tower, and some to Newgate, and some to the Counters, to the number of 300; some fled, and specially the watermen and priests, and serving men, but the poor prentices were taken. About five o'clock, the Earls of Shrewsbury and Surrey, which had heard of this riot, came to London with such strength as they had, so did the Inns of Court, and divers noble men: but before they came all the riot was ceased, and many taken as you have heard.

Campeggio is well known in connection with the part which he played in the divorce proceedings between Henry VIII. and his first wife Catherine of Aragon in 1529. That occasion was not his first visit to England; he had previously been entrusted with a mission from the Pope to Henry, and the reception of himself and his train is described in the passage below. The subject of this embassy of 1519 was to urge Henry to assist in waging war on the Turks, who were apparently endeavouring to push their way into Europe; and similar messages were conveyed at the same time to the other powerful rulers on the Continent. The incident of the opening of the chests must have created considerable amusement among the onlookers, and would hardly add to the popular estimation of a Papal embassy.

When the Cardinal of York knew, that there was coming a legate into England, which should have a greater pre-eminence than a Cardinal, he whose ambition was never satisfied, caused a Bishop and certain Doctors to pass the sea to Calais to welcome him, and to show him that if he would have the Popes purpose, to take any effect in England, he should in any 92wise send in post to Rome, to have the said Cardinal of York to be legate also, and to be joined in commission with him, which thing was done (not without good rewards) so that in thirty and five days, the bull was brought to Calais. During which time the Cardinal of York sent to the Legate to Calais, red cloth to clothe his servants, which at their coming to Calais, were but meanly appareled. And when all things were ready he passed the sea and landed at Dover, and so kept forth his journey toward London. At every town as they passed, he was received with Procession, and accompanied with all the Lords and gentlemen of Kent. And when he came to Blackheath, there met him the Duke of Norfolk, with a great number of prelates, knights and gentlemen, all richly appareled. And in the way he was brought into a rich tent of cloth of gold, where he shifted himself into a robe of a Cardinal, edged with ermine, and so took his mule riding toward London.

The night before he came to London the Cardinal of York, to furnish the carriages of the Cardinal Campeius, sent to him twelve mulettes with empty coffers covered with red, which twelve mulettes were led through London, amongst the mulettes of Campeius, which were but eight and so these twenty mulettes passed through the streets, as though they had been full of treasures, apparel and other necessaries. And when they came into Chepe, one of the mulettes brake from her keeper, and overthrew the chests, and overturned two or three other mulettes carriages, which fell with such violence, that divers of them unlocked, and out of some fell old hosen, broken shoon, and roasted flesh, pieces of bread, eggs and much vile baggage; at which sight the boys cried, See, see my Lord Legates treasure, and so the muleteers were ashamed, and took up all their stuff and passed forth. And about three o'clock in the afternoon on the 29th day of July the said legate entered the city, and in Southwark met him all the clergy of London with crosses, censors and copes and 'censed him with great reverence. The Mayor and Aldermen, and all the occupations of the city in their best liveries stood in the streets, and him highly honoured: to whom Sir Thomas More made a brief oration in the name of 93the city. And when he came to St. Pauls, there he was received by bishops mitred, and under a canopy entered the church: which canopy his servants took for their fees. And when he had offered, he gave his benediction to all the people, and took again his mule, and so was with all his train aforesaid, conveyed to Bath place, and there rested: where he was welcomed of the Cardinal of York. And on Sunday next ensuing these two Cardinals as legates, took their barges and came to Greenwich, each of them had beside their cross two pillars of silver, two little axes gilt, and two cloke bags embroidered, and the Cardinals hats borne before them. And when they came to the kings hall, the Cardinal of York went on the right hand; and there the King royally appareled and accompanied, met them even as though both had come from Rome, and so brought them both up into his chamber of presence, and there was a solemn oration made by an Italian, declaring the cause of the legacy to be in two articles, one for aid against God's enemies, and the second for reformation of the Clergy. And when Mass was done, they were had to a chamber, and served with lords and knights, with much solemnity: and after dinner they took their leave of the king and came to London and rode through the city together, in great pomp and glory, to their lodgings.

The incidents related in the following passage are concerned with one of the periodical efforts of Henry VIII. to raise money in irregular ways. He seems to have left the matter on this occasion to Wolsey, who issued commissions for levying the sixth part of the goods of the laity and the fourth of those of the clergy. This proceeding caused great alarm, and rebellions appeared imminent in all parts of the country. Whereupon Henry disavowed the whole business, and told the citizens of London that he would not exact anything by compulsion, but merely ask for a benevolence. This was, of course, recognised 94as an artifice to obtain the same results by different means, and the citizens sturdily protested, arguing that benevolences had been declared illegal. Wolsey experienced very great difficulty in his dealings with the Londoners, who well maintained their reputation for guarding their independence and liberty, even when faced with threats and menaces.

And now since God hath given us victory, the King remembering the saying of the Poet that sayeth: It is more mastery to use victory gotten, than to get it, thinketh it necessary now in all haste, to make an army royal, and he in person to pass the seas, and to recover his right inheritance, both of the Crown of France as of Normandy, Guyen, Gascony, Aniowe and Mayne, the writings whereof comprehending the very title, you may see here present if ye list, but I doubt not but you know them well enough. And now I ask you this question, whether that you think it convenient, that the King should pass with an army or not, for the King will do by the advice of his subjects: to the which many said yea.

Well said the Cardinal, then must he be made able to go like a Prince, which cannot be without your aids, and for to shew you what the Archbishop of Canterbury and I, which be primates of the realm hath done, we have given of our lands, and all lands appertaining to the church, the third part, and the temporal lords have given of lands and goods, the sixth part, and to jeopard their bodies in pain and travail, and now since they which shall adventure their lives, doth proffer the sixth part, what should they give which abide at home? Forsooth I think that half your substance were too little, not meaning that the King so asketh. For he demandeth only no more, of fifty pound, the sixth part, and so upon every pound above fifty, to what sum soever it amount to, the sixth part that is 3s. and 3 pence of the pound and from 20 pound to fifty pound, and so upward. 2s. and 8 pence of the pound, and from 20 pound to 20s. 12 pence of the pound, and this to be levied according to 95the first valuation, as appeareth by your own valuation, which is but a small matter, to the thing that is meant. Then they being astonished, at last one said, My lord since the last valuation divers merchants be decayed by the seas, and suretyship, and other ways, so that valuation cannot be had. Then answered the Cardinal, Sirs, speak not to break the thing that is concluded, for some shall not pay the tenth part, and some more, it were better that some should suffer indigence, than the King at this time should lack, and therefore beware and resist not, nor ruffel not in this case, for it may fortune to cost some their heads: but I will speak to the King, to be good to you, so that if he go not over the sea in person, then you shall have your money redelivered, but first let the money be gathered, and lay it where you will, and if the King need it not, you may take it again.

When the Cardinal had thus persuaded the Mayor, and his brethren and other head commoners, they took their leave and every day after by the space of fortnight, he sent for a certain number of Commoners, and told them like tale, but some spake such words to him, and some going from him, that they were sent to ward.

During the Tudor period the apprentice was a prominent feature of London life, and is chiefly famous for his prowess as a disturber of the peace. The apprentice system was of considerable importance, and many regulations and ordinances were passed from time to time to govern the conditions under which apprentices were to be bound and treated during their term. The story of "Evil May Day," already given, illustrates the turbulence of the apprentices and the relaxation of discipline in the City during this period. The Regulations of 1582 show clearly that they were getting out of hand, and in 1595 further troubles induced Elizabeth to issue further instructions of a drastic nature.

(a) [Admonition to the Apprentices].—Ye shall constantly and devoutly on your knees, every day, serve God, morning and evening; and make conscience in the due hearing of the Word preached, and endeavour the right practice thereof on your life and conversation. You shall do diligent and faithful service to your master for the time of your apprenticeship, and deal truly in what you shall be trusted. You shall often read over the covenants of your indenture, and see and endeavour yourself to perform the same, to the utmost of your power. You shall avoid all evil company, and all occasions which may tend to draw you to the same; and make speedy return when you shall be sent of your masters' and mistresses' business. You shall be of fair, gentle, and lowly speech and behaviour to all men, and especially to all your governors; and according to your carriage, expect your reward, for good or ill, from God and your friends.

(b) Henceforth no apprentice whatsoever shall presume: 1. To wear any apparel but what he receives from his master. 2. To wear no hat within the city and liberty thereof, nor anything instead thereof than a woollen cap, without any silk in or about the same. 3. To wear no ruffles, cuffs, loose collar, nor other thing than a ruff at the collar, and that only of a yard and a half long.... 10. To wear no sword, dagger, or other weapon, but a knife; nor a ring, jewel of gold, nor silver, nor silk in any part of the apparel.

It was likewise further enacted that every apprentice offending against any of the above-mentioned items was for the first offence to be punished at the discretion of his master; for the second to be publicly whipped at the hall of his company; and for the third to serve six months longer than specified in his indentures. It was also further ordained that no apprentice should frequent or go to any dancing, fencing, or musical schools; nor keep any chest, press, or other place for the 97keeping of apparel or goods, but in his master's house, under the penalties aforesaid.

(c) The ancient habit of the apprentices of London was a flat round cap, hair close cut, narrow falling bands, coarse side coats, close hose, cloth stockings, and other such severe apparel. When this garb had been urged by some to the disparagement of apprentices, as a token of servitude, one, many a year ago, undertaking the defence of these apprentices, wrote thus, that this imported the commendable thrift of the citizens, and was only the mark of an apprentice's vocation and calling (and which anciently, no question, was the ordinary habit of a citizen), which point of ancient discipline, he said, the grave common lawyers do still retain in their profession; for the professors of that learning, we see, do at this present retain the parti-coloured coats of serving-men at their serjeants' feasts; and he wished, that the remembrance of this ancient livery might be preserved by the grave citizens, in setting apart a particular time or day for the feast of their apprenticeship, when they should wear their former apprentice's garb; making profession in this way, that they gloried in the ensigns of their honest apprenticeship.

In the time of Queen Mary, the beginning of Queen Elizabeth, as well as many years before, all apprentices wore blue cloaks in the summer, and blue gowns in the winter. But it was not lawful for any man, either servant or other, to wear their gowns lower than the calves of their legs, except they were above threescore years of age; but, the length of cloaks being not limited, they made them down to their shoes. Their breeches and stockings were usually of white broad cloth, viz. round slops, and their stockings sewed up close thereto, as if they were all but one piece. They also wore flat caps both then and many years after, as well apprentices as journey-men and others, both at home and abroad; whom the pages of the court in derision called flat-caps.

When apprentices and journeymen attended upon their masters and mistresses in the night they went before them carrying a lanthorn and candle in their hands and a great long 98club on their necks; and many well-grown sturdy apprentices used to wear long daggers in the day time on their backs or sides.

Anciently it was the general use and custom of all apprentices in London (Mercers only excepted, being commonly merchants, and of better rank, as it seems) to carry water tankards, to serve their masters' houses with water, fetched either from the Thames, or the common conduits of London.

It was a great matter, in former Times, to give £10 to bind a youth apprentice; but, in King James the First's time, they gave 20, 40, 60 and sometimes £100 with an apprentice; but now these prices are vastly enhanced, to 500, 600, or £800.

The reign of Henry VIII. is famous for the number and splendour of its pageants. The Field of Cloth of Gold is familiar to all, and every event of any importance was made the occasion of a display of splendid clothing, tapestry, jewels, and allegorical groups. The fashion of extravagance and love of show, which was set by the King, was followed by all who could afford, and the City was in no way behindhand in taking part in these functions. The coronation in 1509, the reception of the French ambassadors in 1518, that of the Legate Campeggio, that of the Emperor Charles, the coronation of Anne Boleyn—all these afforded an occasion for a pageant, and the opportunity was never lost. The following description is of a water pageant in honour of Anne Boleyn.

The xix day of May the Mayor and his brethren all in scarlet, and such as were knights had collars of Esses and the remnant having good chains, and the council of the City with them assembled at Saint Mary Hill, and at one of the clock descended to the New stair to their barge, which was garnished 99with many goodly banners and instruments, which continually made good harmony. After that the Mayor and his brethren were in their barge seeing that all the companies to the number of fifty barges were ready to wait upon them. They gave commandment to the companies that no barge should row nearer to another than twice the length of the barge upon a great pain. And to see the order kept, there were three light wherries prepared, and in every one of them two officers to call on them to keep their order, after which commandment given they set forth in order as hereafter is described. First before the Mayor's barge was a foyst or wafter full of ordinance, in which foyst was a great dragon continually moving, and casting wild fire: and round about the said foyst stood terrible monsters and wild men casting fire, and making hideous noises: next after the foyst a good distance came the Mayor's barge, on whose right hand was the Batchelors' barge, in the which were trumpets and divers other melodious instruments. The decks of the said barge and the sailyards and the top castels were hanged with rich cloth of gold and silk. At the foreship and the stern were two great banners rich beaten with the arms of the King and Queen, and on the top castell also was a long streamer newly beaten with the said arms.

At three of the clock the Queen appeared in rich cloth of gold and entered into her barge accompanied with divers ladies and gentlewomen, and incontinent the citizens set forwards in their order, their musicians continually playing and the batchelors' barge going on the Queen's right hand, which she took great pleasure to behold. About the Queen's barge were many noblemen, as the Duke of Suffolk, the Marquis Dorset, the Earl of Wiltshire her father, the Earls of Arundel, Derby, Rutland, Worcester, Huntington, Sussex, Oxford, and many Bishops and noblemen, every one in his barge which was a goodly sight to behold. She thus being accompanied rowed toward the Tower, and in the mean way the ships which were commanded to lie on the shore for letting of the barges shot divers peals of guns, and ere she landed there was a marvellous shot out of the Tower as ever was heard there. And at her 100landing there met with her the Lord Chamberlain with the officers of arms and brought her to the King, which received her with loving countenance at the postern by the waterside, and kissed her, and then she turned back again and thanked the Mayor and the citizens with many goodly words and so entered the Tower.

Quite early in his career Latimer earned considerable fame as an eloquent preacher, but the boldness with which he proclaimed his religious views, and his denunciations of ecclesiastical abuses, frequently placed him in difficult positions. He lost favour towards the end of the reign of Henry VIII., but on the accession of Edward VI. he regained his old position of importance, and devoted himself to the work of an itinerant preacher. In this character his popular preaching talents exerted a much wider and more permanent influence in the spread of his opinions than his work as Bishop of Worcester could have done; and it is certain that his labours contributed very largely to fix the doctrines of the Reformation in the minds of the people.

Now what shall we say of these rich artisans of London? What shall I say of them? Shall I call them proud men of London, malicious men of London, merciless men of London? No, no, I may not say so, they will be offended with me then. Yet must I speak. For is there reigning in London as much pride, as much covetousness, as much cruelty, as much oppression, as much superstition, as was in Nebo? Yes, I think so and much more too. Therefore I say, repent, O London! repent, repent! Thou hearest thy faults told thee; amend them, amend them. And you rulers and officers, be wise and circumspect, look to your charge and see you do your duties and rather be glad to amend your ill living than to 101be angry when you are warned or told of your fault.... But London cannot abide to be rebuked; such is the nature of men. If they be pricked, they will kick. If they be rubbed on the gall, they will wince. But yet they will not amend their faults, they will not be ill spoken of. But how shall I speak well of them? If you could be content to receive and follow the word of God and favour good preachers, if you could bear to be told of your faults, if you could amend when you hear of them: if you would be glad to reform what is amiss: if I might see any such inclination in you, that leave to be merciless and begin to be charitable, I would then hope well of you, I would speak well of you. But London was never so ill as it is now. In times past men were full of pity and compassion but now there is no pity; for in London their brother shall die in the streets for cold, he shall lie sick at the door between stock and stock, I cannot tell what to call it, and perish there for hunger. In times past when any rich men died in London, they were wont to help the poor scholars of the university with exhibitions. When any man died, they would bequeath great sums of money towards the relief of the poor. When I was a scholar at Cambridge myself, I heard very good report of London and knew many that had relief of the rich men of London; but now I can hear no such good report and yet I inquire of it and hearken for it; but now charity is waxed cold, none help the scholar nor yet the poor. And in those days what did they when they helped the scholars? Many they maintained and gave them living that were very papists and professed the pope's doctrines; and now that the knowledge of God's word is brought to light, and many earnestly study and labour to set it forth, now almost no man helpeth to maintain them. Oh! London! London! repent, repent, for I think God is more displeased with London than ever he was with the city of Nebo. Amend therefore; and ye that be prelates, look well to your office, for right prelating is busy labouring and not lording. Therefore preach and teach, and let your plough be doing; ye lords, I say, that live like loiterers, look well to your office; the plough is your office 102and charge. If you live idle and loiter, you do not your duty, you follow not your vocation; let your plough therefore be going and not cease, that true ground may bring forth good fruit.

