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
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
all had not faith â—â—ough to trust too much in it when fear and thick â—â—rkness had seized on them though 't was the comâ—on voice in those days that a few Masses could 〈◊〉 mens Souls out of Purgatory But you may be 〈◊〉 they were well to be paid for first Noted in 〈◊〉 14th was the Ordinance made by the Mayor 〈◊〉 Duke and the Rulers of London that no Sheriff â—ould continue in Office longer than one year the â—use related was the opportunity some of them â—ade use of to take extortions and bribes with oâ—â—er defaults by reason of the continuance of their Office The 17th is not lightly to be pass'd over that the K. therein kept his Christmas at Worcest according to Stow where he removed all his Officeâ— and Councillors Bishops Earls and Barons and 〈◊〉 for strangers viz. Pictavians retain'd them in 〈◊〉 Service and committed to them the keeping of 〈◊〉 Castles and Treasures What could hence be expectâ— but murmurings and repinings amongst the Nativeâ— Accordingly we hear some time after of Messengeâ— sent by the Barons to the King requesting the diâ—placing of those strangers and also threatning thâ— otherwise they would depose him and create a 〈◊〉 King A bold message from as bold Subjects For 〈◊〉 may read of the King's Lands being invaded the 〈◊〉 year and destroy'd by fire and sword by the Earl 〈◊〉 Pembroke and the Prince of North-Wales Whereupâ—â— we find in a little time the Pictavians expell'd 〈◊〉 made with these two great discontented men 〈◊〉 the King 's natural Subjects recalld and their Coâ—â—sel yielded to by the King The 19th is remarkable for the King's Marriage with the Royal Solemnity Justs and Tourneamenâ— kept 8 days near Westminster at the Queen's Coroâ—â—tion Yet Stow places the time a year after as 〈◊〉 doth also many other particular occurrences happeing in this King's Reign From the same Author 〈◊〉 are given to understand that to this Coronation â—â—sorted so great a number of all Estates that the Ciâ—â— of London was scarce able to receive them Great 〈◊〉 the splendour wherein the City appeared on this oâ—casion it being adorn'd with Silks and in the nigâ—â— with Lamps Cressets and other lights without nuâ—ber besides many Pageants strange devices whiâ—â— were then snewn The Citizens rode to meet 〈◊〉 King and Queen being clothed in long garments 〈◊〉 broidered with Gold and Silk of divers colours theâ—â— horses finely trapped in array to the number of 360. Every man bearing Gold or Silver Cups in their hands the King's Trumpeters before them sounding The 21th was ominous to the University of Oxford for the Scholars abusing Octoâ—oon the Pope's Legate who afterwards accursed the misdoers and so punished them that the Regents Masters were at last compelled to go barefoot through Cheapside to Pauls in London there to ask forgiveness of him which was granted it seems with difficulty enough His Master the Pope when cross'd and incens'd is wont to be sufficiently stately and backward in pardoning such as displease him not without much â—ntercession sometimes why then should not the Servant Ape it after so great an Example In the 23d year for that the Mayor and Heads of the City refus'd to obey the King's Commandment â—n Chusing Simon Fitz Marre Sheriff as the King had order'd them which they lookt upon as a derogation to their Liberties The King sent for them and after words of displeasure discharg'd the old Mayor Will. Ioynour newly Elected for the following year and charg'd the Citizens to proceed to a new Election which to content the King they did and Chusing Gerard Bat by his means and policy obtained the King's favour and frustrated the other purpose who had procur'd the aforesaid Commandment and complain'd to the King of the Citizens for their disobeying it In the 25th the Citizens having Chosen Gerard Bat anew for the year following presented him to the King according to Custom He who the â—ast year had so gain'd the King's favour in behalf of the City was now so far out of it by means of some mens Informations that he with his company was first dismist and put off till another time and at last for some offences alledged and displeasure conceived against him clearly put by the King swearing a greâ—â— Oath that he should not that year be Mayor nor 〈◊〉 any time hereafter Whereupon the Commons ceâ—tified of the King's pleasure Chose Remond Bengley 〈◊〉 his stead The Citizens having the year before 〈◊〉 prevail'd upon to alter their Election that was Prâ—sident enough it seems to occasion the like again The City having obtain'd great Priviledges of thiâ— King in his younger days we find already some eâ—deavouring to frustrate and disappoint the effect 〈◊〉 benefit of them The City had appear'd with a greâ—â— deal of success in opposition to the last King's prâ—ceedings and therefore it 's likely such as intendeâ— to attempt again for Arbitrary Power thought thâ— City too headstrong easily to permit them to suâ—ceed in their desires unless they could first bring thâ— Citizens a little under by cunningly under miniâ—â— their Liberties Whereupon we find this year a spâ—cious pretence taken to oblige the Commonalty bâ— offering to free and keep them from being oppresseâ— by the Heads and Rulers of the City How well 〈◊〉 plausible Plea took for a while will be manifested 〈◊〉 the sequel of the Story That there were great heaâ—â— and animosities in those