of the Realm so much by Conqueâ—â— as on Conditions accordingly here 's mentiâ—â— made of one Grant The Occasion of Stephen's coming to the Crowâ— contrary to his own former Oath swore to Kiâ—â— Henry and in prejudice to Maud's Claim is Râ—corded by one Author to have been the Oath one Hugh Bâ—got sometime King Henry's Stewarâ— who swore that the Late King in his presence little before his Death chose this Stephen for 〈◊〉 Heir by reason that he had received some discoâ—tent at his Daughters hands Whereunto the 〈◊〉 giving easy Credence admitted him King 〈◊〉 Favour of the Londoners did doubtless at thâ— time conduâ—â— not a little to his advantage in pâ—â—ferring him an able Man before a weak Womaâ— For Stow's Annals inform us That he was receivâ—â— by the Londoners when he had been repulsed at â—ther Places certainly it redounded to his 〈◊〉 Benefit afterwards as hath been related before Another Addition of Strength might be his not imposing heavy Taxes upon the People which it may be increased their Love to him and made so many side with him As indeed we find upon his first Admission that he sware among other things before the Lords at Oxford to forgive his People the Tax of Danegelt Neither do I read of any Taxes that he raised upon the Commons It is affirmed positively in the Câ—llâ—ction of Wonders and Remarkable Passages that he raised none with which Stow likewise agrees So that a King 's needless laying of many heavy and grievous Taxes upon his People occasions him to lose much of their Love and his forbearing it when he hath Power in his hands unites his Subjects Hearts the faster to him But instead of Taxes we read of this Kings permission given to his Lords to build Castles or Fortresses upon their own Grounds Many whereof we find pulled down in the next King's time they having been the occasion of many Miseries in the Land and the ready means to foment Civil Wars therein which generally brings greater Damages to the Commonâ—lty than a few Impositions and Taxes can be presumed to do This King Stephen was twice Crowned but for what cause or for what intent is not so easily known whether it was that he thought his Imprisonment had diminished somewhat of his Royalty or else thinking by a second Coronation to â—lude the Force of the Oath made at the first I find not delivered Certain it is soon after my Author tells of his taking away a Castle from the Earl of Chester who before had appeared against him on Maud's side with a very considerable Strength but had been afterwards reconciled to the King But what is much more considerable we read not long after of the King 's new danger and ill Success and of his Party being weaken'd particularly by the loss of London For Duke Henry after King coming into England with a great Army after some small Success gets up to London and wins the Tower as much by Policy and fair Promiâ—es saith my Author as by Strength Then he had Opportunity enough to caress the Câ—tizens being so near them and it may be he got not the Tower without their Consert if not by their Affistance Hereby we find that he retrieved what his Mother's Haughtiness before had lost and so having got the City's Affection and Power he was in a fair way to obtain his Desires as he did not long after For we quickly read of Mediators and Treaties of Peace between these two Competitors which took Effect at last though the Interest and Policy of some hindered it for a time In Conclusion the King was fain to consent to the adopting the Duke his Heir so that he might Reign during his Life Which justly to perform the King being sworn with his Lords Spiritual and Temporal in the next place we hear of their riding up to London as if to bind the bargain it was requisite to ask the consent of that Honourable City whose Favour seems to have been of so great weight in those unsettled Times as to turn the Scales twice once in the King's behalf and erewhile on the Dukâ—'s Such was their Influence such their Power as to pull down and set up in a manner whom the Citizens pleased Happy was this Agreement to the Land by settling peace therein as beneficial likewise was it to the Duke it being a fair Step to the Throne whereon we find him mounted within a little time For not long after this Accord we hear of the King's Death Whether the Troubles of his Mind or Diseases of his Body brought him to his End vexation for the disappointment of his Designs in being after a sort compelled to adopt his Competitor his Enemy for his Son and Heir or Grief for the loss of London's Favour which helped to effect so great a Turn in his Affairs I shall not determine It might be one it might be the other or neither or all conjoyned that became the occasional Causes so to phrase it of his Death I like not to be very positive where I am not very certain Stephen's Death making thus way for Henry to ascend the English Throne he became one of the â—reatest Kings that ever ruled this Land for the Largeness and Extent of his Territories if we reckon the Inheritance he enjoyed from his Father the Land he held by the Title of his Mother the Dowry he had with his Wife and what he obâ—ained by the Success of his Arms Yet notwithâ—tanding all this he lived not free from Troubles â—nd intestine Broils which sprung much out of his â—wn Bowels So that the Glory of his Youth beâ—an somewhat to be eclipsed by the Misfortunes of â—is elder Years He Crowned his eldest Son liâ—ing King sometime before the middle of his â—eign to the end as one Author affirms that he â—ight have full Power and Authority to rule this â—and and People while his Father was busied in â—ther Countrys where some of his Lands lay This â—ight be one Reason but the King having learnt 〈◊〉 experience to his Mother's Loss and his own â—ost how easy it was for Stephen to attempt and â—ain the Crown being present on the Spot while â—â—e right Heir was far distant in the vacancy of the â—hrone may be supposed in his intent to have designed the hinderance of such an Intrusion for the future by Crowning the next Heir King while he himself lived I read that Stephen had some such design to have Crowned his Son King in his own days as he declared at a Parliament called at London An. Reg. 17 to have fixt the Crown the surer to his Posterity But the Bâ—shops refused the Deed Which I do not find they did so much out of Conscience or in Favour to Mâ—â—d's Title as by the Command forsooth of the Pope who in those days was very apt to be clapping his Fingers into almost everâ— ones Pye where he thought any good pickinâ— might be had This King Henry got but little by Crowning
into his own Country there were hopes doubtless 〈◊〉 a happy peace to ensue and long to continue But seems those hopes were soon blasted For the 〈◊〉 next year viz. the 15 we read of the late agrâ—â— peace's being violated and broken by the King 〈◊〉 according to my Author persevering in his wroâ—â— would in no wise be induc'd to hold his own graâ—â— but to execute all things after pleasure nothing â—â—ter Law and Justice These violations produc'd new War between King John and his Nobles 〈◊〉 ended not till after the Kings Death So troublesâ—â— was it to the Nation so dangerous to the King 〈◊〉 he should have such ill Ministers about him 〈◊〉 were either authors or followers of no better adviâ—â— then what could not consist with the Kings keepiâ—â— his Royal Word That the Sheep were made 〈◊〉 for the Shepheard to clip shear pill and slay at own will and pleasure is a Doctrine that the 〈◊〉 quiet innocent harmless Sheep would no longer â—â—â—lingly assent to than while the Knife is held at 〈◊〉 throat how acceptable soever it may be to the 〈◊〉 Wolves and the degenerate Dogs of the 〈◊〉 When King John found himself too weak to â—â—tend with his Barons and yet it seems by the 〈◊〉 not willing enough to keep to his former 〈◊〉 he sent beyond Sea and call'd in strangers his Assistance We read that Northfolk and 〈◊〉 were the Lands promised to those strangers 〈◊〉 would come over to aid the King who had a little â—efore got the Pope to disannul the aforesaid Charter â—nd liberties granted ere while by him and excommuâ—icate the Barons We have mention made in Stow 〈◊〉 or 3 times of strangers coming over So many of â—hem were cast away at one time by Tempest who â—ere coming over Men Women and Children that â—â—'s said of 4000 not one escap'd alive So that we â—ay observe 't is an old trick to call in Foreigners â—pon the Natives when Arbitrary designs are on 〈◊〉 When the King was found to have invited â—trangers to his aid the Lords also sent into France â—or help and succour When two Women fall a scolâ—ing and pulling one anothers head-cloths whoever â—â—rst began the fray it is much but both will be in â—â—ult before it end London was the place where the â—ords kept themselves together till the expected aid â—nd succour from beyond Sea was brought to them â—nder Lewis the French Kings Son who landing 〈◊〉 England with a strong Army came afterwards to London and was there received Hence he with the Lords departing won many Castles in the Land and 〈◊〉 their return had the Tower of London given up to â—hem by appointment Tho the Tower held long for â—he King yet 't was the City it seems that bare the â—way and adhered to the Lords What a strength â—â—ey were of we may observe out of