The project of the marriage between Mary and Philip of Spain caused profound uneasiness throughout England, and the fear of persecution and the anxiety of the nobles for their possessions brought about a formidable conspiracy. The standard of revolt was raised in many parts of the country, but only Sir Thomas Wyatt achieved any success. He was soon at the head of fifteen hundred Kentish men, and his avowed object was to save England from Spain. A force of soldiers sent against him deserted to his side, and he marched upon London. The situation was saved by Mary's coolness and courage; she showed no signs of fear, refused to take refuge in flight, and addressed the citizens of London assembled in the Guildhall. Her resolute bearing and discreet promises aroused enthusiasm among her hearers, who had heard of Jack Cade, and did not wish to see their city in the hands of an armed mob. Men were hastily enrolled, the drawbridge on London Bridge was raised, and Wyatt was unable to enter the City. He crossed the river at Kingston, but his men began to drop away, and he surrendered at Temple Bar. He was executed shortly afterwards.

This incident, like many others, illustrates the immense importance of London in connection with political affairs; over and over again the destinies of the kingdom have been settled by the attitude of the citizens of London.

In my own person I am come unto you, to tell you that which yourselves already do see and know; I mean, the traitorous 103and seditious number of the Kentish Rebels, that are assembled against us and you. Their pretence, as they say, is to resist a marriage between us and the Prince of Spain. Of all their plots, pretended quarrels and evil-contrived articles, you have been made privy; since which time our Council have resorted to the rebels, demanding the cause of their continued enterprise; by whose answers the marriage is found to be the reason of their quarrel; or rather, a cloak to cover their pretended purposes against our religion; for swerving from their former articles, they now manifestly betray the inward treason of their hearts, most arrogantly demanding the possession of our person, the keeping of our Tower, and not only the placing and displacing of our Counsellors, but also to use them and us at their pleasures: what I am, loving Subjects, you right well know—your Queen, to whom at my Coronation, when I was wedded to the Realm, and to the laws of the same, (the spousal ring whereof I have on my finger, which never hitherto was, nor hereafter shall be left off) ye promised your allegiance and obedience unto me; and that I am the right and true inheritor to the English Crown, I not only take all Christendom to witness, but also your Acts of Parliament confirming the same.

My Father, as you all know, possessed the Regal estate by right of inheritance, which now by the same right, is descended unto me: to him you always shewed yourselves both faithful and loving subjects, as to your liege Lord and King, and therefore I doubt not, but you will shew yourselves so to me his Daughter which if you do, then may you not suffer any rebel to usurp the government of our person, or interpose our estate, especially so presumptuous a traitor as this Wyat hath shewed himself to be; who most certainly, as he hath abused our ignorant subjects to be adherents to his traitorous quarrel, so doth he intend by the colour of the same to subdue the laws to his will, and to give scope to the rascal and forlorn persons, to make general havoc and spoil of your goods.

And this I say further unto you in the word of a Prince, I cannot tell how naturally a mother loveth her children, for I was never the mother of any; but certainly, if a Prince and 104Governour may as naturally love their subjects, as the mother doth her child, then assure yourselves, that I, being your Sovereign Lady and Queen, do as earnestly and tenderly love and favour you; and I, thus loving you, cannot but think, that you as heartily and faithfully love me again; and so, this love bound together in the knot of concord, we shall be able, I doubt not, to give these rebels a short and speedy overthrow.

Now, as concerning my intended marriage, you shall understand, that I entered not into the Treaty thereof without the advice of our Privy Council, yea, and by the assent of those to whom my Father committed his trust, who have so considered the great commodities that may thereof ensue, as they not only have thought it very honourable, but also expedient both for the wealth of our realm, and also to our loving subjects.

But as touching myself, I assure you, I am not so desirous of wedding, neither am I so precisely wedded to my will, that either for mine own pleasure I will choose where I list, or else so amorous, as needs I must have one; for I thank God, to whom be the praise, I have hitherto lived a Virgin, and doubt not but, with God's grace to be able to live so still.

But if, as my progenitors have done before, it might please God that I might leave some fruit of my body to be your governour, I trust, you would not only rejoice thereat, but also I know, it would be to your great comfort; and certainly, if I either did know or think, that this marriage should either turn to the danger or loss of any of you, my loving subjects, or to the detriment of any part of the Royal estate of the English realm, I would never consent thereunto, neither would I ever marry, whilst I lived; and in the word of a Queen, I promise and assure you, if it shall not probably appear before the nobility and commons in the High Court of Parliament, that this marriage shall be for the singular benefit and commodity of the whole realm, that then I will abstain, not only from this marriage, but also from any other.

Wherefore, good subjects, pluck up your hearts, and, like true men, stand fast with your lawful Prince against these rebels, both ours and yours, and fear them not, for I assure 105you, I do not, and will leave with you my Lord Howard and my Lord Treasurer, to be assistant with my Lord Mayor, for the safeguard of the City from spoil and sackage, which is the only scope of this rebellious company.

The following is the impression of a Venetian Ambassador, contained in his report to the Senate:

The principal cities of the kingdom are London and York, but London is the most noble, both on account of its being the royal residence, and because the river Thames runs through it, very much to the convenience and profit of the inhabitants, as it ebbs and flows every six hours like the sea, scarcely ever causing inundation or any extraordinary floods; and up to London Bridge it is navigable for ships of 400 butts burden, of which a great plenty arrive with every sort of merchandise. This bridge connects the city with the borough, and is built of stone with twenty arches, and shops on both sides. On the banks of the river there are many large palaces, making a very fine show, but the city is much disfigured by the ruins of a multitude of churches and monasteries belonging heretofore to friars and nuns. It has a dense population, said to number 180,000 souls; and is beyond measure commercial, the merchants of the entire kingdom flocking thither, as, by a privilege conceded to the citizens of London, from them alone can they purchase merchandise, so they soon became very wealthy; and the same privileges placed in their hands the government of the city of London, which is divided into 24 trades or crafts, each of which elects a certain individual, styled alderman, the election being made solely in the persons of those who are considered the most wealthy, and the office is for life; the which aldermen, after assembling these trades, create annually a person as their head for the current year entitled Mayor.

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It is supposed that the annual pageant connected with the election of the Mayor had its origin in an old custom that the newly-elected officer should be presented to the King or his justiciar; we have, however, little information concerning the earlier processions, and they are hardly noticed by chroniclers until the fifteenth century. It appears that the practice of proceeding to Westminster on horseback was started in 1415, but an infirm Mayor in 1453 introduced the custom of making the progress by barge on the river; this lasted until the middle of the seventeenth century, but there was, in addition, always the ride on horseback from the Guildhall to the point of embarkation. The fashion for pageantry and display, which was so prominent a feature of Henry VIII.'s reign, influenced this annual function, which tended to become more and more elaborate.

The day of St. Simon and Jude, he (the Mayor) entered into his estate and office; and the next day following he goeth by water to Westminster in most triumphlike manner. His barge being garnished with the arms of the city; and near the said barge goeth a ship boat of the Queen's Majesty, being trimmed up, and rigged like a ship of war, with divers pieces of ordinance, standards, pennons, and targets of the proper arms of the said Mayor, the arms of the City, of his company; and of the merchants adventurers, or of the staple, or of the company of the new trades; next before him goeth the barge of the livery of his own company, decked with their own proper arms, then the bachelors' barge, and so all the companies in London, in order, every one having their own proper barge garnished with the arms of their company. And so passing along the Thames, landeth at Westminster, where he taketh his oath in the Exchequer, before the judge there (which is one of the chief judges of England), which done, he returneth by water as aforesaid, and landeth at Powles wharf, where he and the rest of the Aldermen take their horses, and in great pomp pass through the great street of the City, called Cheapside. And first of all cometh two great standards, one having the arms of the City, and the other the arms of the Mayor's Company; next them two drums and a flute, then an ensign of the City, and then about xx or xxx poor men marching two and two together in blue gowns, with red sleeves and caps, with every one bearing a pike and a target, whereon is painted the arms of all them that have been Mayor of the same company that this new mayor is of. Then two banners, one of the King's arms, the other of the Mayor's own proper arms. Then a set of hautboys playing, and after them certain wyfflers, in velvet coats, and chains of gold, with white staves in their hands, then the pageant of triumph richly decked, whereupon by certain figures and writings, some matter touching justice, and the office of a magistrate is represented. Then sixteen trumpeters, eight and eight in a company, having 109banners of the Mayor's company. Then certain wyfflers in velvet coats and chains, with white staves aforesaid. Then the bachelors two and two together, in long gowns with crimson hoods on their shoulders of satin; which bachelors are chosen every year of the same Company that the Mayor is of (but not of the livery) and serve as gentlemen on that and other festival days, to wait on the Mayor, being in number according to the quantity of the company, sometimes sixty or one hundred. After them twelve trumpeters more, with banners of the Mayor's Company, then the drum and flute of the city, and an ensign of the Mayor's company, and after, the waits of the city in blue gowns, red sleeves and caps, every one having his silver collar about his neck. Then they of the livery in their long gowns, every one having his hood on his left shoulder, half black and half red, the number of them is according to the greatness of the company whereof they are. After them follow Sheriffs' officers, and then the Mayor's officers, with other officers of the city, as the common serjeant, and the chamberlain, next before the Mayor goeth the sword-bearer, having on his head the cap of honour, and the sword of the city in his right hand, in a rich scabard, set with pearl, and on his left hand goeth the common crier of the city, with his great mace on his shoulder, all gilt. The Mayor elect in a long gown of scarlet, and on his left shoulder a hood of black velvet, and a rich collar of gold of SS. about his neck, and with him rideth the old Mayor also, in his scarlet gown, hood of velvet, and a chain of gold about his neck. Then all the Aldermen two and two together (amongst whom is the Recorder) all in scarlet gowns; and those that have been Mayors, have chains of gold, the other have black velvet tippets. The two Sheriffs come last of all, in their black and scarlet gowns and chains of gold.

In this order they pass along through the city, to the Guildhall, where they dine that day, to the number of 1000 persons, all at the charge of the Mayor and the two Sheriffs. This feast costeth £400, whereof the Mayor payeth £200 and each of the Sheriffs £100. Immediately after dinner, they go to the church of St. Paul, every one of the aforesaid poor men 110bearing staff torches and targets, which torches are lighted when it is late, before they come from evening prayer.

The threatened invasion by the "Grand Fleet" of Philip of Spain was the occasion of a splendid manifestation of loyalty throughout the kingdom. The royal fleet contained only thirty-four ships, but every seaport made its contribution, and every man between the ages of eighteen and sixty was enrolled for defence, in the event of the successful landing of the enemy. The instructions conveyed in the Queen's letter to the citizens of London are an indication of the friendly relations between the City and the Sovereign, and serve also to show the wealth and power which London possessed at the time.

Trusty and well-beloved, we greet you well.

Whereas upon information given unto us of great preparations made in foreign parts with an intent to attempt somewhat against this our realm, we gave present order that our said realm should be put in order of defence; which we have caused to be performed in all parts accordingly, saving in the City of London.

We therefore knowing your readiness, by former experience, to perform any service that well-affected subjects ought to yield to their Prince and Sovereign, do let you understand, that within our said City our pleasure is, that there be forthwith put in a readiness to serve for defence of our own person, upon such occasions as may fall out, the number of ten thousand able men, furnished with armour and weapons convenient; of which number, our meaning is, that six thousand be enrolled under Captains and Ensigns, and to be trained at times convenient, according to such further direction as you shall receive from our Privy Council, under six of their hands, which our pleasure 111is you do follow from time to time in the ordering and training of the said numbers of men.

And these our letters shall be your sufficient warrant for the doing of the same.

Given under our Signet at our Manor of Greenwich, the 8th of March, 1587, in the thirtieth year of our Reign.

The drama experienced an extraordinary development during the latter half of the sixteenth century, and its growth was altogether irresistible. In spite of the opposition of moralists and preachers the theatre flourished more and more; and the mayors and aldermen of London were faced with a somewhat serious problem. They looked upon the play with disfavour; the actors were men of no trade or position, they were merely vagabonds. All the idlers in the town would assemble to see a play, and where there was a crowd there was danger to peace and order. Brawls and disorders would frequently arise, and the thieves and rogues of the city would take every advantage of the throng. Urged partly by fear of disorder, partly by the spirit of Puritanism which was rapidly gaining ground, the city officials did their best to drive out plays and players from their boundaries; and the theatres had at first to be set up outside the city jurisdiction. The ordinances of 1574 set forth in lurid terms the evils which theatres were alleged to bring in their train, and strict regulations were made, providing that only properly licensed players should act, in such places as might be approved. The following documents show how the trouble still continued, and was the source of great anxiety.

(a) Our most humble duties to your Grace. Whereas by the daily and disorderly exercise of a number of players and playing houses erected within this City, the youth thereof is greatly corrupted and their manners infected with many evil and ungodly qualities, by reason of the wanton and profane devices represented on the stages by the said players, the prentices and servants withdrawn from their works and all sorts in general from the daily resort unto sermons and other Christian exercises, to the great hindrance of the trades and traders of this City, and profanation of the good and godly religions established among us. To which places also do resort great numbers of light and lewd disposed persons as cutpurses, cozeners, pilferers and such like, and there under the colour of resort to those places to hear the plays devise divers evil and ungodly matches, confederacies, and conspiracies, which by means of the opportunity of the place cannot be prevented nor discovered, as otherwise they might be. In consideration whereof we most humbly beseech your Grace for your godly care for the reforming of so great abuses tending to the offence of Almighty God, the profanation and slander of his true religion, and the corrupting of our youth, which are the seed of the Church of God and the common wealth among us, to vouchsafe us your good favour and help for the reforming and banishing of so great evil out of this city, which ourselves of long time though to small purpose have so earnestly desired and endeavoured by all means that possibly we could. And because we understand that the Queen's Majesty is and must be served at certain times by this sort of people, for which purpose she hath granted her Letters Patent to Mr. Tilney, Master of her Revels, by virtue whereof he being authorised to reform, exercise, or suppress all manner of players, plays and playing-houses whatsoever, did first license the said playing-houses within the city for Her Majesty's said service, which before that time lay open to all the statutes for the punishing 113of these and such like disorders. We are most humbly and earnestly to beseech your Grace to call unto you the said Master of Her Majesty's Revels, with whom also we have conferred of late to that purpose, and to treat with him, if by any means it may be devised that Her Majesty may be served with these recreations as hath been accustomed, which in our opinions may easily be done by the private exercise of Her Majesty's own players in convenient place, and the city freed from these continual disorders, which thereby do grow and increase daily among us. Whereby your Grace shall not only benefit and bind unto you the politic state and government of this city, which by no one thing is so greatly annoyed and disquieted as by players and plays and the disorders which follow thereon, but also to take away a great offence from the Church of God and hindrance to His gospel, to the great contentment of all good Christians, specially the preachers and ministers of the Word of God about this city, who have long time and yet do make their earnest continual complaint unto us for the redress hereof. And thus recommending our most humble duties and service to your Grace we commit the same to the grace of the Almighty.

(b) An order set down by the Lords and others of Her Majesty's Privy Council, the 22 of June 1600 to restrain the excessive number of play-houses and the immoderate use of stage plays in and about the city.

Whereas divers complaints have been heretofore made unto the Lords and others of Her Majesty's Council of the manifold abuses and disorders that have grown and do continue by occasion of many houses erected and employed in and about the city of London for common stage plays; and now very lately by reason of some complaint exhibited by sundry persons against the building of the like house in or near Golding Lane by one Edward Allen, a servant of the right honourable the Lord Admiral, the matter as well in generality touching all the said houses for stage plays and the use of playing as in particular concerning the said house now in hand to be built in or near Golding Lane hath been brought into question and consultation 114among their Lordships; forasmuch as it is manifestly known and granted that the multitude of the said houses and the misgovernment of them hath been made and is daily occasion of the idle, riotous and dissolute living of great numbers of people, who, leaving all such honest and painful course of life as they should follow, do meet and assemble there; and of many particular abuses and disorders that do thereupon ensue. And yet nevertheless it is considered that the use and exercise of such plays not being evil in itself may with a good order and moderation be suffered in a well-governed estate, and that Her Majesty being pleased at some times to take delight and recreation in the sight and hearing of them, some order is fit to be taken for the allowance and maintenance, of such persons as are thought meetest in that kind, to yield Her Majesty recreation and delight, and consequently of the houses that must serve for public playing to keep them in exercise. To the end therefore that both the greatest abuses of the plays and playing houses may be redressed and the use and moderation of them retained, the Lords and the rest of Her Majesty's Privy Council have ordered in manner and form as followeth.

First, that there shall be about the city two houses and no more allowed to serve for the use of the common stage plays; of the which houses one shall be in Surrey, in that place which is commonly called the Bankside, or thereabouts, and the other in Middlesex.... It is likewise ordered that the house of Allen shall be allowed to be one of the two houses, and namely for the house to be allowed in Middlesex. And for the other, allowed to be on Surrey side, their Lordships are pleased to permit to the company of players that shall play there, to make their own choice which they will have, choosing one of them and no more. And especially is it forbidden that any stage plays shall be played (as sometimes they have been) in any common inn for public assembly in or near about the city.

