compliance, one thousand five hundred marks, towards the ransom of their romantic chivalrous king, to release him from his imprisonment, into which he was betrayed during the mania of crusading, which sent all ranks on a bootless errand from their homes, to the utter ruin of their affairs.

The patriotic citizens indeed received him with such magnificence and pomp upon his return from his captivity, that a German nobleman, in his suite, observed, "That had the Emperor been acquainted with the affluence of Richard's subjects, he would have demanded a more exorbitant sum for his release."

Richard, however, did not, it seems, appear ungrateful to them, for he granted the charter which created the Mayor of London the conservator of the Thames; also giving him the power, conjointly with the Sheriffs of London and Middlesex, to fix the standard for weights and measures for the whole realm.

The wily John, who usurped the throne, which really belonged to his nephew Prince Arthur, was exceedingly kind and civil to the citizens; as a return for which he made them disburse to a great extent. In 1215 they were obliged to subscribe two thousand marks towards liquidating the National Debt; for, the thoughtless and intriguing John, by his reckless expenditure and rapacity, involved both the nation and the city in the greatest difficulties, without the capacity to point out a way to relieve them from the consequence of his squanderings upon his unprofitable measures. In the midst of the other troubles and difficulties, the destruction of the new bridge added greatly to the city's distresses; in the endeavours to save it, the almost incredible number of three thousand persons perished. John, having wreaked his vengeance on a citizen, Robert Fitzwalter, castellan and standard-bearer to the city, who had dared to resist his wanton tyranny, by entirely demolishing his residence, called Baynard's Castle, stirred up the people to resistance, and to finally wrest from him the Magna Charta, which secured most important liberties and privileges to every rank of men in the kingdom. He is said to have been the first monarch who appropriated gold coin as a circulating medium of

commerce.

Henry III., in his government, was a weak prince, unjust in his decisions, and oppressive in his measures, towards the city, although it must be remembered that his reign gave birth to parliamentary freedom. A curious incident is mentioned by Hunter in his history, connected with the city laws and fashions of this time, which is kept in our remembrance at the yearly swearing-in of our sheriffs:-One Walter le Bruin, a farrier, obtained a grant from the crown of a certain spot of ground in the Strand, in the parish of St. Clement Danes, whereon to erect a forge for carrying on his trade. For this the city was to pay annually an acknowledgment or quit-rent of six horseshoes, with the nails appertaining, at the King's Exchequer, Westminster. The forge and manufacture exist no longer, but the acknowledgment, after a lapse of so many years, continues still to be paid.

The western part of the city and adjacent villages, previous to this period, had been supplied with water by the river of Wells, called so from the influx of various springs in the neighbourhood, such as Turnmill brook, Oldbourne, &c. The water to the other parts of the city had been raised from the Thames, Wallbrook, Langbourn, Sherbourn, Clerkenwell, &c. But these not being found sufficient for the rapidly increasing city and population, Gilbert de Sandford, lord of the manor

of Tyebourne, was applied to, to allow the conveyance of water, in leaden pipes of six inches in diameter, for the better supply of the city from certain springs in that manor. This project entailing considerable labour and expence, the foreign merchants, particularly of Germany and Flanders, were assessed in the sum of one hundred pounds of the time, by paying which, and further the sum of forty marks annually, into the city treasury, they acquired the privilege of landing, housing, and vending wood, and other bulky commodities, having been compelled before to expose and sell their goods on shipboard only.

In 1246 London had so increased in opulence that they took the crown jewels in pawn, which the king was obliged to leave as security for a large sum borrowed to meet his necessities, consequent on the extravagance of his court. He was much enraged to find that all the cash remaining in the kingdom was in the city coffers, and said that, "Were the treasures of Augustus Cæsar exposed to sale the City of London would buy them."

Edward I., his son, seemed to know how to keep fair with the citizens, for he preferred the Mayor of London, Gregory de Rokesbie, as his ambassador, before many dignitaries in Church and State. In the year 1277 appeared the first order of Common Council on record, prohibiting the market being held on London-bridge. It was not until the year 1306 that the use of coal became common, and gave rise to a proclamation, prohibiting it under severe penallies; but the increasing scarcity of wood soon made such proclamation null.

The reign of Edward II., which was one continued scene of broils and imbecility, put a stop to all great improvements. A favourable change, however, took place in the succeeding reign of Edward III.; and the city and its officers enjoyed much more consideration and respect, both from the proper dignity they assumed and the increasing opulence of the citizens, who advanced to the king the enormous sum of twenty thousand marks. In 1346 Edward granted a commission to the master of the hospital of Saint Giles-in-the-Fields, empowering him to lay a toll on all sorts of carriages for the keeping in repair certain highways, which from frequent passing of carts, wains, horses, and cattle, had become so miry and deep, as to be almost impassable, particularly the highway leading from Temple-bar to the gate of the abbey of Westminster, which was so broken and worn as to be very dangerous both to men and horses. This act, no doubt, was the prolific parent of turnpikes. This king, in 1354, granted to the chief magistrate the privilege of having gold and silver maces carried before him, every corporate body having been hitherto prohibited from carrying other than maces of copper; he also allowed him to assume the title of Lord Mayor. As a mark of gratitude for these favours the city supplied to the Black Prince in 1355 twenty-five men completely armed, and five hundred archers habited in uniform, who behaved boldly and like good citizens at the ensuing battle of Poictiers.

This hero's public entry into London after his victories, with his royal prisoner John by his side, was greeted by the most gorgeous display of all the riches, beauty, and splendour of an opulent metropolis. Tapestry and streamers of silk decorated every mansion, whilst the wealth of the inhabitants was shown by the liberal display of their vessels of gold and silver.

In 1361, our ancestors displayed much more sense than the men in power of the present day, for immediately upon the plague breaking

out, which soon made dreadful ravages, the king, without wasting months in argument, issued a proclamation to the effect that, "Because by killing of beasts, &c., the air of the city is very much corrupted, whence most abominable and filthy stinks proceed, sicknesses, and many other evils have happened," &c. For the safety of the people, therefore, it was ordered that no beasts should be slain nearer than the town of Stratford on one side of London, and the town of Knightsbridge on the other; and that all butchers doing otherwise to be chastised and punished.

Henry Picard, citizen and lord mayor, displayed his hospitality and magnificence by entertaining, with unequalled splendour, at his own private house, the Scottish and French monarchs and the King of Cyprus, accompanied by his own sovereign. Several religious houses were erected in the city and liberties during this reign, among which the Chartreuse, founded by Sir Walter Manny.

During the reign of Richard II. the city councils were not less troubled, inconsistent, and irregular than the rest of the kingdom, and suffered severely under the government of a misguided boy as king, who, in manhood, was rash and inconsiderate. The insurrection which commenced in Essex in 1380, consequent on the poll-tax, as it was called, the proceeds of which had been farmed out to a set of rapacious persons, who exacted it with the greatest rigour from the people, causing dreadful slaughter and retribution from the poorer classes, who felt the deep injustice of the levy. A citizen again shone forth in the person of Walworth, the loyal and courageous mayor, who slew the principal rebel, Wat Tyler, who was insolent and threatening to his sovereign. In this reign a great number of trading guilds or companies were incorporated. The Weavers' company probably was the first legalised corporation. Mr. Madox, in his " Firma Burgi," states that the guilds and fellowships of Weavers and Bakers were the most ancient; which is probable, since food and clothing are immediately necessary to mankind.

Henry IV., the unopposed usurper of the throne at Richard's death, wishing to conciliate the city, urged the parliament to pass sundry laws highly beneficial to the citizens. In 1401 the city obtained a charter for the sole custody of Newgate and Ludgate, with all gates and posterns of the city boundaries. The remainder of Henry's reign produced nothing memorable except the foundation of the Guildhall in 1411.*

Henry V.'s reign was productive of many benefits to the city: the gate named Moorgate was built, leading out to the great wild waste, called Moorfields. Lanterns were also hung up to light the streets.

Edward IV.'s reign produced the great Caxton, citizen and mercer, who introduced the valuable art of printing. The present mode of electing the chief magistrate and sheriffs came into vogue in 1473.

In the year 1476 the patriotic lord mayor, Sir Ralph Jocelyne, obtained an act of council for repairing the city walls with brick, made of earth tempered and burnt in Moorfields; his own company, the Drapers, finishing the portion between Allhallows and Bishopsgate, as far as Moorgate. The Skinners undertook the portion between Aldgate and Bevies Marks; the executors of Sir John Crosby, a

There is nothing left of the original building but its fine proportions, and the crypt, the carved oak roof being destroyed by the great fire, as well as the principal front. The giants, Hone says in his "Table Book," vol. ii. p.613, were carved by a Richard Sanders, and set up in the Hall as late as 1708.

fourth part; and the other companies completed the wall as far as Cripplegate and Aldersgate.

In 1488 a salutary act passed for the total prevention of the slaughtering of cattle within the city precincts, which was held by all "an intolerable nuisance, and destructive to the healthfulness and convenience of the capital."

Henry VII. by his selfish and narrow-minded government yielded few benefits to the City of London. Fabian, in his " Chronicle," mentions a sumptuous entertainment given by the king to Ralph Ansty, the lord mayor, whom he knighted on the occasion; the revel continued till next morning at daylight. The avaricious Henry, however, made the city pay dearly for this condescending conviviality by extorting from the flattered citizens prodigious sums upon the most scandalous and oppressive expedients. Notwithstanding which, however, an act of public generosity was performed by a patriotic individual, Sir Henry Colet, father of the beneficent founder of St. Paul's School, who gave his personal security in support of his sovereign's honour, at the time that the rest of the corporation had refused to join as hostages for a treaty of peace and mercantile intercourse between England and Flanders.

By an act passed in the third year of the reign of Henry VIII., it was declared illegal to practise physic or surgery within the City of London, and seven miles round, till the candidate was previously examined by the Bishop of London, or the Dean of St. Paul's, assisted by four gentlemen of the faculty. For, as Gale mentions the learned profession in his book, it must have been most irregular. He says: "In the time of that most famous prince, King Henry VIII. there was a great rabblement, that took on them to be surgeons, some were sow-gelders, and some horse-curers, with tinkers and cobblers. This noble sect did such great cures, that they got themselves a perpetual name; for, like as Thessalus's sect were called Thessalians, so was this noble rabblement, for their notorious cures, called dog-leaches; for in two dressings they did make their cures sound and whole for ever, so that they neither felt heat nor cold, nor no manner of pain after." He goes on with much humour to describe these worthy followers of Esculapius, "as how they were taken by force and examined as to their learning and capabilities, and to whom they had served their apprenticeship; to which they would answer, giving always the names of men which was dead." The stuffs with which they perfected their cures were also of a questionable character, for some would show a pot or a horn, which they carried in their knapsacks, "wherein was such trumpery as they did use to grease horses' heels withal; and others, that were cobblers and tinkers, used shoemaker's wax, with the rust of old pans, and made wherewithal a noble salve, as they did term." Such men as are here described were permitted to act and receive the pay of surgeons in our armies at this time, until their glaring inefficiency, and the numbers that died under their hands of small wounds and trifling hurts, called for a strict reform, and examination of the empirics.*

In Henry the Eighth's reign the surgeons and barbers of London were first united. The giving of these charters by the monarch is immortalized by the picture commemorating the fact, by the great Holbein. This corporate union was dissolved in 1745, although for many years the art of surgery was practised by the barbers, who still in many places exhibit the sign of the bleeding -pole and bandage.

An attempt to enclose the ground in and about Moorfields, for the purposes of agriculture, in 1514, caused a great riot and loss of property; for the citizens, old and young, looked upon the spot as their lawful play-ground, and at the same time having a wholesome horror of being built out of the pure air. Hawes mentions it "as a field for many years burrowed and crossed with deep stinking ditches, and noisome common sewers, and was of former times held impossible to be reformed." It was, however, partially drained by the city in 1527, but not laid out for walks until nearly a century after. The commencement of anything like permanent building was first attempted late in the reign of Charles II. It remained, however, many years as a site for sports and rude encounters between the citizens.

In Pepys's Diary, 26th July, 1664, he mentions a remarkable encounter between the weavers and the butchers, saying, "At first the butchers knocked down all the weavers that had green or blue aprons, till they were fain to pull them off and put them in their breeches. At last the butchers were fain to pull off their sleeves, that they might not be known, and were soundly beaten out of the field, and some deeply wounded and bruised, till at last the weavers went out triumphing, calling a 100l. for a butcher." A pretty picture this of the lax authority so late in the march of civilization as 1664!

In 1521 the city magistrates had such firm standing and privilege, that they had the hardihood to resist the call of the omnipotent Cardinal Wolsey when he issued commissions in the king's name for levying a sixth part of all property belonging to the laity, and a fourth of that of the clergy, which was looked upon by all as an arbitrary and excessive imposition. The king upon finding the powerful feeling engendered by this measure, wrote a letter to the lord mayor and citizens, declaring that he would not allow any illegal exaction to be made, throwing himself upon their benevolence for the needful supply. Even this had no effect upon the stubborn citizens, who were forthwith sent for by the irate cardinal, who argued the point in dispute with as little success. The Recorder having the courage to reply "That by a statute of the first of Richard III., the levying of such benevolence was abolished," the haughty minister tried individual coaxing; but the sturdy citizens felt their power, and refused to comply. Such a stand for the true spirit of liberty was most wonderful and startling in such times, and with such an arbitrary prince and wily counsellor. It had its full effect, for the subsidy was refused firmly everywhere. In 1533 the Strand became joined to Westminster, so as to be a continuous street before this time it was entirely cut off from Westminster, except by a few scattered houses, and the small village which afterwards gave a name to the whole. Anderson, in his History of Commerce, tells us that the butchers in London and the suburbs at this period did not exceed eighty, each of whom killed nine oxen a-week, which multiplied by forty-six, the weeks in the year, (for during six weeks in Lent no flesh was eaten,) gives thirty-three thousand one hundred and twenty as the total annual consumption of beef in London. In 1540 a statute passed for paving certain streets, for which the lord mayor and aldermen were invested with the power to make the necessary assessments and punish defaulters. The streets paved under this act were Aldgate High Street, as far as Whitechapel Church, and Chancery Lane, so as to form a cross road into Holborn, which was also partially paved. Anderson also mentions a curious circumstance, showing the little progress made in England in the art of