of the said Doctors in a most Capacious and Beautiful manner where they keep their Courts and pleadings every Term which begins and ends almost at the same time with the Term at Westminster The Chief Court is that of the Arches so called from the Arched Church of St. Mary-le-Bow in Cheapside where this Court was wont to be held but now in the Common-Hall at Doctors Commons the Judge whereof is called the Dean of the Arches having Jurisdiction over a Deanry consisting of thirteen Parishes within London exempt from the Jurisdiction of the Bishop of London Hither are directed all Appeals in Ecclesiastical matters within the Province of Canterbury to this belong divers Advocates all Doctors of the Civil Law two Registers and ten Proctors The Dean or Judge of the Arches sitteth alone without any Assessors and Heareth and Determineth all Causes without any Jury of Twelve Men. The manner is briefly thus Fist goes out a Citation then a Bill and Answer then by Proofs Witnesses and Presumptions the matter is Argued pro and con and the Canon and Civil Laws quoted and then the Definitive Sentence of the Judge passeth and upon that Execution But by Statute 25 Henry the VIII it was provided that it shall be Lawful for any Subject of England in Case of Defect of Justice in the Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury to Appeal to the King's Majesty in His Court of Chancery and that upon such an Appeal a Commission under the Great Seal shall be directed to certain Persons particularly Designed for that business so that from the Highest Court of the Archbishop there lyes an Appeal to this Court and beyond it to none other It is called the Court of Delegates and in Civil Affairs is the Highest Court in England Ecclesiastical Criminal Causes are Tried by way of Accusation Denunciation or Inquisition The first When some one takes upon him to prove the Crime The second When the Church-Wardens Present and are not bound to prove because it is presumed they do it without Malice and that the Crime is Notorious Thirdly By Inquisition when by reason of Common Fame inquiry is made by the Bishop ex Officio suo by calling some of the Neighborhood or the Party Accused to their Oaths But this Oath ex Officio was taken away by Parliament in the time of King Charles the First If the Party Accused after Admonition submits not he is Excommunicated from the Church and is disenabled to be a Plaintiff in a Law Suit c. Which is called Excommunicatio Minor Excommunicatio Major excludes from the Church and from Society in Temporal Affairs and that for Heresie Schism Perjury Incest or such grievous Crimes then a Man cannot be Plantiff or Witness in any Civil or Ecclesiastical Court. And if he continues Excommunicated 40 Days the King 's Writ de Excommunicato capiendo is granted out of the Chancery against him whereupon he is cast into Prison without Bail there to lye till he hath submitted to the Bishop and satisfied for what he is charged with by which many tender Consciences have suffered deeply There is an Anathematismus inflicted upon an obstinate Person that is Judged an Heretick wherein he is Curs'd and Rejected to Damnation There is also an Interdict Prohibiting all Divine Offices to a Place or People if against a People it follows them any where if against a Place the People may go elsewhere to hear Somtimes a Person Adjudged a Delinquent is punished another way which is called Publick Pennance and is to stand in the Church-Porch upon Sunday bare Headed and bare Footed in a White sheet and a White Rod in his Hand then he is to go into the Church and his Crime being publickly repeated and he professing Repentance is Absolved but in some Cases the Party may come off for Money to the Poor or some Pious Use which is not always converted that way Christian Burial is denyed to Persons Excommunicate or Perjured to such as are Hang'd for Felony or Kill themselves to Apostates Hereticks and Extortioners Somtimes the Clergy Men are suspened ab Officio viz. from the Exercise of their Functions somtimes there is a Deprivatio a Beneficio when deprived of their Livings somtimes they are Degraded that is Deprived of their Orders which is commonly for some Heinous Crime So much Briefly of these Censures and Punishments The Office of Actuary attending the Court of Arches is to set down the Judges Decrees Register the Acts of the Court and send them in Books of the Registry The Office of the Register is to Attend the Court by himself or Deputy and receive all Libels or Bills Allegations and Exhibits of Witnesses Files all Sentences and keeps the Records of the Court. The Beadle attends the Court carryeth a Mace before the Judge and calls the Persons Cited to appear The Judge and all the Advocates who are all Doctors of the Civil Law wear Scarlet Robes with Hoods lined with Taffata if they be of Oxford or White Miniver Furr if of Cambridge and the Proctors ought to wear Hoods lined with Lamb skin if not Graduates but if Graduates Hoods according to their Degree The Proctors are Persons that Exhibit their Proxies for their Clients and make themselves Parties for them and draw and give in Pleas or Libels and Allegations in the behalf of their Clients produce the Witnesses prepare the Causes for Sentence and and attend the Advocates with the proceedings All Arguments made by Advocates and all Petitions made by Proctors are to be in Latin All process of this Court runs in the Name of the Judge and returnable before him heretofore in Bow-Church but now in the Common-Hall at Doctors Commons The Places and Offices of this Court are in the Gift of the Archbishop of Canterbury These Ecclesiastical Laws consist of Canons made by General Councels the Opinion of Fathers the Decrees of several Bishops of Rome formerly admitted and our own Constitutions made antiently in several Provincial Synods which by 25 Henry VIII are in Force so far as they are not Repugnant to the Laws and Customs of England or the King's Prerogative Then the Canons made in the Convocations of latter times as Primo Jacobi and confirmed by him some Statutes Enacted by Parliament and divers old Customs not written but yet in use and where these fail the Civil Law takes place Amongst the Great Officers of the Crown which are Nine viz. the Lord High Steward of England the Lord High Chancellor the Lord High Treasurer the Lord President of the KING's Council the Lord Privy Seal the Lord Great Chamberlain the Lord High Constable the Earl Marshal and the Lord High Admiral of England The last only appertains to this place his Trust and Honour is so great that it has been usually given to the KING 's Younger Sons near Kinsmen or some of the Highest and Chiefest of all the Nobility He has the management of all Maritime Affairs as well in respect of Jurisdiction as
the foundation of the aforesaid Gate it was much loosned and weakned so that 200 and oddâ— years after viz. Anno 1440. 18 H. 6. It fell down and was never since re-edified There were several other Water-Gates which were purchased by private Men as at Black-frier-stairs a free landing place Puddle-Wharf Pauls-Wharf a free landing place Broken-wharf Queen-Hith a place called Woolf-Gate in the Parish of Aâ—lâ—allows after called Woolf-lane but the lower part being built on by the Earl of Shreâ—sâ—ury and the upper part by the Chamberlain of London it was grown out of use There was also a Gate called Ebgate now the Old Swan There was also a small Gate called Oyster-Gate because Oysters were sold there and other Shell Fish Bridg-gate so called of London-Bridg was reckoned by Fitz-Seephens one of the Principal Gates of the City Next Buttolph-gate so called of St. Buttolphs-Church adjoining Of Billingsgate we have spoke already There was a Water-gate by the Custom-House at the South end of Water-lanâ— and another Water-gate by the Tower Of the Tower of London THe Wall of the City was furnished round about with Towers and Bulworks at due and Regular distances Of which where the Wall ended towards the River on the East-side the most eminent was that which we call the Toâ—â—r of London Built by William the Conqueror about the Year 1078. Some say that Caesar built the White-Tower but that is not so nor does he mention it in his Commentary though an exact Recorder of his own Actions Gundulph Bishop of Rochester being Principal Surveyor and Overseer of the Work This was the great Square Tower now called the White-Tower which has been much inlarged by several Buildings since adjoyned at diverse times and incompassed with a Wall And Anno 1190 in the 2 R. 1. as was said the Bishop of Ely Chancellor of England inclâ—sed it with a thick and strong outward Wall of stone Embattailed and caused a Broad and Deep Ditch to be cast about the same thinking to have Invironed it with the River of Thames so that it is a most Famous Goodly Citadel resembling a big Town Edward the 4 th fortified this Tower inclosing a certain piece of Ground taken from Tower-Hill on the West which is now called the Bulwark Near West-gate opening to the South there is a strong Postern for passengers by the Ward-House over a Drawbridg let down for that purpose On the South side towards the East is a large Water-gate for the Receipt of small Vessels under a store Bridg from the River Thames beyond it 〈◊〉 a small Pâ—stern with a Draw-bridg seldom let down but to receive great Persons that are Prisoners The Lyon-Tower was built by Edward the 4 th This is not only a Fort or Citadel to Defend and Command both City and River but alâ—o a Royal Palace where our Kings with their Courts have Lodged some times 'T is furnished with an Armory and Royal Arsenaf of Arms and Ammunition for 60000 Men. Here are kept the Treâ—sury for the Jewels and Ornaments of the English Crown the only Mint now for Coining Silver and Gold in England And the most Antient Records of the King's Courts of Justice at Westminster This is the Chief Prison for the safe Custody of Great Persons that are Criminals It is out of any County or Parish yet a great part of it is within the liberty of the City For it was the Judges opinion that those that were to be Tried for the Murder of Sir Thomas Overbury must be Tried in the City the Fact being done there The Office of his Majesties Records is of venerable Antiquity And as the Chapel of the Rolls in Chancery-Lane and Petty Bag-Office doth fill with Records out of other Offices they are transmitted into the Tower after some years for preservation and security These Records contain the Foundations and Dissolutions of Abbeys Donation of Land c. These Records at the Rolls being joyned to those in the Tower will make a perfect continuance of all the Antient Rights of England as 1. The Leagues and Treaties of Foreign Princes 2. The Warlike Atchievments of the English in France and other Parts 3. The Original of all the Laws Enacted and Recorded till the Reign of Richard the 3. 4. The Homage and Dependancy of Scotland upon England The Establishment of Ireland in Laws and Dominions 5. The Dominion of the British Seas excluding both French and Dutch from Fishing there without the Kings License proved by Records before the Conquest 6. The Title of the Realm of France and how obtained 7. And all that the Kings or Princes of this Land have until that time done abroad on granted or confirmed unto their Subjects at home or abroad 8. Tenures of all Lands extents of Surveys of Mannors and Land Inquisitions post mortem 9. Libertys and Priviledges Granted to Citys Towns or private Men. 10. Several Writs Bleadings Proceedings c. in Courts of Chancery Common Law Exchequer c. 11. Inspeximus's and Inrollments of Charters and Deeds before the Conquest 12. Metes and Bounds of all Forrests with the respective Rights of the Inhabitants to common pasture besides many other things too tedious to be repeated and are in the Petition of the Commons of England in Parliament Anno 46. E. 3. Num. 43. Said to be the perpetual Evidence of every Mans Right and the Records of this Nation without which no Story of the Nation can be written or proved They are reposited in Wakefield-Tower adjoyning to the Blood-Tower near Traytors-gate It is to be kept open and constantly attended for all Resorters thereto from 7. to 11. of the Clock in the Morning and from 1. till 5. in the Afternoon every Day of the week but in December January and February from 8. in the Morning to 4. in the Afternoon except Holy-days c. The Governor is call'd the Lieutenant of the Tower who ought to be a Person of Worth and Fidelity and by Vertue of his Office is to be a Justice of Peace in Kent Surrey and Middlesex he is High Steward of a Court there held hath a Deputy may refuse an Habeas Corpus and may give Protection to all Debtors belonging to the Tower all England over He can take two Gallons and a Pint of all Wine-Ships that come His Sallary is 200 l. per annum His usual Fee for every Prisoner sent to the Tower who are commonly Men of Estates is 20 l. and 3. l. a week of an Esq 5. l. for a Knight for a Baron or above 5. l. at Entrance to whom the King weekly allows 10 l. whereof two parts to the Prisoner the third to the Lieutenant for Lodging and Dyet and 50 l. to the Lieutenant upon the Prisoners discharge The Gentleman Taylor is put in by the Lieutenant of the Tower and his Fee is 41 s. of a Gentleman and 5 l. of a Knight There are 40 Warders of the Tower accounted the King's Domestick Servants and sworn by the Lord
Edifices yet there is not in Christendom a Court more convenient and meet for Royal Accommodation nor more Richly Furnisht But for the Readers more distinct information we will give him a Brief account of our King 's Court under two heads Viz. 1. It s Government both Ecclesiastical Civil and Military 2. It s Hospitality and plentiful Tables 1. It s Government c. The Dean of the Kings Chappel is usually some Grave and Learned Prelate chosen by the King who only is his Superiour his Chappel being exempt from all Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction being called Capella Dominica the Demean Chappel in no Diocess but is a Regal Peculiar Exempt and Reserved to the Visitation and immediate Government of the King who is Supream Ordinary and as it were Prime Bishop over all the Churches and Bishops of England By the Dean are chosen all other Officers of the Chappel viz. A Sub-Dean or Praecentor Capellae Thirty two Gentlemen of the Chappel whereof twelve are Priests the other twenty commonly called Clerks of the Chappel are to perform with the said Priests the Office of Praying Singing c. One of these being well skill'd in Musick is chosen Master of the Children whereof are twelve in Ordinary to instruct them in the Rules and Art of Musick for the service of the Chappel three others are chosen to be Organists to whom is joyned upon Solemn Days a Consort of the King's Musick to make the Musick more full and compleat There are four Officers called Vergers because they carry Silver Rods in their hands viz. a Sergeant two Yeomen and a Groom of the Chappel Common Prayers are Read there three times a day The King has his private Oratory where some of his Chaplains in Ordinary perform the Office every day of the Week Upon twelve high and Principal Festivals in the Year the King after the Service is over attended with the Principal Nobility offers a Sum of Gold to God in signum specialis Domini that by his Grace he is King and holds all of Him which belongs to the Dean to be distributed amongst the Poor This Gold offered is called the Bizantine which anciently was a Piece of Gold Coyned by the Emperours of Constantinople in Latin Bizantium That which was used by King James was a piece of Gold having on the one side the Pourtrait of the King kneeling before an Altar with four Crowns before Him and this Motto circumscribed Quid retribuam Domino pro omnibus quae retribuit mihi On the other side was a Lamb lying by a Lyon with this Motto viz. Cor Contutum humiliatum non despiciet Deus The King hath besides His Extraordinary which are many Fourty Eight Chaplains in Ordinary who are Eminent Doctors in Divinity whereof Four every Month wait at Court to Preach The Lord High Almoner is usually the Bishop of London who disposeth of the Kings Alms and for that use receiveth besides other Moneys allowed by the King all Deodands and bona felonum de se to be that way disposed Under the Lord High Almoner there is a Sub-Almoner two Yeomen and two Grooms of the Almonry Then there is the Clerk of the Closet usually some Reverend Divine much esteemed by His Majesty who attends at his Right hand in Service time to Resolve Doubts about Spiritual matters to wait upon His Majesty in His private Oratory or Closet The Dean of the Chappel's Fee is 200 l. Yearly And the Sub-Deans one hundred pound The Clerk of the Closet's Fee is twenty Nobles per annum The Chief Officer of Civil Government in His Majesties Court is the Lord Steward To whom the State of the Kings-House is committed to be Ruled and Guided by his Discretion whose Commands in Court are to be obey'd whose Power State and Dignity is very great He hath Authority over all Officers and Servants of His Majesties Court except those of His Majesties Chappel Chamber and Stable c. He may by his Office without any Commission Judge of all Discords as Treasons Murders Felonies Bloodsheds committed within the Court or the Verge thereof which is every way within Twelve Miles of the Chief Funnel of the Court only London by Charter is exempted because where the King is Justice ought to be immediatly sought of the King 's own Officers So that the Jurisdiction of the Verge hath been from very Antient times Executed by the Lord Steward with great Ceremony in the Ntaure of a peculiar King 's Bench and that not only within but without the Kings Dominions The Lord Steward is a White-staff-Officer for he in the King's presence carrieth a White-staff and at other times going abroad it is carried by a Footman bare-headed Which White-staff is taken for a Commission When the King Dies he breaketh his Staff over the Herse made for the King's Body and thereby discharges all the Officers whom the succeeding Kings usually establish in their former Offices His Fee is 100 l. yearly and 16 Dishes of Meat daily besides Wine Beer c. The next Officer is the Lord Chamberlain who hath the Over-sight of all Officers belonging to the King's Chamber except the Precincts of the King's Bed-Chamber which is wholly under the Groom of the Stole and all above Stairs who are all sworn by him or his Warrant to the Gentlemen Ushers to the King He hath also the Over-sight of the Officers of the Wardrobe at all His Majesties Houses and of the Removing Wardrobes or of Beds of the Tents Revels Musick Comedians Hanting and of the Messengers of the Trumpeters Drummers of all Handicrafts and Artizans retained in the King's Services He hath also the Over-sight of the Heralds and Pursuivants and Sergeants at Arms of all Physicians Apothecaries Chyrurgeons Barbers Chaplains though himself be a Lay-man Also of the Charges of Coronations Marriages Entries Cavalcades Funerals c. His Fee is 100 l. yearly and 16 Dishes each Meal with the Appurtenances The third great Officer is the Master of the Horse anciently called Comes Stabuli or Constable who hath the ordering and disposal of all the King's Stables and Races or Breed of Horses He hath also power over the Escuries and Pages Footmen Grooms Riders of the Great Horses Farriers Smiths Coachmen Sadlers and all other Trades working to the King's Stables to all whom he or by his Warrant the Avener giveth an Oath to be true and faithful He hath the Charges of all Lands and Revenues appointed for the King's Breed of Horses and for Charges of the Stable and for Litters Coaches Sumpter-Horses c. At any Solemn Cavalcade he Rides next behind the King and leads a Leer Horse of State His annual Fee is 666 l. 16 s. 4 d. and a Table of 16 Dishes each Meal The Accompt of the Stables for Horse-meat Livery Wages and Board-Wages are brought by the Avener being chief Clerk of the Avery to be passed and allowed by the Green-Cloth Under these Principal Officers are almost all the other Officers and Servants as under
9 28. Rutland 2 29. Shropshire 12 30. Somersetshire 18 31. Southampton Or Southamptonshire 26 32. Staffordshire 10 33. Suffolk 16 34. Surrey 14 35. Sussex 20 36. Warwickshire 6 37. Westmorland 4 38. Wiltshire 34 39. Worcestershire 9 40. Yorkshire 30 BARONS of the CINQUE-PORTS Port of Hastings 2 Town of Winchelsey 2 Town of Rye 2 Port of new Rumney 2 Port of Hieth 2 Port of Dover 2 Port of Sandwich 2 Port of Seaford 2 WALES 1. Anglesey 1 Bewmaris 1 2. Brecon 1 Town of Brecon 1 3. Cardigan 1 Town of Cardigan 1 4. Carmarthen 1 Town of Carmarthen 1 5. Carnarvan 1 Town of Carnarvan 1 6. Denbigh 1 Town of Denbigh 1 7. Flint 1 Town of Flint 1 8. Glamorgan 1 Town of Cardiff 1 9. Merioneth 1 10. Pembrook 1 Town of Haverford-west 1 Town of Pembrook 1 11. Montgomery 1 Town of Montgomery 1 12. Radnor 1 Town of Radnor 1 The Barons of the Cinque-Ports are at this Day only as Burgesses in Parliament yet they are still called Barons after the antient manner because heretofore they got Renown by their Exploits at Sea in defending the Kingdom in Memory whereof they have yet the priviledge to send Burgesses to bear the Cloth of State over the King's Head on the day of His Coronation and to Dine that Day in the King's presence The Writ or Summons to the Sheriff for Election of Members to Serve in the House of Commons runs to this purpose The KING to the Sheriff c. Greeting WHereas by the Advice and Assent of our Council for certain arduous and urgent Affairs concerning Vs the State and Defence of our Kingdom of England and the Church of England We have Ordamed a certain Parliament of Ours to be held at this Our City of the Day of next Ensuing and there to have Conference and to Treat with the Prelates Great Men and Peers of Our said Kingdom We command and strictly enjoyn you that making Proclamation at Our next County Court after the Receipt of this Our Writ to be holden the day and Place aforesaid you cause two Knights girt with Swords the most fit and discreet of the County aforesaid and of every City of that County two Citizens of every Burrough two Burgesses of the discreetest and most sufficient to be freely and indifferently chosen by them who shall be present at such Proclamation according to the Tenor of the Statutes in that Case made and provided and the Names of the said Knights Citizens and Burgesses so châ—sen to be inserted in certain Indentures to be then made between you and those that shall be present at such Election whether the Parties so Elected be present or absent and shall make them to come at the said Day and Place so that the said Knights for themselves and the County aforesaid and the Citizens and the Burgesses for themselves and the Commonalty of the said Cities and Boroughs may have severally from them full and sufficient Power to do and to consent to those things which then by the Favour of GOD shall happen to be Ordained by the Common Councel of Our said Kingdom concerning the businesses aforesaid so that the business may not by any means remain undone for want of such Power or by reason of the improvident Election of the foresaid Knights Citizens and Burgesses But we will not in any Case that you or any other Sheriff of Our said Kingdom shall be Elected and at the Day and Place aforesaid the said Election being made in a full County Court you shall certify without Delay unto Vs in Our Chancery under your Seal and the Seals of them who shall be present at the Election sending back unto Vs the other part of the Indenture aforesaid affixed to these presents together with the Writ Witness Our Self at c. The King is in the sence of Law the Fountain of Justice He is Lord Chief Justice of England and therefore all the Laws of the Realm are called His Laws for He is Caput principium finis Parliamenti that is the head beginning and end of Parliament and nothing can have the Force of a Law but what has His Royal Assent The highest Court of Judicature in England is the House of Lords in Parliament who are assisted with the most Grave and Eminent Lawyers of England both in Common and Civil Law who are only Ministerial there and have no Voices but to give their Opinions in matters of Law which become doubtful To the Judicature of this Supreme and most Honorable Court all other Courts and Persons that are Subjects of England are accountable for all Crimes not properly Tryable Remediable or Punishable in other inferiours Courts of Justice and to this Court all last Appeals are made from whose Sentence there lies no Appeal but to a succeeding Parliament and this Supreme Judicatory or Judicial Power lies only in the King and House of Lords and at the Bar of this High Court may the House of Commons as the Grand Inquest of the Nation Impeach the Highest Subject of England whether of the Clergy or of the Laity and prosecute them till it come to a Sentence All Members of Parliament both Lords and Commons that they may attend the publick Service of their Country are priviledged with their Menial Servants attending on their Persons together with all their necessary Goods brought along with them from all Attachments and Imprisonments for Debts Trespasses Account or Covenant all the time that they are on the way to the Place of Parliament all the time that they tarry there and return Eundo Morando ad propria redeundo but not from Arrests for Treason Felony or breach of the Peace The place of Meeting for this High and Honorable Assembly is in whatsoever City Town or House the King pleaseth but most usually at Westminster All the Lords Sit in a fair Room by themselves and the Commons not far from them in another Fair Room heretofore the antient Free Chappel of St. Stephen The King as oft as he comes which is usually at the opening of Parliaments passing of Bills or Solemn Debates is placed at the upper end of the Room in a Chair of State under a Cloth of State under which on either hand sit none but the King's Children On the King 's right hand is a Seat for the Prince of Wales on His left hand is a Seat for the Duke of York On the King 's right hand next the Wall are placed on a Form the two Archbishops next below on another Form the Bishops of London Durham and Winchester Upon other Forms on the same side the rest of the Bishops sit according to the Priority of their Consecration On the King 's left hand upon Forms are placed the Lord Chancellor Treasurer President of the King's Council the Lord Privy Seal if they are Barons above all Dukes except those of the Royal Family if they are not Barons then they Sit uppermost on the Wool-sacks On the same side Sit
each other in which is manifest the Infinite Wisdom of the Soveraign Disposer of all things who has order'd Human Affairs to so due and regular a Subordination to each other and so necessary a Concatenation among themselves that by a perfect Symmetry or Symphony of Parts they conclude in a perfect Harmony of General Good to Mankind which Superlative Blessing should be improved to mutual Advantage and the Glory of the Supreme Author of it In this Chapter we Design to produce some Remarks with respect to Trade in some Particulars as 1. The Particular Advanges of London with Respect to Trade 2. Its Merchants 3. It s Trade into the Country 4. It s Trade to Foreign Parts 5. Of the twelve Principal Companies with their Coats of Arms c. 6. Of the other Corporations with their Coats of Arms. 7. Of the Custom-House 8. Of the Post-Office 9. Of Of the Rates or Fares of Watermen Carmen Coachmen 10. Of the Carryers Waggoners and Stage-Coaches that come to the Principal Inns with the Days of their coming in and setting forth to all the Principal Parts of England SECT 1. SOme of the Advantages of this great City were hinted Page third and fourth to which we shall add that one of the Supreme Advantages is by the goodly River of Thames which opening Eastward towards Germany and France is much more Advantageous for Traffick than any other River in England and it may be said without Vanity that no River in the World can shew a Braver sight of Ships than are commonly to be seen like a Floating Forrest from Black-Wall to London-Bridge which in continual Voyages Import all sorts of Goods either for Need or Ornament and Export our Superfluities to the extraordinary Advantage of all sorts of People high or low of this see more in the Section of the River Thames Another Advantage that London hath is its being Situate so farwithin the Land that it is plentifully supplyed with all necessary Provision from the Country at easie and indifferent Rates and the Manufactures of the Respective Counties which the City disperses to Markets beyond Seas in Recompence the Country is supplyed by the City with all sorts of necessary Merchandizes wanting there c. Insomuch that London is a large Magazine of Men Money Ships Horses Ammunition of all sorts of Commodities necessary or expedient for the Use or Pleasure of Mankind It is the mighty Rendezvous of Nobility Gentry Courtiers Divines Lawyers Physitians Merchants Seamen and all kind of Excellent Artificers of the most Refined Wits and most Excellent Beauties for it is observed that in most Families of England if there be any Son or Daughter that Excells the rest in Beauty or Wit or perhaps Courage or Industry or any other rare Quality London is their Pole-Star and they are never at rest till they point directly thither which vast Confluence besides being the Kings Chief and Imperial Seat where Parliaments and the Principal Courts of Justice are held where the Inns or Colledges of the Municipial Laws are Seated with the Great Houses of the Nobility and Ministers of State must needs bring a vast Advantage and Increase to Trade besides the most Exquisite Ornament and Gallantry that any Place in the World can shew SECT 2. Of the Merchants of London MErchandizing may be said to be an Art or Science invented by Ingenious Mankind for the Publick Good and Profit of all supplying as was said the Native wants of one Place by the abundance of others that do not Consume their own Growths Products or Manufactures Such as Negotiate and Traffick this way are called Merchants The things Sold or Exchanged are two First Wares or Goods And Secondly Moneys or Coyn which are usually Contracted or Bargained for three ways First When Goods are Exchanged for Goods that is so much of one Sort for like value of another and this is called Bartering usual here in old times and in many places of America Asia and Affrica in these days but in Process of time Men finding it too difficult and troublesom to carry about them all things thus Bargained and Truckt for from place to place invented a common Standard or Measure that should countervail and be in Value as all other things and be Accounted in Payments Satisfaction and Equivalency to all others and this is called Money of Gold Silver or other Mettals This Use of Money is as old as Abraham but it was not then Coyned but only in Pieces Unstampt and since by Authority of Princes it was divided into great and small Pieces and into several and Distinct parts and Denominations and Stampt or Coyned with several Characters denoting the true Weight and Value of the same This was done first by Servius in Rome of Brass whereon was Imprinted the Image of Sheep and Oxen betokening the Wealth and Riches of those days ten of those Pieces made a Denier or Penny and were called by Latines Denarii This was the Original of Money which afterward came to be Coyned of Silver and Gold Secondly The Second way is of Goods for Money and this is Termed Bargaining or Buying and Selling this Facilitates Merchandizing and to prevent the Inconvenience and Danger of the Carriage of Money about a Man another Medium was found and that was Thirdly Exchanging which is the giving of so much Money in one Place to one who should cause it to be again repay'd in another place by another for him In all Exchanges there is concluded two Payments two places and four distinct Persons viz. he that Payeth in one place and Receiveth in another and he that Receiveth in the one place and Payeth in the other and so no Man can Remit except there be another to Draw nor can any Receive except there be another Authorized to Pay The first of these ways was taught to Maâ—kind by Necessity the second was found out to Facilitate the first and the third to Facilitate the second Thus was the Original of Exchanges to Accommodate Commerce which was first Practized without Benefit or Loss or any other Consideration they using to Pay the Value of the very Sum Received but in time it came to be considered that the Party Paying loses time and runs a hazard and therefore it was held reasonable that he should have some benefit Hence Exchanges are converted to an Art or Mystery Moneys being remitted for benefit without so much respect to the end of its Original Institution In the first sort the Merchant ought to know the Commodities delivered and received the present Value of both the quality viz. whether lasting or perishable the property viz. whether of Natural growth or Artificial and lastly the quantity viz. whether plentifulâ— or scarce and in few Lands In the second sort the same things are necessary and also a knowledge how the things are bought and sold whether by weight as ponderous Goods by concave or long measures as Commodities of length or such as are Solid or Liquid A knowledge
Water for ten years towards the repairing of the Walls and cleansing the Ditch about London In the sixteenth of Edward the Fourth viz. Anno 1476. the Mayor of London Sir Ralph Joceline caused the part of the Wall betwixt Aldgate and Aldersgate to be repaired the Skinners repairing from Aldgate to Burys-marks towards Bishopsgate as may appear by their Arms in three places fixed there The Mayor with his Company of Erapers repaired from Bishops-gate to Allhallows-Church in the same Wall and from Allhallows towards the Postern called Moor-gate A great part of the same Wall was repaired by the Executors of Sir John Crosby Alderman as may appear by his Arms in two places fixed there and other Companys repaired the rest of the Wall to the Postern of Cripple-gate Bishops-gate was new built by the Merchants Almains of the Still-yard The Goldsmiths Repaired from Cripple-gate towards Alders-gate and there the work ceased which was a great Service for one Year The Circuit of the Wall on the Land side from the Tower to Aldgate in the East is 82 perches from thence to Bishops-gate 86 perches From Bishopsgate in the North to the Postern of Cripple-gate 162 perches From Cripple-gate to Alders-gate 75 perches From Alders-gate to New-gate 66 perches From New-gate in the West to Ludgate 42 perches From thence to the Fleet-Dyke West 60 perches From thence to the River Thames about 70. In all 643 perches every perch being 5 Yards and a half contains 3536 Yards and a half which is 10608 foot or two Miles and a half and 608 foot over to which if you add from Black friers to the Tower it will be found that the whole Circuit of the Walls was above three English Miles The Principal Gates of this Noble City are seven viz. on the West Ludgate of King Lud it being built by him as Geoffry of Monmouth says about the Year of Christ 66. Though some as Leland conjecture it may be called Lud-gate for Fludgate from a little Flud running beneath it It was made a Free Prison Anno 1379. Sir Nicholas Bremer being Mayor which was confirmed in the Year 1382. By a Common Counsel in the Guild-Hall by which it was Ordained That all Free-men 〈◊〉 this City should for Debt Trespasses Accounts and Contempts be imprisoned in Lud-gate where at first they paid nothing for Lodging and Water This Gate was Repaired in the 28 of Q. Elizabeth Anno 1586 at the Common charges of the City amounting to above 1500 l. In the 3 d of Edw. 4. Sir Mathew Philips being Mayor Dame Agnes Foster Relict of Sir Stephen Foster Fishmonger who was also Mayor in the one and thirtyeth Year of King Hen. 6. for the Comfort and Relief of all the poor Prisoners procured an Establishment of certain Articles in a Common Council viz. That the New Works then lately Edified by the same Dâ—me Agnes for the enlarging of the Prison of Lud-gate from thenceforth should be had and taken as a part and parcel of the said Prison of Lud-gate so that both the old and new Work aforesaid to be one Prison Goal keeping and charge for evermore The Quadrant built by the said Sir Stephen Foster and his Lady contained a large walking place by ground of 38 Foot and a half in Length besides the thickness of the Walls which were 6 Foot in all 44 Foot and a half the Breadth within the Walls was 29 Foot and a half which with the thickness of the Walls makes it 35 Foot and an half broad The like Room there was over it for Lodgings and over that fair Leads to walk upon well imbattelled for fresh Ayr and refreshment of Prisoners 2. New-gate which was so called for its Newness as being erected later than the rest viz. about the Reign of Henry the first or of King Stephen This was the fairest of all the Gates and was Rebuilt after its being destroied in the dreadful Conflagration in 1666 more stately than ever of which we will give a particular account hereafter as also of the Revival of London from those Ruinous heaps in which the Hellish Malice of â—â—cked Incendiaries had buried it This Gate being a Sumptuous and Capacious Fabrick is the Publick Goal or Prison for Criminals and also for Court-Actions for the County of Middlesex and has been so for many Ages as appears by Records in King John's time There have been many Benefactors to this place who gave somthing Yearly towards the Relief of Prisoners as Sir John Poultney who gave 4 Marks per annum Anno 1237. and many others since Anno 1312. It was re-edified by the Executors of Sir Rechard Whittington 3. Alders-gate is said to Derive its name of Elder-â—rees which grew about it others from its Antiquity viz. Olders-gate and some Derive it from Aldrich a Saxon. This also is and indeed all the Gates that have been consumed in the great fire are now built more Magnificently than ever they were 4. Cripple-Gate so called of a Spittle of Cripples somtimes adjoining thereto that were wont to beg at the said Gate It has been formerly a Prison where Persons were Committed as now to the Compters It was Re-edified by the Brewers of London in the Year 1244. And by the Executors of Edmund Shaw Goldsmith Mayor Anno 1491. 5. Moor-Gate so called from a Moorish ground hard by but now turned into very pleasant and delightful walks called Moor-fields This Gate was built by Thomas Falconer Lord Mayor in the 2 H. 5. Anno 1414. 6. Bishops-Gate so called of a Bishop the Benefactor which the Dutch Merchants or Hans of the Still-Yard were bound by Covenant to repair and defend at all times of Danger and extremity 7. Aldgate on the East so named from the oldness or Elbe-Gate this is one of the Principal Gates and of the 7 double Gates mentioned by Fitz-Stephens It is Rebuilt at the Charge of the City Besides these in ancient times there stood two Gates on that part of the City next the River whilst the Wall stood namely Billings-Gate now a Whaâ—f or a Key and Doure-Gate or the Water-Gate commonly called Dow-Gate There are some Posterns also which may go for Gates as that out of Christ-Church and Hospital to pass from thence to the Hospital of St. Baâ—tholomewsâ— in Smithfield to make which License was given to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen in the 6. of E. 6. Sir Richard Dobbs Lord Mayor There is also another that leads to Moor-fields And that near the Tower by the Remains seems to have been a fair and strong Arched Gate of much trust there having formerly been always a Person of Quality as Custas or Keeper of it In the 2 R. 1. Ann. 1190. William Longshamp Bishop of Ely Lord Chancellor of England caused a part of the Câ—ty Wall to wit from the said Gate towards the River to the White Tower to be broken down for the enlarging the said Tower which he encompassed with the outer Wall and broad Ditch but coming too near
the very greatest and most bountiful Gift that ever was given in England no Abbey at the first Foundation thereof excepted or therewith to be compared being the Gift of one man only He gave to the Poor in Barwick 100 Marks To the Poor of Stoke-Newington 10 l. To the Poor Fishermen of Ostend in Flanders 100 l. To the mending of the High-Ways between Islington and Newington in the County of Middlesex 40 Marks or 26 l. 13 s. 4 d. To the mending the High-Ways between Ashden and Walden called Walden-lane in Essex 100 l. To the mending the High-Ways between Great Lynton in the County of Cambridge and the said Town of Walden 60 l. 13 s. 4 d. Towards the mending of Horseth-lane 60 l. To the mending of the Bridges and ordinary High-Ways between South-Minster and Malden in Essex 100 l. To the Chamber of London 1000 l. to be Yearly lent to Ten young Merchants not having any great Stocks of their own and those Ten to be appointed by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of the City for the time being and the Dean of Pauls they are 〈◊〉 to pay any Interest for it nor any to enjoy it but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Poor People of Hadstock 20 l. To the Poor of Littlebury and Balsham 40 l. To the Parson and Church-Wardens of Balsham for the time being towards the buying a Bell to be hanged up in the Steeple to amend the Ring there 20 l. To the Poor of South-minster 20 l. To the Poor of little Halâ—enbury 20 l. To the Poor of Dunsby in the County of Lincoln 20. l. To the Poor Priâ—â—ers in the Prisons of Ludgate Newgate the two â—ompters in London the King 's Bench the 〈◊〉 2000 l. to be paid and divided among the same Prisoners by even and equal portions To the Master Fellows and Scholars of the Corporation of Jesus College in Cambridge 500 Marks To the Master Fellows and Scholars of the Corporation of Magdalen Colledge in Cambridge 500 l. To every one of his Feâ—ffees put in trust about his 〈◊〉 26 l. 13 s. 4 d. To the Poor of Beverly a 〈◊〉 in Cottingham To the Poor of Lincoln a Remainder of Years in the Rectory of Glentham in the County of Lincoln To Mr. Hutton Vicar of Littlebury 20 l. To the Poor of â—â—mps Castle 10 l. To the Poor of Elcomb 10. l. To Mr. Floud Parson of Newington 13 l. 6 s. 8 d. To the Poor of the Parish of Hacknâ—y 10 l. with several others c. And so much for Famous SVTTON and his Hospital which deserves an Eternal MEMORIAL III. The Hospital of St. Mary of Bethlem vulgarly called Bedlam was Founded by Simon Fitz-Mary one of the Sheriffs of London Anno 1246. He Founded it to have been a Priory of Câ—â—ons with Brethren and Sisters and King Edward the III. granted a Protection for the Brethren Militiae Beatae Mariae de Bethlem within the City of London in the Fourteenth of his Reign But it was 〈◊〉 an Hospital for Distracted People Stephenâ—â—â—â—â—nings Merchant-Taylor gave 40 l. towards 〈◊〉 chase of the Patronage by his Testament Anno 1523. The Mayor and Commonalty purchased it with all the Lands and Tenements thereunto belonging in the Year 1546. The same Year King Henry the VIII gave this Hospital unto the City The Church and Chappel thereof were taken down in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth and Houses built there by the Governors of Christ's Hospital in London In this Place People that be Distracted of their Wits were received and kept at the Suit of their Friends but not without Charges to their bringers in This Place being old narrow and not very pleasant the City of London resolved to build a New Hospital which in April 1675 was begun and to the great Glory and Ornament of the City and the great benefit of the Poor Lunaticks was finished July 1676 in so Stately and Beautiful a manner that the whole World can hardly Parallel it It is of a great Length reaching from Moor-gate to the Little-Postern leading out of the North-East part of Moor-Fields into the City near the City Walls with a most Glorious Front towards those Delicate Walks of Moor-Fields the Architecture is very Regular Exquisite and Rich with a Stately Turret in the midst of a Curious Form and Fair green Courts part of which are Paved with broad Stone for walks Environ'd with a very hansom Brick-Wall there are two Stately Galleries reaching from one end to the other on the sides of which are the Lodgings of the Distracted People which are very neat and convenient they are carefully and very decently served with plenty of good wholsom Dyet and very well attended by Persons appointed to that purpose This Work cost above 18000 l. to which many Noble Citizens c. were Benefactors 〈◊〉 is indeed a Work very well becoming the Magâ—â—â—nce of this Renowned City who in all their undertakings and in all Publick Acts of Ornament to the City or Charity to the Poor have demonstrated themselves to be Peerless WESTMINSTER HALL THE ROYALL EXCHANGE CLARENDON HOVSE COVENT GARDEN There was of old an Hospital of St. Mary Rouncival by Charing-Cross but suppressed and turned to Tenements So much for the Hospitals SECT 4. Palaces and Houses of the Nobility WE will begin with the Royal Palaces as White-Hall where the Court is kept when the King is in the City In antient times Westminster-Palace was the habitation of the Kings of England from the time of Edward the Confessor which was by casual Fire burnt down in the time of Henry the VIII This was a very large and stately Palace and for the building in that Age incomparable In the Remains of which the High Court of Parliament Sits but more of that hereafter King Henry the VIII translated his Seat to a House not far of built by Cardinal Wolsey and is called White-Hall This Place formerly belonged to Hubert de Burgh Earl of Kent by whom it was given to the Gray-Friers and of them bought by Walter Gray Archbishop of York and called York-place but Anno. 1529 the King took it from Wolsey and the Archbishop and named it White-Hall this King built there a Sumptuous Gallery and a very Beautiful Gate-House thwart the High-street to St. James's Park In this Gallery the Princes with their Nobility used to stand or sit to behold all Triumphant or Military Exercises To Describe all particularities relating to this Royall-Seat would be too tedious Take a few short Remarks There is a most Magnificent and Stately Banquetting-House built by King James And the Delicate Privy-Garden was lately enlarged towards the South with a Pond of an Oval form supplied with Water from Hide-Park where you may see the Water shot or forced up to a great height from the surface of the Pond and by its winding-fall delights the Eye and the Ear with its pretty murmur Although this Palace of White Hall makes not so Glorious a shew on the out-side as some other stately
the Queens Chamber was consumed but after that repaired In the year 1397 King Richard II. caused the Walls Windows and Roof to be taken down and new made with a stately Porch and divers Lodgings of a marvelous Work and with great Costs which being finished Anno 1399. He kept a most Royal Christmas there with daily Justings and Runnings at Tilt whereunto resorted such a number of People that there was every day spent 28 or 26 Oxen 300 Sheep and Fowl without number He caused a Gown to be made for himself of Gold garnished with Pearl and precious Stones to the value of 3000 Marks There daily fed there 10000 People as appeareth by the Messes told out from the Kitchin to 300 Servitors A great part of this Palace was burnt Anno 1512 the 4th of Henry VIII since which time it hath not been Re-edified Only the Great Hall with the Offices near adjoining are kept in good Reparations and serveth as afore for Feasts at Coronations Arraignments of Great Persons charged with Treason and keeping of the Courts of Justice For whereas formerly the Courts and Benches followed the King wheresoever he went before and since the Conquest but being found to be troublesom chargeable and inconvenient to the People it was Anno 1224 9 H. 3. agreed that theâ—e should be a standing place appointed where Matters should be heard and judged which was in the Great Hall at Westminster I. The Court of COMMON-PLEAS Where he appointed Three Judgment-Seats viz. at the Entry on the Right-hand the Court of Common-Pleas So called because there are debated the usual Pleas between Subject and Subject as about Tenures of Lands and Civil Actions None but Sergeants at Law may plead in this Court and so many of them as the King shall appoint are bound by Oath to assist all that have any Cause depending in that Court Pleas are distinguished into Pleas of the Crown as Treason and Felony with Misprision of Felony which belong to the Kings-Bench and Common or Civil Pleas whereof this Court takes Cognizance This Court may grant Prohibitions as the Kings-Bench doth The Chief Judge is called the Lord Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas or de Communi Banco the Common Bench who holds his place by Letters Patents Durante Beneplacito and so do the other inferior Judges of this Court whereof there are commonly Three Here all Civil Causes Real and Personal are usually Tryed according to the strict Rule of the Law Real Actions are pleadable in no other Court nor Fines levied or Recoveries suffered but only in this Court The King allows to the Lord Chief Justice of this Court a Fee Reward Robes and two Tun of Wine Also to the other Judges of this Court and to four Sergeants is allow'd Fees Reward and Robes to each one The Officers are many Custos Brevium three Protonatories Clerk of the Warrants Clerk of the Kings Silver four Exigenters fourteen Filazers Clerk of the Juries Clerk of the Essoignes Clerk of the Outlawries which belongeth to the Attorney General who exercises it by Deputy c. For which at large see the Present State of England Pag. 102. Edit 1679. II. KINGS-BENCH At the upper End of the Hall on the Right-hand or South-east Corner the Court of Kings-Bench was appointed which is of a larger Extent of Power and more Uncontroulable than any other Tribunal For the Law presumes that the King is there still in Person He being Lord Chief Justice of England Himself yet it is observable that though He should personally sit upon the Bench He can pass no Sentence of Judgment but by the Mouths of His Judges who did use to sit there at His Feet when He was present After the House of Lords in Parliament this is the Highest Court in England and the Judicature in the Absence of the King belongs to His Judges In this Court are handled the Pleas of the Crown all things that concern loss of Life or Member of any Subject for then the King is concern'd because the Life and Limb of the Subject in the sense of the Law belong only to the King so that the Pleas here are between the King and the Subject Here are handled all Treasons Felonies Breach of Peace Oppression Misgovernment c. This Court hath power to Examine and Correct all Errors in Facto and in Jure of all the Judges and Justices of England in their Judgments and Proceedings and this not only in Pleas of the Crown but in all Pleas Real Personal and Mixt except only in the Exchequer In this High Court sit commonly four Grave Reverend Judges whereof the first is stiled The Lord Chief Justice of the Kings-Bench and is Created not by Patent but by a short Writ yet of large Extent in point of Authority thus Rex c. Mathaeo Hale Militi salutem Sciatis quod constituimus vos Justiciarium nostrum Capitalem ad placita coram nobis tenenda Durante beneplacito nostro teste Me Ipso apud Westm c. That is in English The King c. To Sir Matthew Hale Kt. Greeting Know ye That we have Constituted you our Capital or Chief Justice in Pleas held before Vs during Our Pleasure Witness My Self at Westminster c. The rest of the Judges of the Kings-Bench hold their Pleas by Letters Patents in these words Rex omniblis ad quos praesentes literae pervenerint Salutem Sciatis quod Constituimus Dilectum Fidelem nostrum A. B. Militem unum Justiciariorum ad placita coram nobis tenenda Durante beneplacito nostro Teste c. These Judges and all the Officers belonging to this Court have all Salaries from the King and the chief of them have Robes and Liveries out of the great Wardrobe In this Court all young Lawyers that have been called to the Bar are allowed to plead and practise This Court may grant Prohibitions to keep other Courts both Ecclesiastical and Temporal within their due Bounds and Jurisdiction The Jurisdiction of this Court is general extending to all England as before None can be a Judge in this Court unless he be a Sergeant of the Degree of the Coif that is a Sergeant at Law and yet in the Writ or Patent to them made they are not called Sergeants who upon taking this high Degree is obliged to wear a Lawn Coif under his Cap for ever after For the Officers of this Court see the Present State of England of the same Edition Pag. 98. III. CHANCERY On the Left-hand or South-west Corner sitteth the Lord Chancellor accompanied with the Master of the Rolls and eleven other Men learned in the Civil Law and called Masters of Chancery which have the King's Fee This Court is placed next the Kings-Bench to mitigate the Rigor of it It is Curia Cancellariae because as some think the Judge of this Court sate anciently intra Cancellos or Lattices as the East-end of Churches are separated per Cancellos from the Body of the Church as
Book of the Exchequer The former was six Years a making by William the Conqueror and is a Cense or compute of all England as it was then viz. all the Lands with the value and Owners and Account of all Cities Towns Villages Families Men Souldiers Husbandmen Bondmen Servants Cattle how much Money Rents Meadow Pasture Woods Tillage Common Marsh Heath every one possessed So that in Disputes about Taxes this determined it without further controversie as the Book of the Great day of Doom will then and therefore so called It is kept under three Locks and not to be lookt into under 6 s. 8 d. And for every Line Transcribed is to be paid 4. d. The Auditor of the Receipts is to File the Bills of The Tellers whereby they charge themselves with all Money Received and to draw all Orders to be Signed by the Lord High Treasurer for Issuing forth all Moneys by Vertue of the Privy Seals which are Recorded and Lodged in his Office He makes all Debentures to the several Persons who have Fees Annuities or Pensions by Letters Patents from the King out of the Exchequer and directs them for payment to the Tellers He receives every Week the state of the Account of each Teller and also Weekly certifies the whole to the Lord High Treasurer who presently presents the Estimate or Ballance to the King He takes the Tellers Account in Gross at Easter and Michaelmas By him are kept the several Registers appointed for paying all Persons in Course upon several Branches of the King's Revenue he is Scriptor Talliorum hath five Clerks to manage the whole Estate of Moneys received disbursed and remaining There are four Tellers who Receive all Moneys due to the King and thereupon throw down a Bill through a Pipe into the Tally-Court where it is received by the Auditors Clerk who there attends to write the words of the said Bill upon a Tally and then delivers the same to be Entred by the Clerk of the Pells or his under Clerk who Enters it in his Book Then the Tally is cloven by the two Deputy Chamberlains who have the Seals and while the Senior Deputy reads one part the Junior Examines the other part with the other two Clerks The Clerk of the Pels Enters every Tellers Bill into a Parchment of Skin in Latin Pellis whence this Office hath its Name all Receipts and Payments for the King for what cause or by whomsoever and is in Nature of a Comptroller hath four Clerks whereof one is for the Introitus and another for the Exitus Moreover he is to make Weekly and half Yearly Books both of the Receipts and Payments which are delivered to the Lord Treasurer He that Pays the King any Moneys receives for his Acquittance a Tally so called from the French Verb Tallier to cut that is one half of a Stick cloven with certain proportionable Notches thereon expressive of the Sum from the said Deputy Chamberlains who keep the other cloven part of the Stick called the Foyl and Delivers it to the Tally-Joyners on the other side of the Exchequer who are also Deputies to the Chamberlains an◠they joyn it with the Foyl which agreeing the◠give it their Test and send it by an Officer of the◠own to the Pipe where their quietus est is Ingrosse◠in Parchment In the Office of the Deputy-Chamberlains Westminster are preserved all the Counterfoyls 〈◊〉 these Tallies so exactly ranged by Months an◠Years that they are to be presently found out t◠be joined with their respective Stock or Tally when required which proving true they deliver it Attested for a Lawful Tally to the Clerk of the Pipe for to be allowed in the great Roll but in Case any Corruption hath been used the same is easily and soon discovered and the Offender severely punished by Fine and Imprisonment This Antient way of striking of Tallies hath been found by long experience to be absolutely the best way that ever was invented for it is Morally impossible so to Falsifie or Counterfeit a Tally but that upon rejoyning it with the Counterfoyl it will be obvious to every Eye either in the Notches or in the Cleaving in the Longitude Latitude Natural growth or shape of the Counterfoyl whereas Acquittances in Writing cannot be so done but that they may be Counterfeited by skilful Penmen and that so exactly as that he who wrote the Original shall not be able to know his own hand from the Counterfeit as hath been frequently seen in all the Courts of Westminster There are two Vshers whose Office it is to secure the Exchequer by Day and Night and all the Avenues leading to the same and to furnish all Necessaries as Books Paper c. There is a Tally-Cutter and four Messengers This Exchequer is the best ordered publick Revenue in the World Court of the Dutchy of Lancaster Before we come to treat of the High Court of Parliament we will give an Account of the Court of the Dutchy of Lancaster kept at Westminster-Hall on the left hand above Stairs which takes Cognizance of all Causes that any way concern the Revenue of that Dutchy which hath been long since Annexed to the Crown The Chief Judge of this Court is the Chancellor of the Dutchy who is assisted by the Attorney of the Dutchy To this Court belong divers other Officers It is kept near the lower Exchequer and at the Office of Sir Gilbert Gerrard at Grays-Inn Of the High Court of PARLIAMENT Sir Richard Baker tell us in his Chronicle that King Henry the I. instituted the Form of the High Court of Parliament and that the first Council of this sort was held at Salisbury on the 19 th of April and the 16 th of his Reign which is 560 and odd Years ago Before the Conquest the great Council of the King consisting only of the Great Men of the Kingdom was called Magnatum Conventus the Convention or Meeting of the Grandees or Great Men or else Prelatorum Procerumque Concilium and by the Saxons in their own Tongue Michel Gemot the great Assembly After the Conquest it was called Parlementum a French word derived of Parler to talk together consisting still only of the great Men of the Nation till the aforesaid King's Reign None but the King hath Authority to Summon a Parliament In the King's absence out of the Realm the Custos Regni in the King's Name doth Summon a Parliament and During the King's Minority within the Realm the Protector Regni doth the same When the King of England is with His Parliament in time of peace He is then said to be in the height of His Royal Dignity as well as when He is at the head of His Army in time of War He can with the concurrence of his Lords and Commons then do any thing in point of Enacting or Repealing Laws Legitimate one that is born Illegitimate Bastardize one that is born Legitimate He can make an Infant of full Age make an Alien or
the Dukes Marquesses and Earls according to their Creations Upon the first Form across the House below the Woolsacks sit the Viscounts and upon the next Forms the Barons all in Order The Lord Chancellor or Keeper if the King be present stands behind the Cloth of Estate otherwise sits on the first Woolsack thwart the Chair of State his Great Seal and Mace by him he is Lord Speaker of the Lords House Upon other Woolsacks sit the Judges the Privy Counsellors and Secretaris of State the King's Council at Law the Masters of Chancery who being not Barons have no suffrage by Voâ—ce in Parliament but only sit as was said to give Advice when required The Reason of their sitting upon Woolsacks is thought to be to put them in mind of the Great Importance of our Woollen Manufactories which is the Grand Staple Commodity of England and so not to be by any means neglected On the Lowermost Woolsack are placed the Clerk of the Crown and Clerk of the Parliament whereof the former is concern'd in all Writs of Parliament and Pardons in Parliament The other Recordeth all things done in Parliament and keepeth the Records of the same This Clerk hath also two Clerks under him who kneel behind the same Woolsack and write thereon Without the Bar of the Lords House sits the King 's first Gentleman Usher called the Black-Rod from a Black-staff he carries in his hand under whom is a Yeoman Usher that waits at the Door within a Cryer without and a Serjeant at Mace always attending the Lord Chancellor When the King is present with His Crown on his Head none of the Lords are covered The Judges stand till the King gives them leave to sit When the King is absent the Lords at their entrance do Reverence to the Chair of State as is or should be done by all that enter into the King's Presence Chamber The Judges then may sit but may not be covered till the Chancellor or Keeper signifies unto them the leave of the Lords The King's Council and Masters of Chancery sit also but may not be covered at all The Commons in their House sit Promiscuously only the Speaker hath a Chair placed in the middle and the Clerk of that House near him at the Table They never had any Robes as the Lords ever had but wear every one what he fancyeth most The time of Sitting in Parliament is on any day in the Morning or before Dinner When the day prefixt by the King in His Writs of Summons is come the KING usually in his Royal Robes with His Crown on His Head declares the cause of their being Assembled in a short Speech leaving the rest to the Lord Chancellor who then stands behind His MAJESTY the Commons in the mean time standing bare at the Bar of the Lords House who are Commanded to chuse then a Speaker which without the KING's Command they may not do whereupon they Return to their own House and choose one of their own Members whom they present on another Day to the KING and being approved of by His MAJESTY sitting in His Chair and all the Lords in their Scarlet Robes he makes a modest refusal which not allowed he Petitioneth His Majesty That the Commons may have during their Sitting 1. A free Access to His Majesty 2. A freedom of Speech in their own House 3. Freedom from Arrests Which the King Grants Before they enter upon Affairs all the Members of the House of Commons take the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy in the presence of an Officer appointed by the KING And since the Papists have been found by the Wisdom of the KING and Parliament to be Plotting and Contriving to introduce the pretended Supremacy of their Pope and inslave the Nation to their Tyrannical Anti-spiritual Jurisdiction by Horrid Projections Plots Intrigues c. to prevent any such from Voting in either House it was thought meet though no Oaths can bind such who profess the Impious Doctrine of Equivocation that all are to declare their Opinion against the Doctrines of Transubstantiation Invocation and Adoration of Saints the Sacrifice of the Mass which Test the Lords also are Obliged to take in their House before they can Sit and Debate upon any Affair The Lords House hath a power not only in Making and Repealing Laws but also in tractando Consilium impendendo that is in Treating and Counselling c. as the words of the Writ are also in Judging of Controversies Judging in the Arraignment of any Peer of the Realm putting Men to their Oaths especially in matters of Importance as the Corruption of Judges and Magistrates in Illegal proceeding in other Courts in Appeals from Decrees in Chancery No Papist is to Sit or have Suffrage in the Lords House The Lords in case of necessary or unavoidable absence may make their Proxies to Vote in their place after License obtained under the KING's Signet The Commons as was said have a power in Making and Repealing Laws they have a Negative Voice as the KING and Lords have for nothing can pass into a Law without the joint concurrence of the King and both Houses Bills for Levying of Mony upon the Subject begin in the House of Commons because the greater part of the same arises from them The Commons have a power to Supplicate and propose Laws and as before to Impeach publick Delinquents of the Highest Quality that are Subjects for they are the Grand Inquest of the Nation and are to present Publick Grievances to be Redressed and Delinquents to be punished To this end the Lords sit in their Robes on the Bench covered they Swear and Examine Witnesses and at last pass Sentence the Members of the House of Commons stand bare at the Bar of the Lords House produce Witnesses manage Evidences c. Though every Member of the House of Commons is chosen to Serve for one particular County City or Borough yet he Serves for the whole Kingdom and his Voice is equal to any other his power is absolute to consent or dissent They are to make it their special care to promote the good of that County City or Borough for which they Serve so as that no particular benefit may interfere with or be prejudicial to the Good of the whole Kingdom The Lords are to bear their own Charges because they Represent only themselves The Commons usually had their Reasonable expences In the 17 of Ed. II. they had Ten Groats for Knights and Five Groats for Burgesses a day and not long after Four s. a day for Dubbed Knights and Two s. for all others which in those days as appears by the Prices of all things was a considerable Sum above Twenty times more than it is now So that some decayed Boroughs finding the expence heavy Petitioned that they might not be obliged to send Burgesses to Parliament and so were Vnburgessed c. It is the Practice of each House to debate all publick Affairs relating to the general or
When the King Prorogues or Dissolves the Parliament He commonly comes in Person to the House of Lords in his Robes with the Crown on his Head and sends by the Vsher of the Black-Rod for all the House of Commons to the Bar of that House and after the King's Answer to each Bill signified as aforesaid his Majesty usually makes a Solemn Speech the Lord Chancellor another and the Speaker of the House of Commons a Third Then the Lord Chancellor by the special Command of the King doth pronounce the Parliament Prorogued or Dissolved The King being Head of the Parliament if his Death doth happen during the Sitting of the Parliament it is ipso facto Dissolved IV. Sommerset-House in the Strand is the Queens Palace In the Year 1549. Edward Duke of Sommerset Uncle to Edward the 6 th and Lord Protector pulled down several adjoyning Buildings to make him a Mansion-House there the Stones of which Houses and some other more remote Buildings which he demollished were converted to this Spatious and Beautiful Palace of which we cannot add much more but that it was the Fatal place where the wicked Romish Assassinates prompted by Hell and their accursed Principles most barbarously Murdered that Noble Patriot and never to be forgotten Knight Sir EDMOND-BERRY GODFREY on Saturday the 12 th of October 1678. The Bloody Villains being enraged at the Discovery of their Execrable Plot in which this brave Gentleman was very active made him a Sacrifice to their Revenge so that he may be truly stiled the Martyr of the English Protestant Interest and deserves a Memorial in all Loyal Christian Hearts The Narrative is published at large to which we refer our Reader only we cannot omit his Majesties Royal act who so resented this Abominable Villany that he issued his Proclamation the 20 th of October promising 500 l. to the Discoverer and a Pardon if one of the Malefactors and another soon after promising on the word of a King not only the said Reward of 500 l but such care for the Security of the Discoverer as he could in Reason propose upon which Captain William Bedlow since Dead and Mr. Miles Praunce a Silver-smith in Princes-street which last confessed to have been in the Fact made the Discovery and upon their clear and undoubted Evidence three of the Wretches were Executed viz. Green Berry and Hill the rest fled from Justice but cannot escape Divine Vengeance Having spoken of these principal Palaces it may be expected that we should speak something of the Great and Famous Houses of the Nobility which are very many and Magnificent not yielding to any in Europe as Clarendon-House which for Situation stately Architecture spacious solid uniform Structure is admirable Berkley-House Wallingford-House Northumberland-House Salisbury and Worcester Houses Bedford Leicester Newport Mountague and Southampton Houses and indeed most Houses of the great Peers But the brevity of our Volume will not admit a large Description only in General we shall say something of them in the Section that Treats of the Fire Anno 1666. and the Rebuilding of the City SECT 5. Of Exchanges and Publick-Halls THe Royal Exchange in Cornhil-Ward was Erected in the Year 1566 just one hundred Years before it was Burnt in this manner Certain Houses upon Cornhil containing Eighty Housholds were purchased by the City of London for above 3532 l. which they sold for 478 l. to such as would take them down and carry them away Then the Ground or Plot was made plain at the Charges of the City and Possession thereof was given to Sir Thomas Gresham Knight a Noble Merchant and Agent to Queen Elizabeth by certain Aldermen in the name of the whole for to Build an Exchange thereon for Merchants to Assemble On the 7 th of June he laid the first Stone in the Foundation being accompanied with some Aldermen where every one of them laid a piece of Gold which the Work-men took up The Work was advanced with such Expedition that in November 1567 it was finished and afterwards in the presence and by the special Command of the Queen it was Proclaimed by a Herald and with sound of Trumpet named The ROYAL EXCHANGE It was Built most of Brick and yet was the most splendid Burse all things considered that was then in Europe The Burse for Merchants was kept before in Lumbard-street In the great and dismal Conflagration Anno 1666. the Royal Exchange was consumed But it is since Rebuilt in a far more stately and Magnificent manner of excellent Portland Stone almost as durable as Marble with such curious and admirable Architecture especially for a Front a Turret and for Arch-work that it surpasseth all other Burses in Europe The Form is Quadrangular with a large Paved Court where the Merchants Meet it is Quadratum Oblongum an Oblong square and on each side are stately Galleries or Portico's Checquered with a smooth and delicate Stone-Pavement the Arches supported with strong Stone Pillars where in case of Rain or extream Heat the greatest part may be sheltered The whole Fabrick cost above 50000 l. whereof one half was disbursed by the Chamber of London and the other by the Company of Mercers And to reimburse them there are to be let 190 Shops above-stairs at 20 l. per annum and 30 l. Fine besides the several Shops below on the several sides and the huge Vaulted Cellars under ground so that it must needs be the richest piece of Ground in the World For The Exact Dimensions of the Ground whereon this Goodly Fabrick is Erected is but 171 Foot from North to South and 203 Foot from East to West and little more than three quarters of an Acre of Ground yet producing above 4000 l. Yearly Rent The New Exchange on the Strand was called Durham-House Built by Thomas Hatfield Bishop of Durham who being made Bishop of that See Anno 1549. continued so 36 Years It was a very Capacious Edifice on the North side stood a row of Thatcht low Stables which the Right Honourable Robert Earl of Salisbury then Lord High Treasurer of England purchased and pulled down Erecting in the room thereof at his own Charge a very goodly and beautiful Building with Cellars underneath and a Walk fairly Paved above it with Rows of Shops and the like above stairs The first Stone was laid the 10 th of June 1608 and it was finished in November following The Shops above and under were curiously adorn'd and in April following the Earl Invited King James the Queen the Prince the Duke of York to come thither who came attended with many of the Nobility where after a Rich Banquet the King named it Britains Burse There are also two Exchanges more viz. The Middle Exchange and Exeter Exchange which last was lately built in both which Goods are sold as at the Royal Exchange Having done with Exchanges we shall proceed to the Publick Halls of Companies As for the Great Guild-Hall for Orders sake the Reader is referred to the Section
sumptuous Fane The Lands Chief Seat that challengeth for hers Kings Coranations and their Sepulchers Then goes along by that more beautious Strand That shews the Wealth and glory of the Land Such sumptuous Seats within so little space Th' all-viewing Sun scarce sees in all his Race By London leads which like a Crescent lies Whose Windows view with the be-spangled Skies Her rising Spires so thick themselves do show As do the Reeds that on her Banks do grow There sees his Wharffs and People-crowded Shores His bosom spread with shoals of labouring Oars With that great Bridge that doth him most Renown By which he puts all other Rivers down This Noble River hath her Original out of the side of an Hill in Cotswold Downs a little above a Village called Winchcomb in Oxfordshire where it was antiently called Isis or the Ouse running to Oxford and by the way receiving many small Rivulets and Brooks joyning at that City with the Charwell then by Abington Dorchester where the River Thame and Isis joyn from whence it is called Thamâ—sis or Thames thence by Reading Maiden-head Windsor Stanes and several other considerable Palaces Towns and stately Houses to London and receives the Medway a considerable River that runs by the City of Rochester and Waters all the Southern parts of Kent The length of it being at least if measured by the Journeys at Land 180 Miles and Ebbs and Flows as before near 80 Miles The Common difference betwixt Tide and Tide is found to consist of 24 Minutes which wanteth but 12 of a whole hour in 24 by which they come later than the other Mr. Stow tells us that in his time the first Edition of his Survey being Printed above 80 years ago there were 2000 Wherries or small Boats whereby 3000 Water-men got their Living their Gains being most in Term-time but now there are a great many more this River being a Nursery to breed young Men sit for the Sea to Serve His Majesty or the Merchants c. Besides these there is an Infinite Number of Wherries Tide-Boats Tilt-Boats Barges Hoys c. for Passengers or to bring necessary Provision of all sorts from all Quarters of Oxfordshire Berkshire Buckinghamshire Bedfordshire Hartfordshire Middlesex Essex Surrey and Kent unto the City but of the Navigation of London we refer to the Chapter of Trade and the Rates of Water-men to a distinct head to be Treated of hereafter The Extent of the Jurisdiction and Prerogative of the Lord Mayor Commonalty and Citizens of London on the River Thames c. THe Lord Mayor of LONDON for the time being and his Successors for ever in that great Dignity have full Power and Authority over the Rivers of Thames and Medway to inflict punishment upon all Transgressors relating to the said Rivers the Water-Bayly of London being his Substitute The Extent of this Jurisdiction begins at a place called Colnie-Ditch a little above Stains-Bridge Westward as far as London-Bridge and from thence to a place called Yendall otherwise Yenland or Yenleete and the Waters of Medway This Authority and Jurisdiction belongs to the Lord Mayor Commonalty and Citizens of London by divers Grants Charters and Confirmations made by the Kings and Queens of England besides sundry Acts of Parliament Yet there have been some contests betwixt the Lord Mayor and the Lord High Admiral of England about it but after a fair and Judicial Tryal in open Court the Controversie was decided in favour of the City and the Lord Mayor was adjudged to be Conservator of the Thames There were also some Controversies about the Rivers of Thames and Medway but all differences were absolutely concluded Anno 1613. Sir John Swinnerton being then Lord Mayor and Thomas Sparry Esq being then his Deputy in that Office So that the Lord Mayor bears always since as in former times the stile of Conservator of the said River within the said Limits and Bounds And whereas there was a Company of Fishermen called Tinckermen that with unlawful Nets and other devices made an infinite destruction of the young Brood or Fry of Fish to feed their Hogs by the singular care and cost of the Lord Mayor and vigilance of the Citizens they were many years ago supprest and a regular and orderly manner of Fishing brought in use that such a havock may not be made of the young Fry As also sundry other abuses by unlawful Fishing and some annoying Timbers in Tilbury-hope dangerous to Passengers and destructive to the young Brood of Fish and Fishermens Nets were also to general benefit reformed Likewise they took care to clear and cleanse the River Westward of about 79 Stops or Hatches consisting of divers great Stakes and Piles erected by Fishermen for their private lucre and standing ill-favouredly for Passengers near the Fair-Deep but none now are left except such as stand out of the passable high stream that can prejudice none The like Course was kept in the time of Henry the 4 th and Henry the 8 ths times There is also a watchful Eye that no Carrion nor Dead Carkasses be thrown into the River to pollute or infect the stream To all these intents and purposes the Lord Mayor and the Aldermen his Brethren with the under Officers meet eight times a year in the four Counties of Middlesex Surrey Kent and Essex and have a Judicial sitting for Maintenance of the Rivers Rights and Priviledges where they have power to Impanel Juries to make Inquisition after all Offences committed upon the River within their Exteâ—â— and as the Verdict given by the Jury makes it appear so they proceed to the punishment of the 〈◊〉 sors according to the quality of the offence whereof it may be proper to give this Memorable Instance as it is Recorded by Mr. Stow in his Survey page 20 Printed Anno 1633. and more briefly delivered by Mr. Howel in his Londinopolis Printed Anno 1657. page 15. Thus. Sir John Rolls Knight and Lord Mayor of the City of London and Conservator of the River of Thames and Waters of Medway assisted and accompanied by the Aldermen and two Sheriffs then contemporary and attended by the Recorder and the Sub-conservation or Water-Bayly with 50 Officers and Servants took their Barges at Billings-gate the third of July 1616. and in a few hours arrived at Graves-end in Kent where a Session for Conservancy of the said River was kept before the said Lord Mayor and his said Assistants at which place and time a Jury of the Free-holders of the said County being sworn to inquire of all Offences committed in any part of the River whatsoever within the said County The Common Sergeant of the City the Recorder being then absent upon extraordinary occasions Delivered them a Charge to this effect That for as much as there had not been any Session of Conservancy in many years passed kept by any Lord Mayor of London in that place it was probable and evident they could not be well informed neither of the Lord Mayor's
Right to the Conservation of the Thames and the Waters of Medway by way of Inquisition whereof there were two the one taken at Raynam in Essex the other at Gravesend in Kent before Sir William Cambridge Grocer then Lord Mayor of London 9 Henry V. where it was presented that whereas by the antient Ordinances of London the Meshes of Nets should be two Inches in the fore part and one Inch in the hinder part and it being found that the Offences according to the said Inquisitions are Contra libertates consuetudines Civitatis it was adjudged that the Nets should be burnt according to the antient Custom in that behalf provided VI. He goes on after to prove that this Right belongs to the City by Decrees In 8 Henry IV. the Mayor and Aldermen did exhibit their humble Petition to the King's Councel reciting that time out of mind they had the Conservation and Correction of the River of Thames of all Trincks Nets and other Engines whatsoever in the River of Thames and Medway placed and have used to make a Sub-Conservator under them and complaining that Alexander Bonner then Sub-Conservator having discharged his Duty in removing Kiddles he was ill intreated by the owners dwelling in Erith Bratriferry Barking Woolwich and other places in the Counties of Kent and Essex and upon hearing of the matter in Camera Stellata they were found Guilty and Constrained to submit themselves to the Lord Mayor and ordered to bring always their Nets unto him before they should use them and that the Kiddles then taken should be at the disposition of the Lord Mayor so the Offenders made their submission accordingly VII He proceeds This Right appertains to the City of London by Letters Patents which he proved by a Grant made by Edward IV. to the Earl of Pembroke for setting up a Wear in the River of Thames which Grant was Revoked and Cancelled at the Request of the Lord Mayor and Aldermen upon shewing their Right therefore alleaged it was contrary to their antient Liberties At which time the Cities Title to the Conservancy of the Thames and Medway was at large set forth and recited to have been shewn to the Lord Chancellor and to the said Earl and his Counsel which accordingly was also read VIII He reinforceth the Right of the City by Proclamations whereof one was made by H. VIII in the 34 of His Reign wherein it is affirmed that the Lord Mayor and his Predecessors have had by divers Grants of the Kings of England and by Acts of Parliaments enjoyed always the Conservacy of the Thames without Impediments or Interruption By which Proclamation it was Commanded that none should resist deny or impugne the Lord Mayor or his Deputy in doing or executing any thing that might conduce to the Conservacy of the River and of the Fish and Fry within the same IX He produceth Report for in a Controversie betwixt the Lord Admiral and the Lord Mayor for the Measuring of Coals and other things upon the Thames it then fell into Debate to whom the Conservacy of the Thames did belong which cause was referred by Queen ELIZABETH's Councel of State 1597 to the Attorney-General and Solicitor who joyntly Certified amongst other things that the Conservancy and care of the said River did and ought to belong to the City of London X. By quo Warranto it was proved that the Conservacy of the Thames belongs to the City for 3 Jac. a quo Warranto was brought against the City in the Exchequer to know by what Title She claimed the Conservacy of the River of Thames and the Waters of Medway whereupon the City made Her Title Good thereunto by antient prescription and otherwise so Judgment was given in Her Favour XI He goes on afterwards to confirm the Right of the City by Proof of Vsage in regard the Lord Mayor and Aldermen have time out of mind made Ordinances concerning the Good Government of the River of Thames as well for the Seasons and Manner of Fishing beneath London-bridge Eastward upon pain of certain Penalties as appears from time to time from the Reign of Henry III. and so downward The Lord Mayor hath removed Kiddles Wears Trinks and other unlawful Engines and reformed the disorders of such as have offended besides in the River of Thames and inflicted punishment upon Offenders accordingly The Right of the City appears also by the Writs and Preceps under the Teste of the Lord Mayor to the Sheriffs of Kent and Essex for the Returning of Juries before him to inquire of Offences done in the River The same Right of the City appears also by Commissions whereof divers have been directed to the Lord Mayor to put in Execution the Acts of Parliament made for Conservance of the Thames and Medway and to inquire of all Offences made or done in the said Waters and to punish the Deliaquents accordingly Lastly He makes good the Right and Title of the City by the Continual Claim She has made thereunto as appears in those various Contests She had with the Lord Admiral of England wherein after divers Debates and Disputes She still came off well and made Her Title good Which moved King Jamts in the third Year of His Reign to put a Final Determination to the Business by the Letters Patents he passed unto the City wherein he saith That ad omnem Controversiam in hac parte Temporibus tam presentibus quam futuris tollendam omne Dubium amo vendam that to cut off all Controversies as well of the present times as of Future and to remove all Doubts he did Confirm and Ratifie the said Right unto the City of London c. I. This Office of Conservator of so Noble a River is of great Extent for he is to preserve the Currency of the stream on the Banks on both sides II. To preserve the Fish and Fry within the same that no Fishermen use unlawful Nets or Engines or fish at Prohibited Seasons III. To hinder the erection of any Weares Kiddles or Engines and the knocking in of any Posts Piles or Stake which may in any sort hinder the Stream or Navigation and to pull them up if already done and punish the Offenders also to prevent all incroachments upon the Rivers and the Banks thereof likewise to inquire of all Bridges Flood-Gates Mill-dams and such like Annoyances and whether any do hurl in any Soyl Dust or Rubbish or other Filth whatsoever to choak her But for the strength and safety of the River against the Invasion of an Enemy by Block-Houses Forts Bastions or Castles and the securing of the Merchant and Navigation to and fro that Charge belongs to the Soveraign Prince The former Charge Care and Circumspection belongs properly to the City of London which is Seated in a fit place to be watchful over her for which Vigilance the Thames Rewards the City abundantly by bringing her in the Spices of the South the Jewels of the East and the Treasures of the
the City in Ancient Times The first Passage I shall produce shall be out of Polydore Virgil Printed at Basil 1534. 147 years ago He saith thus Hoc 〈◊〉 successâ— Danus ferocior effectus Londinum quo 〈…〉 Etheldredum se recepisse mâ—tuâ— causa aggrediendum â—â—â—stituit Itaque c. Which in English is to this sence The Dane being grown more fierce by the success of his Affairs resolved to make his Approaches to London where he understood that Ethelred had retired having therefore prepared all things necessary for his Expedition he proceeds to beleaguer the City and begirt it round by this perillous Attempt either to terrifie the Enemy or try their Strength and Courage On the other side the Citizens although somewhat fearing the effect of so great a Storm yet considering that upon their case depended the General Fate of their Countrey and that this was the Principal City defended themselves bravely some sally out and others annoy the Besiegers from the Walls every one in all places striving to excel others in Bravery of Courage and Gallantry of Action At last though the Danes gave many stout and sharp Assaults yet the Valiant Londoners in Defence of their King notwithstanding the peril of such an Enterprize gather into a Body and set open the Gates and ran upon the Enemy with great Fury and Courage But the Dane whilst he encourages his men and was striving to compleat the Victory which he thought he was almost in possession of is incompassed and beset on all sides and his men slain in great numbers yet he breaks out through his Enemies Weapons and with the residue of his before huge but now Routed Army marching night and day arrives at Bath in two days c. So far he This happened almost sixty years before the Conquest in the days of Ethelred King Sweyne being then King of Denmark After the death of this Sweyne his Son Canutus afterwards King of England besieged London both by Land and Water but after much dangerous labour judging it impregnable by the obstinate Valour of the Defendants he departed but returned with greater Forces the same year and besieged the City again but the Citizens behaved themselves so gallantly and destroyed so many of his Souldiers that he was forced to betake himself to a shameful flight In the dissention between King Edward the Coâ—fessor and his Father-in-law Earl Godwyn which was the mightiest Subject within this Realm the Earl with great Army came to London yet was by the Citizens resisted till by means of the Nobility they were reconciled Seventy years after the Conquest Maud the Empress made War upon King Stephen for the Right of the Crown and had taken his Person Prisoner but by the Strength of the Londoners and Kentish-men she was routed at Winchester and her Brother Robert Earl of Glocester was taken in exchange for whom King Stephen was delivered In the year 1383 but Polidore Virgil says Anno 1581. about 4 R. II. and 298 years ago there fell out an Accident which created much disturbance in the Kingdom and particularly in London occasioned as I find Recorded in several Chronicles through the Rudeness of a Poll-money Collector who coming into the house of one John Tyler at Deptford in Kent demanded of his Wife Poll-money for her Husband her Self their Servants and Daughter the Woman alledges that the Daughter was not of Age to pay The rude Fellow said he would try that and by force immodestly turns up her Coats having in several places as was reported used the same trial the Mother makes an Out-cry and Neighbours run in her Husband being at work hard by and hearing the noise comes in with his Lathing-Staff in his hand for he was a Tyler with which after he had reasoned a while with the Collector who gave him provoking Language and strook at him he knock'd his Brains out and making his Appeal to the People who were apt to receive any occasion of Tumult he so incensed them with the help of a Factious Clergy-man one John Ball that the Commons from divers parts drew together and whether beginning in Kent or Essex they drew into their Faction the Commons of Sussex Hertfordshire Cambridgeshire Suffolk Norfolk and other Shires and apprehending all Passengers made them swear to be true to K. Richard and never to receive any King that should be called John which they did for the Envy they bore to John Duke of Lancaster Thus their Number still increased that by that time they were come so far as Black-Heath they were esteemed to be One hundred thousand They took upon them to cut off the Heads of all that professed the Law Justices of the Peace the Countrey Jarors and any person that they thought to be learned especially if they found any to have Pen and Ink they pull'd off his Hood and with one voice cry'd Hale him out and cut off his Head and it was immediately done They resolved to burn all Court-Rolls and Records with all old Monuments Their Chaplain John Ball a wicked Priest advised them to destroy all the Nobility and Clergy so that there should be no Bishop in England but one Archbishop which should be himself and that there should not be above two Religious persons in one house but that their Possessions should be divided among the Laity for which Doctrine they held him as a Prophet The King was at this time at Windsor but removed in all haste to the Tower of London to whom repaired the Archbishop of Canterbury Chancellor the Bishop of London the Prior of St. John Treasurer the Earls of Buckingham Kent Arundel Warwick Suffolk Oxford and Salisbury and others of the Nobility and Gentlemen to the number of 600. The Commons of Essex came on the other part of the River Thames From Black-Heath the Kentish Rebels came to Southwark and broke open the Prisons of the Marshalsea and the Kings-Bench with other Prisons and let out the Prisoners The Essex Rebels spoiled the Archbishop's house at Lambeth and burnt all the Goods with the Books Registers and Remembrances of the Chancery with several other Outrages Then they came to London over the Bridge and sent for one Richard Lyon a grave Citizen who had been Tyler's Master and struck off his Head carrying it upon a Pole in Triumph before them The next day they came to the Savoy the Duke of Lancaster's House which they set on Fire burning all the rich Furniture breaking in pieces Plate and Jewels to an extraordinary value and then throwing them into the Thames saying They were men of Justice and would not like Robbers enrich themselves with any mans Goods And when one of their Fellows was seen to convey a fair piece of Plate into his bosom they took him and threw him and that into the Fire Thirty two of them were got into the Dukes Wine-Cellar where they stay'd Drinking so long that they were not able to come out in time but were shut in with Wood and