Secondly, forasmuch as these stage plays by the multitude of houses and company of players have been too frequent, not serving for recreation, but inviting and calling the people daily from their trade and work to misspend their time; it is likewise 115ordered that the two several companies of players, assigned unto the two houses allowed, may play each of them in their several house twice a week and no oftener; and especially that they shall refrain to play on the sabbath day, upon pain of imprisonment and further penalty; and that they shall forbear altogether in the time of Lent and likewise at such time and times as any extraordinary sickness or infection of disease shall appear to be in or about the city.

Thirdly, because these orders will be of little force and effect unless they be duly put into execution, it is ordered that several copies shall be sent to the Lord Mayor of London and to the Justices of the Peace of the counties of Middlesex and Surrey, and that letters should be written to them straightly charging them to see the execution of the same by committing to prison the owners of playhouses and players who shall disobey and resist these orders.

Since the Great Plague of 1665 there has been no similar outbreak in this country, but before that year plagues were of comparatively frequent occurrence. Despite the enormous loss of life which these pestilences caused, no effective measures were taken to prevent their recurrence. Although the outbreaks were by no means confined to the towns, they appear invariably to have commenced there, and the blame was usually attached to immigrants, or to the importation of infected foreign goods. The conditions in the towns, particularly London, were so utterly insanitary that infectious diseases were positively encouraged, and the annals of London contain periodical accounts of disastrous visitations such as the one described by Stow as occurring in 1603. The early literature concerning the Plague is not very illuminating, and we get very few details as to treatment. The chief points of the regulations which were issued on the occasion 116of every serious outbreak appear to be isolation of infected persons and special attention to sanitation. These measures, of course, are exactly those which are adopted at the present day; but it seems that, excellent though the regulations themselves might be, they were very imperfectly enforced, and we are almost entirely in the dark as to the treatment accorded to the sufferers and the remedies, if any, which were found to prove at all effective.

(a) 1593. Orders to be sett downe by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London for taking awaie such enormities as be meanes not only to continue but increase the plague and disorders of the Citie; being taken out of the proclamations set out by the Citie and the articles sett downe for providing for the poor and setting them to work.

1. To give charge to Churchwardens, Constables, Parish Clerks and Bedells to enquire what houses be infected.

2. To visit the ward often to see orders observed, especially touching cleanness in the streets.

3. The Aldermen or their deputies in their own persons to appoint Surveyors monthly in every parishe.

4. To appoint that certificate may be made to them what houses be infected.

5. To give charge to all teachers of children that (as nere as they can) they permit no children to come to their scoles from infected houses, especiallie till such houses have bene clere by the space of 28 daies, and that none kepe a greater number than their Roomes shall be thought fit by the Aldermen or their deputies to conteyne.

1. To see the orders for the sick executed daylie and diligentlie, upon knowledge from the Aldermen what houses be infected.

1172. To appoint purveyours of necessaries for infected houses (being of the same houses), and deliver them reed rods to carry, and see that none other resort to their houses.

1. To bring every daie notice in writing to the Aldermen or their deputies what houses be infected.

1. To provyde to have in readiness women to be providers and deliverers of necessaries to infected houses, and to attend the infected persons, and they to bear reed wandes, so that the sicke maie be kept from the whole, as nere as maie be, nedefull attendance weighed.

1. To inquire what houses be infected.

2. To view dailie that papers remaine upon doors xxviii daies or to place newe.

1. To understand what houses be infected.

2. To see bills set upon the doors of houses infected.

3. To suffer no corpses infected to be buried or remain in the churche during prayer or sermon, and to keep children from coming nere them.

1. To see the streets made cleane every daie saving Sunday and the soile to be carried away.

2. To warn all inhabitants, against their houses to keep channels clere from fylth (by only turning it aside) that the water maie have passage.

1. To kyll dogs, etc., or to lose his place.

1. Houses having some sicke though none die, or from whence some sicke have bene removed, are infected houses, and such are to be shut up for a month.

2. The whole familie to tarry in xxviii days.

3. To keep shut the lower rooms for the like space.

4. One licensed to go for provision, etc.

5. No clothes hanged into the streets.

6. Such as have wells or pumpes, every morning by six and every evening after eight a clocke, shall cause ten bucketts full to run into the streets.

7. Every evening at that hour the streets and channels to be made cleane, the water not swept out of the channell, nor the streets overwett but sprinkled, etc.

8. The houses infected and things in them to be aired in the xxviii days and no clothes or things about the infected persons to be given awaie or sold, but either destroyed or sufficientlie purified.

9. Owners of houses infected with their familie, may within the month depart to any their houses in the countrye, or to any other house in the Cyttye without being shut up, so that they abstain from returning to the Cyttye, or from going abroad out of house in the Cyttye, for a month.

10. None shall keep dogg or bitche abroad unled nor within howling or disturbing of their neighbours.

11. To have no assembly at funeral dynners or usual meeting in houses infected.

12. None shall for a month come into infected houses but such as be of the house and licensed to do service abroad.

13. No donghills out of stables, Bearhouses or other places to be made in the strete.

14. To have double time of Restraint for consenting to pull down bills, and the taker awaie to suffer imprisonement for viii days.

Shall be appointed and sworne.

119These viewers to report to the Constable, he to the Clarke, and he to the chief of Clarkes, all upon pain of imprisonment.

A pain of standing on the pillory for false reports by the viewers. A loss of pension to such as shall refuse.

That diligent care be had, that pavements be amended where nede is, and that principall paviers be appointed to survey the wants of paving, especiallie in Channels, and that the dwellers against such may be forced to amend them.

If the increase of the sicknes be feared, that Interludes and plaies be restrained within the libertyes of the Cyttye.

That skilful and learned physicions and surgeons may be provided to minister to the sicke.

1. That all such as be diseased be sent to St. Thomas or St. Bartylmewes hospitall, there to be first cured and made cleane, and afterwards those which be not of the Cyttye to be sent awaie according to the statute in that case provided, and the other to be sett to worke, in such as are least used by the Inhabitants of the Cyttye, for the avoyding of all such vagrant persons as well as children male and female, soldiers lame and maymed, as other idle and loytering persons that swarme in the streets and wander up and downe begging to the great daunger and infecting of the Cyttye for th' increase of the plague and annoyance to the same.

2. That all maisterless men who live idlie in the Cyttye without any lawfull calling, frequenting places of common assemblies, as Interludes, gaming houses, cockpitts, bowling allies, and such other places, may be banished the Cyttye according to the laws in that case provyded.

120(b) In the former year, 1603, the plague of pestilence being great in Ostend, and divers other parties of the Low countries, and many soldiers returning thence into England, and many ships of war lying long at Sea became also infected, who in their return, brought that contagion into divers parts of this land, chiefly into the City of London: by reason whereof many citizens, and other inhabitants thereof, for their better safety went into most shires of this kingdom, where in divers places they were kindly entertained, and entreated, and in many places most unchristianly, and despitefully reviled, and not suffered to have relief, neither for love, nor money, saying God must needs plague you, for your monstrous wickedness etc. many died in high-ways, fields and barns, near unto good towns, and villages, where too many of them were let remain too long unburied, but God whose mercy is above all his works, stayed his visitation in London, to the honour of his own name, and admiration of all men.

The City of London, the year ensuing viz. 1604, was cleared of all infection, and the other cities of this kingdom, most villages, and towns corporate, more extremely visited, and some by proclamation prohibited from coming to London: and it was Christianly observed in the year 1604, in the which it pleased Almighty God to visit the whole land with pestilence (London only excepted) that all those places were least, or not at all visited, which the year before had relieved the distressed. There died in London, and the liberties thereof, from the 23rd of December 1602, unto the 22nd of December 1603, of all diseases, 38,244, whereof of the plague, 30,578: the next March following, against the time the King should ride in triumph through London, to behold the state and beauty thereof besides the Clergy, Nobility, and chief gentry, of every country, and great numbers of strangers from beyond seas, there repaired thither such great multitudes of people from all places, as the like in London was never seen until that day, all which notwithstanding, there died that year of all diseases within London, and the liberties of London but 4,263.

121

The author of the following passage was a German lawyer who visited England while on a three years' tour as tutor to a young Silesian nobleman, from 1597 to 1600. On his return to Germany he published a description of his travels, written in Latin, under the title of "Itinerarium Germaniæ, Galliæ, Angliæ, Italiæ."

This most ancient city is in the county of Middlesex, the fruitfullest and wholesomest soil in England.... The city being very large of itself, has very extensive suburbs, and a fort called the Tower, of beautiful structure. It is magnificently ornamented with public buildings and churches, of which there are above one hundred and twenty parochial. On the south is a bridge of stone eight hundred feet in length of wonderful work; it is supported upon twenty piers of stone, sixty feet high and thirty broad, joined by arches of about twenty feet diameter. The whole is covered on each side with houses so disposed as to have the appearance of a continued street, not at all of a bridge. Upon this is built a tower, on whose top the heads of such as have been executed for high treason are placed on iron spikes; we counted above thirty.

The wealth of the world is wafted to London by the Thames, swelled by the tide; and navigable to merchant ships through a safe and deep channel, for sixty miles, from its mouth to the city; its banks are everywhere beautified with fine country seats, woods and farms....

The government of the city is lodged by ancient grant of the 124Kings of England in twenty-five aldermen, that is, seniors; these annually elect out of their own body a mayor and two sheriffs, who determine causes according to municipal laws.

It is worthy of observation, that every year, upon St. Bartholomew's Day, when the fair is held, it is usual for the mayor, attended by the twelve principal aldermen, to walk in a neighbouring field, dressed in his scarlet gown, and about his neck a golden chain, to which is hung a golden fleece, and besides, that particular ornament which distinguishes the most noble order of the garter. During the year of his magistracy he is obliged to live so magnificently, that foreigner or native without any expense, is free, if he can find a chair empty, to dine at his table, where there is always the greatest plenty. When the mayor goes out of the precincts of the city, a sceptre, a sword and a cap are borne before him, and he is followed by the principal aldermen in scarlet gowns, with gold chains; himself and they on horseback. Upon their arrival at a place appointed for that purpose, where a tent is pitched, the mob begin to wrestle before them, two at a time; the conquerors receive rewards from the magistrates. While we were at this show, one of our company, Tobias Salander, doctor of physic, had his pocket picked of his purse, with nine crowns du soleil, which, without doubt, was so cleverly taken from him by an Englishman who always kept very close to him, that the doctor did not in the least perceive it....

The Mint for coining money is in the Tower. It is to be noted that when any of the nobility are sent hither, on the charge of high crimes such as treason, they seldom or never recover their liberty.... On coming out of the Tower we were led to a small house close by, where are kept variety of creatures, viz.—three lionesses; one lion of great size, called Edward VI. from his having been born in that reign; a tiger; a lynx; a wolf excessively old—this is a very scarce animal in England, so that their sheep and cattle stray about in great numbers, free from any danger. Near to this Tower is a large open space; on the highest part of it is erected a wooden scaffold, for the execution of noble criminals; upon which, they 125say, three princes of England, the last of their families, have been beheaded for high treason.

The next thing worthy of note is the Royal Exchange, so named by Queen Elizabeth, built by Sir Thomas Gresham, citizen, for public ornament and the convenience of merchants. It has a great effect, whether you consider the stateliness of the building, the assemblage of different nations, or the quantities of merchandise....

The streets in this city are very handsome and clean; but that which is named from the goldsmiths who inhabit it surpasses all the rest; there is in it a gilt tower, with a fountain that plays. Near it, on the farther side, is a handsome house built by a goldsmith and presented by him to the city. There are besides to be seen in this street, as in all others where there are goldsmiths' shops, all sorts of gold and silver vessels exposed to sale, as well as ancient and modern metals, in such quantities as must surprise a man the first time he sees and considers them.

The growth of colonisation which marked the beginning of the seventeenth century is one of the most notable features of our commercial history, and the plantation of Ulster was in accordance with the new spirit. This province had become depopulated and almost entirely forfeited to the Crown, by reason of the frequent rebellions which had occurred there during the previous century. On the presentation of the following report a charter was received by the Corporation of London, granting powers to raise a sum of money and take measures for the plantation of the province. The first arrangement was that the bulk of the land should be assigned to the twelve great livery companies, while the City of Derry and the town of Coleraine should be handed over to a society which was formed by City merchants for the purpose of exploiting the new colony.

The late ruined city of Derry, situate upon the river of Lough Foyle, navigable above Derry, and another place near the Castle of Coleraine, situate on the river Ban, navigable with small vessels only, by reason of the bar a little above Coleraine, seem to be the fittest places for the City of London to plant.

2. With small charges, these places (especially Derry) may be made impregnable.

3. His Majesty offers to grant to these two places charters of incorporation; the whole territory betwixt them, however, which is above 20 miles in length, bounded by the sea on the north, by the Ban on the east, and the river Derry or Lough Foyle on the west (out of which 3,000 acres or more may be allotted to each of the towns for their commons), to be planted with such undertakers as the City of London shall think fit, paying only for the same the easy rent of the undertakers.

4. These towns to have the benefit of all the customs on goods imported or exported, as also tonnage and poundage, and the great and small customs, for 21 years, paying yearly 6s. 8d. Irish as an acknowledgment.

5. That His Majesty would be pleased to buy from the possessors the salmon fishing of the Ban and Lough Foyle, and bestow the same upon these towns.

6. Also license for free export of all goods growing on their own lands.

7. That the Admiralty jurisdiction in the coasts of Tyrconnell now supposed to be in the Lord Deputy by the Lord High Admiral's grant, may be transferred to them for 21 years.

1. The country is well watered, and supplied with fuel either of trees or turf.

2. It supplies such abundance of provisions as may not only sustain the plantation, but may furnish provisions yearly to the 127City of London, especially for their fleets, as beeves, pork, fish, rye, peas, and beans, and in some years will help the dearth of the city and country about, and the storehouses appointed for the relief of the poor.

3. It is fit for breeding of mares and for cattle, and thence may be expected store of hides, tallow, &c.

4. The soil is suited for English sheep, and if need were, wool might be had cheaply out of the West of Scotland.

5. It is fit in many parts for madder, hops, and woad.

6. It affords fells of red deer, foxes, sheep and lambs, cony, martens, squirrels, etc.

7. It grows hemp and flax better than elsewhere, and thus might furnish materials for canvas, cables, cordage and such like requisites for shipping. Also for thread, linen cloths, and stuffs made of linen yarn, which is finer there and more plentiful than in all the rest of the kingdom.

8. Timber, stone, lime, and slate, and building materials are to be had, and the soil is good for making bricks and tiles.

The goodliest timber in the woods of Glanconkein and Melleitragh may be had, and may compare with any in his Majesty's dominions, and may be brought to the sea by Lough Eagh and the Ban. Fir masts of all sorts may be had out of Loughnaber in Scotland (not far from the north of Ireland) more easily than from Norway.

9. All materials for building of ships (except tar) is there to be had in great plenty, and in countries adjoining.

10. There is wood for pipe staves, hogshead staves, barrel staves, hop staves, clap boards, wainscot, and dyeing ashes, glass and iron work; copper and iron ore are there found abundantly.

11. The country is fit for honey and wax.

1. The harbour of Derry is very good, and the roads at Portrush and Lough Swilly (not far distant from Derry) tolerable.

2. The sea fishings are plentiful of all manner of fishes, 128especially herrings and eels. Yearly, after Michaelmas, above seven or eight score of sail of the King's subjects and strangers are there for loading, beside an infinite number for fishing and killing.

3. There are great fishings in the adjacent islands of Scotland, where many Hollanders do fish all the summer, and plentifully vent their fishes into Spain and within the Straits.

4. Much train and fish oil may be made upon the coast.

5. As the sea yieldeth fish, so the coast affords abundance of sea fowl, and the rivers great store of fresh fishes, more than any of the rivers of England.

6. There be store of good pearls upon the coast, especially within the river of Loughfoyle.

7. These coasts are ready for traffic with England and Scotland, and lie open and convenient for Spain and the Straits, and fittest and nearest to Newfoundland.

If multitudes of men were employed proportionally to these commodities, many thousands would be set at work, to the great service of the King, the strength of his realm, and the advancement of several trades. It might ease the city of an insupportable burthen of persons, which it might conveniently spare, all parts of the city being so surcharged that one tradesman is scarce able to live by another; and it would also be a means to free and preserve the city from infection, and consequently the whole kingdom, which of necessity must have recourse hither, and being pestered and closed up together can never otherwise or very hardly avoid infection.

These colonies may be a means to utter infinite commodities from London to furnish the whole North of Ireland and Isles of Scotland, which may be transported by means of the river Ban and Loughfoyle into the counties of Coleraine, Donegal, Tyrone, Armagh, and Antrim.

The city of Dublin being desolate by the slaughter of the Easterlings, who were the ancient inhabitants thereof, was given by King Henry the Second to the city of Bristol to be 129inhabited, which, without any charge to the King, Bristol performed, whose posterity continues there to this day.

The plantation, thus performed to the eternal commendation of Bristol, was not the least cause of civilizing and securing that part of the country.

