London, Volume 6
Knight, Charles
1844
CXXXV.-The Lord Mayor's Show.
CXXXV.-The Lord Mayor's Show.
A love of sight-seeing was a characteristic feature in our forefathers, and the remark made by Trinculo, in that was a most truthful saying. This feeling generated the frequent display of pageantry on public occasions; more particularly when the Mayor of London was installed in his office--an event anciently commemorated with a degree of pomp of which spectators of a modern can form but little conception, and which was intimately associated with the office in the eyes of the ancient citizens. These , as they were termed, occurred so often also on the public entries into London of our kings or their consorts, or of foreign potentates and ambassadors, that they became matters of constant expectation with the gayer classes, and were ardently looked forward to by the City apprentices, as an excuse for a holiday. Chaucer, speaking of the gay apprentice, says that-
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The origin of these Ridings may be traced to the early part of the century; for when King John, in the year , granted a Mayor to the City of London, it was stipulated that he should be presented, for approval, either to the King or his justice. From this originated the procession to , where the was situated; and as the judges also sat there, it was necessary | |
146 | for the citizens in either instance to repair thither, which they did annually, on horseback. A water procession, however, came into vogue earlier than is generally imagined; the accounts of the Grocers' Company for the year contain items of expenditure for [n.146.1] for such water processions years before the date of their supposed introduction by Sir John Norman, who is lauded by the City Laureate, Middleton, in his Pageant for , called the as The Thames watermen, who found the alteration of most essential service to them, gratefully recorded their sense of it in a ballad, the only existing lines of which are the often-quoted-
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Although the old chroniclers have left us a pretty complete series of descriptions of royal entertainments, and processions through the City,[n.146.2] we meet with nothing that will inform us of what the Lord Mayor's own pageantry consisted, as exhibited in his honour, on the day of his entrance upon the duties of his office, until the year , when the unfortunate Anne Boleyn came from Greenwich to , on the day of her coronation; the Mayor and citizens having been invited by Henry to fetch Anne from Greenwich to the Tower, and Accordingly Here, then, we are furnished with a good idea of the annual civic procession by water to , in the description given by Hall, of the barges of the Mayor and company. this vessel served to clear the way for the Mayor's barge, which
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Among the pageants exhibited upon land on the day of the Lord Mayor's was generally introduced, if possible, in punning allusion to the name of the Mayor. The earliest on record, of this kind, is described by Lydgate, in his account of the reception of Henry V. by the citizens of London, on his victorious return from Agincourt, in , and which far surpassed in splendour that of any of his predecessors. John Wells, of the Grocers' Company, was Mayor, and running with wine were exhibited at the conduit in , attended by virgins to personate Mercy, Grace, and Pity, who gave of the wine to all comers; these wells were surrounded with trees laden with oranges, almonds, lemons, dates, &c. in allusion to his trade as a grocer. In the same way Peele's Pageant of , which was written for the mayoralty of William Web, contained a similar allusion; for In , when Sir John Leman was Mayor, was exhibited; and to give it due importance, its fabulous virtues were enforced by the senses, who were seated around it,
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The earliest notices of pageants exhibited on Lord Mayor's day, hitherto discovered, are the entries from the Drapers' books, quoted by Herbert, in his where an entry for occurs for Sir Laurence Aylmer's pageant, in ; and in , the Pageant of the Assumption, which had figured in the annual show, at the setting of the Midsummer watch in -, appears to have been borne before the Mayor, from the Tower to . When Sir William Draper was Mayor, in -, a pageant was exhibited in which boys were placed, who sang and pronounced speeches; in the procession appeared bachelors in gowns furred with foins,[n.147.1] and crimson satin hoods; whifflers, to clear the way; men bearing wax torches an ell in length, and the same number armed with javelins. | |
148 | or savages carried clubs and hurled squibs, to clear the way for the procession. They were constant precursors of pageants in the olden time, and are frequently alluded to by the old dramatists and authors of popular literature; and as late as before the principal pageant. The representation here given of these wild-men with their clubs, and green-men hurling their fire-works, are derived from Bate's (), and other contemporary sources. |
