Guildhall.!

THE NEW CITY LIBRARY.

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its spandrils filled in with tracery, and contains "Journals of the Proceedings of the Common three large louvres for lighting the roof and Council, from 1416 to the present time."-" Reperthoroughly ventilating the hall. The aisle roofs, tories containing the Proceedings of the Court of the timbers of which are also richly wrought, have Aldermen from 1495 to the present time."-" Relouvres over each bay, and the hall at night may be membrancia." A collection of correspondence, lighted by means of sun-burners suspended from &c., between the sovereigns, various eminent stateseach of these louvres, together with those in the men, the Lord Mayors and the Courts of Aldermen nave. Each of the spandrils of the arcade has, next and Common Council, on matters relating to the the nave, a sculptured head, representing History, government of the City and country at large. "Fire Poetry, Printing, Architecture, Sculpture, Painting, Decrees. Decrees made by virtue of an Act for Philosophy, Law, Medicine, Music, Astronomy, erecting a judicature for determination of differences Geography, Natural History, and Botany; the touching houses burnt or demolished by reason of several personages chosen to illustrate these sub- the late fire which happened in London." jects being Stow and Camden, Shakespeare and Of the many historical events that have taken Milton, Guttenberg and Caxton, William of Wyke-place in the Guildhall, we will now recapitulate a ham and Wren, Michael Angelo and Flaxman, few. Chaucer was connected with one of the most Holbein and Hogarth, Bacon and Locke, Coke tumultuous scenes in the Guildhall of Richard II.'s and Blackstone, Harvey and Sydenham, Purcell and Handel, Galileo and Newton, Columbus and Raleigh, Linnæus and Cuvier, Ray and Gerard. There are three fireplaces in this room. The one at the north end, executed in D'Aubigny stone, is very elaborate in detail, the frieze consisting of a panel of painted tiles, executed by Messrs. Gibbs and Moore, and the subject an architectonic design of a procession of the arts and sciences, with the City of London in the middle.

time. In 1382 the City, worn out with the king's tyranny and exactions, selected John of Northampton mayor in place of the king's favourite, Sir Nicholas Brember. A tumult arose when Brember endeavoured to hinder the election, which ended with a body of troops under Sir Robert Knolles interposing and installing the king's nominee. John of Northampton was at once packed off to Corfe Castle, and Chaucer fled to the Continent. He returned to London in 1386, and was elected member for Kent. But the king had not forgotten his conduct at the Guildhall, and he was at once deprived of the Comptrollership of the Customs in the Port of London, and sent to the Tower. Here he petitioned the government.

Having alluded to the delicious hours he was wont to spend enjoying the blissful seasons, and

Among the choicest books are the following:*Liber Custumarum," 1st to the 17th Henry II. (1154-1171). Edited by Mr. Riley." Liber de Antiquis Legibus," 1st Richard I., 1188. Treats of old laws of London. Translated by Riley.-"Liber Dunthorn," so called from the writer, who was Townclerk of London. Contains transcripts of Charters from William the Conqueror to 3rd Edward IV.-contrasted them with his penance in the dark "Liber Ordinationum," 9th Edward III., 1225, to Henry VII. Contains the early statutes of the realm, the ancient customs and ordinances of the City of London. At folio 154 are entered instructions to the citizens of London as to their conduct before the Justices Itinerant at the Tower. -"Liber Horn" (by Andrew Horn). Contains transcripts of charters, statutes, &c.-The celebrated "Liber Albus."-" Liber Fleetwood." Names of all the courts of law within the realm; the arms of the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, &c., for 1576; the liberties, customs, and charters of the Cinque Ports; the Queen's Prerogative in the Salt Shores; the liberties of St. Martin's-le-Grand.

prison, cut off from friendship and acquaintances, "forsaken of all that any word dare speak" for him, he continues: "Although I had little in respect (comparison) among others great and worthy, yet had I a fair parcel, as methought for the time, in furthering of my sustenance; and had riches sufficient to waive need; and had dignity to be reverenced in worship; power methought that I had to keep from mine enemies; and meseemed to shine in glory of renown. Every one of those joys is turned into his contrary; for riches, now have I poverty; for dignity, now am I imprisoned; instead of power, wretchedness I suffer; and for glory of renown, I am now despised and fully hated." Chaucer was set free in 1389, having, it is said, though we hope unjustly, purchased freedom by dishonourable disclosures as to his former associates.

Here is a series of letter books commencing about 140 years before the "Journals of the Common Council," and about 220 years before the "Repertories of the Court of Aldermen ;" they contain almost the only records of those courts prior to It was at the Guildhall, a few weeks after the the commencement of such journals and repertories. | death of Edward IV., and while the princes were

in the Tower, that the Duke of Buckingham, "the they needs know if I would deny the sacrament to deep revolving witty Buckingham," Richard's ac-be Christ's body and blood. I said, 'Yea; for the complice, convened a meeting of citizens in order to same Son of God who was born of the Virgin Mary prepare the way for Richard's mounting the throne. is now glorious in heaven, and will come again Shakespeare, closely following Hall and Sir Thomas from thence at the latter day. And as for that ye More, thus sketches the scene :— call your God, it is a piece of bread. For more proof thereof, mark it when you list; if it lie in the box three months it will be mouldy, and so turn to nothing that is good. Whereupon I am persuaded that it cannot be God.'