It were to be wished this noble precedent were followed by the City of London in these times, with so much the more alacrity as they excel Bristol in ability and means. And so much the rather, since the commodities which the City of London will reap hereby far surpass the profits which could redound to Bristol by the other.

At the very outset of his reign Charles I. had to face an angry and discontented City; the late King had shown little respect for the ancient liberties of London, and the citizens were prepared to find the same attitude on the part of his successor. The Parliament of 1626 refused to grant supplies until grievances had been redressed, and Charles dissolved it, determining to raise money without its help. He began by calling on the City for £100,000, which was refused. There had been a severe outbreak of the Plague, and London was in a somewhat impoverished condition. Next came the demand for men and ships for the projected expedition to Cadiz. The citizens complied with obvious reluctance, and Charles's habitual disregard of their feelings gradually estranged their affections and caused them later to give their hearty support to the Parliamentary cause.

His Majesty demanded of the City of London the Loan of an Hundred thousand pounds. But the peoples excuses were represented to the Council Table by the Magistrates of the City. Immediately the Council sent a very strict command 130to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, wherein they set forth the enemies strong preparations as ready for an invasion, and the Kings great necessities, together with his gracious and moderate proposals in the sum required, and the frivolous pretences upon which they excuse themselves: Wherefore they require them, all excuses being set apart, to enter into the business again, and to manage the same, as appertaineth to Magistrates so highly entrusted, and in a time of such necessities, and to return to his Majesty a direct and speedy answer, that he may know how far he may rely upon their faith and duty; or in default thereof, may frame his counsels as appertaineth to a King in such extreme and important occasions.

Lord Mayor and Commonalty of London petitioned the Council for an abatement of the twenty ships rated upon them, unto ten ships and two pinnaces, alleging disability; whereunto the Council gave this following answer, That the former commandment was necessary, the preservation of the State requiring it; and that the charge imposed on them was moderate, as not exceeding the value of many of their private estates: That petitions and pleadings to this command, tend to the danger and prejudice of the Commonwealth, and are not to be received: That as the commandment was given to all in general, and every particular of the City; so the State will require an account both of the City in general, and of every particular.

And whereas they mention precedents, they might know, that the precedents of former times, were obedience, not direction; and that precedents were not wanting for the punishment of those that disobey his Majesty's commands, signified by that Board, which they hope shall have no occasion to let them more particularly understand.

Hereupon the Citizens were glad to submit, and declared their consent to the King's demands, and by petition to the Council had the favour to nominate all the officers of those twenty ships, the captains only excepted, the nomination of whom appertained to the Lord High Admiral of England.

131

The arbitrary government of Charles I. during the "eleven years' tyranny" sorely tried the loyalty of the citizens of London. We find that they were, as a rule, quite disposed to support the King's government, so long as their interests were safeguarded and their privileges maintained. But they could not tolerate the illegal exactions and unreasonable demands of the King without vigorous protest. The Petition of 1640 is particularly interesting as embodying the grievances which affected not only the trading and commercial interests of the capital, but indirectly the welfare of the whole country. 133It is pointed out that the ship-money had not been applied to its proper purpose of protecting the coasts and the merchant fleets, while royal interference continually hampered trade. The prevalent ill-feeling against Roman Catholics finds expression, and the Petition in general shows that the City was experiencing considerable difficulty in sustaining its position of loyal respect for the monarch.

Being moved with the duty and obedience, which by the laws your petitioners owe unto your sacred Majesty, they humbly present unto your princely and pious wisdom the several pressing grievances following, viz.

1. The pressing and unusual impositions upon merchandize, importing and exporting, and the urging and levying of Ship-money, notwithstanding both which, merchant ships and goods have been taken and destroyed both by Turkish and other pirates.

2. The multitude of monopolies, patents, and warrants, whereby trade in the City, and other parts of the kingdom is much decayed.

3. The sundry innovations in matters of religion.

4. The Oath and Canons lately enjoyned by the late Convocation, whereby your petitioners are in danger to be deprived of their Ministers.

5. The great concourse of Papists, and their inhabitations in London, and the Suburbs, whereby they have more means and opportunities of plotting and executing their designs against the Religion established.

6. The seldom calling, and sudden dissolutions of Parliaments, without the redress of your Subjects grievances.

7. The imprisonment of divers Citizens for non-payment of Ship-money, and impositions; and the prosecution of many others in the Star-Chamber, for not conforming themselves 134to Committees in Patents of Monopolies, whereby trade is restrained.

8. The great danger of your sacred person is exposed unto in the present War, and the various fears that seized upon your petitioners and their families by reason thereof; which grievances and fears have occasioned so great a stop and distraction in trade, that your petitioners can neither buy, sell, receive nor pay as formerly, and tends to the utter ruin of the inhabitants of this City, the decay of navigation, and clothing, and the manufactures of this kingdom.

Your humble petitioners conceiving, that the said grievances are contrary to the Laws of the kingdom, and finding by experience that they are not redressed by the ordinary course of Justice, do therefore most humbly beseech your most sacred Majesty, to cause a Parliament to be summoned with all convenient speed, whereby they may be relieved in the premises.

And your Petitioners and loyal Subjects shall ever pray, &c.

The following passage from Clarendon's History states very clearly the relations between Charles I. and the City in 1642, when the King's general attitude was anything but conciliatory, and London was definitely attaching itself to the Parliamentary cause. The royal policy was not in the least calculated to induce a friendly feeling on the part of the metropolis; neither Charles nor his father appeared to have realised the immense importance of gaining the good-will of the citizens, and Clarendon quite fairly and impartially sets forth the facts when he refers to the wealth of the City, and the unjust treatment which it experienced at the hands of the first Stuart monarchs.

The city of London, as the metropolis of England, by the situation the most capable of trade, and by the not [un]usual residence of the Court, and the fixed station of the courts of justice for the public administration of justice throughout the kingdom, the chief seat of trade, was by the successive countenance and favour of princes strengthened with great charters and immunities, and was a corporation governed within itself; the mayor, recorder, aldermen, sheriffs, chosen by themselves; several companies incorporated within the great incorporation; which, besides notable privileges, enjoyed lands and perquisites to a very great revenue. By the incredible increase of trade, (which the distractions of other countries, and the peace of this, brought,) and by the great license of resort thither, it was, since the access of the crown to this King, in riches, in people, in buildings, marvellously increased, insomuch as the suburbs were almost equal to the city; a reformation of which had been often in contemplation, never pursued, wise men foreseeing that such a fulness could not be there without an emptiness in other places, and whilst so many persons of honour and estates were so delighted with the city, the government of the country must be neglected, besides the excess and ill husbandry that would be introduced thereby. But such foresight was interpreted a morosity, and too great an oppression upon the common liberty; and so, little was applied to prevent so growing a disease.

As it had these, and many other, advantages and helps to be rich, so it was looked upon too much of late time as a common stock not easy to be exhausted, and as a body not to be grieved by ordinary acts of injustice; and therefore it was not only a resort in all cases of necessity for the sudden borrowing great sums of money, (in which they were commonly too good merchants for the Crown,) but it was thought reasonable upon any specious pretences to avoid the security that was at any time given for money so borrowed.

So, after many questions of their charter, (which were ever removed by considerable sums of money,) a grant made by the 136King in the beginning of his reign, in consideration of great sums of money, of good quantities of land in Ireland, and the city of Londonderry there, was avoided by a suit in the Star-Chamber, all the lands (after a vast expense in building and planting,) resumed into the King's hands, and a fine of £50,000 imposed upon the city. Which sentence being pronounced after a long and public hearing, during which time they were often invited to a composition, both in respect of the substance and the circumstances of proceeding, made a general impression in the minds of the citizens of all conditions much to the disadvantage of the Court; and though the King afterwards remitted to them the benefit of that sentence, they imputed that to the power of the Parliament, and rather remembered how it had been taken from them than by whom it was restored: so that at the beginning of the Parliament the city was as ill affected to the Court as the country was, and therefore chose such burgesses to sit there as had either eminently opposed it or accidentally been oppressed by it.

On the outbreak of civil war it soon became clear that many of the trading centres of the country, including London, would take up arms against the King. The commercial interests of the country had been so persistently assailed, royal interference in matters of trade had been so marked, that this situation was not at all surprising. It is hardly necessary to point out that the King, in the preamble to this proclamation, shows either insincerity or ignorance. The citizens of London and of the other towns had no particularly strong object in their resistance beyond obtaining reasonable security for their interests, and the attempt to isolate London from intercourse with the rest of the country was as ill-advised as it was futile.

His Majesty having, with unwearied patience, hitherto expected that the City of London, and the Citizens and inhabitants thereof, should at last return to their obedience; having used all the endeavours he could to reduce them thereunto; but finding that, by the malice of their misleaders, they are so obdurate, that the very name of peace and reconciliation is with them accounted a crime, and that that City is both the seat of rebellion, and the pattern to all ill-affected subjects of the kingdom, by whose example and assistance some other cities and towns do also stand out against his Majesty in open rebellion, not only to the disturbance, but even to the destruction of the whole kingdom, if God in his mercy do not entirely timely it; his Majesty therefore, by his Royal Proclamation, dated at Oxford the seventh day of July now last past, for the many reasons in that proclamation mentioned, did prohibit all persons, with any of their goods, victuals, or merchandize whatsoever, to travel to or from the City of London, or suburbs thereof, without his Majesty's express licence for the same, under his Sign Manual, under the pains and penalties in the said Proclamation mentioned.

And his Majesty now perceiving, that, notwithstanding that Proclamation, that rebellious City, by continuing their trade, as well at home, as also from foreign parts, do hereby drain their monies from all other parts of the kingdom, and traitorously dispose of the same to the maintenance of this unnatural War against their Sovereign and fellow-subjects; and that many of the Freemen and Citizens of that City, and some of the Aldermen and Trained-bands of the City, in their own persons, have lately gone from the said City to assail his Majesty, and to fight with him, and were in the late Battle near Newbury; and that many of the said City are involuntarily compelled to take up Arms, and to expose their lives to the slaughter, for the maintenance of the malice of a few; and the fuel for all this unnatural fire is taken from the City, who spare neither their own persons, estates or fortunes, nor 138the persons or estates of the inhabitants of the neighbouring counties, but either persuade or compel them to contribute to this horrid and barbarous war:

Now his Majesty, being moved with a just indignation against that City, and some few other Cities and Towns, who in like manner do obstinately stand out in rebellion, doth hereby prohibit all persons, and straitly charge and command them, upon the severest penalties and punishments, which by the law can be inflicted upon them as Traitors, aiders, and assisters unto traitors, that from and after the time of publishing this proclamation, they, or any of them, do not presume, without the King's special Warrant under his Sign Manual, either by land or water, to drive, carry, or convey any manner of victuals, alive or dead, or any sort of provision for man or horse, or any goods or merchandize of any kind whatsoever, directly or indirectly, or wilfully suffer the same to be carried or conveyed unto or from the City of London, or City of Westminster, or suburbs thereof; or to or from the Cities of Gloucester and Coventry; or to or from the Towns of Kingston upon Hull, Warwick, Northampton, Portsmouth, Southampton, Poole and Lyme-Regis, or any of them; or to or from any Cities or Towns within this Kingdom, being in rebellion against his Majesty; until they and every of them respectively shall return to their obedience; nor do presume to trade, or traffick, or buy or sell with the Citizens or Townsmen of or in the said Cities or Towns, or any of them, or any other Persons inhabiting or residing in any of the said Cities or Towns, until the said Cities and Towns respectively shall conform themselves to their loyalty and due obedience.

Throughout the Civil War the influence of the citizens had been very great. They had contributed money and troops for use against the royal forces, and both sides frequently appealed to them for support; but the Corporation continued true to the Parliamentary interest until 139matters were complicated by the rise to power of the independent party and Cromwell. As soon as it became plain that the army was the supreme head of authority, the City was by no means enthusiastic in its favour; the citizens had not calculated on this result of the conflict, and Cromwell never had their confidence. They appeared to acquiesce in his government, but he never secured their hearty support. Several of the aldermen refused to proclaim a Commonwealth, and considerable difficulty was experienced by the Protector in enforcing his legislative measures in the City; nevertheless, the citizens never openly opposed him, and even received him with outward manifestations of honour.

Proclamation was made by a herald, in the Palace-yard at Westminster, That the late Parliament having dissolved themselves and resigned their whole power and authority, the government of the commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland, by a Lord Protector, and successive triennial Parliaments, was now established: and whereas Oliver Cromwell, captain general of all the forces of the commonwealth, is declared Lord Protector of the said nations, and had accepted thereof, publication was now made of the same; and all persons, of what quality and condition soever in any of the said three nations, were strictly charged and commanded to take notice thereof, and to conform and submit themselves to the government so established; and all sheriffs, mayors, &c. were required to publish this proclamation to the end that none might have cause to pretend ignorance therein. Which proclamation was at the same time published in Cheapside by the Lord Mayor of London, and with all possible expedition by the sheriffs and other officers throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland. And in few days after the city of London invited their new Protector to a very splendid entertainment at Grocers' Hall, the streets being railed, and the solemnity of his reception 140such as had been at any time performed to the King; and he, as like a King, graciously conferred the honour of knighthood upon the Lord Mayor at his departure.

It is not difficult to believe that the City was glad to be freed from the unconstitutional and distasteful Protectorate, but the universal joy with which it accepted General Monk's application for assistance in restoring Charles II. was most remarkable, and the pomp and pageantry of the King's welcome to London, as detailed below, were clearly a sincere indication of the general feeling of relief and satisfaction. It was surely not surprising that Charles, on witnessing this outburst of loyalty, wondered where his enemies were concealed, and why he had delayed so long in repairing to his friends.

(a) The city of London had too great a hand in driving the King from thence not to appear equally zealous for his return thither. And therefore they did at the same time send fourteen of their most substantial citizens to assure his Majesty of their fidelity and most cheerful submission, and that they placed all their felicity and hope of future prosperity in the assurance of his Majesty's grace and protection, for the meriting whereof their lives and fortunes should be always at his Majesty's disposal; and they presented to him from the city the sum of ten thousand pounds. The King told them he had always had a particular affection for the city of London, the place of his birth, and was very glad that they had now so good a part in his restoration, of which he was informed, and how much he was beholding to every one of them; for which he thanked them very graciously, and knighted them all; an honour no man in the city had received in near twenty years, and with which they were much delighted....

141On Monday he went to Rochester, and the next day, being the 29th of May and his birthday, he entered London, all the ways from Dover thither being so full of people and exclamations as if the whole kingdom had been gathered. About or above Greenwich the Lord Mayor and aldermen met him, with all those protestations of joy which can hardly be imagined; and the concourse so great that the King rode in a crowd from the bridge to Temple Bar. All the companies of the city stood in order on both sides, giving loud thanks for his Majesty's presence. And he no sooner came to Whitehall but the two Houses of Parliament solemnly cast themselves at his feet, with all the vows of affection and fidelity to the world's end. In a word, the joy was so unexpressible and so universal, that his Majesty said smilingly to some about him, that he doubted it had been his own fault that he had been absent so long, for he saw nobody that did not protest he had ever wished for his return.

(b) At Blackheath the army was drawn up, where his Majesty viewed them, giving out many expressions of his gracious favour to the army, which were received by loud shoutings and rejoicings; several bonfires were made as his Majesty came along, and one more remarkable than the rest for its bigness, where the States arms were burned.

Thence the army being placed according to his Excellencies order, his Majesty marched towards London: and now because God himself, when he would set a mark of observance upon his own magnalia, hath taken notice of the circumstance of time, it is very considerable here that it was his Majesties birth-day. He was heir-apparent when first born, but had jus in re now when entering the metropolis of his kingdom, he took possession. All lets and hinderances, which have interven'd since his Majesties just right, are now so many arguments of his future fix'd and peaceable enjoyment. This the ancients intimate, when they tell us, Jupiter himself was not quiet in heaven till after a long war with the giants; may that God, by whom kings reign, long preserve him and the nation, a mutual blessing to each other!

142When his Majesty came to St. George's field, the Lord Mayor and the Aldermen were in a tent ready to receive him: there the Lord Mayor delivered unto his Majesty his sword upon his knees, which his Majesty gave back to him. After a repast taken there, his Majesty came to Whitehall in this manner: all the streets being richly hang'd with tapestry, and a lane made by the militia forces to London-bridge, from London-bridge to Temple-bar by the trained bands on one side, and the several companies in their liveries, and the streamers of each company, of the other side, by the rails; from Temple-bar to Westminster by the militia forces, regiments of the army, and several gentlemen formerly officers of the king's army, led by sir John Stawell; first marched a troop of gentlemen, led by major-general Brown, brandishing their swords, in clothes of silver doublet, in all about 300, besides their servants; then another troop, of about 200, in velvet coats, the footmen and liveries in purple; then another troop, led by alderman Robinson, with buff coats, silver sleeves, and green scarfs; after this, a troop with blue liveries, and silver lace, colours red, fringed with silver, about 130; after that, a troop, 6 trumpets, 7 footmen in sea-green and silver, their colours pink, fringed with silver; then a troop, with their liveries gray and blue, with silk and silver laces, 30 footmen, 4 trumpets, consisting of about 220, their colours sky, fringed with silver; another of gray liveries, 6 trumpets, colours sky and silver, of about 105 gentlemen; another troop of 70 gentlemen, 5 trumpets, colours sky and silver; another troop, led by the lord Clevland, of about 200 noblemen and gentlemen, colours blue, fringed with gold; another troop of about 100, black colours, fringed with gold; another troop of about 300.