William Smyth, penned, for the benefit of posterity, in the year , in which the best detailed account of the mayoralty-shows during the reign of the Virgin Queen, is to be met with. The water procession consisted of the Mayor's barge, wherein he sat with all the Aldermen, near which &c. before which goes the barge of his own Company, with the bachelors' barge, On their return from they land at , when the Mayor and Aldermen The procession is opened by Then come standards, emblazoned with the armes of the City, and the Mayor, drummers, fifers, and about These are followed by other banner-banners, musicians and whifflers; Then come trumpeters, to clear the way; followed by the Batchelors of the Mayor's Company, and Afterwards come the Livery, and the great officers of the City, followed by the Lord Mayor, attended by his sword and mace bearer, with whom rides the old Mayor. Behind them come the Aldermen, and together, the procession being closed by the Sheriffs. | |
The Whifflers, who played so important a part in the Show, were young freemen, who marched at the head of their proper companies, to clear the way.[n.148.1] Douce says, in his
Among the Collection of Prints and Title-pages formed by John Bagford, and now placed in the, , are very curious ones, which are here copied. They bear date, , and represent a Whiffler, with his and the Lord Mayor's Hench-boy, as decorated for attendance, with | |
a gold chain and a staff, having a bunch of flowers at top, secured by a lace handkerchief tied in a knot round the stems, and flowing below. These Pages to the Mayor derived their name, says Blackstone, from following the of their masters, and thence being called or hench-boys. The reader will remember the quarrel between Oberon and Titania, in the concerning the the King of Fairies wished to make
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The earliest Pageant of which we possess a printed description was composed by George Peele, the dramatist, for Sir Woolstone Dixie, in . It consisted of a group of children who personated London, Magnanimity, Loyalty, the Country, the Thames, the Soldier, the Sailor, Science, and Nymphs, who each addressed the Mayor in a short speech, the pageant being fully descanted on by or lynx, who concluded his explanatory speech with an exhortation to the Mayor to keep the City carefully-
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It was not uncommon to introduce allusions to passing events and circumstances, or even to religious opinions, in these annual Shows; thus, in Peele's Pageant for , entitled Astraee is intended for Queen Elizabeth, who attends with her flock at the Fountain of Truth, beside which sits a friar, named Superstition, who exclaims to Ignorance, a priest by his side- who answers-
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During the reign of James I. the display of pageantry on Lord Mayor's Day considerably increased, both on land and water, for it was not uncommon to place sea-chariots, with Neptune and other characters in them, upon the Thames, to address the Mayor before going to . Middleton's Pageant, , describes the whole intended as an emblem of the Grocers' Company (of which body the Mayor was a member), their East Indian trade, and recently-erected forts there. These islands, upon his return, figure in the Show by land, being placed on wheels, and having of the senses (personated by children), seated on each of them. The other pageants exhibited on this occasion, and the various impersonations displayed, had all some reference to morality and good government. Thus the character who attends at Baynard's Castle to receive the Mayor, on his return from , is Truth's attendant Angel, accompanied by his champion, Zeal, who conduct him to , where they are met by Envy and Error in a triumphant chariot, who propose to the Mayor, to-- They are, however, put to flight for a time by Truth, who approaches in her chariot, and conducts the Mayor to --the great feature of the day's Show. It is veiled by a fog or mist, cast over it by Error's | |
151 | disciples-Barbarism, Ignorance, Impudence and Falsehood, monsters with clubs, who sit at each corner. At the command of Truth In the midst sits London attended by Religion, Liberality, Perfect Love, Knowledge and Modesty; while at the back sit Chastity, Fame, Simplicity and Meekness. After a speech from London where Error again causes his mist to enshroud it, which is again removed by Truth, a manoeuvre of the machinist which is frequently repeated during the passage to , and back to the service at ; where it was always customary for the Mayor to attend after dinner, going in full procession with all ,the pageants; and when service was over, he retired to his own house, where farewell speeches were addressed to him, in this instance, by London and Truth; Zeal, at the command of the latter, finishing the day's Show by shooting a flame at the chariot of Error, which sets it on fire, and all the beasts that are joined to it. |