times between the City 〈◊〉 the Court may easily be observ'd out of Stow whâ— tells us in the 25th years Annals how the Citizeâ— were threatned that the Walls and Bulwarks of thâ— Tower were builded in despight of them to the 〈◊〉 that if any of them would presume to contend 〈◊〉 the Liberties of the City they might there be imprison'd And to the intent that many might be laâ—â— in divers Prisons many Lodgings were there madâ— that no one should speak with another An occasiâ—â— was also taken sometime after to Fine the Ciâ—â— 1500 Marks for the receiving into the City a peâ—son banish'd from thence 20 years Notwithstandiâ—â— the Citizens had prov'd that before that time the said â—erson had been reconcil'd and restor'd to the King's â—avour Another device to exact Money from the Londoners was the proclaiming a Mart at Westminâ—â—er to last 15 days with a Command that all Trades â—hould cease in the City for that space of time which the Citizens were fain to redeem with 2000l â—et they still increast in Riches while the King was â—ompell'd for want to sell his Plate and Jewels much â—o his loss which being sold and boughâ— aâ— London 〈◊〉 the 33d year of his Reign occasioned this his exâ—ression upon knowledge thereof as my Author reâ—ates it I know that if Octavian 's Treasure were to be â—â—ld the City of London would sup it up and by it â—hose rustical Londoners quoth the King abound in â—ealth and call themselves Barons Noted is the 25th â—ear likewise for the first
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
Stones So great a value did this high-flown Duke set upon his grace and favour till the Citizens of this honourable City by their power and prudence had brought down his haughty spirit a Peg or two lower and that visibly too For we don't find him as ambitious as he still continued so openly aspiring to Englands Crown for the future how successfully soever his Son made a Rape thereon at the end of this Princes Reign under the pretence of I know not what hidden right accruing to him from his Mother We read indeed I confess in Cotton's Abridgment of the Records that in the seventeenth of this King the Earl of Arundel laid several things to the Dukes charge as not honourable for the King to suffer in him nor fit for him to do being a Subject as that he went Arm in Arm with the King and his Men wear the same Livery the Kings did which seems to shew much of Arrogancy and Ambition to say no more besides some other Objections but herein he was so far justified by the King himself that the Earl was ordered to crave the Dukes Pardon in full Parliament in a certain form of words appointed him In Stows Annals also we meet with an Accusation brought against him in the seventh of this Kings Reign tending to prove his intent and design suddainly to oppress the King and take upon himself the Kingdom but it seems little notice was taken of it by the King himself who was to have lost most had it been attempted Successfully and doubtless as little believ'd otherwise surely the Schedule containing the time place and other Circumstances had not been presently delivered into the Dukes hands nor the accuser committed at his request to the charge of his near Kinsman nor the occasion of his violent Death so little inquired into afterwards The Duke was not so powerful nor so great a Terror but the City was as well able still to deal with him and his whole party and make as vigorous opposition as ever in defence of their Soveraign Lord the King if occasion should have offered it self This we have reason to believe was known in those days to all the Nation much more to the Duke himself from former experience who therefore may be suppos'd not any more to have aspir'd openly whatever secret fires of Ambition lay hidden within his breast whether or no he design'd and attempted ought by unseen Plots and Conspiracies I leave to the Judicious Reader to believe or not as he pleases without speaking to or for in the case Besides the decree of an over-ruling Providence Common equity in siding with what was reputed the juster title natural humanity in defending the young and weak and a well grounded affection to the Prince for his Father and Grand-Fathers sake one the famous Black Prince the other the Glorious Edward the third their King and Sovereign we may conclude the generality of the Citizens had the greater aversion to the Duke and his faction because he was a known favourer of Wickliff and his Doctrines whether on a good account or only out of any Ambitious Design I shall not determine in this place and so look't upon perhaps as little better than another Juliâ—n the Apostate For we are to know that Londons Religion and consequently the Nations was at that time Popish and the generality of the People in Town and Country Romes Votaries who had Wickliffs Doctrine in as great detestation then under the Notion of Heresy as we Protestants have it now in esteem under the Seal and assurance of Truth As indeed for many of the ages past from our ever-blessed Saviours Birth through which I have drawn the thread of this discourse and under the succeeding Kings for above an hundred years Popery continued the National Religion under the power and prevalency of which perswasion was the body of the Citizens bred up who prov'd so famous in their Generations for their powerful influence on the grand concerns of the Nation in every considerable turn and change of the times before the Reformation And