After these came two trumpets, with his Majesties arms, the sheriffs men in red cloaks and silver lace, with half pikes, 79 in number; then followed the several companies of London, with their several streamers, all in black velvet coats with gold chains, every company having their footmen of their several liveries, some red and white, some pink and white, some blue and yellow, etc.; three trumpets in liveries richly laced and 143cloth of silver sleeves, went before the company of the Mercers. After all these, came a kettle-drum, five trumpets, and three streamers, and very rich red liveries, with silver lace. The number of the citizens were about 600. After these, 12 ministers, another kettle-drum, four trumpets, then his Majesties life-guard, led by the lord Gerrard; another party, led by sir Gilbert Gerrard, and major Rosecarron, and the third division by colonel Pragues; then three trumpeters in rich coats and satin doublets; the city marshal, with 8 footmen, in French green, trimmed with crimson and white; the city waits, the city officers in order, Dr. Warmstry, the 2 Sheriffs, and all the Aldermen of London, in their scarlet gowns, and rich trappings, with footmen in liveries, red coats, laced with silver, and cloth of gold; the heralds and maces in their rich coats; the Lord Mayor, bare, carrying the sword; his Excellency and the duke of Buckingham bare; and then, the glory of all, his sacred Majesty rode between the dukes of York and Gloucester; afterwards followed a troop bare, with white colours, then the generals lifeguard; after which, another company of gentry, sky, fringed with gold; after which, five regiments of the army horse, led by colonel Knight, viz. his Excellencies regiment, colonel Knight's, colonel Cloberrie's, lord Fauconberg's, lord Howard's; after whom, came two troops of nobility and gentlemen, red colours, fringed with gold. There was never such a sight of noblemen and gentlemen that marched then, brandishing their swords all along. Soon after his Majesty was passed, all the musketeers that lined the streets gave many volleys of shot.

Thus was his Majesty conducted to his royal palace at Whitehall; where after the lord mayor had took his leave, his Majesty went to the Lords, where was a speech made to his Majesty, and another in the Banqueting-house by the Speaker of the House of Commons, which is printed at large by the printers of the said house: which done, his Majesty retired himself, and supped with the two dukes in the Chast chamber. This day his Majesty dined in the Presence chamber.

The solemnity of this day was concluded by an infinite 144number of bonfires; it being observable, that, as if all the houses had turned out their chimneys into the streets (the weather being very warm) there were almost as many fires in the streets, as houses, throughout London and Westminster; and among the rest in Westminster, a very costly one was made, where the effigy of the old Oliver Cromwell was set up upon a high post, with the arms of the Commonwealth; which having been exposed there a while to the public view, with torches lighted, that everyone might take better notice of them, were burnt together.

The foreign ambassadors and public ministers here did likewise highly express their joy for his Majesties happy arrival here on Tuesday last, by their bonfires and other public demonstrations; specially the ambassadors of France and Portugal, and the plenipotentiaries of the king of Sweden; in particular, his plenipotentiary lying at Charing-cross, besides his bonfires, giving of wine and throwing of money among the people, made very gallant emblems upon the business of the day.

Besides the insanitary conditions which rendered the City so liable to outbreaks of infectious disease, there were other nuisances which afflicted the inhabitants of the City. It is rather difficult to imagine what John Evelyn would have said about a Black Country town of the present day, where the effects of smoke must be much more noticeable than in the London of 1661. But his indictment, although severe, is in the main true; the smoke nuisance has not decreased since the seventeenth century, and probably we tolerate it only because we are accustomed to it. It must be remembered that in Evelyn's day the use of coal for fuel, although not great, was rapidly increasing; and a tax on coal was often a source of considerable revenue.

That this glorious and ancient city, which from wood might be rendered brick, and (like another Rome) from brick made stone and marble; which commands the proud ocean to the Indies, and reaches the farthest Antipodes, should wrap her stately head in clouds of smoke and sulphur, so full of stink and darkness, I deplore with just indignation. That the buildings should be composed of such a congestion of misshapen and extravagant houses; that the streets should be so narrow and incommodious in the very centre, and busiest places of intercourse; that there should be so ill and uneasy a form of paving under foot, so troublesome and malicious a disposure of the spouts and gutters overhead, are particulars worthy of reproof and reformation; because it is hereby rendered a labyrinth in its principal passages, and a continual wet day after the storm is over.

The immoderate use of, and indulgence to seacoal alone in the city of London, exposes it to one of the foulest inconveniences and reproaches, that can possibly befall so noble, and otherwise incomparable a city: and that, not from the culinary fires, which for being weak, and less often fed below, is with such ease dispelled and scattered above, as it is hardly at all discernible, but from some few particular tunnells and issues, belonging only to brewers, dyers, lime-burners, salt, and soap-boilers, and some other private trades, one of whose spiracles alone, does manifestly infect the air, more than all the chimneys of London put together besides. And that this is not the least hyperbole, let the best of judges decide it, which I take to be our senses: whilst these are belching forth from their sooty jaws, the city of London resembles the face rather of mount Ætna, the court of Vulcan, Stromboli, or the suburbs of hell, than an assembly of rational creatures, and the imperial seat of our incomparable monarch. For when in all other places the air is most serene and pure, it is here eclipsed with such a cloud of sulphur, as the sun itself, which gives daily to all the world besides, is hardly able to penetrate 146and impart it here; and the weary traveller, at many miles distance, sooner smells, than sees the city to which he repairs.

This is that pernicious smoke which sullies all her glory, superinducing a sooty crust or furr upon all that it lights, spoiling the moveables, tarnishing the plate, gildings, and furniture, and corroding the very iron bars and hardest stones with those piercing and acrimonious spirits which accompany its sulphur; and executing more in one year, than exposed to the pure air of the country it could effect in some hundreds. It is this horrid smoke, which obscures our churches, and makes our palaces look old, which fouls our clothes, and corrupts the waters, so as the very rain and refreshing dews which fall in the several seasons, precipitate this impure vapour, which with its black and tenacious quality, spots and contaminates whatever is exposed to it.

Pepys and Evelyn give descriptions of the scenes in London during the terrible visitation of 1665; and Defoe's narrative is extremely vivid and circumstantial, although he was only four years old at the time and must have derived much of his information from other sources. The following account by Vincent is contemporary:

Now the citizens of London are put to a stop in the career of their trade; they begin to fear whom they converse withal, and deal withal, lest they should have come out of infected places. Now roses and other sweet flowers wither in the gardens, are disregarded in the markets, and people dare not offer them to their noses lest with their sweet savour, that which is infectious should be attracted: rue and wormwood are taken into the hand; myrrh and zedoary into the mouth; and without some antidote few stir abroad in the morning. Now many houses are shut up where the plague comes, and 147the inhabitants shut in, lest coming abroad they should spread infection. It was very dismal to behold the red crosses, and read in great letters, LORD HAVE MERCY UPON US, on the doors, and watchmen standing before them with halberts; and such a solitude about those places, and people passing by them so gingerly, and with such fearful looks as if they had been lined with enemies in ambush, that waited to destroy them.

Now rich tradesmen provide themselves to depart; if they have not country-houses they seek lodgings abroad for themselves and families, and the poorer tradesmen, that they may imitate the rich in their fear, stretch themselves to take a country journey, though they have scarce wherewithal to bring them back again. The ministers also (many of them) take occasion to go to their country-places for the summer time; or (it may be) to find out some few of their parishioners that were gone before them, leaving the greatest part of their flock without food or physic, in the time of their greatest need. (I don't speak of all ministers, those which did stay out of choice and duty, deserve true honour.) Possibly they might think God was now preaching to the city, and what need their preaching? or rather did not the thunder of God's voice affrighten their guilty consciences and make them fly away, lest a bolt from heaven should fall upon them, and spoil their preaching for the future; and therefore they would reserve themselves till the people had less need of them. I do not blame any citizens retiring, when there was so little trading, and the presence of all might have helped forward the increase and spreading of the infection; but how did guilt drive many away, where duty would have engaged them to stay in the place? Now the highways are thronged with passengers and goods, and London doth empty itself into the country; great are the stirs and hurries in London by the removal of so many families; fear puts many thousands on the wing, and those think themselves most safe, that can fly furthest off from the city.

In August how dreadful is the increase: from 2010, the number amounts up to 2817 in one week; and thence to 3880 148the next; thence to 4237 the next; thence to 6102 the next; and all these of the plague, besides other diseases.

Now the cloud is very black, and the storm comes down upon us very sharp. Now Death rides triumphantly on his pale horse through our streets; and breaks into every house almost, where any inhabitants are to be found. Now people fall as thick as leaves from the trees in autumn, when they are shaken by a mighty wind. Now there is a dismal solitude in London's streets, every day looks with the face of a Sabbath day, observed with greater solemnity than it used to be in the city. Now shops are shut in, people rare and very few that walk about, insomuch that the grass begins to spring up in some places, and a deep silence almost in every place, especially within the walls; no rattling coaches, no prancing horses, no calling in customers, nor offering wares; no London Cries sounding in the ears: if any voice be heard, it is the groans of dying persons, breathing forth their last: and the funeral knells of them that are ready to be carried to their graves. Now shutting up of visited houses (there being so many) is at an end, and most of the well are mingled among the sick, which otherwise would have got no help. Now in some places where the people did generally stay, not one house in a hundred but is infected; and in many houses half the family is swept away; in some the whole, from the eldest to the youngest; few escape with the death of but one or two; never did so many husbands and wives die together; never did so many parents carry their children with them to the grave, and go together into the same house under earth, who had lived together in the same house upon it. Now the nights are too short to bury the dead; the long summer days are spent from morning unto the twilight in conveying the vast number of dead bodies unto the bed of their graves.

By the terrible conflagration of 1666, the whole of the City was destroyed, except a narrow circle round its 149boundaries. It is not at all difficult to account for the outbreak: the closeness of the streets, the wooden structure of the houses, the number of families occupying the same house, the common use of wood for fuel—all these circumstances were favourable to the origin and spread of the flames. But obvious as these causes were, there was evidenced an enormous anxiety to fix the blame upon some unpopular party, and wildly improbable and grossly exaggerated accounts were given. The republican party were first charged with the crime of setting fire to the City; then the Dutch were believed to be the authors. In neither case was there any shadow of reasonable proof. In the end it was fixed upon the Papists, on the strength of a single confession of a mad Frenchman, who told a ridiculous and contradictory story of a Roman Catholic conspiracy; only the extraordinary temper of the times can explain the credulity with which this story in common with many others concerning Roman Catholics was received. Although the slander could not stand examination, it was inscribed on the Monument, and remained there during the whole of the eighteenth century. (See 1681, Popish Panic.)

(a) September 2, 1666.—Some of our mayds sitting up late last night to get things ready against our feast to-day, Jane called us up about three in the morning, to tell us of the great fire they saw in the city. So I rose and slipped on my nightgowne, and went to her window, and thought it to be on the back-side of Marke-lane at the farthest; but, being unused to such fires as followed, I thought it to be far enough off; and so went to bed again and to sleep. About seven rose again to dress myself, and there looked out of the window, and saw the fire not so much as it was and further off. So to my closett to set things right after yesterday's cleaning. By and by 150Jane comes and tells me that she hears that above 300 houses have been burned down to night by the fire we saw, and that it is now burning down all Fish-Street by London Bridge. So I made myself ready presently, and walked to the Tower; ... and there I did see the houses at the end of the bridge all on fire, and an infinite great fire on this and the other side the end of the bridge; which, among other people, did trouble me for poor little Michell and our Sarah on the bridge. So down, with my heart full of trouble, to the Lieutenant of the Tower, who tells me it begun this morning in the King's baker's house in Pudding Lane, and that it hath burned St. Magnus's Church and most part of Fish-Street already. So I down to the waterside, and there got a boat and through bridge, and there saw a lamentable fire. Poor Michell's house, as far as the Old Swan, already burned that way, and the fire running further, that in a very little time it got as far as the Steele-yard, while I was there. Everybody endeavouring to remove their goods, and flinging into the river or bringing them into lighters that lay off; poor people staying in the houses as long as till the very fire touched them, and then running into boats, or clambering from one pair of stairs by the water side to another. And among other things, the poor pigeons, I perceive, were loth to leave their houses, but hovered about the windows and balconys till they burned their wings, and fell down.

Having staid, and in an hour's time seen the fire rage every way, and nobody, to my sight, endeavouring to quench it, but to remove their goods, and leave all to the fire, and having seen it get as far as Steele-yard; and the wind mighty high and driving it into the City; and everything, after so long a drought, proving combustible, even the very stones of the churches, and among other things, the poor steeple by which pretty Mrs. ⸺ lives, and whereof my old school-fellow Elborough is parson, taken fire in the very top, and there burned till it fell down: to White Hall ... and there up to the King's closett in the Chappell, where people come about me, and I did give them an account that dismayed them all, and 151word was carried in to the King. So I was called for, and did tell the King and the Duke of York what I saw, and that unless his Majesty did command houses to be pulled down nothing could stop the fire. They seemed much troubled, and the King commanded me to go to my Lord Mayor from him, and commanded him to spare no houses, but to pull down before the fire every way. The Duke of York bid me tell him that if he would have any more soldiers he shall; and so did my Lord Arlington afterwards, as a great secret. Here meeting with Captain Cocke, I in his coach, which he lent me, and Creed with me to Paul's, and there walked along Watling-street as well as I could, every creature coming away loaden with goods to save, and here and there sicke people carried away in beds. Extraordinary good goods carried in carts or on backs. At last met my Lord Major in Canning-street, like a man spent, with a handkercher about his neck. To the King's message he cried, like a fainting woman, "Lord, what can I do? I am spent; people will not obey me. I have been pulling down houses; but the fire overtakes us faster than we can do it." That he needed no more soldiers; and that, for himself, he must go and refresh himself, having been up all night. So he left me, and I him, and walked home, seeing people all almost distracted, and no manner of means used to quench the fire. The houses, too, so very thick thereabouts, and full of matter for burning, as pitch and tar, in Thames-street; and ware houses of oyle, and wines, and brandy, and other things. Here I saw Mr. Isaake Houblon, the handsome man, prettily dressed and dirty, at his door at Dow-gate, receiving some of his brother's things, whose houses were on fire; and, as he says, have been removed twice already; and he doubts (as it soon proved) that they must be in a little time removed from his house also, which was a sad consideration. And to see the churches all filling with goods by people who themselves should have been quietly there at this time. By this time it was about twelve o'clock; and so home....

While at dinner Mrs. Batelier came to enquire after Mr 152Woolfe and Stanes ... whose houses in Fish-Street are all burned, and they in a sad condition. She would not stay in the fright. Soon as dined, I and Moone away, and walked through the City, the streets full of but people and horses and carts loaden with goods, ready to run over one another, and removing goods from one burned house to another. They now removing out of Canning-Street (which received goods in the morning) into Lumbard-Street, and further; and among others I now saw my little gold-smith, Stokes, receiving some friends goods, whose house itself was burned the day after.

We parted at Paul's; he home, and I to Paul's Wharf, where I had appointed a boat to attend me, and took in Mr. Carcasse and his brother, whom I met in the streete, and carried them below and above bridge to ... see the fire, which was now got further, both below and above, and no likelihood of stopping it. Met with the King and Duke of York in their barge, and with them to Queenhithe, and there called Sir Richard Browne to them. Their order was only to pull down houses apace, and so below bridge at the water side; but little was or could be done, the fire coming upon them so fast. Good hopes there were of stopping it at the Three Cranes above, and at Buttolph's Wharf below bridge, if care be used; but the wind carries it into the City, so as we know not by the water-side what it do there. River full of lighters and boats taking in goods, and good goods swimming in the water, and only I observed that hardly one lighter or boat in three that had the goods of a house in, but there was a pair of Virginalls in it.