Anthony Munday's Pamphlet for , in honour of Sir John Jolles, of the Drapers' Company, describes pageants on the Thames: Jason and Medea, in and bearing the Golden Fleece; the being a sea-chariot containing Neptune and Thamesis, together with Fitz-Alwin, the Lord Mayor, attended by each bearing the arms of some famous member of the Drapers' Company. The Show by land being filled with sailors, and attended by Neptune and the Thames. This is followed by a Ram or the Drapers' crest, Then comes The principal pageant follows: London and her daughters--the Companies, being raised as protections around them, which are-- Robin Hood, Friar Tuck, and his merry men all, conclude the display with a jovial song in praise of their lives; which is very characteristic of Anthony Munday, who was a favourite ballad writer of the day. The easy flow of the verses here selected bespeak a hand well practised in this species of composition:--
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From this it will be seen that the pageants in general were so constructed as | |
152 | allegorically to allude to the Mayor or his Company; to London, as the seat of commerce, and to the riches procured by that means; to the duties of good government and wise magistracy, and were varied occasionally by the introduction of popular characters, such as that of Robin Hood and his attendants, in this year's Show. |
Munday's Pageant for the following year was entitled alderman, a member of that Company, who were at the expense of the pageantry then displayed; which was constructed as much as possible in their honour. Thus the show was in which This pageant was followed by a crowned dolphin, in allusion to the Mayor's arms and those of the Company; and The King of the Moors follows he is attended by tributary kings on horseback in gilt armour, carrying each a dart, and ingots of gold and silver, in honour of the Fishmongers' combined brethren the worthy Company of Goldsmiths. They are followed by the punning pageant on the Mayor's name, which has before been alluded to. | |
The next device is a bower, adorned with the names and arms of all the members of the Fishmongers' Company who have been Lord Mayors. Upon a tomb within it lies the body of Sir William , who was a member of the Company, and of whose membership the Company were always proud. [n.151.2] It is attended by mounted knights, trumpeters, and halberdiers, London's Genius, a crowned angel with golden wings, sits mounted by the bower, with an officer-at-arms bearing the rebel's head on Walworth's dagger. Upon the Lord Mayor's arrival the Genius strikes with his wand, who comes off the tomb and addresses the Mayor and attendants, declaring that the sight of them
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The last grand pageant, in the death of Wat Tyler, is drawn by mermen; and mermaids, the supporters of the Company's arms. At the top sits a victorious angel, King Richard the being seated on a throne beneath, surrounded by impersonations of royal and kingly virtues. | |
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The Fishmongers' Company are in possession of a very curious drawing of this day's pageantry, which has been fully described in Herbert's vol. i., p. , and which agrees pretty exactly with the above description; from the inscriptions upon this drawing it appears that the pageants remained a note above the drawing says, The children here alluded to personated the virtues, and other emblematical characters in the pageants, and were all gorgeously apparelled. | |
The incongruities occasionally displayed, which, in good truth, were as unlike as possible, were amusingly satirized by Shirley, in his , by Clod, a countryman, who exclaims, [n.152.3] | |
From to no pageants were exhibited; the unhappy civil wars of England broke out, and the City became of the strongholds of Puritanism. | |
154 | Isaac Pennington, who was Mayor in , rendered himself eminently conspicuous by he practised in the City. At his orders Cross was demolished, and desecrated: a wit of the day sticking a bill to this effect upon the door:-- [n.153.1] |
During the mayoralty of Sir John Dethick, in , the restoration of pageantry took place; for on the day of his inauguration he exhibited the usual realization of the arms of the Mercers' Company, of which he was a memberthe crowned Virgin, who rode in the procession with much state and solemnity. The number of pageants yearly exhibited continued gradually to increase until , the year of the Restoration of Charles II., when the Royal Oak was exhibited as the principal feature of the day's display, and gave title to Tatham's descriptive pamphlet; after which period they gradually increased the splendour and importance of the Shows, which contained many allusions to the blessings of the Restoration and the of Charles II., in contradistinction to the days of Oliver. Thus, in the Pageant for , Justice inveighs against- and in proportion as Charles increased in open libertinism and unmasked tyranny, just in the same degree do the City laureates ascend in the scale of praise, until, in , at a time when the breach between Charles and the citizens was daily widening, the Charter of the City was suspended, and the pliant creatures of his own party only allowed office as Mayor, the walls of echoed to a song in which his Majesty was described as a person-