when England was made happy with this blessed alteration the Cities Power Strength and Esteem remain'd the same in effect as ever the change of her Religion introducing no change therein unless for the better she encreasing proportionably in every age in Wealth Riches and Honour as the Nation grew stronger and stronger And still continues as visibly conspicuous under Protestantism as before under the Romish Faith a thing easy to be demonstrated in due time and place How influential the Cities actions were upon the Nations affairs and her Love advantagious to the Orphan Prince in securing his Claim Right and Title to the Crown in his Grand-Fathers life time and setling him quietly on the Throne at his Death in spight of all the opposition the deep designs and daring Spirit of his Aspiring Uncle John of Gaunt and his faction could make when they had got the reigns of publick Government into their own hands through the Old Kings Connivance hath been the subject of several of the aforegoing pages The next thing of course falling under present consideration is to observe how this Honourable City of London behav'd her self after she had lent her â—ssistance to raise this Young Prince from the â—eanness of a Subject to the Royal Dignity and Grandeur of a King under the Name of Richard the Second what place she held in his affections â—nd of what esteem in the eyes of all the rest of â—he people But where shall I begin and when â—hall I end Sooner may I be wearied with readâ—ng and tir'd with writing than fail of matter â—o exercise my Pen so copious is my Subject and â—o full of Variety For in my searches into the Histories of this Kings Reign I find it plain to a â—emonstration that the City carried a great sway â—mongst all Ranks and Degrees from the Prince â—o the Subject from the King the Supream to â—is subordinate Magistrates and Ministers and was highly Honour'd Rever'd and Respected â—mong the Nobility Gentry and Commonalty â—f the Land both in the calm of peace and the â—oisterous storms of civil distractions I begin first with the Honourable House of Commons the known representative of the Commons of England and concerning them obâ—erve out of Sir Robert Cotton's exact Abridgment of the Records in the Tower revis'd by William Prynne Esq that in the first Parliament of this King in his first year among other Petitions of the Commons there is to be found one particular division under the Title of Petitions for the City of London wherein the House of Commons become express Petitioners so great was the Cities influence over their Debates and so high a respect had they for her to the King for many considerable Grants in favour of the Citizens and to them very advantagious and beneficial As that all their Liberties may be confirm'd with a Non obstante That they attend upon no Commandment
esteemed most amiable and counted highly powerful since she is to be admired for the goodness and greatness under which comprehend the large Riches Power and Spirit of particular Citizens incorporated into Her For the first let me instance in the commendable diligence of her Mayor Adam Baume who upon a very great scarcity of Corn in the fifteenth of this King providently took care to have Corn brought to Lâ—â—don from forreign Parts to the relief of the whole Realm and add hereunto the Charity of the Aldermen who for the furtherance of so good a Work laid out each of them a sum of mony in those days very considerable to the same purpose and bestow'd the Corn thus procur'd in convenient places where the Poor might buy at an appointed price and such as had no ready mony upon Surety to pay the year following besides the common Act of the Mayor and Citizens in taking two thousand Marks out of the Orphans Chest in Guildhall for the same intent In Proof of the later viz. The Greatness Riches Power and Spirit of particular Citizens I challenge all the Cities in the world besides to shew me such another Example as that of John Philpot Citizen of London the Citizens Orator to this King in the beginning of his Reign who in the second year observing the young Kings inability the Nobles neglect and the oppressions of the poor Commons voluntarily hir'd Souldiers with his own mony rig'd out a Fleet at his own charge and hazarded his own Person to defend the Realm from Pirates Robbers and incursions of Enemies and therewith successfully took in a little time Mercer the Scot with all his Ships which he had before violently taken from Scarborow and fifteen Spanish Ships besides laden with much Riches which came to his Aid Can Rome her self shew me a like Parallel As for the Fabij they were a whole Family among the Patricians and Crassus himself a great Magistrate in the heigth of that Common-wealths Grandeur amidst Equals and Inferiors whereas this publick-spirited Person liv'd still a Subject under a limited Monarchy none of the greatest nor the strongest then in the World This noble Act some would have thought should have deserved great praise and commendation and so it had among the Common People but among the great Lords and Earls it met with Reproach and Detraction as being a manifest reproof of their carelesness and negligence and he himself was endanger'd thereby they speaking openly against it as done unlawfully without the Councel of the King and his Realm though his design could not be denyed to have been very honest in the general Had he suffered for that unpresidented Act because it was deficient in some formalities required by Law the Statesmen of the times therein instrumental without all peradventure had appeared as odious in the Eyes of the Commons as some of the chief Episcopal Clergy-men in a Protestant Country within the Memory of Man would have made themselves obnoxious to the Peoples Censure should they have publickly burnt Vindiciae Pietatis i. e. a Vindication of Godliness from the imputation of folly and fancy which I have heard intimated as if thought of because it wanted such an Imprimatur as the Law demanded and was writ possibly by an Author not altogether Episcopal in his declared Judgment But to pass on If such were the superemient and supererogating Acts of particular Citizens so many Ages ago to what an height of Wealth Greatness and splendor must we needs think the City to have arriv'd at this day some Centuries of years since that time If ten thousand Pounds was a Mayors Estate heretofore we may give a shrew'd guess at the Cities advancement and encrease in Riches since now that the same is made the limited sum for the Citizens to swear themselves not worth who desire to avoid the chargeable Honour and Honourable charge of the Shrievalry Nay to go a step or two further now adays we find her Sheriffs Revenue commonly reputed at double the value and others of her Citizens thought able to number their thousands by scores What if I had also added that some are esteem'd so wealthy as not to know an end of their Riches Certainly such if any must needs come under the denomination of men vastly rich in worldly goods So that this glorious and Triumphant City seems in many things able to vy with if not out-vy the Quondam Mistress of the World Rome her self She exceeds her in Antiquity as being founded in Fabian's Compute above four hundred years before her and hath this advantage of her now that whereas Rome is confest and acknowledged to be in the wane of her power and Greatness both as to her Civil and Ecclesiastical Authority London still continues on the rising hand Rome 't is visible hath suffer'd a considerable diminution as to her former extent and Jurisdiction in both capacities whether she be lookt upon as once head of the world or now pretended head of the Church but London plainly appears to be dayly getting ground both in Fame and Reputation as well as building And whereto she may come in time belongs to a Prophet not an Historian to declare She is already become the Fam'd Metropolis of this our little World and Rome was but Empress in a greater Neither was she anear so influential over the greatest part of that how much soever thereof she had under her Dominion as London is known to be at present over all ours Having thus shewn the influence this Honourable City had upon the Commons of this Land in Peace and amidst tumultuous disorders and the great respect both King and Nobles in Conjunction had for her I should now proceed to disengage my self of an obligation I presume lying on me from part of a promise before made to declare the esteem the Lords when singly consider'd had of her strength and power But before I pass on more immediately thereto I crave leave to observe the great variety and difference in Parliamentary transactions and proceedings under this King within the compass of whose Reign we find but two years on Record viz the nineteenth and twenty second wherein there was not a Parliament called and assembled in one place or other by his Authority sometimes oftner and so those Acts of Edward the third were exactly kept for eighteen years running wherein it is ordained and established that a Parliament shall be holden once every year and more often if need be which being omitted but one year in twenty one and not observed in the twenty second we may easily think it prov'd fatal to the unfortunate King that in the next Parliament he should be depos'd by his own Subjects and the Crown set upon anothers head And is it any wonder to see things so injurious and unjust sometimes done in National Assemblies when in a vein of contradiction they make Ordinances so diametrically opposite each to other as was done in this Kings time For we find parties
may be the care taken in London to watch and guard the Gates upon the first discovery of the Gun-powder Treason and the great joy and rejoycing manifested therein soon after upon its further detection by filling the Streets with Bonfires and the Solemn Assemblies with publick praises and thanksgiving to the Almighty for the Kings happy Deliverance This Gunpowder Treason so to observe by the way was one of the seven particulars the Intelligencer tells us were sometime since set up in a Table in St. Martins Church at York under this Title Things never to be forgotten by Protestants The other six were The bloody Reign of Queen Mary The many Plots in Queen Elizabeths Reign The Massacre in Ireland in Forty one The horrid Murder of King Charles in One thousand Six hundred and Forty eight The burning of London in One thousand Six hundred and Sixty six And the horrid Popish-plot in One thousand Six hundred and Seventy eight An Inscription that some harmless well meaning persons would have been apt doubtless to have thought very honest in its self and deservedly written in Letters of Gold till an Order came to one of the Church Wardens to take it down or appear at the Spiritual Court to answer the Contempt For 't was above the ordinary Capacity of a Common lay-Protestant to apprehend any