Having seen as much as I could now, I away to Whitehall by appointment and there walked to St. James's Parke, and there met my wife and Creed and Wood and his wife and walked to my boat; and there upon the water again, and to the fire up and down, it still increasing, and the wind great. So near the fire as we could for smoke; and all over the Thames, with one's face in the wind, you were almost burned with a shower of fire-drops. This is very true; so as houses were burned by these drops and flakes of fire, three or four, nay, five 153or six houses, one from another. When we could endure no more upon the water, we to a little ale-house on the Bankside, over against the three Cranes, and there staid till it was dark almost, and saw the fire grow; and, as it grew darker, appeared more and more, and in corners and upon steeples, and between churches and houses, as far as we could see up the hill of the City, in a most horrid malicious bloody flame, not like the fine flame of an ordinary fire.... We staid till, it being darkish, we saw the fire as only one entire arch of fire from this to the other side of the bridge, and in a bow up the hill for an arch of above a mile long; it made me weep to see it. The church, houses, and all on fire and flaming at once; and a horrid noise the flames made, and the cracking of houses at their ruine. So home with a sad heart, and there find everybody discursing and lamenting the fire: and poor Tom Hater come with some few of his goods saved out of his house, which is burned upon Fish-Street Hill. I invited him to lie at my house, and receive his goods, but was deceived in his lying there; so as we were forced to begin to pack up our owne goods, and prepare for their removal; and did by moonshine (it being brave dry, and moonshine, and warm weather) carry much of my goods into the garden, and Mr. Hater and I did remove my money and iron chests into my cellar, as thinking that the safest place. And got ready my bags of gold into my office, ready to carry away, and my chief papers of accounts also there, and my tallys into a box by themselves. So great was our fear, as Sir W. Batten hath carts come out of the country to fetch away his goods this night. We did put Mr. Hater, poor man, to bed a little; but he got but very little rest, so much noise being in my house, taking down of goods.

September 3rd.—About four o'clock in the morning, my Lady Batten sent me a cart to carry away all my money, and plate, and best things, to Sir W. Rider's at Bednall Green, which I did riding myself in my night-gowne in the cart; and, Lord! to see how the streets and highways are crowded with people running and riding, and getting of carts at any rate to fetch away things. I find Sir W. Rider tired with being called up 154all night, and receiving things from several friends. His house full of goods, and much of Sir W. Batten's and Sir W. Penn's. I am eased at my heart to have my treasure so well secured. Then home, with much ado to find a way, nor any sleep at all this night to me nor my poor wife.

(b) On the second instant, at one of the clock of the morning, there happened to break out, a sad and deplorable fire, in Pudding-lane near Fish Street, which falling out at that hour of the night, and in a quarter of the town so close built with wooden pitched houses, spread itself so far before day, and with such distraction to the inhabitants and neighbours, that care was not taken for the timely preventing the further diffusion of it, by pulling down houses, as ought to have been; so that this lamentable fire in a short time became too big to be mastered by any engines or working near it. It fell out most unhappily too, that a violent easterly wind fomented, and kept it burning all that day, and the night following, spreading itself up to Gracechurch Street, and downwards from Cannon Street to the water-side, as far as the Three Cranes in the Vintrey.

The people in all parts about it distracted by the vastness of it, and their particular care to carry away their goods, many attempts were made to prevent the spreading of it by pulling down houses, and making great intervals, but all in vain, the fire seizing upon the timber and rubbish and so continuing itself, even through those spaces, and raging in a bright flame all Monday and Tuesday, notwithstanding his majesties own, and his royal highness's indefatigable and personal pains to apply all possible remedies to prevent it, calling upon and helping the people with their guards, and a great number of nobility and gentry unwearied assisting therein, for which they were requited with a thousand blessings from the poor distressed people. By the favour of God, the wind slackened a little on Tuesday night and the flames meeting with brick buildings at the Temple, by little and little it was observed to lose its force on that side, so that on Wednesday morning we began to hope well, and his royal highness never despairing or slackening his personal care, wrought so well that day, assisted in some 155parts by the lords of the council before and behind it, that a stop was put to it at the Temple-Church, near Holborn-Bridge, Pie-corner, Aldersgate, Cripplegate, near the lower end of Coleman-Street, at the end of Basinghall Street, by the Postern, at the upper end of Bishopsgate street, and Leadenhall-street, at the standard in Cornhill, at the church in Fenchurch street, near Clothworkers-Hall in Mincing Lane, at the middle of Mark-lane, and at the Tower-dock.

On Thursday by the blessing of God it was wholly beat down and extinguished. But so as that evening it unhappily burst out again afresh at the Temple, by the falling of some sparks (as is supposed) upon a pile of wooden buildings; but his royal highness, who watched there that whole night in person, by the great labours and diligence used, and especially by applying powder to blow up the houses about it, before day most happily mastered it.

Divers strangers, Dutch and French were, during the fire, apprehended, upon suspicion that they contributed mischievously to it, who are all imprisoned, and informations prepared to make a severe inquisition thereupon by my lord chief justice Keeling, assisted by some of the lords of the privy-council, and some principal members of the city, notwithstanding which suspicions, the manner of the burning all along in a train, and so blown forwards in all its way by strong winds, makes us conclude the whole was an effect of an unhappy chance, or to speak better, the heavy hand of God upon us for our sins, shewing us the terror of his judgment in thus raising the fire, and immediately after his miraculous and never enough to be acknowledged mercy in putting a stop to it when we were in the last despair, and that all attempts for the quenching it however industriously pursued, seemed insufficient. His Majesty then sat hourly in council, and ever since hath continued making rounds about the city in all parts of it where the danger and mischief was greatest, till this morning that he hath sent his grace the duke of Albemarle, whom he hath called for to assist him in this great occasion, to put his happy and successful hand to the finishing this memorable deliverance.

156

After the Fire had demolished a considerable portion of the City, many plans and suggestions were submitted for its reconstruction, and those of Sir Christopher Wren and of John Evelyn were distinguished by their excellence and thoroughness. The occasion offered a magnificent opportunity for a wise and far-seeing scheme of town-planning, and the ingenious ideas of Evelyn are particularly interesting in view of the attention which is now being given to the subject.

It might haply be thought fit to fill up, or at least give a partial level to some of the deepest valleys, holes and more sudden declivities within the City, for the more ease of commerce, carriages, coaches and people in the streets; and not a little for the more handsome ranging of the buildings: for instance, that from about the Fleet to Ludgate; which yet should be no more than might only afford a graceful and just ascent from thence up towards St. Paul's; the only spot in the whole city, where I would plant that ancient and venerable Cathedral again: but here is to be considered the Channel running thence through Holborn, which would be so enlarged, as not only to be preserved sweet (by scouring it through flood-gates into the Thames on all occasions) but commodious for the intercourse of considerable vessels thwart this portion of the town; and which therefore should be accordingly wharfed on both sides to the very key of the river, and made contiguous to the streets by bridges arched to a due level, as it might easily be contrived, (and with passage sufficient for lusty 160barges and lighters under them) were the valley so elevated as it is projected. There is only this care incumbent; that all foundations upon this new ground be searched to the old and more solid basis; from whence they may also store themselves with vaults and cellarage in abundance: The same might be considered in some sort from the descent of the hill towards Thames-Street, so as to come down upon the future key by a far less declivity, which would give those houses that should be built fronting to the river a more becoming aspect, and an easier footing to the ranges above them, which would peep over one another successively; with a far better grace, than those do at Genoa, where the ascent is too precipitious.

These considerations and employments would greatly forward the prompt and natural disposal of the more useless and cumbersome rubbish; unless it might be thought more expedient (if there should not be sufficient for both) to design it rather towards the enlargement of a new and ample key; which I wish might run parallel from the very Tower to the Temple at least, and, if it were possible (without augmenting the rapidity of the stream) extend itself even as far as the very low-water mark; the basin by this means kept perpetually full, without Slub or annoyance, and to the infinite benefit and ease of access, like that of Constantinople, than which nothing could be imagined more noble: what fractions and confusions our ugly stairs, bridges and causeways make, and how dirty and nasty it is at every ebb, we are sufficiently sensible of; so as, next to the hellish smoke of the town, there is nothing doubtless which does more impair the health of its inhabitants....

For the rest of those necessary evils, the brew-houses, bake-houses, dyers, salt, soap and sugar-boilers, chandlers, hat-makers, slaughter-houses, some sort of fish-mongers, etc. whose neighbourhood cannot be safe, (as I have elsewhere shewed, and a sad experience has confirmed) I hope his Majesty will now dispose of to some other parts about the river; towards Bow and Wandsworth on the water; Islington and about Spital-Fields, etc. The charge of bringing all their commodities 161into the City would be very inconsiderable, opposed to the peril of their being continued amongst the inhabitants, and the benefit of the carriage, which would employ a world of people, both by land and water, without the least prejudice.

I suppose the Custom-house cannot be better situated than where it was, and as it may hold communication with the Tower: here might the Admiralty and Navy-Office be fitly placed.

I have not forgotten the hospitals, public workhouses to employ the poor in, and prisons; which being built and re-endowed at the common charge, should be disposed of in convenient quarters of the City: the hospitals would become one of the principal streets: but the prisons, and tribunal for trial of criminal offenders, might be built (as of old) near some entrance of the City; about Newgate were a fitting place, as my plate represents it.

The College of Physicians would be in one of the best parts of the town, encircled with an handsome Piazza for the dwelling of those learned persons, with the Chirurgeons, Apothecaries and Druggists in the streets about them; for I am greatly inclined to wish, that all of a mystery should be destined to their several quarters: those of the better sort of shop-keepers, who sell by retail, might be allotted to the sweetest and most eminent streets and piazzas: the artificers to the more ordinary houses, intermediate and narrower passages (for such will hardly be avoided) that the noise and tintamar of their instruments may be the less importunate: the taverns and victualling houses sprinkled amongst them, and built accordingly: but all these too, even the very meanest, should exactly respect uniformity, and be more substantially built than those in Covent-Garden, and other places; where once in twenty or thirty years they had need be built again, and therefore to be indulged a longer term.

Spaces for ample courts, yards and gardens, even in the heart of the City there may be some to the principal houses, for state and refreshment; but with great reservation, because of the fractions they will make; and therefore rarely towards 162any principal street: and I hope it will please his Majesty to prescribe by a public and irreversible edict, that no houses whatsoever, may for the future presume to be erected, not only about this City, but all the Nation besides, within such a distance from magazines, places of public records and Churches, which should be preserved as sanctuaries.

The gates and entries of the City, which are to be rebuilt, might be the subjects of handsome architecture, in form of triumphal arches, adorned with statues, relievo's and apposite inscriptions, as prefaces to the rest within, and should therefore by no means be obstructed by sheds, and ugly shops, or houses adhering to them: and I wish this reformation, and the infinite danger of their being continued, might extend to the demolishing those deformed buildings on London-Bridge; which not only endanger all the rest, but take away from the beauty of it, and indeed of the whole City near the Thames: instead of them, if there went a substantial baluster of iron, decorated with statues upon their pedestals at convenient distances, and the footway on each side, it would be exceedingly convenient; whilst, to secure the passengers by night, it might be guarded by responsible house-keepers in their turns: or, if they will need have shops, let them be built of solid stone, made narrow and very low, like to those upon the Rialto at Venice; but it were far better without them.

Such statutes as the following are particularly useful in enabling us to understand in detail the conditions which governed matters of everyday life in the City. The fact that certain proceedings are forbidden implies that it was found necessary to issue the prohibition by reason of the common occurrence of such proceedings. From this statute and from similar sources we obtain the inevitable impression that the streets of London during the seventeenth century must have been dangerous and disagreeable 163places. These instructions, of course, were issued at a time when special attention was being directed to the care of the city from reasons of health and safety.

I. Item, That hereafter all streets within this city, called, known, or set down to be High Streets, shall be paved round, or causeway fashion: and upon notice given to the commissioners of any defective pavements in any of the streets, lanes, and passages within this city and liberties, the same shall be forthwith made good and amended, unless by general consent some better expedient be found and published.

II. That inasmuch as it hath been found by common experience that the paviours, to hide and cover their bad workmanship, have oftentimes spread and laid great quantities of gravel over their pavements, to greater charge of the persons setting them on work than was needful, and which, upon a sudden rain, did either choke the common sewers, or turn to dirt and mire in the streets; therefore the said paviours are required, that hereafter they do forbear to lay or spread any more gravel on the pavements than will only fill up the joints of their work, and cause the same to be swept and well rammed, and leave the pavements bare of gravel, and keep a regular method of paving, not paving one door higher than another, upon pain of paying five shillings for every complaint.

III. That the breadth of six foot at the least from the foundation of the houses, in such of the said High Streets which shall be allowed to be posted, shall be paved by the inhabitants or owners with flat or broad stone for a foot passage; unless such parts thereof as shall lie before any gateway, which may be done with square rag by the said breadth of six feet, upon pain of paying five shillings for every week the same shall be omitted to be done after notice given.

VIII. That the several inhabitants within this city and liberties, or their servants, do take care that the dirt, ashes, and soil of their houses be in readiness for the carmen, their agents, or servants, either by setting out the same over night in tubs, boxes, baskets, or other vessel, near and contiguous 164to their houses, or by bringing out the same within convenient time, before the hours for their departure as aforesaid.

XIII. That the said carmen undertakers, their agents or servants, shall give notice of their being in the street with their tumbrels or cars by loudly knocking a wooden clapper, especially in courts, alleys, and other back passages, upon pain to forfeit three shillings and fourpence upon every complaint duly proved.

XX. That no man shall cast or lay in the streets, lanes, or common passages, or channels within this city or liberties, any dogs, cats, inwards of beasts, cleaves of beasts feet, bones, horns, dregs or dross of ale or beer, or any noisome thing, upon pain of ten shillings for every offence.

XXVI. That no artificer, labourer, or other person, shall make any stop or dam in any channel, nor shall slake any lime in the streets, lanes, or passages, upon pain to pay two shillings for every offence.

XXVII. That no man shall feed any kine, goats, hogs, or any kind of poultry, in the open streets, upon pain to forfeit three shillings and fourpence for every offence.

XXVIII. That no man shall cast into the ditches or sewers, grates or gullets of the city, any manner of carrion, stinking flesh, rotten oranges or onions, rubbish, dung, sand, gravel, or any other thing that may stop the course of the same, upon pain of forfeiting forty shillings for every offence.

XXXI. That no tyler, bricklayer, or other person, do throw out of gutters, or off roofs or other parts of houses, any tyles, loam, or rubbish, into any street, lane, or common passage; but do bring down the same in baskets or trays; upon pain to forfeit three shillings and four pence for every offence.

Among documents relating to the City there are many of a similar nature to the following proclamation. Many of the Mayors and Corporations appear to have been of opinion that although they might be unable to organise an 165efficient government of the City, which should definitely prevent crime and disorder, at any rate they might draw up elaborate codes of rules and instructions, as a manifestation of their earnestness of purpose. Many of these rules and orders are proclaimed and enacted over and over again; the precautions and the measures taken against the flagrant evils which existed were very often utterly futile, and improvement was extremely slow.

The Right Honourable the Lord Mayor having taken into his serious consideration the many dreadful afflictions which this City hath of late years suffered, by a raging plague, a most unheard-of devouring fire, and otherwise; and justly fearing that the same have been occasioned by the many heinous crying sins and provocations to the Divine Majesty: and his Lordship also considering the present dangers of greater mischiefs and misery which seem still to threaten this City, if the execution of the righteous judgments of God Almighty be not prevented by an universal timely repentance and reformation: he hath, therefore, thought it one duty of his office, being intrusted to take all possible care for the good government, peace and welfare of this City, first, to pray and persuade all and every the inhabitants thereof to reform, themselves and families, all sins and enormities whereof they know themselves to be guilty; and if neither the fear of the Great God, nor of his impending judgments, shall prevail upon them, he shall be obliged to let them know, that, as he is their Chief Magistrate, he ought not to bear the sword in vain; and therefore doth resolve, by God's grace, to take the assistance of his brethren the Aldermen, and to require the aid of all the Officers of this City in their several places, to punish and suppress, according to the laws of the land, and the good customs of this City, those scandalous and provoking sins which have of late increased and abounded amongst us, even without shame, to the dishonour of Christianity, and the scandal of the government of this City, heretofore 166so famous over the world for its piety, sobriety, and good order.

To the end therefore that the laws may become a terror unto evil-doers, and that such, in whose hearts the fear of God, and the love of virtue, shall not prevail, being forewarned, may amend their lives for fear of punishment, his Lordship hath thought fit to remember them of several penalties provided by law against notorious offenders; as also of all Constables and Public Officers (who are to put the said laws in execution) of their duty therein.

First, Every profane curser and swearer ought to be punished by the payment of twelve pence for every oath; and if the same cannot be levied upon the offenders goods, then he is to sit three hours in the stocks.

Secondly, Every drunkard is to pay for the first offence five shillings; and in default thereof to sit six hours in the stocks, and for the second offence, to find sureties for his good behaviour, or to be committed to the common gaol; and the like punishment is to be inflicted upon all common haunters of ale-houses and taverns, and common gamesters, and persons justly suspected to live by any unlawful means, having no visible way to support themselves in their manner of living. And no person is to sit or continue tippling or drinking more than one hour, unless upon some extraordinary occasion, in any tavern, victualling-house, ale-house, or other tippling-house, upon the penalty of ten shillings for every offence upon the master of such house; and upon the person that shall so continue drinking, three shillings four pence....