Stow where â—ing John is said to have made hast to besiege Lonâ—on but the Londoners were hereby so little daunted â—hat they set open their Gates and were ready to meet â—im ten miles off the City whereupon the King withâ—rew understanding their boldness and multitude â—hen the Major Roger Fitz. Alwyn was accused to be â—â—vourable to the Kings Party we find him quickly â—ischarg'd of his Office and one Serle Mercer chosen 〈◊〉 his place so great was the favour of the Citizens to the Barons and their Cause that they spar'd not their own head Officer and Ruler when he lay under thâ— suspicion of favouring Arbitrary designs so contrary to the mind of the Citizens The War still continuing and King John being not able to prevail tho thâ— Pope interceded by his Legaâ—e he had at last â—â— some writes all his Arbitrary designs quench'd with a Cup of Poyson at Swinstead Abby about Lincoln Tho another Author is said to affirm that he died â—â— the flux at another place Soon after this unhappy unfortunate King John death we meet with an eminent instance of Englisâ— mens Loyalty as well as of their love of liberty anâ— freedom for though the King and his Lords were 〈◊〉 so great a difference most of the latter part of hiâ— Reign and he left the Throne and his life at such 〈◊〉 time when his Barons were likely in outward appearance to be much too strong for him his his survâ—ving Heir being but then a Child of about 9 years 〈◊〉 age Yet as if all rancour and animosity against thâ— King and his Party was dead and buried with him 〈◊〉 his Grave the wheel of affairs was so turn'd as 〈◊〉 were in an instant that Lewis and his strangers weâ—â— disgusted and the young Fatherless Prince was proclaim'd and Crown'd King of the Land at an agâ— wherein he was not fit to be left to his own guidanâ—â— without a Tutor It 's plain enough by this instancâ— that English hearts were more loyal than naturallâ— to desire the ruine of their Prince and his Family 〈◊〉 at any time they appear'd in Arms against him in defence of their Lives Liberties and Freedoms hoâ— ready have they shewed themselves to accord anâ— submit as soon as those men of ill Principles and Aâ—bitrary practices were remov'd from their Princâ— who had rais'd those clouds of discontent betweeâ— him and his People The chief of those that so soon returned to their Allegiance were the powerful Earls of Pembroke and Chester who drew with them a very considerable reâ—inue They may be probably thought to hope to â—â—nfuse better Principles into their young Prince in his Nonage than appeared by former Arbitrary actions â—o have been in his Father and so model the Goâ—ernment into a better frame in the time of that powâ—r they were as the chief Nobles most likely to â—ave under the King in his younger days Neither â—o I know but somwhat might proceed from reâ—orse of Conscience The Earl of Chester in the 2d â—ear of the Kings Reign taking his journey into the Holy-Land the Religion of those times having made â—hat the usual way of Expiation Some such intent of â—he Earl stands likewise upon record in one of the Chronicles saith my Author Another very probaâ—le occasion of this sudden change of Affairs in the Kingdom may be supposed to have risen from the Death-bed confession of a French Nobleman who 〈◊〉 reported to have discovered Lewis's intent to 〈◊〉 destroy and quite root out those English Lords â—hat adhered to him as if in detestation of their disâ—oyalty to their own natural English Soveraign When â—he Barons came once to find that he whom they â—ad called in to defend them against their Kings Arâ—itrariness intended to violate and break their Coâ—enants established at first between them when he â—ould come to have opportunity and so turn their â—â—plored aid into their certain destruction they â—ight well think they had reason enough to disclaim 〈◊〉 Alliance and endeavour to frustrate his privy inâ—â—ntions by returning to their former Allegiance as 〈◊〉 as a fit season presented it self Conditional
then thought unpardonable by the Londoners who in words and deeds espoused the Queen's Cause seis'd on the Tower of London and kept it for the Queens use and not long afterwards received her into their City with great Joy and Honour A demonstrative evidence in my opinion of the City's strength and power For if London when she pleas'd could maintain the King's peace in the midst of Arms as was shewn above so inviolably as that none dar'd in opposition to break it and afterwards in the very same age and within the compass of half a dozen years did actually assert the Qeens cause and assist her in her proceedings as was pretended for Reformation of the Realm tho the Consequence thereof was in truth the unfortunate Kings resignation what greater instance can there be to shew her great influence upon the whole Nation in those unsetled times London having so visibly appeared in favour of the Queen the Prince and his party and contributed so much towards this notable revolution of affairs we have no reason to think but that out of Common gratitude her Citizens were to be aboundantly rewarded and that they themselves out of self interest and natural Prudence would so well and wisely look to their own affairs as to make hay while the Sun shines to the procuring new grants and Graces and so accordingly we find the event For in the first year of Edward the third Fabian tells us he confirmed the Liberties and Franchizes of the City making the Major Chief Justice in all places of Judgment within the same next the King every Alderman that had been Major Justice of Peace in London and Midlesex and such as had not been Justice in his own Ward Granting them also the Fee-farm of London for three hundred pounds and that they should not be constrained to go out of the City to â—o fight or defend the Land for any need A priviledge greater than what was claimed as their liberty in his Fathers days when unwilling to engage against the Queen and Prince they refused not to go out on condition of returning the same day as is related before But the most beneficial of all the grants was that the Franchises of the City should not be seized into the Kings hands but only for Treason or Rebellion done by the whole City It having before been a Common thing to have their Liberties seized on as hath been plainly manifested in the Precedent Relation on almost every petty disgust conceived by the Court against them were it but for the pretended offence of a particular Officer or for mony alledged to be owing by the City to some great ones at Court or some such like small trivial pretence But now at this time they took such care to have their Liberties setled and secured by this Royal Grant that it may be thought almost if not wholly a thing impossible for the City to forfeit her Charter and have it justly according to that grant taken from her The bringing of Southwark under the Rule of the City and the power allowed their Major to appoint such a Bailiff there as liked him best was a very advantagious favour at the same time by this King Edward bestowed on London but not comparable with the former grant which may most deservedly be esteemed Paramount to all others A particular Officer may offend and oftentimes does nay many may but for a City a whole City so great and glorious a City as London Traiterously to Rebel and so forfeit all her Liberties Priviledges and Franchises at one clap seems to me so great a contradiction as to imply little less than an Impossibility in Nature not to go a step or two higher This King being one of the most powerful Princes of his time and in the strength of his age very succesful in his Wars against the French King 't is not for us hastily to imagine there was any occasion given for so wise and good a King to contest with his Subjects much less with his Loyal Citizens We are rather to expect to hear of the City's Triumphs and glory the Joy and rejoyceing wherewith she often received her Victorious King returning Conquerour from France the frequent Justings Tiltings and Tournaments shewn thereat for his Recreation and entertainment the Wealth Riches and Ability of her head Officers whereof one to Londons great glory is said to have sumptuously feasted four Kings at once in the thirty first of this Kings Reign besides the famous Black Prince many Noble Knights and others to whom with the King he gave many Rich Gifts the splendor of the Citizens in general oâ— publick occasions and the harmonious concord of all in their own private and particular concerns relating more especially to the Cities good order and Government This King may be supposed too great and too good either to create or to permit differences and discord at home He had wherewithal to exercise his Wisdom and valour abroad in forreign Countries and such success too in his Enterprizes as might make him both feared and beloved by his Subjects at one and the same time Yet notwithstanding such still was Londons power strength and resolution to maintain her Liberties that this Victorious Prince Conquerour over others having sent out Justices into the Shires to make enquiry about his Officers offences and delinquences and the City of London not suffering as Stow tells us any such Officers to sit as Justices in their City as Inquisitors of such matters contrary