thing ill or offensive therein till such wits among the Clergy as had far more sagacious intellects perceived the drift and design thereof and judging it perhaps to be part of the Presbyterian Plot might think fit to have it thrown down that the Vulgar might be no more amus'd with the dreadful remembrance of such things But to return to the Cities Love and Loyalty to King James another remarkable proof thereof may be deduced from the double Guards set in all places about London the Precept issued out by the Lord Mayor to the Wards to raise the Train Bands and the unexpressible distraction of Mens minds upon a flying rumour suddenly spread about the City March 22d somewhat above four Months after the Powder Plot was discovered of the Kings being slain that morning at Oking some twenty Miles from London which occasioned great weeping and waiâ—ing and much lamentation in old and young rich and poor till in three or four hours time all these Clouds were happily dispers'd by better and more certain news brought of the Kings safety and his return to Whitehall thereupon the same afternoon where the peoples hearts were as much raised with joy as before they had been drowned in grief and the Lord Mayor and Aldermen went to congratulate his Majesty upon the assurance of his continued Health and Security Such were the expressions of the Cities affections let us now see the return of Kindness on the Kings part and his Princely acknowledgment of their singular love and loyalty to him Much doubtless of the Kings mind in this particular may be guessed at from the frequent Visits he made the City but I presume by no one Act of his better known than by his repaying the Citizens of London in the seventh of his Reign the Threescore thousand pounds they had lent Queen Elizabeth three years before her death An Act of the greatest Justice and Equity and whereby likewise he got more love saith the Chronicle than he paid mony This may pass both for an Example of the Kings Goodness and Prudence and an Instance of Londons Power and Esteem since his Majesty thought it good to be at such charges to oblige her For to pay their Predecessors Debts is so rare among Princes that many of them hardly ever pay their own Hitherto have I presented the Reader with variety of passages out of our English Chronicles to demonstrate the Glory Honour and Renown of the City of London and the Courage of her Citizens the Power of her Magistrates the Strength of the Commonalty and the undeniable Influence of the whole Corporation upon the rest of the Kingdom and have given him here and there the words and expressions of private men as so many illustrative Arguments on the Points Wherefore now I shall produce no less than what I account a Royal Testimony in confirmation of the many demonstrative Evidences already brought and that of no less a Prince than his present Majesties Royal Father King Charles the First and out of an Author so little partial to the City that the very name of Peter Heylin and the diligent perusal of Arch-Bishop Lauds Life by him writ may sufficiently convince an indifferent Reader that he was none of Londons greatest Favourers or Admirers since 't was look'd on as the Retreat and Receptacle of the Grandees of the Puritan faction as he is pleased to stile all those he thought contrary to that Party of Men he will needs call the Church of England A Proof therefore out of such an Adversary's mouth as Heylins seems a very convincing Argument when he himself is forced meerly by truth and matter of fact to confess and acknowledge the influence of London on all parts of the Kingdom in that passage where he intimates it to have been generally look't upon as the compass by which the lesser Towns and Corporations were wont to steer their course and to plead it's practice on all occasions What I conceive to be the Kings Testimony by that writer deliver'd is by him brought in as the reason of his Majesties preferring Laud to the Bishoprick of London viz. For that he was a Man of a more active Spirit than the former Bishop and so fitter to carry on the design of rendring the City conformable to that propos'd Model of Church Government which was intended for the whole Nation and therein therefore principally to be promoted because of the Influence it had by reason of it's wealth and trading on all parts of the Kingdom and that upon the correspondence and conformity thereof the welfare of the whole depended This Testimony doubtless is of great authority because proceeding from so Judicious a Prince and related by an Author not to be suppos'd over ready to write any thing in favour of this City to which he seems to have born a very great animosity because the Citizens would not be so thorough-pac'd Episcopal as his Reverend Doctorship would have had them to have been But now methinks it should be of greater prevalency than ever since that King Charles himself before he dyed out of his own experience knew much more of the Cities strength and Power than many of his Predecessors did for some ages before For 't is plain beyond denial dispute or contradiction out of the memory of Man and the everlasting Records of time that in the late Wars between him and his two Houses of Parliament 't was the Cities power and influence that rais'd them to that height of Grandeur which made them so formidable to all the Royal party Whereas without her help and assistance how little able they had been to have long subsisted or