Fourthly, All persons using any unlawful exercises on the Lord's day, or tippling in taverns, inns or ale-houses, and coffee-houses, during divine service on that day, are to forfeit three shillings four pence for every offence, to be levied by distress, and where none can be had, to sit three hours in the stocks; and every vintner, innkeeper, or ale-house keeper that shall suffer any such drinking or tippling in his house, is to forfeit ten shillings for every offence; and no person may sit in the streets, with herbs, fruits, or other things, to expose them 167to sale, nor no hackney coachman may stand or ply in the streets on that day.

And therefore all Constables and other Officers, whom it doth or may concern, are required, according to their oaths solemnly taken in that behalf, to take care for discovering and bringing to punishment whosoever shall offend in any of the premises; and for that end they are to enter into any suspected houses before mentioned to search for any such disorderly persons as shall be found misbehaving themselves, or doing contrary to the said laws, and to levy the penalties, and bring the offenders before some of his Majesties Justices of the Peace of this City, to be dealt withall according to law.

And whereas there are other disorders of another nature, very dishonourable, and a great scandal to the government of this City, and very prejudicial to the trade and commerce of the same; his Lordship, therefore, is resolved by God's blessing, with the assistance of his brethren the Aldermen, to use his utmost endeavour to prevent the same, by putting in execution the good and wholesome laws in force for that purpose, with all strictness and severity; some of which he hath thought fit to enumerate, with the duties and penalties upon every Constable and other officer concerned therein.

As first, the great resort of rogues, vagrants, idle persons, and common beggars, pestering and annoying the streets and common passages, and all places of public meetings and resort, against whom very good provision is made by the law, viz.

That all such persons shall be openly whipped, and forthwith sent from parish to parish to the place where he or she was born, if known; if not, to the place where he or she last dwelt for the space of one year, to be set to work; or not being known, where he or she was born or dwelt, then to be sent to the parish where he or she last passed through without punishment.

That every Constable that shall not do his best endeavour for the apprehension of such vagabond, rogue or sturdy beggar, and cause him or her to be punished or conveyed according to law, shall forfeit ten shillings for every default.

168Secondly, The not paving and cleansing of the streets: the redressing whereof being by a late act of Parliament put into Commissioners appointed by Common Council, his Lordship doth hereby recommend the same to the Deputies and Common Council of the several wards within this City, to use their utmost diligence in that affair, and especially to mind their respective Commissioners of the duty incumbent upon them, and of the daily damage which the City suffers by the neglect thereof. And his Lordship doth declare he will appear at the said Commission of Sewers as often as his more urgent occasions will give him leave, and doth expect such attendance of the other Commissioners as may render the act more effectual than hitherto it hath been.

Thirdly, The neglect of the inhabitants of this City in hanging and keeping out their lights at the accustomed hours, according to the good and ancient usage of this City, and acts of Common Council in that behalf.

Fourthly, the not setting and continuing the watches at such hours, and in such numbers, and in such sober and orderly manner in all other respects, as by the acts of Common Council in that behalf is directed and appointed.

And his Lordship doth strictly require the Fellowship of Carmen to be very careful in the due observance of the good and wholesome rules and orders which have been made for their regulation: his Lordship intending severely to inflict the penalties imposed in default thereof.

And to the end that no Constable or other Officers or Ministers of Justice may be any ways discouraged in their lawful, diligent, and vigorous prosecution of the premises, it is provided, that if they or any of them shall be resisted, in the just and lawful execution of their charge and duty, or in any wise affronted or abused, they shall be encouraged, maintained, and vindicated by the justice, order, and authority of his Lordship and the Court of Aldermen, and the offenders prosecuted and punished according to law.

Dated at the Guildhall, London, the 29th day of November 1679, in the 31 year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord Charles 169the Second, by the grace of God, of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, King, defender of the faith, etc.

The Monument, in commemoration of the Great Fire of 1666, was erected in 1671 near Pudding Lane, where the fire began, and the following inscription was added in 1681. The suspicion, which was attached to the Roman Catholics, of deliberately setting fire to the City was altogether unreasonable and baseless, but the people who had listened to Titus Oates were ready to believe anything, and the inscription is sufficient indication of the prevalent feeling against Papists. It is referred to by Pope—himself a Roman Catholic—in the lines:

The inscription was effaced during the reign of James II., was again placed on the base of the column in the reign of William III., and was finally removed in 1831.

This Pillar was set vp in Perpetvall Remembrance of that most dreadful burning of this Protestant city, begun and carryed on by ye treachery and malice of ye Popish faction, in ye beginning of Septem in ye year of our Lord 1666, in order to ye carrying on their horrid Plott for extirpating the Protestant Religion and old English liberty, and the introducing Popery and Slavery.

The Government monopoly of Post Office business dates back to the reign of James I., who appointed a Postmaster to have the "sole taking up, sending, and conveying of all packets and letters concerning our service 170or business to be despatched to foreign parts," others being forbidden to convey letters; and our postal system was first really founded by an Act of Parliament in 1656 "to settle the postage of England, Scotland, and Ireland." It ordered the erection of one general post office, and one officer styled the Postmaster-General of England and Comptroller of the Post Office. Private individuals occasionally attempted to establish postal services, and in 1680 William Dockwra set up a profitable penny post for London. This, like Povey's halfpenny post in 1708, was suppressed by a lawsuit, and the management and profits of the Post Office were definitely attached to the Government.

This Office is now kept in Lombard Street, formerly in Bishopsgate Street; the profits of it are by Act of Parliament settled on his Royal Highness the Duke of York. But the King, by Letters Patents, under the Great Seal of England, constitutes the Postmaster General.

From this General Office, letters and packets are despatched—

To France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Flanders, Switzerland, Denmark, Kent, and the Downs.

To Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Ireland, Scotland, and all parts of England and Wales.

To all parts of Kent and the Downs.

To France, Spain, Italy, and all parts of England and Scotland.

To Flanders, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Denmark Holland, Kent, and the Downs.

All parts of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland.

Letters are returned from all parts of England and Scotland, certainly every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday; from Wales every Monday and Friday; and from Kent and the Downs every day; but from other parts more uncertainly, in regard of the sea.

A letter containing a whole sheet of paper is convey'd 80 miles for 2d., two sheets for 4d., and an ounce of letters for 8d., and so proportionably; a letter containing a sheet is conveyed above 80 miles for 3d., two sheets for 6d., and every ounce of letters for 12d. A sheet is conveyed to Dublin for 6d., two for 1^s/-, and an ounce of letters for 12d.

This conveyance by post is done in so short a time, by night as well as by day, that every twenty-four hours the post goes 120 miles, and in five days an answer of a letter may be had from a place 300 miles distant from the writer.

Moreover, if any gentleman desire to ride post, to any principal town of England, post-horses are always in readiness (taking no horse without the consent of his owner), which in other Kings' reigns was not duly observed; and only 3d. is demanded for every English mile, and for every stage to the post-boy, 4d. for conducting.

Beside this excellent convenience of conveying letters, and men on horseback, there is of late such an admirable commodiousness both for men and women of better rank, to travel from London, and to almost all the villages near this great City, that the like hath not been known in the world, and that is by stage-coaches, wherein one may be transported to any place, sheltered from foul weather, and foul ways, free from endamaging one's health or body by hard jogging, or over-violent motion; and this not only at a low price, as about a 1721^s/- for every 5 miles, but with such velocity and speed as that the posts in some foreign countries make not more miles in a day; for the stage-coaches, called the flying-coaches, make 40 or 50 miles in a day, as from London to Oxford or Cambridge, and that in the space of twelve hours, not counting the time for dining, setting forth not too early, nor coming in too late.

The citizens of London took a prominent part in the exciting events of the years 1688-89. In no part of the country was there a stronger anti-Popish feeling, and none of the believers and propagators of the notorious Popish Plot of Titus Oates had been so conspicuous as the Londoners. They took the lead in the demonstrations which attended the issue of the famous trial of the seven Bishops, and were foremost in suggesting the practicability of expelling James from the throne. As soon as the King realised his danger, he sent for the Lord Mayor and the Aldermen, and informed them of his determination to restore the City Charter and privileges, which had been confiscated by Charles II. He hoped by this to gain the powerful support of the citizens, who, however, were not to be bought by this tardy act of justice. The Court of Common Council sent an address to the Prince of Orange, promising him a welcome reception; and the Corporation waited on him, on his arrival in London, with an ardent address of congratulation.

The feelings of the mob, always fierce when roused by any unusual event, appear to have led them to somewhat violent measures in their expressions of hatred towards Roman Catholics. A similar panic, attended by similar outbreaks, was witnessed in 1780, when proposals to grant some relief to Papists caused the "Gordon Riots."

No sooner was the King's withdrawing known, but the mob consulted to wreak their vengeance on papists and popery; and last night began with pulling down and burning the new-built Mass-house near the arch, in Lincoln's Inn Fields: thence they went to Wild-house, the residence of the Spanish Ambassador, where they ransacked, destroyed and burnt all the ornamental and inside part of the chapel, some cartloads of choice books, manuscript, etc. And not content here, some villanous thieves and common rogues, no doubt, took this opportunity to mix with the youth, and they plunder'd the Ambassador's house of plate, jewels, money, rich goods, etc.: and also many other who had sent in there for shelter their money, plate, etc.: among which, one gentleman lost a trunk, in which was £800 in money, and a great quantity of plate. Thence they went to the Mass-house, at St. James's, near Smithfield, demolished it quite; from thence to Blackfriars near the Ditchside, where they destroyed Mr. Henry Hill's printing-house, spoiled his forms, letters, etc., and burnt 2 or 300 reams of paper, printed and unprinted: thence to the Mass-house in Bucklersbury and Lime-street, and there demolished and burnt as before: and this night they went to the Nuncio's, and other places at that end of the town; but finding the birds flown, and the bills on the door, they drew off: thence they went into the City, threatening to pull down all papists' houses, particularly one in Ivy Lane, and the market house upon Newgate Market, for no other reason but that one Burdet, a papist, was one of the farmers of the market; but by the prudence of the citizens and some of their trained bands, they were got off without mischief doing anywhere.

Tuesday night last, and all Wednesday, the apprentices were busy in pulling down the chapels, and spoiling the houses of papists; they crying out the fire should not go out till the Prince of Orange came to town. There were thousands of them on Wednesday at the Spanish Ambassador's, they not leaving any wainscot withinside the house or chapel, taking 174away great quantities of plate, with much money, household goods and writings, verifying the old proverb "All's fish that came to the net." The spoil of the house was very great, divers papists having sent their goods in thither, as judging that the securest place.

Then they went to the Lord Powis's great house in Lincoln's Inn Fields, wherein was a guard, and a bill upon the door, "This house is appointed for the Lord Delameer's quarters:" and some of the company crying, "Let it alone, the Lord Powis was against the Bishops going to the Tower," they offered no violence to it.

Afterwards they marched down the Strand with oranges upon their sticks, crying for the Prince of Orange, and went to the Pope's Nuncio's, but finding a bill upon the door, "This house is to be let," they desisted. Lastly, they did some damage to the house of the resident of the Duke of Tuscany, in the Haymarket, carrying away some of his goods, when one Captain Douglas, coming thither with a company of trained bands to suppress them, a soldier, unadvisedly firing at the boys with ball, shot the Captain through the back, of which he lies languishing. They also went to the houses of the French and other Ambassadors, but finding them deserted and the landlords giving them money, they marched off.

On Thursday, an order of the Lords coming forth, warning all persons to desist from pulling down any house, especially those of the Ambassadors, upon penalty of the utmost severity of the law to be inflicted on them: since which they have been very quiet.

The following passage indicates the good-will which existed between the citizens and their new Sovereigns. The Lord Mayor invited their Majesties to witness the festivities, and the King expressed his satisfaction by knighting the sheriffs. Just before this the King had allowed the Grocers' Company to choose him as their 175Master, and when, some days after the pageant described below, some disaffected person expressed his disapproval of these manifestations of cordiality between the King and the City by cutting away the crown and sceptre from the King's picture in the Guildhall, the Lord Mayor offered a reward of £500 for the discovery of the perpetrator. These civilities were preliminary to the complete restoration of all the corporate rights of the citizens, which had been seized by Charles II. The Act of 1690, declaring the franchises, rights, and liberties of the City of London to be fully restored, was the last of the long series of confirmations of these treasured privileges.

This day Sir Thomas Pilkington being continued Lord Mayor for the year ensuing was, according to custom, sworn before the Barons of the Exchequer, at Westminster, whither he went by water, accompanied by the Aldermen and the several companies, in their respective barges, adorned with flags and streamers; passing by Whitehall they paid their obeisance to their Majesties, who were in their apartment by the water-side. The river was covered with boats, and the noise of drums and trumpets, and several sorts of music, with the firing of great guns, and the repeated huzzas of such a multitude of people, afforded a very agreeable entertainment.

And their Majesties, the Prince and Princess of Denmark, and the Lords spiritual and temporal and Commons assembled in Parliament, having been pleased to accept of an humble invitation from the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council, to dine in the city on this day, about noon their Majesties came, attended by his Royal Highness, all the great officers of the Court, and a numerous train of nobility and gentry in their coaches, the militia of London and Westminster making a lane for them, the balconies all along their passage being richly hung with tapestry, and filled with spectators, and the people in great crowds expressing their joy with loud and 176continued acclamations. Their Majesties were pleased from a balcony prepared for them in Cheapside to see the show; which, for the great numbers of the citizens of the several guilds attending in their formalities, the full appearance of the artillery company, the rich adornment of the pageants, and hieroglyphical representations, and the splendour and good order of the whole proceeding, outdid all that has been heretofore seen in this city upon the like occasions; but that which deserves to be particularly mentioned was the royal city regiment of volunteer horse, which being richly and gallantly accoutred, and led by the Right Honourable the Earl of Monmouth, attended their Majesty's from Whitehall into the city.

The cavalcade being passed by, the King and Queen were conducted by the two Sheriffs to the Guildhall, where their Majesties, both Houses of Parliament, the Privy Councillors, the Judges, the Ladies of the Bedchamber, and other ladies of the chiefest quality, dined at several tables; and the grandeur and magnificence of the entertainment was suitable to so august and extraordinary a presence. Their Majesties were extremely pleased, and as a mark thereof, the King conferred the honour of Knighthood upon Christopher Lithiullier and John Houblon, Esquires, the present Sheriffs, as also upon Edward Clark and Francis Child, two of the Aldermen.

In the evening their Majesties returned to Whitehall with the same state they came. The militia again lined the streets, the city regiments as far as Temple-bar, and the red and blue regiments of Middlesex and Westminster from thence to Whitehall, the soldiers having, at convenient distances, lighted flambeaux in their hands; the houses were all illuminated, the bells ringing, and nothing was omitted through the whole course of this day's solemnity, either by the magistrates or people, that might show their respect or veneration, as well as their dutiful affection and loyalty to their Majesties, and the sense they have of the happiness they enjoy under their most benign and gracious government.

177

The scenes in 'Change Alley during the period of the rise and fall of South Sea Company shares have often been described. The mad spirit of speculation which seized all classes alike, the foolish and unreasoning belief in the possibility of realising fabulous wealth, the floating of innumerable companies, many of which were of a most absurd character, the panic which followed inevitably on the inflation of prices—all these things were witnessed in London, the centre of the financial affairs of the nation. There was great indignation against the 180Ministers and directors who had made large profits, and a parliamentary inquiry disclosed the fact that there had been bribery and corruption on an extensive scale. The distracting effect of events of this kind was extremely injurious to the City, and the attitude of the citizens is set forth in their petition to the House of Commons.

Your petitioners beg leave to return their most humble thanks to this honourable House for the great pains they have taken to relieve the unhappy sufferers, by compelling the offenders to make restitution; as likewise for their continued application to lay open this whole scene of guilt, notwithstanding the industrious artifices of such sharers in the common plunder, as have endeavoured to obstruct the detection of fraud and corruption. And your petitioners doubt not, but the same fortitude, impartiality and public spirit wherewith this Honourable House have hitherto acted, will still animate them in the pursuit of those truly great and noble ends.

We are too sensible of the load of public debts, not to wish that all proper methods may be taken to lessen them: and it is an infinite concern to us, that the payment of a great sum towards them (which was expected from the late scheme) is now rendered extremely difficult, if not impracticable; and yet, as a cloud, hanging over the heads of the present unfortunate proprietors of the South-Sea Company, and a great damp to public credit. We will not presume to mention in what manner relief may be given in this arduous affair; but most humbly submit it to the consideration of this Honourable House. Your petitioners therefore most humbly pray this Honourable House will be pleased to take such farther measures as they, in their great wisdom, shall judge proper, that trade may flourish, public credit be restored, and justice done to an injured people.

181

The equitable distribution of taxation is a problem which no financial minister has ever solved to the satisfaction of all the interests in the country, and Walpole, one of the ablest of financiers, was unable to effect an adjustment of the burden which would please everybody. In the reign of William III. a land-tax had been imposed to meet the expenses of the French war, and this was alleged to press heavily and unfairly on the country gentry, who demanded that the wealthy trading interests should pay more. Walpole tried a salt-tax, which, of course, was very hard on the poorer classes; and in 1733 he proposed to turn the Customs levied at the ports on wine and tobacco into an excise levied on these articles in the possession of the traders. His reason was that owing to the prevalence of smuggling the Customs did not produce as much as they ought, and he thought that the excise duties would be more efficiently collected. The proposal was violently opposed; it was stated that the necessary inspection of warehouses was a violation of liberty, and Walpole was forced to give way. The citizens of London shared the general hatred of the measure, and set forth their reasons in a petition to the House of Commons.