Buck.

Withal, I did infer your lineaments,
Being the right idea of your father,

Both in your form and nobleness of mind :
Laid open all your victories in Scotland,
Your discipline in war, wisdom in peace,
Your bounty, virtue, fair humility;

Indeed, left nothing fitting for your purpose
Untouch'd, or slightly handled, in discourse;
And, when my oratory drew toward end,

I bade them that did love their country's good
Cry, "God save Richard, England's royal king !"
Glo. And did they so?

Buck. No, so God help me, they spake not a word;
But, like dumb statues or breathing stones,
Stared each on other, and look'd deadly pale.
Which when I saw I reprehended them,

And ask'd the mayor what meant this wilful silence?
His answer was, the people were not us'd
To be spoke to but by the recorder.
Then he was urg'd to tell my tale again—
"Thus saith the duke, thus hath the duke inferr'd ;"
But nothing spoke in warrant from himself.
When he had done, some followers of mine own
At lower end o' the hall, hurl'd up their caps,

"After that they willed me to have a priest, at which I smiled. Then they asked me if it were not good. I said I would confess my faults unto God, for I was sure he would hear me with favour. And so I was condemned. And this was the ground of my sentence: my belief, which I wrote to the council, that the sacramental bread was left us to be received with thanksgiving in remembrance of Christ's death, the only remedy of our souls' recovery, and that thereby we also receive the whole benefits and fruits of his most glorious passion. Then would they know whether the bread in the box were God or no. I said, 'God is a Spirit, and will be worshipped in spirit and truth.' Then they demanded, 'Will you plainly deny Christ to be in the sacrament?' I answered, That I believe faithfully the eternal Son of God not

And some ten voices cried, "God save King Richard !" to dwell there;' in witness whereof I recited

And thus I took the vantage of those few-
"Thanks, gentle citizens and friends," quoth I;
"This general applause and cheerful shout
Argues your wisdom, and your love to Richard :"
And even here brake off, and came away.

Anne Askew, tried at the Guildhall in Henry VIII.'s reign, was the daughter of Sir William Askew, a Lincolnshire gentleman, and had been married to a Papist, who had turned her out of doors on her becoming a Protestant. On coming to London to sue for a separation, this lady had been favourably received by the queen and the court ladies, to whom she had denounced transubstantiation, and distributed tracts. Bishop Bonner soon had her in his clutches, and she was cruelly put to the rack in order to induce her to betray the court ladies who had helped her in prison. She pleaded that her servant had only begged money for her from the City apprentices.

"On my being brought to trial at Guildhall," she says, in her own words, "they said to me there that I was a heretic, and condemned by the law, if I would stand in mine opinion. I answered, that I was no heretic, neither yet deserved I any by the law of God. But as concerning the faith which I uttered and wrote to the council, I would not deny it, because I knew it true. Then would

death

Daniel iii., Acts vii. and xvii., and Matthew xxiv., concluding thus: 'I neither wish death nor yet fear his might; God have the praise thereof, with thanks.'"

Anne Askew was burnt at Smithfield with three other martyrs, July 16, 1546. Bonner, the Chancellor Wriothesley, and many nobles were present on state seats near St. Bartholomew's gate, and their only anxiety was lest the gunpowder hung in bags at the martyrs' necks should injure them when it exploded. Shaxton, the ex-Bishop of Salisbury, who had saved his life by apostacy, preached a sermon to the martyrs before the flames were put to the fagots.

In 1546 (towards the close of the life of Henry VIII.), the Earl of Surrey was tried for treason at the Guildhall. He was accused of aiming at dethroning the king, and getting the young prince into his hands; also for adding the arms of Edward the Confessor to his escutcheon. The earl, persecuted by the Seymours, says Lord Herbert, "was of a deep understanding, sharp wit, and deep courage, defended himself many ways sometimes denying their accusations as false, and together weakening the credit of his adversaries; sometimes interpreting the words he said in a far other sense than that in which they

Guildhall.]

THE TRIAL OF SIR NICHOLAS THROCKMORTON.

were represented." Nevertheless, the king had vowed the destruction of the family, and the earl, found guilty, was beheaded on Tower Hill, January 19, 1547. He had in vain offered to fight his accuser, Sir Richard Southwell, in his shirt. The order for the execution of the duke, his father, arrived at the Tower the very night King Henry died, and so the duke escaped.

Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, another Guildhall sufferer, was the son of a Papist, who had refused to take the oath of supremacy, and had been imprisoned in the Tower by Henry VIII. Nicholas, his son, a Protestant, appointed sewer to the burly tyrant, had fought by the king's side in France. During the reign of Edward VI. Throckmorton distinguished himself at the battle of Pinkie, and was knighted by the young king, who made him under-treasurer of the Mint. At Edward's death Throckmorton sent Mary's goldsmith to inform her of her accession. Though no doubt firmly attached to the Princess Elizabeth, Throckmorton took no public part in the Wyatt rebellion; yet, six days after his friend Wyatt's execution, Throckmorton was tried for conspiracy to kill the queen.