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From to , the great fire and the plague also, hindered the ordinary exhibition of pageantry, which generally consisted of or pageants on the water, of which was, generally, Neptune and Amphitrite, the Thames and attendants, or the Story of the Voyage for the Golden Fleece, which pageants were brought to land, and swelled the procession to . There is a curious series of wood-cuts, by Jeghers of Antwerp, representing the pageants there exhibited on great state occasions, by the various guilds, and which may have given our citizens a few ideas for their own: of them is precisely similar to the Triumph of Neptune, as exhibited in London, bearing the same name, and agreeing in all points with the description published by the City poets; it is here copied, and is curious inasmuch as it exhibits the mode adopted for hiding the machinery and movers of the pageant, and for obviating as much as possible | |
155 | the absurdity of water Triumphs swimming through the streets, by covering the lower portion down to the ground with cloths painted to represent water, and fishes swimming therein, having windows in front for the men withinside to direct its motions, amid the crowd. |
It would be impossible in the space we have at disposal to give but a mere mention of all the various pageants exhibited until their final discontinuance in . Many displayed considerable invention and mechanical ingenuity, which involved great expenditure; thus the Pageant for cost more than , but they continued to diminish in cost; in , was the outlay. Each company generally contributed its trade pageant on the mayoralty of a member; thus the Goldsmiths exhibited a laboratory with their patron, Saint Dunstan, who gratified the mob by seizing the Devil by the nose with his tongs the moment he answered the Saint's challenge to appear at his peril. The Drapers gave the Shepherds and Shepherdesses with their lambs; carolling in praise of country life, and dancing beneath the greenwood; while the Grocers generally exhibited a King of the Moors, an island of Spices, and mounted Blacks, who liberally dis. tributed foreign fruit from panniers at their side to the crowding spectators.[n.154.1] In the Pageant for , great Giants, each feet high, were
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The pageant produced for Sir William Hooker, of the Grocers' Company, in the year , was concocted by Thomas Jordan, the most facetious of city poets, | |
156 | who had formerly been an actor at the Red Bull Theatre. In the pageant appeared a negro boy, as he declares him to have been, who was seated on a camer, between silver panniers, strewing fruits among the people as before. In the ear behind sat Pallas, Astrea, Prudence, Fortitude, Law, Piety, Government, &c.: Pallas exclaiming,
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The next pageant is drawn by griffins, led by negroes, bearing banners of the city and company, and carrying Union and Courage at each corner. Behind is the God of Riches, with Reputation, Security, Confideice, Vigilance, and Wit; Riches declaring himself and the rest to be fully at the mayor's service. A droll of Moors is next exhibited, working in a garden of spices, with musicians to lighten their labours with melody not too refined for my ears, as it consists of Pomona from the midst declares that she has
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A jovial song was composed in praise of the King and Queen who were present on this occasion, and dined in , in company with the Dukes of York and Monmouth, Prince Rupert, the ambassadors and nobility; the and last verses of the song ran as follows: The concluding chorus to the entertainment being But perhaps as quaint and curious imaginings were exhibited on the mayoralty of Sir Francis Chaplin, of the Cloth-workers' Company, in , as in any of their Shows. They were also invented by Thomas Jordan, who produced, on this occasion, a a with Apollo and the Muses, attired as shepherds and shepherdesses in honour of the Company, and within which stood that venerable character, attended by persons, representing a Minute, an Hour, a Day, a Week, a Month, and a Year; thus habited, viz :
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The dissension that sprung up between Charles II. and the citizens, towards the close of his reign, acted prejudicially to the annual civic displays. In Sir John Moore was elected in opposition to the citizens, being greatly favoured by the court party. In the following year Charles again managed to get in | |
158 | another of his creatures, in the person of Sir William Pritchard, who was so ill-received by the livery-men that several of the Companies hesitated to accompany him to . Moore had acted with great injustice toward the Sheriffs Papillion and Dubois, who had been elected by a large majority of voters; but, being staunch lovers of the city rights and a Protestant succession, they were forced from by a body of soldiers, and North and Rich put in their places. They, however, brought actions against the mayor, and upon Pritchard's accession to power, and his persistance in keeping them out, they arrested him publicly. The most extreme measures were adopted by Charles and the Court, and a counter-action was got up against Papillion and his friends for in , on the day of their election. The crown lawyers were eloquent against them, and when juries could be easily found to convict a Russell and a Sydney, it can excite but little surprise to find that Papillion was condemned to pay a fine of , although not a shadow of proof was offered of any illegality on his part. Jefferies was at this time rising in favour, by such and in the end the breach between the court and city widened, until Charles suspended the charter, and he and his brother after him nominated mayors at pleasure.[n.157.1] Among the number who were heavily fined was the unfortunate Alderman Cornish, an equally staunch defender of the city rights; he became thenceforward a marked man, and during the reign of James II. he was arrested under a pretence of being connected with the Duke of Monmouth's rebellion; his tried was hurried over, he was convicted on perjured evidence by the infamous Jefferies, and hung a few days afterwards at the top of , , with his face toward (), his last devotions being rudely interrupted by the Sheriffs, and his quarters set up on . |
Pageantry again revived during the reign of William III., but the spirit of the old shows had departed, and the inventive genius of the City Laureates had fled with it. | |
The last City Poet was Eikanah Settle; he had been preceded by Peele, Munday, Dekker, Middleton, Webster, and Heywood, the dramatists; John Taylor the Water Poet, Tatham, Jordan, and Taubman. The last public exhibition by a regular City Poet, was in , on occasion of the Mayoralty of Sir Samuel Dashwood, of the Vintners' Company, and it was, perhaps, as costly as any. The patron Saint of the Company (St. Martin) appeared, and divided his cloak among the beggars, according to the ancient legend; an Indian galeon rowed by Bacchanals, and containing Bacchus himself, was also exhibited; together with the Chariot of Ariadne; the Temple of St. Martin; a scene at a tavern entertainment; and an where Silenus, Bacchus, and Satyrs were carousing. Settle also prepared an entertainment for , which was frustrated by the death of Prince George of Denmark, the husband of Queen Anne, who died on the , the day before its intended exhibition. | |
This last attempt at resuscitating the glories of the ancient Mayors, being so unfortunately frustrated, and the taste for such displays not counterbalancing that for economy, no effort was made to revive the annual pageantry, and the display | |
159 | seems to have sunk to the level at which it has remained for more than a century; the barges by water, or a single impersonation or on land, being all that were exhibited. |
Hogarth, in his concluding plate of the series, has given us a vivid picture of the Lord Mayor's Day in the City, about the middle of the last century, which has been copied at the head of this paper. Frederick Prince of Wales, and his Princess, are depicted seated beneath a canopy at the corner of , to view the procession. Other spectators are accommodated on raised and enclosed seats beneath, the members of the various companies having raised stands along , that of the Mercers appearing in the foreground, while every window and house-top is filled with gazers, the streets being guarded by the redoubtable City Militia, so humorously satirized by the painter, and of whom, anxious to-honour the Mayor, discharges his gun, as he turns his head aside, and shuts his eyes for fear of the consequences. The Mayor's coach, with its mob of footmen, the City companies, the men in armour, and the banners, present as perfect a picture as could be wished of this in the City. | |
In , when King George III. and his Queen, in accordance with the usual custom, dined with the Mayor on the Lord Mayor's Day of their reign, a revival of the ancient pageants was suggested and partly carried out. Among the City Companies, the Armourers, the Braziers, the Skinners, and Fishmongers particularly distinguished themselves; the former exhibited an Archer in a Car, and a Man in Armour; the Skinners were distinguished by of their company being dressed in fur, while the Fishmongers exhibited a statue of St. Peter, their patron saint, finely gilt; a dolphin, mermaids, and sea-horses. | |
Sir Gilbert Heathcote, in , was the last Lord Mayor who rode in his mayoralty procession on horseback, since which time the Civic Sovereign has always appeared in a coach, attended by his chaplains, and the sword and macebearers, the former carrying the pearl sword presented to the City by Queen Elizabeth upon opening the ; the latter supporting the great gold mace, given by Charles I. to the corporation. The present coach, which is the most imposing feature of the modern show, was built in , at a cost of Cipriani was the artist who decorated its panels with a series of paintings, typical of the Virtues, &c., which may not unaptly be considered as the last relics of the ancient pageants that gave their living representatives on each Lord Mayor's Day, to dole forth good advice to the Chief Magistrate of London. | |
Men in armour are the anticipated of our modern civic displays. The armour is generally borrowed from the Tower, or from the theatres. The number of these varies at different times; in , of them were exhibited, with their attendant squires bearing their sword and shield, accompanied by banner-bearers and heralds. In , were exhibited, in copper armour, in brass scale armour, a in brass chain mail, the other being armed in steel and brass. In , the far more attractive novelty was something like a revival of the ancient pageantry, in colossal figures, representing Gog and Magog, the giants of ; each walked along by | |
160 | means of a man withinside, who ever and anon turned their faces; and, as the figures were feet high, their features were on a level with the -floor windows. They were extremely well contrived, and appeared to call forth more admiration than fell to the share of the other personages of the procession. |
The armed knights and their attendants continued to be the staple ornament of the shows until , when Alderman Pirie exhibited that very ancient feature of a Lord Mayor's Show--a ship, fully rigged and manned, which sailed up as It was a model of an East Indiaman of large size, the yards filled with boys from the naval schools, and it was placed in a car drawn by horses; and the attention it attracted would seem to warrant the introduction of some feature in the dull common-place arrangements of the procession, as usually exhibited; and which, considered as the public inauguration of the Chief Magistrate of the city of the world, is certainly capable of much improvement. | |
Footnotes: [n.146.1] The City companies continued to hire barges for state occasions two centuries after this period. The Grocers hired the last in 1636, when it was thought to be beneath the dignity of the company to appear in a barge which was not their own, and accordingly the Wardens and some of the assistants were empowered to contract for the construction of a fair and large barge for the use of this Company; and that they should take care for the provision of a house and place for the safe-keeping of the said barge. [n.146.2] The earliest of these shows on record is the one described by Matthew Paris as taking place in 1236, on occasion of the passage of King Henry III. and Eleanor of Provence through the City to Westminster. They were received by the Mayor, Aldermen, and three hundred and sixty of the principal citizens, apparelled in robes of embroidered silk, and riding on horseback, each of them carrying in their hands a gold or silver cup, in token of the privilege claimed by the city, for the Mayor to officiate as chief butler at the king's coronation. Stow relates that upon the return of Edward I. from his victory over the Scots in 1298, every citizen, according to their several trades, made their several show, but especially the Fishmongers, who, in a solemn procession, passed through the City, having, amongst other pageants and shows, four sturgeons gilt, carried on four horses, then four salmons of silver on four horses, and after them six and forty armed knights riding on horses made like luces of the sea, and then one representing St. Magnus (because it was St. Magnus's day), with a thousand horsemen, &c. [n.147.1] Foins batchelors and budge batchelors are frequently mentioned in all old accounts of civic pageantry; they obtained their names from the furs with which their gowns were trimmed. Foins is the skin of the martin; budge is lamb-skin with the wool dressed outwards. [n.148.1] The Whiffiers have long since passed away from the Mayoralty processions of London and have given place to the New Police. They existed in Norwich until the passing of the Municipal Reform Act in 1832, which, at one fell swoop, abolished them, and the usual procession on Guild-days. There were four in number who held the office, which had continued in the family of one Whiffler (William Dewing) for more than two centuries; mention is made in Kemp's Nine Daies' Wonder of their being employed when he danced into Norwich in 1599. That very ancient favourite of the people, a dragon, was also exhibited on the same occasion; he was known as Snap, from the movement of his jaws, which opened and shut continually as his head moved round to the amusement of children, who threw half-pence in his mouth. [n.151.2] Walworth and Wat Tyler were generally exhibited whenever a Mayor was elected from this body. As late as 1700, when Sir Thomas Abney was chosen, the Postboy for October 31 tells us :-- On this occasion there was in Cheapside five fine pageants, and a person rode before the cavalcade in armour, with a dagger in his hand, representing Sir William Walworth, the head of the rebel Wat Tyler being carried on a pole before him. This was the more remarkable, by reason that story has not been before represented these forty years, none of the Fishmongers' Company happening to be Lord Mayor since. [n.152.3] An allusion to the custom of hiring porters to carry the pageants. [n.153.1] After the Restoration, Pennington was tried with twenty eight others as regicides, was convicted of high treason, and died during his confinement in the Tower of London. [] This calamity was the excuse for omitting the usual religious observances of the day. Jordan, in his Pageant for 1672, tells us that the Mayor was now always conducted home from the hall without that troublesome night-ceremony which hath been formerly, when St. Paul's church was standing. [n.154.1] Among the expenses of the Pageant for 1617 we find, Payed for 50 sugar-loaves, 36 lbs. of nutmegs, 24 lbs. of dates, and 114 lbs. of ginger, which were thrown about the streets by those which sat on the griffins and camells--5l. 7s. 8d. [n.157.1] In Strype's Stow, opposite the name of Sir John Shorter, Mayor in 1687, are placed these significant words: Never served Sheriff, nor a freeman of the City; appointed by King James II. |