Your petitioners observe in the votes of this Honourable House, that a Bill has been brought in, pursuant to the resolutions of the sixteenth day of March, for repealing several subsidies, and an impost now payable on tobacco of the British plantations, and for granting an Inland-duty in lieu thereof.

That they presume therefore, in all humility, by a respectful application to this Honourable House, to express, as they have already done in some measure by their representation to their members, the universal sense of the City of London, concerning any further extension of the laws of excise.

That the burden of taxes already imposed on every branch of trade, however cheerfully borne, is severely felt; but that your petitioners apprehend this burden will grow too heavy to be borne, if it be increased by such vexatious and oppressive methods of levying and collecting the duties, as they are assured, by melancholy experience, that the nature of all Excises must necessarily produce.

That the merchants, tradesmen, and manufacturers of this Kingdom have supported themselves under the pressure of the excise-laws now in force, by the comfortable and reasonable expectation, that laws, which nothing but public necessity could be a motive to enact, would be repealed in favour of the trade of the nation, and of the liberty of the subject, whenever that motive should be removed, as your petitioners presume it effectually is, by an undisturbed tranquillity at home, and a general peace so firmly established abroad.

That, if this expectation be entirely taken away; if the Excise laws, instead of being repealed, are extended to other species of merchandizes not yet excised, and a door opened for extending them to all; your petitioners cannot, in justice to themselves, to the merchants, tradesmen, and manufacturers of the whole kingdom, and to the general interest of their country, conceal their apprehensions, that the most fatal blow which ever was given, will be given on this occasion to the trade and navigation of Great Britain; that great spring, from which the wealth and 185prosperity of the public flow, will be obstructed; the mercantile part of the nation will become not only less able to trade to advantage, but unwilling to trade at all; for no person, who can enjoy all the privileges of a British subject out of trade, even with a small fortune, will voluntarily renounce some of the most valuable of those privileges, by subjecting himself to the laws of excise.

That your petitioners are able to shew, that these their apprehensions are founded both on experience and reason; and therefore your petitioners most humbly pray, That this Honourable House will be pleased to hear them by their Counsel against the said bill.

We have abundant evidence from many sources as to the deplorable condition of the streets of London down to comparatively recent times. It is somewhat surprising that this neglect should continue, while the danger was thoroughly understood. In the days of the Plague, John Evelyn was fully aware of the horrible conditions, and strongly inveighed against the nuisances of smoke and dirt. It was recognised that the existence of these filthy conditions had contributed to the spread of the Plague, and that there was an ever-present danger so long as these conditions remained; and yet, in spite of this knowledge, we find it possible for an indictment such as this to be made as late as 1741:

The filth, Sir, of some parts of the town, and the inequality and ruggedness of others, cannot but in the eyes of foreigners disgrace our nation, and incline them to imagine us a people, not only without delicacy, but without Government—a herd of barbarians, or a colony of Hottentots. The most disgusting 186part of the character given by travellers, of the most savage nations, is their neglect of cleanliness, of which, perhaps, no part of the world affords more proofs than the streets of London, a city famous for wealth, commerce, and plenty, and for every other kind of civility and politeness; but which abounds with such heaps of filth, as a savage would look on with amazement. If that be allowed, which is generally believed, that putrefaction and stench are causes of pestilential distempers, the removal of this grievance may be pressed from motives of far greater weight than those of delicacy and pleasure; and I might solicit the timely care of this assembly, for the preservation of innumerable multitudes; and intreat those who are watching against slight misfortunes, to unite their endeavours with mine, to avert the greatest and most dreadful calamities.

Not to dwell, Sir, upon dangers which may perhaps be thought only imaginary, I hope that it will be at least considered how much the present neglect of the pavement is detrimental to every carriage, whether of trade or pleasure, or convenience; and that those who have allowed so much of their attentions to petitions relating to the roads of the kingdom, the repair of some of which is almost every session thought of importance sufficient enough to produce debates in this House, will not think the streets of the capital alone unworthy of their regard. That the present neglect of cleansing and paving the streets is such as ought not to be borne; that the passenger is everywhere either surprised and endangered by unexpected chasms, or offended and obstructed by mountains of filth, is well known to everyone that has passed a single day in this great City; and, that this great grievance is without a remedy, is a sufficient proof that no magistrate has, at present, power to remove it; for every man's private regard to his own ease and safety would incite him to exert his authority on this occasion.

187

The Gordon Riots were the most formidable popular rising of the eighteenth century. In 1778 a Bill, brought forward by Sir George Savile, for the relaxation of some of the harsher penal laws against Catholics, passed almost unanimously through both Houses. Protestant associations were formed in Scotland; a leader was found in Lord George Gordon, a silly young man of twenty-eight years of age, and the agitation spread to England. Mobs collected in London, and interfered with the House of Commons; as they realised their strength, they proceeded to various excesses, destroying Catholic churches and the houses of prominent Romanists. The original objects of the agitation were entirely lost sight of in the disturbances, which were merely the unreasoning ravages of a wild mob. For five days the City was terrorised by the rioters, who were at length dispersed by the military authorities.

While Johnson was thus engaged in preparing a delightful literary entertainment for the world, the tranquillity of the metropolis of Great Britain was unexpectedly disturbed by the most horrid series of outrages that ever disgraced a civilised country. A relaxation of some of the severe penal provisions against our fellow subjects of the Catholic communion had been granted by the legislature, with an opposition so inconsiderable, 189that the genuine mildness of Christianity, united with liberal policy, seemed to have become general in this island. But a dark and malignant spirit of persecution soon showed itself, in an unworthy petition for the repeal of the wise and humane statute. That petition was brought forward by a mob, with the evident purpose of intimidation, and was justly rejected. But the attempt was accompanied and followed by such daring violence as is unexampled in history. Of this extraordinary tumult, Dr. Johnson has given the following concise, lively, and just account in his "Letter to Mrs. Thrale."

"On Friday, the good Protestants met in Saint George's-Fields, at the summons of Lord George Gordon, and marching to Westminster, insulted the Lords and Commons, who all bore it with great tameness. At night the outrages began by the demolition of the Mass-house by Lincoln's Inn. An exact journal of a week's defiance of government I cannot give you. On Monday, Mr. Strahan, who had been insulted, spoke to Lord Mansfield (who had, I think, been insulted too) of the licentiousness of the populace; and his lordship treated it as a very slight irregularity. On Tuesday night they pulled down Fielding's house, and burnt his goods in the street. They had gutted, on Monday, Sir George Savile's house, but the building was saved. On Tuesday evening, leaving Fielding's ruins, they went to Newgate to demand their companions, who had been seized demolishing the chapel. The keeper could not release them but by the Mayor's permission, which he went to ask; at his return he found all the prisoners released, and Newgate in a blaze. They then went to Bloomsbury, and fastened upon Lord Mansfield's house, which they pulled down; and as for his goods, they totally burnt them. They have since gone to Caenwood, but a guard was there before them. They plundered some Papists, I think, and burnt a mass-house in Moorfields the same night.

"On Wednesday I walked with Dr. Scot to look at Newgate, and found it in ruins, with the fire yet glowing. As I went by, the Protestants were plundering the Sessions House 190at the Old Bailey. There were not, I believe, a hundred; but they did their work at leisure, in full security, without sentinels, without trepidation, as men lawfully employed in full day. Such is the cowardice of a commercial place. On Wednesday they broke open the Fleet, and the King's Bench, and the Marshalsea, and Wood St. Compter, and Clerkenwell Bridewell, and released all the prisoners.

"At night they set fire to the Fleet, and to the King's Bench, and I know not how many other places; and one might see the glare of conflagration fill the sky from many parts. The sight was dreadful. Some people were threatened. Mr. Strahan advised me to take care of myself. Such a time of terror you have been happy in not seeing.

"The King said in Council 'that the magistrates had not done their duty, but that he would do his own'; and a proclamation was published directing us to keep our servants within doors, as the peace was now to be preserved by force. The soldiers were sent out to different parts, and the town is now (June 9) at quiet.

"The soldiers are stationed so as to be everywhere within call: there is no longer any body of rioters, and the individuals are hunted to their holes, and led to prison; Lord George was last night sent to the Tower. Mr. John Wilkes was this day in my neighbourhood, to seize the publisher of a seditious paper.

"Several chapels have been destroyed, and several inoffensive Papists have been plundered, but the high sport was to burn the gaols. This was a good rabble trick. The debtors and the criminals were all set at liberty; but of the criminals, as has always happened, many are already retaken; and two pirates have surrendered themselves, and it is expected that they will be pardoned.

"Government now acts again with its proper force; and we are all under the protection of the King, and the law. I thought that it would be agreeable to you and my master to have my testimony to the public security; and that you would sleep more quietly when I told you that you were safe.

191"There has, indeed, been a universal panic, from which the King was the first that recovered. Without the concurrence of his ministers, or the assistance of the civil magistrates, he put the soldiers in motion, and saved the town from calamities, such as a rabble's government must naturally produce.

"The public has escaped a very heavy calamity. The rioters attempted the Bank on Wednesday night, but in no great number; and, like other thieves, with no great resolution. Jack Wilkes headed the party that drove them away. It is agreed that if they had seized the Bank on Tuesday, at the height of the panic, when no resistance had been prepared, they might have carried irrecoverably away whatever they had found. Jack who was always zealous for order and decency, declares that if he be trusted with power, he will not leave a rioter alive. There is, however, now no longer any need of heroism or bloodshed; no blue riband is any longer worn.

"Such was the end of this miserable sedition, from which London was delivered by the magnanimity of the Sovereign himself. Whatever some may maintain, I am satisfied that there was no combination or plan, either domestic or foreign; but that the mischief spread by a gradual contagion of frenzy, augmented by the quantities of fermented liquors, of which the deluded populace possessed themselves in the course of their depredations."

The following account of London's trade at the end of the eighteenth century is, of course, concerned with the manufacturing and commercial activity of the whole country as well as with the particular work of London; but the City was the chief port and centre of a trade which had grown with marvellously rapid strides. The mechanical inventions in the textile industries, the phenomenal growth of manufactures at this time, the stimulus given to English trade by the disturbances on the Continent, 192all assisted in an amazing development of commerce, of which London was the centre.

The commerce of the world being in perpetual fluctuation, we can never be too watchful, not only for preserving what we are now in possession of, but for availing ourselves of the mistakes or negligences of other nations, in order to acquire new branches of it. Who could have imagined, three hundred years ago, that those ports of the Levant, from whence, by means of the Venetians, England, and almost all the rest of Christendom, were supplied with the spices, drugs, etc., of India and China, should one day come themselves to be supplied with those very articles by the remote countries of England and Holland, at an easier rate than they were used to have them directly from the East; or that Venice should afterwards lose to Lisbon the lucrative trade of supplying the rest of Europe with them; or lastly, that Lisbon should afterwards lose the same to Amsterdam; or that Amsterdam and Haerlem should gradually lose, as in great part they have done, their famous and fine linen manufactures to Ireland and Scotland? At present, our woollen manufacture is the noblest in the universe; and second to it is our metallic manufacture of iron, steel, tin, copper, lead, and brass, which is supposed to employ upwards of half a million of people. Our unmanufactured wool alone, of one year's produce or growth, has been estimated to be worth two millions sterling; and, when manufactured, it is valued at six millions more, and is thought to employ upwards of a million of our people in its manufacture; whereas in former times all our wool was exported unmanufactured, and our own people remained unemployed. Even within the three last centuries, the whole rental or value of all the lands and houses in England did not exceed five millions; but by the spirited exertions of the City of London, seconded by the merchants of the principal trading towns in the country, the rental of England is now estimated at twenty millions per annum, or more; of which vast benefit our nobility, gentry, 193and landholders begin to be fully sensible, by the immense increase in the value or fee-simple of their lands, which has gradually kept pace with the increase and value of our commercial intercourse with foreign nations, of which the following are at present the most considerable:

To Turkey we export woollen cloths, tin, lead, and iron, solely in our own shipping; and bring from thence raw silk, carpets, galls, and other dyeing ingredients, cotton, fruits, medicinal drugs, etc.

To Italy we export woollen goods of various kinds, peltry, leather, lead, tin, fish, and East India merchandise; and bring back raw and thrown silk, wines, oil, soap, olives, oranges, lemons, pomegranates, dried fruits, colours, anchovies, etc.

To Spain we send all kinds of woollen goods, leather, lead, tin, fish, corn, iron and brass manufactures, haberdashery wares, assortments of linen from Germany and elsewhere for her American colonies; and receive in return wines, oils, dried fruits, oranges, lemons, olives, wools, indigo, cochineal, and other dyeing drugs, colours, gold and silver coins, etc.

To Portugal we mostly send the same kind of merchandise as to Spain; and make returns in vast quantities of wines, oils, salt, dried and moist fruits, dyer's ingredients, and gold coins.

To France we export tobacco, lead, tin, flannels, horns, hardware, Manchester goods, etc., and sometimes great quantities of corn; and make our returns in wines, brandies, linens, cambrics, lace, velvets, brocades, etc. But as a commercial treaty has so lately taken place with France, added to the attention of its people being drawn off from trade, and almost wholly engrossed with the establishment of its late wonderful revolution, it is impossible to state the relative operations of this trade at present.

To Flanders we send serges, flannels, tin, lead, sugars, and tobacco; and make returns in fine lace, linen, cambrics, etc.

To Germany we send cloth and stuffs, tin, pewter, sugars, tobacco, and East India merchandise; and bring from thence linen, thread, goatskins, tinned plates, timbers for all uses, wines, and many other articles.

194To Norway we send tobacco and wollen stuffs; and bring from thence vast quantities of deals and other timber.

To Sweden we send most of our home manufactures; and return with iron, timber, tar, copper, etc.

To Russia we send great quantities of woollen cloths and stuffs, tin, lead, tobacco, diamonds, household furniture, etc.; and make returns in hemp, flax, linen, thread, furs, potash, iron, wax, tallow, etc.

To Holland we send an immense quantity of different sorts of merchandise, such as all kinds of woollen goods, hides, corn, coals, East India and Turkey articles imported by those respective companies, tobacco, tar, sugar, rice, ginger, and other American productions; and return with fine linen, lace, cambrics, thread, tapes, madder, boards, drugs, whalebone, train-oil, toys, and various other articles of that country.

To America we still send our home manufactures of almost every kind; and make our returns in tobacco, sugars, rice, ginger, indigo, drugs, logwood, timber, etc.

To the coast of Guinea we send various sorts of coarse woollen and linen goods, iron, pewter, brass, and hardware manufactures, lead-shot, swords, knives, firearms, gunpowder, glass manufactures, etc.; and bring home vast numbers of negro slaves, and gold dust, dyeing and medicinal drugs, redwood, Guinea grains, ivory, etc.

To Arabia, Persia, East Indies, and China we send much foreign silver coin and bullion, manufactures of lead, iron, and brass, woollen goods, etc.; and bring home muslins, and cottons of various kinds, calicoes, raw and wrought silk, chintz, teas, porcelain, coffee, gold-dust, saltpetre, and many drugs for dyer's and medicinal uses. These are exclusive of our trade to Ireland, Newfoundland, West Indies, and many other of our settlements and factories in different parts of the world, which likewise contribute an immense annual return.

Our trade to the East Indies certainly contributes one of the most stupendous political as well as commercial machines that is to be met with in history. The trade itself is exclusive, and lodged in a company which has a temporary monopoly of it, in 195consideration of money advanced to the Government. Without entering into the history of the East India trade, within these twenty years past, and the Company's concerns in that country, it is sufficient to say, that, besides their settlements on the coast of India, which they enjoy under certain restrictions by Act of Parliament, they have, through the various internal revolutions which have happened in Indostan, and the ambition or avarice of their servants and officers, acquired such territorial possessions as render them the most formidable commercial republic (for so it may be called in its present situation) that has been known in the world since the demolition of Carthage. Their revenues are only known, and that but imperfectly, to the Directors of the Company, who are chosen by the proprietors of the stock; but it has been publicly affirmed that they amount annually to above three millions and a half sterling. The expenses of the Company in forts, fleets, and armies, for maintaining those acquisitions, are certainly very great; but after these are defrayed the Company not only cleared a vast sum but was able to pay to the Government £400,000 yearly for a certain time, partly by way of indemnification for the expenses of the public in protecting the Company, and partly as a tacit tribute for those possessions that are territorial and not commercial. This republic, therefore, cannot be said to be independent, and it is hard to say what form it may take when the term of its charter is expired, which will be in the year 1794. At present it appears to be the intention of Government that its exclusive commercial privileges shall then finally cease, and no new charter be granted.

1. Silently corrected simple spelling, grammar, and typographical errors.
2. Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed.