Lord Scales was commanded by the king to take possession of the city, but, the citizens favouring the Yorkists, the lord mayor refused to permit an armed force to enter within its walls. Lord Scales, however, suspecting that the citizens intended to admit the earl of March, took possession of the Tower, and threatened to lay the city in ashes, in case the rebels were admitted. His threats were disregarded, and lord March was received by the citizens with loud acclamations of joy. Scales kept his word and bombarded the city from the Tower with such effect as to destroy a number of buildings, but the earl of Salisbury blocked up the Tower on every side and saved the city from further destruction.

By the death of the duke of York, in a dreadful battle between the partisans of the rival houses of York and Lancaster, his son Edward Plantagenet, who is above mentioned as earl of March, succeeded to his father's title, and prosecuted the unholy war with the most implacable resentment. The earl of Warwick, distrusting the citizens and not choosing to be cooped up within their walls, marched out against the queen's army, where he was defeated in a desperate battle at Barnard's Heath, near St. Alban's.

The young duke of York entered London on the 21st of February 1461, and was received by the citizens, who had previously cut off the queen's supplies, with the greatest rapture, and he was proclaimed king by a large body of them in Clerkenwell Fields on the proposal of the earl of Warwick. A council was immediately held at Baynard's Castle; the new king rode in procession to St. Paul's, and, after being crowned at Westminster, returned to the city by water, where, taking up his residence at the bishop of London's palace, he was proclaimed king by the name of Edward IV. In truth, says Mr. Norton, the good will of the citizens was thought by Edward to be so main a bulwark of his throne, that he never failed during the course of his reign to use every means of preserving it. Besides securing to them in the most ample manner their ancient privileges, he increased them by the grant of several very beneficial charters; and even condescended to live among them on terms of the most convivial familiarity.

Edward, though only in the twentieth year of his age, had scarcely ascended the throne, when he exhibited symptoms of a sanguinary disposition. He beheaded an opulent citizen, a grocer in Cheapside, for saying he would make his son heir to the crown, meaning his own shop, of which it was the sign. On the same day he marched his army through the city out at Bishopsgate, in search of his rival the unfortunate Henry, to whom he gave victorious battle at Towton, in Yorkshire. On his return he went from his palace at Sheen to London, and was met at Lambeth by the lord mayor and aldermen, with all their formalities, dressed in scarlet, attended by 400 citizens in green, and mounted on horseback. By this splendid escort he was conducted to the Tower, whence two days after

THE EARLY HISTORY OF LONDON.

XVII

he was similarly escorted to Westminster, and crowned with great splendour.

The city of London never before stood in such great estimation as in this reign, nor had its citizens ever before possessed so great an influence in settling the government. Its fortifications were so complete, and so well guarded, as often to defy, in this stormy period of its history, the most powerful armies. Edward, in gratitude for such signal services, granted the citizens many immunities, and four several charters. He also gave the first charter to the German merchants of the steel yard.

At this period the citizens were so tenacious of their privileges, that upon a grand entertainment being given by the judges at Ely House, to which the mayor, aldermen, sheriffs and many of the principal citizens were invited, the most honourable place being assumed by the lord treasurer baron Ruthen, the lord mayor claimed precedency as having pre-eminence of all persons, after the king, within the liberties of the city. The treasurer remained inflexible, and the lord mayor retired with his fellow citizens, and entertained them himself with great hospitality.

On May day 1465, the king married the beautiful and accomplished Elizabeth Woodville, and she was crowned at Westminster a few days afterwards, when he showed his esteem for the citizens by installing their lord mayor, Sir Thomas Cook, a knight of the Bath. In this year the king enlarged and strengthened the fortifications of the Tower of London, and erected a scaffold and gallows on Tower Hill, but, on the remonstrance of the mayor and citizens, he declared by proclamation that it was not to be considered in derogation of their rights.

In the year 1466 the before-mentioned Sir Thomas Cook was impeached of high treason and committed to the Tower; and, notwithstanding his acquittal, he was obliged to purchase his liberty by paying to the king the exorbitant sum of £8000. At this period, the court of Edward was graced with ambassadors from almost every power in Europe; but none shone so resplendently as Anthony, Bastard of Burgundy, who was sent over by his brother the count de Charolois, duke of Burgundy, to conclude a marriage between that prince and the Lady Margaret, sister to the king. The bastard, who was greatly celebrated for his chivalrous prowess, challenged the lord Scales, brother to the queen, to contend with him in various feats of arms. The challenge being accepted, the king commanded lists. to be prepared in Smithfield, and magnificent galleries to be erected for the reception of the illustrious spectators. The tournament lasted three days, and the English knight was declared the victor. In June 1468 the princess Margaret set out for Burgundy, to celebrate her nuptials with the duke, and was met in Cheapside by the lord mayor and aldermen, who in the name of themselves and their fellow citizens presented her with two rich basins, containing 100 lbs. of gold in each.

The next year of Edward's reign was distinguished by many popular commotions, which were principally excited by the earl of Warwick, who felt himself neglected. When this nobleman, who is distinguished in our history by the name of the king-maker, took up arms openly against Edward, the earl of Rivers, father to the queen, was made prisoner and beheaded. The king was also placed in confinement at Middleham Castle, from which he escaped to Holland, leaving his queen in the Tower of London; who fearing her life fled to the sanctuary at Westminster. On the queen's departure, the custody of the Tower was entrusted to the lord mayor (Sir Richard Lee) and the aldermen, who removed the deposed king Henry from the place of his imprisonment to the royal apartments.

After many conflicts in which the neighbouring villages of Limehouse, Ratcliffe, and St. Katherine's, were plundered and burned, the parliament that was summoned by Warwick and the duke of Clarence, in the name of king Henry, was adjourned to St. Paul's, where it sat from November till Christmas. To avoid committing his fellow citizens by taking part in these violent proceedings, the lord mayor, John Stockton, feigned sickness. Edward did not remain idle; for on the 12th of March 1471 he landed in England, assisted by his brother-in-law the duke of Burgundy, and proceeded with all possible expedition to London. On his arrival, the lord mayor and aldermen demanded and obtained possession of the Tower in Edward's name, and on the 11th of April following he again entered his capital in triumph, and was received by the citizens with the highest demonstrations of joy. Edward put himself immediately at the head of his forces, and left the city, to which Warwick was hastening by forced marches, and on the 14th of April, being Easter Sunday, the two armies met near Barnet, and a desperate battle was fought, in which no quarter was given on Edward's side, Warwick was slain, and Edward confirmed on his throne, Edward hastened to London, immediately after this sanguinary conflict, and proceeded to St. Paul's, where he deposited his own and his enemies' standards. The citizens indulged as usual in splendid festivities in commemoration of the event.

An adventurer, known by the name of the Bastard Falconbridge, who, after having been vice-admiral of the channel, commenced pirate, entered the suburbs of Southwark with an army of 17,000 men. On the 14th of May, 1471, he attempted to enter the city by the way of the bridge; which however he found to be so well fortified and defended that he could not succeed, although he proceeded to storm it. A party of his army crossed the river elsewhere, and made their way into the city by the way of Aldgate, but were driven out by the valour of the citizens, headed by one of their Aldermen, Robert Bassett. Being thus defeated, Falconbridge embarked at Blackwall, and sailed round to Sandwich, where, after a battle with Edward, he was taken prisoner, and, with several of his companions,

was executed, and their heads fixed upon London Bridge. The king was so gratified with the gallant defence of the citizens, that he knighted the lord mayor John Stockton, twelve of the aldermen and the recorder. On the 21st of May, Edward entered the city in triumph, and the next morning king Henry VI. was found dead in the Tower.

The following year, 1472, will be ever memorable in the history of London, by the introduction of the art of printing into England, by William Caxton, citizen and mercer of London. The first book printed in London by this eminent citizen was a treatise on chess, translated by himself from the French, and dated 1474. This noble art soon got into great repute; for previous to Caxton's death, which occurred in 1491, we find Theodore Rood, John Lettou, William Macheline and Wynkin de Worde, foreigners, and Thomas Hunt, an Englishman, all printers within the city.

In the year 1475 an act of common council was passed, by which the election of the lord mayor and sheriffs, which had till then been in the whole body of the citizens, was vested in the masters, wardens and liverymen of the several city companies, as at the present day.

The gates, walls and other fortifications of the city, being in a very decayed state, the lord mayor and aldermen resolved to repair them, with bricks made and burned in Moorfields; and that the expense of such repairs should be defrayed by a collection raised among the inhabitants at large. But, the sum not being sufficient, the draper's, skinner's and goldsmith's companies repaired various parts, and the town ditch was also cleansed.

The king, who long wanted to get rid of the duke of Clarence, summoned the lord mayor and aldermen to attend the privy council, to witness the accusations that were trumped up against him. With their consent, he was committed to the Tower, where he was tried, condemned and executed, in so private a manner, that the mode of it is a secret to this day. In June, 1479, the citizens purchased a third and fourth charter from the king at a large expense, and in the September following a dreadful pestilence raged in London till the November in the following year.

To evince his great regard for the citizens of London, the king invited the lord mayor, aldermen and chief citizens in 1480 to a grand hunt in Waltham Forest, in which several deer were killed and the entertainment concluded with a sumptuous feast. Shortly after this, to show his regard for the city ladies, his majesty, whose gallantry towards them is broadly hinted at by Philip de Commines, sent a present of two harts, six bucks and a tun of wine to the lady mayoress, who entertained the aldermen's wives and other ladies with this royal donation at Draper's Hall.

This monarch, after an eventful reign of twenty-three years, died at Westminster on the 9th of April, 1483, and was succeeded by his son Edward V., who was then in the thirteenth year of his age. The reins of

government were assumed by his uncle Richard, duke of Gloucester, as protector during the king's minority, and he was immediately proclaimed in London. The queen mother on hearing of this appointment, and of Gloucester's imprisoning the lords Rivers and Gray, Sir Thomas Vaughan and other friends of the young king, in Pomfret Castle, immediately left London and fled for refuge to the sanctuary at Westminster. The citizens also caught the general alarm, took up arms in great number and joined the nobility, who had done the same, until they could learn the motives for thus making a captive of their young king.

The duke of Gloucester, unwilling to incense the Londoners, sent lord Hastings, who was much esteemed by them, into the city, to assure them of the uprightness of his intentions. This pacified them in some degree, and, on the 4th of May, he and the young king were met at Hornsey Park by the lord mayor, aldermen and five hundred of the principal citizens, richly dressed and mounted on horseback. This splendid retinue of Londoners escorted the king and his attendants with great pomp to the city, where he was received with great joy, and the same night took up his residence in the palace of the bishop of London. Gloucester performed his part so well on this occasion, that he rode before the king barehead, exclaiming to the people "behold your king;" and on his arrival at the bishop's palace renewed his oath of allegiance, in which he was followed by all the prelates and nobles present, together with the lord mayor and aldermen of London.

The young king was splendidly lodged in the palace of the Tower of London, where he was speedily joined by his younger brother the duke of York; and great preparations were made for the proposed coronation. But on the 13th of June one part of the privy council met at Westminster, for the purpose of notifying to the city magistrates in due form the day of the coronation, and the other part, with the protector, met in the Tower. Here that extraordinary scene was performed, where emissaries of the protector proclaimed treason, wounded lord Stanley on the head with a pole axe, and seized him with the archbishop of York, the bishop of Ely and lord Hastings. The latter of these noblemen, whom Gloucester had inveigled by his dissembling into his grasp, was immediately executed on a log of wood which lay accidentally in a court of the Tower.

As an apology for this summary outrage, the protector sent for the mayor, aldermen and leading citizens of London, on whose concurrence he founded his chief hopes of success, and, besides a hypocritical speech, he issued a proclamation which was read throughout the city. This proclamation, says Sir Thomas More, in his life of Edward V., was, although got up in such haste, in such good style of composition, at so great length and so beautifully engrossed on parchment, that, as was sarcastically observed by a citizen, it seemed certainly penned in the spirit of prophecy. This apology