The trial itself is so interesting as a specimen of intellectual energy, that we subjoin a scene or

two:

Serjeant Stamford: Methinks those things which others have confessed, together with your own confession, will weigh shrewdly. But what have you to say as to the rising in Kent, and Wyatt's attempt against the Queen's royal person in her palace?

Chief Justice Bromley: Why do you not read to him Wyatt's accusation, which makes him a sharer in his trea

sons?

Sir R. Southwell: Wyatt has grievously accused you, and in many things which have been confirmed by others.

Sir N. Throckmorton: Whatever Wyatt said of me, in hopes to save his life, he unsaid it at his death; for, since I came into the hall, I heard one say, whom I do not know, that Wyatt on the scaffold cleared not only the Lady Elizabeth and the Earl of Devonshire, but also all the gentlemen in the Tower, saying none of them knew anything of his commotion, of which number I take myself to be one.

Sir N. Hare: Nevertheless, he said that all he had written and confessed before the Council was true.

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could but understand it, he cried out passionately :
"O merciful God! O eternal Father! who seest
all things, what manner of proceedings are these?
To what purpose was the Statute of Repeal made in
the last Parliament, where I heard some of you
here present, and several others of the Queen's
learned counsel, grievously inveigh against the
cruel and bloody laws of Henry VIII., and some
laws made in the late King's time? Some termed
them Draco's laws, which were written in blood;
others said they were more intolerable than any
laws made by Dionysius or any other tyrant. In
a word, as many men, so many bitter names and
terms those laws.
Let us now but look
with impartial eyes, and consider thoroughly with
ourselves, whether, as you, the judges, handle the
statute of Edward III. with your equity and con-
structions, we are not now in a much worse con-
dition than when we were yoked with those cruel
laws. Those laws, grievous and captious as they
were, yet had the very property of laws, according
to St. Paul's description, for they admonished us,
and discovered our sins plainly to us, and when a
man is warned he is half armed; but these laws, as
they are handled, are very baits to catch us, and
only prepared for that purpose. They are no laws
at all, for at first sight they assure us that we are
delivered from our old bondage, and live in more
security; but when it pleases the higher powers
to call any man's life and sayings in question,
then there are such constructions, interpretations,
and extensions reserved to the judges and their
equity, that the party tried, as I am now, will find
himself in a much worse case than when those
cruel laws were in force. But I require you, honest
men, who are to try my life, to consider these
things. It is clear these judges are inclined rather
to the times than to the truth, for their judgments
are repugnant to the law, repugnant to their own
principles, and repugnant to the opinions of their
godly and learned predecessors."

We rejoice to say that, in spite of all the efforts of his enemies, this gentleman escaped the scaffold,

Sir N. Throckmorton: Nay, sir, by your patience, Wyatt and lived to enjoy happier times. did not say so; that was Master Doctor's addition.

Sir R. Southwell: It seems you have good intelligence. Sir N. Throckmorton: Almighty God provided this revelation for me this very day, since I came hither; for I have been in close prison for eight and fifty days, where I could hear nothing but what the birds told me who flew over my

head.

Serjeant Stamford told him the judges did not sit there to make disputations, but to declare the law; and one of those judges (Hare) having confirmed the observation, by telling Throckmorton he had heard both the law and the reason, if he

Lastly, we come to one of the Gunpowder Plot conspirators; not one of the most guilty, yet undoubtedly cognisant of the mischief brewing.

On the 28th of March, 1606, Garnet, the Superior of the English Jesuits (whose cruel execution in St. Paul's Churchyard we have already described), was tried at the Guildhall, and found guilty of having taken part in organising the Gunpowder Plot. He was found concealed at Hindlip, the mansion of a Roman Catholic gentleman, near Worcester.

396

The First Mayor of London-Portrait of him-Presentation to the King-An Outspoken Mayor-Sir N. Farindon-Sir William Walworth-Origin of the prefix "Lord "-Sir Richard Whittington and his Liberality-Institutions founded by him-Sir Simon Eyre and his Table-A Musical Lord Mayor-Henry VIII. and Gresham-Loyalty of the Lord Mayor and Citizens to Queen Mary-Osborne's Leap into the Thames-Sir W. Craven-Brass Crosby-His Committal to the Tower-A Victory for the Citizens.

THE modern Lord Mayor is supposed to have had a prototype in the Roman prefect and the Saxon portgrave. He is called "Lord" and "Right Honourable," is a Privy Councillor during his year of office, and is the only Member of the Privy Council at the accession of a new sovereign.

In 1189, Richard I. elected Henry Fitz Ailwyn, a draper of London, to be first mayor of London, and he served twenty-four years. He is supposed to have been a descendant of Aylwyn Child, who founded the priory at Bermondsey in 1082. He was buried, according to Strype, at St. Mary's,