to their Liberties he thought good rather to appoint those Justices their Sessions in the Tower for Inquisition of the damages of the Londoners and they refusing unless conditionally to answer there and a tumult thereupon arising among the meaner sort claiming their Liberties he esteemed it greater prudence to wave the Justices sitting as to that place and forgive all offences than to enter into a contest with such powerful tho Loyal Subjects as the Londoners were and such undaunted assertors of their own rights priviledges franchises and liberties For as 't is plain the City was very potent so we may as certainly perhaps conclude the Citizens no less suspicious of any thing done under the shadow of this Kings Authority if but looking towards the least breach of their Priviledges as the Commons of England in general seem to have appeared jealous of their Common liberty when upon this Kings laying claim to the Kingdom of France they procured a Law whereby it was enacted that the King should not Rule England as King of France and so Subject them to the insolencies of a fellow-Subjects Deputyship Would you know what esteem and respect the house of Commons in this King's reign had for â—he City Look in Cotton's abridgment of the Records â—n the Tower and there you may find the Commons â—ver and anon petitioning the King that the City â—f London may enjoy all her Liberties and the King's â—nswers generally to such petitions seem rather to â—rant than
know not of a certainty as not â—â—ding it mention'd in the History Possibly there â—ere none or at least they prov'd very ineffectual â—hich I the rather conclude because that when 〈◊〉 had made malitious Rhymes upon the Duke 〈◊〉 fastned them up in divers parts of the City â—â—other remedy was found out against them but haply as inefficacious viz. a Sentence of Excommunication at the Dukes request to the Bishops pronounced against them publickly by the Bishop of Bangor the Aldermen of the City assisting him To be Excommunicated did carry somewhat of terror with it in England in those Popish times among the vulgar and might probably again should Providence for our offences ever suffer Popery to be brought back into the Land but among Protestants and knowing understanding men Excommunication upon every slight account and trifling pretext is of little value esteem or regard and no more dreaded perhaps by some than 't was by Rablais when he beg'd it as a great boon of the Pope because the poor Country Woman thought her Faggot Excommunicated when she could not make it burn Besides these Indignities put upon the Duke at London in at and after the aforesaid Tumult of the Common people we are told also that all such as wore the Dukes Sign or Colours were fain to hide them conveying them into their bosoms so great a feaâ— and dread had seiz'd upon their Spirits Whether these Colours were Parsons Black True Blew Flourishing Green Orange Tawny or Blood Red the Historian hath not so far gratified us aâ— punctually to set down in his Relation of theâ—â— transactions But if I might have leave to pasâ— my Verdict herein I should be apt to conjecturâ— them to have been at least for the most part 〈◊〉 by the Red-letter'd people What sad Prognosticks may we think our Almanack-makers aâ— star-gazers then gave of the times when the saw England so likely to fall into such Feuds Factionâ— and disorders as those of the Guelphs and Gibelineâ— But one good turn 't is that Astrogolers Prognostications use commonly to be like the Popish Oracles old Almanacks soon out of date The City could much sooner influence the Nation than they could make the Stars influence the City in favour of the Dukes cause How the Citizens of London oppos'd the Duke we have seen but he is resolved it seems to shew his bitter resentments upon the next opportunity and accordingly after the Duke had obtain'd his desires of the two Houses of Parliament viz. A Poll-Bill or Tax of all the heads in the whole Realm he caused the King to send for the Major Aldermen and Sheriffs of London who soon came before him then very ill at ease as they were ordered into his Chamber of Presence where after the usual Ceremonies over past a certain Knight of the Court endeavoured by his Ciceronian Rhetorick and the Eloquence of his Oration to perswade the Citizens to confess their great and hainous offences against the King â—nd Duke and to submit themselves to their Mercy See here the Kings Name must be brought â—n right or wrong or else the Dukes cause and â—retensions would signify little But the Londoners were not so to be caught For they answered they had not Conspired against the Duke neiâ—her had there been any shameful thing spoken or done against him that they did know of or conâ—ent unto which they were ready to prove before their Soveraign Lord the King and the Duke â—imself The folly of the Common people they â—ffirm'd they could not stay and therefore requestâ—d of the King that he would not punish those â—hat were innocent and ignorant of the Fact but withal promised the Duke for Reverence of the King observe this that they would endeavour to bring in the Common people and compel them by Law to make due satisfaction and more said they we are not able to do for the Duke that may be to his Honour Not able to do more why What would his faction have had them to have done Was his favour to have been purchas'd at no less a price than an intire Resignation of all they had Bodies and Souls Lives Liberties and Estates at Discretion Must they have deny'd their senses and their reason too in charging themselves with what they neither sayd nor did felt heard nor understood to avoid Scandala Magnatum's and the Arbitrary Finâ—â— of byass'd Juries Leave we such Terms of accommodation to the insulting power and Pride oâ— Prelatical Consciences to impose upon their underling Curates Such is the continued cause of difference between the Molinists and Jansenists in France while one side fairly offers to disallow certain displeasing Propositions either by themselves or as Jansenius's if shewn to them in hiâ— works and the other party as pertinaciously insists upon their rejecting them as his becausâ— the Pope hath so condemned them Glad we may easily suppose the Londoners were when dismiss'd upon their aforesaid Answerâ— But it seems the Court was not yet satisfied 〈◊〉 afterwards we read of the Kings sending them 〈◊〉 Command secretly to call all the Citizens together and having made a Wax Candle with thâ— Dukes Arms in it to carry it solemnly in Procession to Saint Pauls there to burn continually 〈◊〉 the Cities charges which was accordingly performed by the chiefest and richest of the Citizens the meaner commonalty disdaining to be present at such a procession and therefore with indignation departing home when they heard the business and knew the occasion of their being call'd together But neither did this condescention of the greatest give the Duke content he threatned them look't upon it as a reproach and took it in great scorn that they had offer'd thus his Arms in a Wax Taper while he was alive and in good health notwithstanding they affirm'd they had expresly done that which his Father the King had Commanded them and would have done any thing that might have pleased him i. e. in reason For peace and quietness sake possibly and out of respect to the Kings Majesty they would not have refus'd the trouble of putting forth a few honorary Proclamations nor denied him the Complement of a volley or two of Holla's and Huzza's if that would have pleas'd But this did not answer the Dukes Expectations nor satisfie his Ambitious desires they knew he sayd his mind and were not ignorant how to make satisfaction Ay there 't was He would have us sayd the troubled Citizens amongst themselves Proclaim him King but this shall never be done and so they parted worse friends than they were before So much ado was there with one proud haughty Duke most injuriously aspiring to the Crown to the prejudice of his better belov'd Nephew whose claim title and right had been sometime before if I mistake not in my reckoning settled expresly by the Parliament or at least he had been declar'd by his Grand-Father his Heir and Lawful Successor Yet this the Ambitious Uncle thought probably easily to have evaded and
deluded though besides the affections and contrary to the inclination of the rest of the Nation could he but have prevailed upon the Londoners by threats or fair words to have sided with him But their opposition quite spoil'd the Game and kept the Duke off the Cushion a Duke stil so Tryumphant were they in Power Prudence and Loyalty Wherefore to satisfie his restless reven geful Spirit the Duke ceas'd not till he had got the old Major put out and a new one Elected the Aldermen depos'd and others set in their places So little did their late Complicance and humble Procession avail them while the Commonalty remain stiff firm and unshaken as well by the Dukes power and greatness as by his Threats and Menaces He had gain'd a great Ascendent over the weak Kings affections but yet for all that could not sway this Honourable City to his Interests and the Interest of his then prevalent Faction at Court The Citizens Loyalty is plainly shewn beyond denial in Couragiously adhering to the Juster claim and Title of the abus'd Nephew and preferring his Birthright before the Pretensions of his Uncle who Ruling the King and those about him thought also to have over-rul'd the City too Their Prudence is manifest in that they wisely chose to yield many things to the times for peace sake but when neck and all was in danger they would not budg a foot nor stir one step further to humour all the Dukes in Kent or Christendom Neither is their power less conspicuous who not only dar'd but did oppose this high minded Duke in the Days of his Visible Grandeur and prov'd a match by far too hard for him For in a short time comes the News of the Old Kings â—â—ing at the point of Death and presently we have the Londoners sending the chiefest and worthiest of their Citizens to the young Prince and his Mother then Resident not far from the City declaring their ready minds and good wills to accept him for their true and Lawful King upon â—is Grand-Fathers Decease beseeching him on the behalf of the Citizens and City of London that he would have the City Recommended to his good Grace submitting themselves only to â—is Rule and bowing to his Will and Pleasure â—nder his Dominion to serve in Word and Deed as being known to be so much at his Devotion as not only ready to spend their Goods and Eâ—â—ates for his sake but also to jeopard their lives â—n his behalf as Stow expresses it in John Philâ—â—ts Oration in the beginning of the life and Reign of King Richard the second who was thus â—o undeniably setled in the Throne of his Fore-â—athers by the Cities apparent interest and viâ—ible influence upon the Councels of the Nation in that great turn and change of affairs The Cities power seems plainly demonstrated give me therefore leave to bring one instance more of their wisdom caution and prudence in these dangerous because unsetled times before I pass â—n to other particulars The young King being â—hus entred upon the Government it was thought good by the King or those about him to have â—ome care taken to accommodate former differences especially such as had hapned between this potent Duke and the more powerful City Wherefore several persons of Eminency were speedily sent to London to salute the Citizens in the new King's name and acquaint them how the Duke in all things had submitted himself to the Kings will 't was time for 't is certain he had lost the day though not perhaps his high-tow'ring Ambition and that they should do so in like manner and then the King would endeavour a Reconciliation to the City's honour and advantage Fair words and large promises But the worthy Citizens were not Birds to be caught with chaff much less to be hamper'd in a Noose of their own making They were for no Resignations it seems at Discretion though to the dearest Friend alive They knew the King to be but young and weak to help them in such a troublesome business if they should so heedlesly desert their own Cause and put the staff out of their own hands by their own Consent They had enemies enough still they might think at Court as long as the Duke was there and his flattering favourites who might possibly over-rule at least if not over-aw the King to their prejudice should they render all they had at pleasure into his hand by their own voluntary Act and Deed when as they knew themselves well able to defend their liberties and properties in a legal way without hazarding them upon so intire a submission as was required without Reserve Wherefore upon consultation this Medium was at length found out that if the noble persons sent to them with that message would be bound to the Citizens that their submission should not redound to the temporal loss or bodily harm of any Citizen or prejudice of their City they would gladly obey the King's Commandment This those eminent persons of quality undertook by Oath and upon their Knighthood And so upon this surety away go the Citizens to Court and being soon brought before the King besought him as the Annalist words it to reform the peace betwixt the Duke and them affirming that they were ready in all things to submit themselves unto his will and pleasure not as though they confessed they had made any fault against the Duke consider this but as men that came at this time for the benefit of peace and honour as well to the King as the Duke to pacifie the hearts and mitigate the pleasure of both That this was their intent is evident enough from their own request before made to the King that he would vouchsafe to make a good and profitable end of this discord For that they fear'd not the Duke is most certain from the precedent passages and that they were all of a suddain fallen deeply in love with him and his party I can hardly believe No no They love the Nephew too well to dote upon the Uncle and may they always be so minded upon a good account The Citizens having thus prudently though we see not without great caution referr'd themselves to the King the Duke readily accepted of this form of peace as not hoping possibly for such an other opportunity nor expecting so honourable Conditions a second time if refus'd the first and upon his knees became Intercessor to the King to take the cause in hand under the form by the Londoners expressed and so a Reconciliation was made between these two contesting Parties the Duke with an Oath promising them his friendship for the future and in token thereof bestowing a kiss of peace upon each of them before the King at the same time Whereupon the Citizens return'd home with joy and gladness rejoycing that the Duke was brought to such humility who a little before had in great Pride demanded of them for his favour an hundred Hogsheads of Wine and an infinite number of precious
of his Disposition weakness of his Judgment or fondness of 〈◊〉 Affection grounded mostly on humour anâ— fancy having grasp'd all publick affairs in Church and State into their own hands too too oft make no better use thereof than to Hector over those who were before their Superiours suppress their Equals oppress their Inferiors and inslave the poor Commons the easier thereby to raise themselves and their own Families upon other mens ruins When these things happen and the reins of Government fall into such men's hands the rich are sure to be the greatest sufferers and such as have most of this Worlds goods are certain to be most watch'd and carpt at and all opportunities greedily laid hold on to bring them under the Lash that they may be squeez'd like Spunges and large sums exacted of them to buy out their Pardons and procure forgiveness till another occasion offer it self to make them be thought Offenders anew of this London sufferings in the fifteenth of this King are attesting proofs For the Londoners having refus'd to lend the King mony as was requested and some abuses being offer'd to the Merchant Stranger that proffered to lay it down Stow tells us the King was marvellously inrag'd hereat and calling a Council of his Nobles at Stamford causes the Mayor Sheriffs and best of the Citizens to be Arrested and afterwards the Mayor and Sheriffs being depos'd sends them to several Prisons there to be kept till he and his Council had consider'd and decreed what should be done with them and it was also further determined that from thenceforth the Londoners should not chose nor have any Mayor but that the King should appoint one of his Knights to be Ruler of the City their Priviledges were revok'd their Liberties disannull'd and their Laws abrogated Neither was this all The Terms likewise and the Courts of Kings Bench Common-pleas Chancery c. Were remov'd from London to York such was the displeasure conceiv'd against them by the King or the ill Offices done them by some busie Courtiers about him For Fabian gives us another account of this affair and says the occasion arose from a contest between the Citizens and the Bishop of Salisburies Servants about one of their fellow Servants who had taken a Loaf out of a Bakers basket openly in the streets and then broke his head with his Dagger for attempting to regain it which grew so high the Citizens striving to have the offender seiz'd on and Committed to Ward and the Bishops Servants rescuing him and shutting up their Gates that the Mayor Aldermen and Sheriffs had much ado by their perswasion presence and Authority to stop further outrages and contain the multitude within bounds though at last they effected it and dismis'd the people home in peace and quietness But the angry Bishop so highly resented this business notwithstanding the fault sprung Originally out of his own House that he and the Arch-Bishop of York incens'd the King all they could against the Londoners even so far that one expresly affirms he was once resolv'd to have utterly ruin'd and destroy'd the whole City A very sharp punishment certainly for such an offence and for a City publickly endow'd with such transcendent Grants and Priviledges as not to be lyable to a just legal seizure of her Liberties and Franchises unless for Treason or Rebellion done by the whole City as hath been before observ'd in the first of Edward the third and the seventh of this present King Now how Treason or Rebellion could be justly charg'd upon the whole City at this time and in these instances which soever of them we give credit to I cannot well conceive The most methinks that could be made of it in the worst construction could amount no further than a Riot notwithstanding the great and hainous matters laid unto the Mayors charge though not a syllable prov'd that I read of as that he no otherwise Rul'd the City but suffered the Citizens to make such assaults upon the Kings head Officers to the Kings great dishonour and hazard of the Kings Treasure then in his Custody The Statute of the twenty fifth of Edward the third which makes it Treason to slay the Treasurer must surely have been very far stretched to have brought the whole City within the compass thereof because some of the meaner Citizens assaulted the Treasurers House upon an injustice first done by one and â—n affront afterwards offered by others of his own Servants in refusing to deliver the Offender or â—uffer the Constable to enter to seize him he himself being as many Miles distant at that time as Windsor is from London and so not capable of receiving then the least injury in his own person â—uch less to be kill'd out-right without which no Treason lies in the Case upon this Act. But if â—he King and Council would have it so or at least â—ct as if it were so contrary to an establish'd â—aw and his own Grand-Fathers grant who â—ould who would who durst contradict Here â—as no Parliament then Sitting that I read of â—o House of Commons in Being nor Lords erough present their Friends to stave off the first brunt though at length we hear of a Reconciliation depending before a Parliament was call'd and that too by the mediation of powerful Friends some of them no less than the Principal Lords besides the Queen her self Baker and Stow name the Duke of Gloucester the Kings Uncle who was ever reputed by the Commons a great Friend and Patriot to his Country and his untimely end afterwards severely reveng'd on the Actors and Contrivers thereof and made the occasional cause of enraging the People against the King himself who within few years after the aforesaid Dukes violent Death was publickly dethron'd by such as under the popular pretence of reforming ill Government aim'd at their own Advancement to the chiefeâ—â— Honours Preferments and Dignities in Church and State Through this Noble Peer's Suit and Mediation among others we hear the King was somewhat pacified and by little and little abated the rigour of his purpose calling to mind the divers honours and great gifts he had received of the Londoners as certainly the securing his right to the Crown against the ambitious pretensions of his aspiring Uncle and thâ— defending his Life and Person from the furiouâ— Outrages of his mutinous Commons were no mean pieces of Service done him by them whereupon he determined to deal more mildly with them and gives them hopes of Grace and Pardon Fabian tells us of a Reverend Bishop a Spiritual Lord that joyn'd with the Queen 〈◊〉 procure the Kings favour for them and 〈◊〉 their Liberties restor'd them again That the Queen did successfully interceed in their behalf we may perhaps not without some shew of reason conclude from the many great rich and costly Presents made her by the Citizens at the Kings publick entrance into the City about the latter end of August in the same Summer Nay one Writer goes
slightness of their thin-spun pretences and weakness of their groundless Imputations A pretty device to make Riots and Insurrections and then accuse the contrary Party of them as if they had been so Fanatical as tumultuously to meet together vi armis without any Arms about them or Weapons in their hands to disturb the Kings Peace and with no worse design than the Warrant of annual Customs whereon some in an unheard of manner without Law or Reason and contrary to common sence intruded to deprive them of the benefit thereof Out of the forementioned Monkish Writer Stow tells us of an Army of Twenty Five Thousand that were to have met Sir John in St. Giles's Fields and yet for all this great Cry we find not One Hundred taken though he affirms Sixty Nine of them to be condemn'd of Treason upon such kind of proofs perhaps as these whereon the Composer of Sir Walter Rawleigh's Life makes him to have been found Guilty of Treason in the First of King James for which he had the honour to be Beheaded about Forty Years after upon his Return from his unsuccessful Guyana Voyage and Thirty Seven Hang'd But the Record out of the Kings-Bench the most authentick Evidence mentions only That Sir John Oldcastle and others to the number of Twenty Men call'd Lollards at St. Giles did conspire to Subvert the State of the Clergy this it seems then was the principal Offence the rest Aggravations without which the Scales could not have been well weigh'd down and to Kill the King and his Brother and other Nobles as any English Reader may see in Cottons Abridgment at the afore-cited Parliament of the Fifth of this King Where now are any good grounds for this malicious Out-cry upon the Dissenting Wicklivists for Traiterous Plotters and Conspirators And what 's become of the great Army that Fame and Report had Rais'd But perhaps the Inn-keepers in the adjacent Hamlets and neighbouring Villages were not only their familiar Friends but intimate Acquaintance as Mr. Bags ingenuity to the elevating and surprizing of our Minds hath taught us to express it how otherwise this Achilles and his dreadful Army of Mirmidons could have continued thus unseen and slipt away in Disguise seems not reconcileable to Sence and Reason And yet how such great Numbers could have lain hid within the compass of a Readmote or have been put like Homers Iliads in a Nut-shell is a thing that passeth all my understanding to conceive If ever such a thing was as doubtless it never hapned in Europe nor amongst either our antient or modern Reformers certainly then this unconceivable Wonder must have fell out in the Reign of Queen Dick King of no Lands upon the Terra incognita of some other of the Fairy Islands bordering upon Vtopia where Prince Oberon and Queen Mab liv'd in dayly dread and fear of King Arthur Sir Lancelot and Sir Tristram and the rest of the Knights of his round Table or miserably perplext themselves every hour and minute with needless Scruples Jealousies and Suspicions about the unimagin'd Designs of the Noble Duke Ogier to advance himself and his little Mervine who afterwards did such heroick Exploits upon the Souldan of Babylon and his bloody cut-throat Army of Sarazens when he turn'd to the Assistance of the famous Câ—arlemain and his Peers But laying aside these idle Stories of the Monkish Romancers I pass on from our famous win-All Henry of Monmouth to the unfortunate English lose-All Henry of Windsor a far better Man than King as being more intentive upon the Devotions of the Times than the Government of his Realm and better skill'd in his Beads than his Scepter and therefore seems rather cut out for a Priest than a Prince In this Kings Minority while such great States-men and Patriots as his most renowned Uncles Bedford and Gloucester sate at the Helm and steadily Steer'd the Ship of the Common-Wealth one by his Arms the other by his Arts Honour and Renown attended upon the English Banners in France and the Land at Home in peace and quietness Flourished under the benign Influence of their successful Councels for the most part free from civil Broils and Commotions King Henry being in actual Possession of both Crowns under the conduct of such noble and worthy Directors But when Death had snatch'd away one from his Regency in France and the other was dismist from his Protectorship in England through the course of time The King being grown in Years and come to ripeness of Age though not it seems to such a degree of understanding as might capacitate him to act the part of a King further than in Name and Shew his Affairs in forreign Parts soon went miserably to wrack and being turn'd out of almost all beyond Sea deadly Fewds and Annimosities the usual attendants of ill Success abroad encreast so fast at Home between the Nobles and great Persons of the Realm and such intestine Jars sprung up in the Nation that after many Battles fought and much Royal Blood spilt the York Party prevail'd over the Lancastrians and the poor King himself though the Miracle of Age for Devotion lost his Crown Life and All at last Whether 't was purely the ill success abroad or the ill management of the State at home the unhappy Fate attending the Kings Matching with Queen Margaret to the breach of a former Contract or the unseasonable stirring of her and her accomplices to Suppress Ruine and Root out the other Party whereby they were compell'd for their own Security to link themselves together in the strictest bonds of Confederacy and stand continually upon their own Guard Whether the weakness of the King or the restless Spirit of the Queen too Active for her Sex The much resented Death of the Duke of Glocester or the subtle Arts and Devices of the Duke of York into the particulars whereof I will not now descend as being the Subject of a distinct Treatise by it self and the Popularity of the great Earl of Warwick Whether 't was any of these single or all of them joyntly concurring or rather the over-ruling Providence of an Almighty Being that made this strange Alteration in the Face of things to the dethroning of one Prince the most devoted of his time to religious Exercises and exalting of another as much given to Women as the former to Religion whereby the White Rose overtopt the Red Certain it is the City of London had a great Influence upon these Transactions and the favour the Citizens bore to the Duke of York and his Party contributed highly to the advancing of his Interest above the King Regnants if they were not the only grand causes under Heaven that produc't such wonderful and stupendious Effects This the more clearly to demonstrate I shall not oblidge my self exactly to trace the whole Series of State affairs through the following Princes Reigns nor over-scrupulously confine my self to the Life of this or that King distinctly and apart But design to
redounded so much to his own advantage and the Interest of the York Family which he had for a long time before espoused by the favour he gained thereby among the Commons of the Realm in general and of the City in particular For when he came to London the Analist informs us he kept such an House that six Oxen were eaten at a Breakfast and every Tavern was full of his Meat and whoso had any acquaintance in his House might have had as much Sodden and Rost as he might carry upon a long Dagger All this notwithstanding when upon disgust and discontent he had turned to the other side and became a favourer of the Lancastrians he was never the less disappointed in his aims and expectations from the Londoners For though by his turning sides the York Party had been once routed King Edward taken Prisoner and King Henry resettled once more on the Throne and he had in a manner the whole power of the Land in his hands besides the general Love and Affection the Commons bore to him and the dread and terror the sound of his Name oft struck into his Enemies Hearts it having in effect altered the Fortune and turned the Scales in two Battels one in King Henry's days for the Yorkists another in King Edwards for the Lancastrians yet upon the return of King Edward from beyond Sea whither he had some time before escaped out of Custody into England to recover his Inheritance and regain his Crown and the News of his Marching up to London both sides saith Baker seeking to make the City their Friends the Citizens backwardness to take up Arms in Defence of Old King Henry his Crown and Dignity and inclination to Young King Edward was so apparent that Warwicks own Brother the Arch-bishop of York distrusting the Event secretly sought King Edwards Favour he himself was received into London King Henry was redelivered unto him and the Great Warwick slain not long after at Barnet in a pitch'd Battell to the utter Ruin of the Lancastrian Party for that Age the consequence of this overthrow being enough to read them their succeeding ill Fate at Tewksbury they themselves having sufficient Cause to be daunted with the loss of their most powerful friends and favourers and the Yorkists to be flush'd with their Success in gaining so important a Victory As the Citizens continued thus favourable to the King so I don't find them them chang'd and alter'd in ther Inclinations to the other side till some of the Yorkists themselves by their own hands began to loose and untye those Bonds of Amity Friendship and Fidelity the Late King's Children being dispossest by his own Brother the Duke of Gloucester and the Earl of Richmond the surviving hopes of the Lancastrians had openly declar'd his Intentions and solemnly Sworn to marry King Edward's Eldest Daughter the rightful Heir of all the Yorkists Greatness which afterwards was as honourably as honestly perform'd whereby both Families became united in one Line and the two Roses happily inoculated each upon the other The expression I hope the ingenious Society of Gardiners and Florists will pardon me if harmlesly guilty of an absurdity in translating the term from fruits to flowers Did the Citizens of London appear so zealously on the Yorkists behalf and yield such powerful assistance to carry on their designs What other than can we expect with reason but that King Edward behaved himself very gratefully towards that City which Espoused his flaughtered Fathers Cause against even the Governing Party and contributed so considerably to his own Restauration Though it is but too commonly seen that as mean services are but meanly recompenced or else wholly ' slighted add forgotten so an excess of merit too great to be rewarded brings oftner danger than advantage to the party concerned Evident examples whereof our own and Foreign Histories can abundantly afford us and it is well if the City of London could produce no experience of her own in confirmation of their verity and validity while some others having gotten well by their services to the facilitating their ascent into high Places have no better improved them in the Eyes of the World than in keeping their Coaches their Horses and their Misses and made little other returns of thanks and gratitude to the City but some small slight acknowledgments and concessions and perhaps a few verbal promises and assurance or else forgetting their former needs and necessities have endeavoured most ungratefully to turn their power upon her which they may be thought to have gained chiefly and principally by her means But King Edward it seems or those about him had honester Principles in them or were better tempered For we find in Baker that he furnished his Councel Table for the most part with such as were gracious among the Citizens and we Read in Stow of no less than eleven Aldermen besides the Lord Mayor and Recorder Knighted by him at one time in the Highway betwixt Islington and Shoreditch upon his return from the Battel at Tewksbury in reward of the good service the Londoners had done him As for the jovial Entertainment of the Mayor Aldermen and Commons in Waltham Forrest by the Kings express order and appointment in his presence about an year before he dyed 't is a Subject Treated on by more English Historians than one with the circumstances and consequents thereof the pleasant lodge of Green boughs set up on purpose for them the Complemental condescention of the King in refusing to go to his own Dinner till he had saw them served the Hunting sport he shewed them the plenty of Venison he gave them at their departure and the noble Present of two Harts and six Bucks with a Tun of Wine he sent to the Lady Mayoress and her Sisters the Aldermens Wives to make merry with which they did afterwards at Drapers Hall where without all peradventure the Kings Health went all round the Table if it was then in Fashon but for this I will not put one finger in the fire If we dive into the reasons of the variation of the Pole at London and search into the occasional Causes of the manifest change and alteration of their Affections from thr Family of Lancaster to the House of York we may impute it partly to the losses crosses and unsuccessful management of Affairs under a weak King and a self seeking Court of Lancastrians but chiefly to the encrease of National grievances without timely care taken to redress them and the fixt Resolution of the Court Party to oppress their opposites the Yorkists any manner of ways by right or by wrong for we may easily observe from History and experience such to have been the usual motives to disgusts and the common incitements to discontent Therefore I presume I may draw hence better grounds and reasons of the Cities Love to King Edward than those alledged by Baker out of Comines viz. that he got the Love of the Londoners by owing them
evil May-day when we read of the King 's pardoning the many hundreds Indicted for that day's Riot and Insurrection at the three Queens intercession upon Cardinal Woolsey's Advice and perchance in Complaisance to the City Not to mention that eminent Instance of the King's Charity Love and Affection to the City when in so great a scarcity of Bread therein that many died for meer want he freely and frankly sent thither out of his own Provisions 600 Quarters of Corn which serv'd for a very seasonable Supply till more could be brought from other Parts But as to the former I dare aver it from the consequence of the Contest between the City and the Cardinal in the 17th year of this King out of Stow and thence prove beyond denial how like her self the City always continued in opposing the Arbitrary Power and Exorbitances of over grown Favourites Commissions were sent forth by Order of the Council into every Shire to Levy the Sixth Part of every Man's Substance towards the King's passage into France but this was so vehemently oppos'd by the People as contrary to ancient Laws and Customs and not granted by the Paliament that the King thought good to deny that he ever knew of that Demand and by soothing Letters sent to London and elsewhere he requested only his Subjects Benevolence This was a Term more plausible than a set Demand and a fix'd Contribution and the Cardinal forsooth would needs undertake personally to induce the City's consent thereto and therefore sent for the Mayor the Almen and the most substantial Common-Councel-Men to Westminster thinking by fair Speeches good Words and large Promises to have overperswaded them To him indeed they lent their Ears but we don't find them over hasty to part with their Purses However they sent Deputies to him Four Aldermen and Twelve Commoners to return him their thanks and every Alderman assembles his Ward and makes a Motion for a Benevolence which was openly deny'd them by the Commonalty Then the Cardinal sends again for the Mayor and his Brethren who informs him what they had done Whereupon he would have examined them apart and demands a benevolence of them in the King's Name But for Answer was told by a City Councellor that the Motion was against an Act of Parliament which could not be disprov'd though it was in part gain-said Thereupon the Mayor resolutely denies to grant any thing so that upon his coming home to London all publick endeavours were laid by and it was declar'd that every man should come to the Cardinal and grant privily what he would This was so little grateful to the Citizens and upon the Mayor's endeavours to qualifie them by promising they should be gently treated and exhorting them to go when sent for they were so highly offended thereat that in their fury they would have had several expell'd the Common-Councel and so without further answer angrily departed home Whereby we may be well assur'd of the truth of Hall's Observation that though the Mayor and Aldermen had granted the Demand the Common-Councel would never have assented For we must know this was done at the Common-Councel call'd the next day after my Lord Mayor came from Court The Result therefore of all was in the Issue that the King openly protests in a great Council call'd at York-place now White-hall that his mind was never to ask any thing of his Commons that might sound to the breach of the Laws and so this Project was rejected and laid aside by order of the Kings Letter sent into all Counties For seeing that the City refused how was it possible to perswade the Country who look upon London as their principal Guide and Directress and so generally square their Actions by the Citizens Rule Doth not then this seem a clear Example of the Londoners constant fixedness to their old Principles of Liberty And if the Reader likewise please it may pass for an Instance of the Citizens disclaiming their Mayor's Resolves and the prevalency of the Commonalty over the Magistracy when resolute in their just opposition As an Overplus I shall cast in a Passage out of Baker's Chronicles where we find it upon Record under the Title of King Henry's Taxations how that when in the Fourteenth Year a Tenth Part of all Mens Substance was required by the Cardinal towards the Charges of the King's Wars and he would havâ— had every Man sworn to tell what he was worth The Londoners thinking this very hard they were thereupon excus'd for taking the Oath and allowed to bring in their Bills upon their Honesties from whence may be argued either the Strength Greatness and Power of this honourable City whom the Court nor the Cardinal durst not displease or the great respect then shewn her in regard of those many glorious Rays of Influence she sheds all over all the Land when the Word of a Citizen went as far and was as well accepted as another Man's Oath If such then was the Honour and Respect of the City heretofore what may we think it to be now that London hath since receiv'd so considerable an Addition and Augmentation in several respects by the happy concurrence of many more Circumstances to render it eternally famous Was this City able to hold a Contest with so grand a Favourite and potent a Courtier as Cardinal Woolsey and at last to come off with flying Colours to the vindicating her own Rights and the Liberties of all the Nation besides and the forcing King Henry in the strength of his Age as stout as he was to so great a Compliance as hath been hinted before 'T is plain then she was strong and her Citizens not destitute of Spirit Did the King as cruel as he was to others of his Subjects shew himself favourable to London 'T is evident he had great cause and reason so to do unless he was desirous to be tax'd with ungratitude so un-Prince-like a Crime For we may observe the Citizens were ready enough to please him in any thing wherein their All was not concerned and in that I never yet found them ever prone to humour the Follies of any King living Witness their readiness on all Occasions for the Honour of the King to appear in the most splendid Equipage on publick Solemnities Among which the most remarkable in my Opinion were the Coronation of Queen Ann Mother of the never to be forgotten Queen Elizabeth of blessed Memory with the Preparatives thereto the Celebrity of her Attendance by Water from Greenwich to the Tower and her honourable Conveyance from thence through the City amidst the great variety of pleasing Shews and delightful Objects to Westminster particulariz'd in Stow and the glorious appearance of the Citizens at the great Muster in St. Iames's-Park May the 8th Anno 31. to the Number of Fifteen Thousand in bright shining Armour with Coats of white Silk or Cloth and Chains of Gold where the Citizens strove in such sort to exceed each other in bravery of
his Name to the Place Those Monkish Writers scarce thinking their Hero's Valour sufficiently Celebrated unless they make them meet with and encounter some such Gygantick Adventures where the little Knight shall be sure to over-come the great Gyant Brute having bestowed Cornwal upon Corineus after he had throughly searched the Land for the Pleasure he took in Thames he laid There as we are told the Foundation of a City about the Second Year after his Landing in this Isle and in remembrance of Old Troy named it Troynovant which Name it held till the Time of King Lud near upon One Thousand and Sixty Eight Years from whom 't was named Lud's Town afterwards London as shall be declared in Process of Story What Repute and Esteem this City was of in those Days as being Builded by the First Founder of the British Empire I shall leave to the Reader 's Consideration who may find it honoured with the Sepulture of many of their Kings as of Brute himself and his Eldest Son Locrine to whom in the Division made by his Father fell Middle England for his Share wherein Troynovant was situated To whom may be added Cunedagius and Gorbodug the Father of Ferrex and Porrex the Last of Brute's Line But now the Coast begins to clear up a little more after the Storms of Civil Wars by the Success of Mulmutius Dunwallo Son of Cloton Duke of Cornwal This Dunwallo having vanquished the other Competitors and settled the Land caused a Temple to be builded in Troynovant and named it the Temple of Peace the same according to some Men's Opinions that now is called Blackwell-Hall a Place well known to the Clothiers His Fame is much increas'd by the many good Ordinances he made which were called Mulmutius's Laws and used long after his Decease That this City of Troynovant was of Repute and Renown in this so Famous a Man's Days is hardly to be doubted of by him that considers so eminent a Circumstance as the Building of a Temple of Peace within the Circuit of this City as an Effect of that Peace he had so happily settled in the Land and it may be in Gratitude to the Citizens who probably favour'd his Cause and so might much influence his Actions and Enterprizes In the same Temple of Peace was he laid after his Death which he had been the Occasion of Building in his Life In the Time of Belinus and Brennus his Sons after their Reconcilement Accord we read of their going to Troynovant with their Lords and Friends where after many things ordered for the Common Benefit of the Land they joyntly agreed to lead both their Hosts over the Sea to subdue other Countrys the Smart of which Voyage the Romans felt sufficiently under Brennus and his Gauls By Belinus we sind that an Haven was built in the same Troynovant with a Gate over it call'd even at this Day Belings-gate on whose Pinnacle was set a Brazen Vessel which contain'd the Ashes of his Body burnt after his Death In this City we likewise find that Gurguintus was Buried and also Guintellius his Son from whose Wife Marcia came the Marcian-Law fam'd long after â—mong the Britains and Saxons These being of some Eminency in their 〈…〉 Buried in this City after their Deaths It 〈…〉 safely be concluded That they 〈…〉 therein as their Principal City and 〈…〉 of the Realm Yet we read of other 〈…〉 Note in those Times and after as of 〈…〉 one where Archigallo before depos'd by his Loâ—â—s for his ill Government was through the Intercession of Elidurus his Brother then Reigning at a Councel of the Britains by him call'd restor'd to his former Dignity When the same Elidurus had gain'd the Assent of his Barons and the good Will of the Commons However Troynovant seems in those Days to have been esteem'd a Place of Security and mention of a Tower therein we find on Occasion of the same foremention'd Elidurus's being sent thither by his unkind younger Brothers to be safely kept as a Prisoner therein The succeeding Times are so barbarous that but little considerable is left upon Record concerning any Actions then done untill we come to the Reign of Lud Eldest Son of Heli which began about Sixty Six Years before our Blessed Saviours Incarnatâ—on according to Stow. This Man is much prais'd by the Historian for his Worthy Actions and Honourable Deeds for his Valour Liberality and Hospitable House-keeping and his repairing Old Cities and Towns Especially in Troynovant he is Recorded to have caused many Buildings to be made encompassing it also round with a strong Wall of Lime and Stone In the West-Part whereof stands a Gate by him Builded and known even at this Day by the Name of Ludgate For his Love to this City he used most to abide therein Whereupon it was called Caer-Lud or Lud's Town Whence by Corruption and shortning of Words comes the present Name London whereby it shall be called for the future and the former Name Troynovant laid aside in this following Relation Lud dying after an Honourable Reign he was Buried in the aforementioned Gate of his named Port-Lud or Lud-gate where are yet standing the Statues of Him and his Sons as a lasting Monument of his Memory In Cassibellan's Reign the next Successour but whether Son or Brother to Lud is not agreed upon by all Authors we find considerable mention made of London in the Story through Occasion of Cassibellan's Victory over the Romans newly Landed under the Leading of Julius Caesar and twice repelled by the Britain's Valour London was the Place appointed by the King to Celebrate this Victory return Thanks to his Gods and Rewards to his Valourous Knights Here therefore we read of a great Assembly held of his Lords and Knights and of the King 's keeping a Noble and Solemn Feast for all Comers and the Exercise of all kind of Games in those Days used But Difference arising at the Wrestling between a couple of Young Noble Knights allied One of them to the King and the Other to Androgeus Earl or Duke of London as he is somewhere called and from Words these Hotspurs coming to Blows occasion'd such sideing and variance amongst the Company that many were wounded and the Kings Nephew slain to the great disturbance of the Court. For Disgust hence growing between the King and Androgeus to whom the King had given the City of London with the Dukedome or Earldome of Kent besides an Honourable Education suitable to his Birth he being Lud's Eldest Son and so Heir to the Kingdom according to some Writers the other being but his Brother and this Disgust producing War wherein the King was likely to be much the stronger Androgeus recalls Caesar with his Romans to his Aid and assists them in their Landing and joyning his whole Power soon turn'd the Scales bringing Victory to the Romans and an Overthrow and Loss of their ancient Freedome to Cassibellan and his Britains So considerable was the Assistance that Androgeus with
of the Secluded Members that procured a free and fuller meeting of the Lords and Commons and soon after the King was recall'd from his forced Exile to the open Exercise of his Royal Power and Authority over these his Three Nations and made his Publick Entrance in the greatest Calm of Peace and Tranquility imaginable Thanks to the Honourable City for concurring so unanimously to the Revival of the remaining part of the Old Parliament which brought forth so Miraculous Effects as to have an Injur'd and Exil'd Prince fully restor'd to his Throne and yet the Glory of the Action not tinctur'd with Blood Such was the Influence of Londons concurrence of Londons Power of Londons Prayers If then the many instances hitherto related being conjoyn'd rise not up to a demonstration as much Mathematical as the subject can bear I know not what will As for the truth of them I defie any one to disprove me who hath but the least grain of sence and reason in him and as much Historical knowledge as may amount to the sixtieth part of a scruple The particular reasons of the Cities Potency have been shewn and the general ground thereof is as plainly evident For how can it otherwise be but that a City endowed with such Royal Grants fortified with so many and so great Priviledges and exalted to the heighth of Grandeur by the vastness of her Trade multitude of her Merchants Wealth and Riches of her Inhabitants Spirit and Courage of her Citizens Stateliness of her Buildings Preheminances of her Antiquity Conveniency of her Scituation and Regular Order of her Government so Ennobled with the highest Courts of Judicature for the Law adorned with numerous Churches for the Gospel and frequented by Strangers from all parts of the habitable World the Receptacle of all Arts and Sciences the Haunt of the Commonalty the Delight of the Gentry the Habitation of the Nobility the Residence of the King and Glory of the whole Nation so pleasant to Admiration and so populous to a Wonder where many Scores if not Hundreds of Thousands can be Raised and Armed in a few Hours Warning How I say can it otherwise be but that such a City must needs highly influence over-rule and over-awe the Counsels of the Nation and turn the Inclinations of the People whithersoever she please For Nature generally uses the common ordinary means and methods and I do not see that the All-powerful God of Nature often diverts her Course or works Wonders and Miracles in every Age and Season Now that London is such a City I appeal to History and Experience for my Witnesses These are the Observations I had to make concerning the Glories of the City of London and the Influences she had upon the grand Concerns of the Nation in that great and famous Contest between the two Houses of Lancaster and York through the most considerable part whereof I have hitherto traced her Actions wherein finding her most triumphant amidst the great variety of the publick Transactions of these times I think it not much material to give so distinct a Relation of her private Affairs though among them I might likewise find many things most worthy of Remak as hastening apace towards the Conclusion of this Treatise that it may not swell into too great a bulk to the Reader 's Discouragement and the wearying out of his Patience I fear already almost tired Wherefore as to what concerns the private Troubles of the City the Tumults Riots and Insurrections sprung up out of her own Bowels in these perilous Times and happily supprest by the Power of her Majestrates and the accidental Casualties happening within her Liberties or else the many Benefits accruing to her by the Care and Vigilance of her chief Officers the good Rule and Order of her Government the strict Observation of her particular Ordinances and putting in Execution her Injunctions Or as to what relates to the external Augmentation of her Honour her Splendor and Renown by the Reparation of her Walls Renovation of her publick Structures founding and erecting of new Fabricks I pass them all over without a more particular mention sending the curious and inquisitive to the Chronicles Baker's especially who hath treated purposely of such remarkables in distinct Sections at the end of the Kings Lives as not so pertinent to my present design tho' in other Kings Reigns I may have here and there touch'd upon some such Remarks And shall direct the Reader with an Instance of the Courage of some bold spirited women of the City having hitherto entertain'd him with the Heroick and Illustrious Acts only of the other Sex The Relation I have out of Stow who places it in the Seventh of King Henry the Sixth Anno 1428. where after mention made of a Parliament Asiembled at Westminster that Year he gives it us in these words In this Parliament there was one Mrs. Stokes with divers other stout Women of London of good reckoning well Apparell'd came openly to the upper-house of Parliament and deliver'd Letters to the Duke of Gloucester and to the Arch-Bishops and to the other Lords there present containing matter of Rebuke and sharp reprehension of the Duke of Gloucester because he would not deliver his Wife Jaqueline out of her grievous Imprisonment being then held Prisoner by the Duke of Burgundy suffering her there to remain so unkindly and for his publick keeping by him another Adultress contrary to the Law of God and the honourable Estate of Matrimony Bold words and bold women For this Duke was then Lord Protector of the Realm and so confequently of great Power Place and Dignity therein But these were Londoners that durst be so couragious as to say to Princes Ye are Wicked and then the wonder is not altogether so great on one hand that they dar'd to reprehend the great ones of the Age and on the other that we still find such Heroical Spirits in the City since they spring from such a Race both by the Fathers side and the Mothers The Roman Historians celebrates the Memory of that Noble Matron who came into open Court and with so undaunted a spirit of boldness pleaded her own Cause to the great amazement of the Senate for the present that they made an Order to forbid the like for the future What Viragoes then were these English Matrons of London that in open Parliament durst reprove the Nobles to their faces and were not afraid to attempt to teach our Senators wisdome wherein they may seem to have out-did that fam'd Roman Matron in that what she did may be thought to have proceeded from self-love and self-defence whereas these with a greater Courage espous'd another Cause an excess of Charity and Humanity and instead of staying for an opportunity of defending their own Interest upon occasion or necessity durst voluntarily make an onset on the more powerful with sharp rebukes for neglecting the distressed and refusing to assist the poor weak and disconsolate So that the Royal