volume iv., pages 663-664. ‘The Mayor and Lawyers,’ says he, ‘retired

to the judgment-seat, and the four Knights were condemned to death. They were sentenced to be brought before the apartment of the Tower of London in which King Richard was confined, that he might see them from the windows, and thence drawn on sledges by horses to Cheapside, each person separately, and there beheaded, their heads affixed to spikes on London Bridge, and their bodies hung upon a gibbet, and there left. When this sentence was pronounced, they hastened to execute it. Every thing being prepared, the Mayor of London, and the Lords who had assisted him in this judgment, set out from Guildhall with a large body of people, and came to the Tower of London, where they seized the four Knights of the King, Sir Bernard Brocas, the Lord Marclais, Master John Derby, Receiver of Lincoln, and the Lord Stelle, Steward of the King’s Household. They were all brought into the court, and each tied to two horses, in the sight of all in the Tower, who were eye-witnesses of it as well as the King, who was much displeased, and in despair; for the remainder of the King’s Knights that were with him looked for similar treatment, so cruel and revengeful did they know the Londoners. Without saying a word, these four were dragged from the streets to Cheapside, and on a fishmonger’s stall had their heads struck off, which were placed over the Gate on London Bridge, and their bodies hung on a gibbet. After this execution, every man retired to his home.’

“The fatal tragedy of the reign of King Richard II. was at length consummated by his murder at Pontefract Castle, February 14th, 1399-1400; for whether he died of grief, starvation, or by the weapon of Sir Piers Exton, his death cannot be called by any other name; though Henry of Lancaster was not yet so firmly seated on the throne as to prevent numerous insurrections throughout the realm, on behalf of the younger Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, the legitimate heir to the crown. For about the year 1386, King Richard had appointed as his successor Roger Mortimer, the son of Edmond, second Earl of March, and Philippa his Countess, who was daughter and heiress to Lionel, Duke of Clarence, _third_ son of King Edward III.: whereas Henry of Lancaster was the son of John of Ghent, who was only _fourth_ son of that Monarch. One of the most famous of these insurrections, was that raised by Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, which was overthrown by Sir Thomas Rokeby, Sheriff of York, at Horselwood, on February the 19th, 1407-1408. In which encounter, Lord Thomas Bardolf,--who is a character in Shakspeare’s ‘_Second Part of King Henry the Fourth_,’--was mortally wounded, and died soon afterwards; but being on the party of the Earl, his body was quartered as a traitor’s, and set up at several places, with the Earl’s, one of which was London Bridge. This you find identified by Thomas of Walsingham, in his ‘_Historiæ Angliæ_,’ page 419; for there he says, with considerable pathos: ‘The root of Percy dies in ruin wild! for surely this Nobleman was altogether the living stock of the Percy name; and of most of the various others who were lost in his defeat. For whose unhappy end the common people did not grieve the least; recalling that famous, glorious, and magnificent man, and applying to him the mournful song of Lucan, where he says,

‘But not his blood, his wounds did not so move Our grieving souls, or wake our weeping love,-- As that we saw, in many a town, appear His aged head transfixed on a spear.’ PHARSALIA, ix. 136.

For his venerable head adorned with its silver locks, set upon a pole, was publicly carried through London, and regardlessly placed upon the Bridge.’

“Sir William Dugdale, in his ‘_Baronage_,’ volume i., page 683, says that Lord Bardolf’s head was erected over a gate at Lincoln; and this is partly supported by the Chronicle in the Harleian Collection, No. 565, page 68 a, which states that in the ninth year of Henry IV., ‘the Erle of Northumberland and y^e Lord Bardolf, which arysyn a yeynis y^e Kyng, were taken in y^e north cuntre, and be heded, and y^e hed of y^e forsaid Erle, and a quarter of y^e Lord Bardolf, were sent to London, and sett vp on London Brigge.’ Dugdale adds, however, from the authority of the Close Rolls, that Avicia, the widow of that Baron, was permitted by the King to take down his body and bury it.

“The only historical notice which I find connected with London Bridge, immediately succeeding the last unhappy story, is of a light and even trivial nature, being nothing greater than a dispute in the Bridge-Street, between Thomas of Lancaster, Duke of Clarence, and John of Lancaster, Duke of Bedford, the second and third sons of Henry IV., their followers and the Citizens. Stow, in relating this circumstance, in his ‘_Annals_,’ page 338, makes no farther mention of the place than that they ‘being in East-Cheape, in London, at supper, after midnight, a great debate hapned betweene their men and men of the Court, lasting an houre, till the Maior and Sheriffs, with other Citizens, ceased the same:’ and Maitland adds, in volume i., of his ‘_History_,’ page 185, that these Officers were, in consequence, summoned before Sir William Gascoigne, the Chief Justice, to submit themselves to the King’s mercy on behalf of the Citizens. Richard Marlow, however, the then Lord Mayor, and John Law and William Chicheley, the Sheriffs, with the Aldermen, strenuously asserted their innocence, alleging that they had only done their duty in preserving the peace of the City; and the King being fully satisfied with this answer, the Corporation returned to London. I have only farther to remark, that Prince Thomas of Clarence was engaged in a similar fray in East-Cheap in the year previous to the present, namely 1407-8; and that it is to him that Shakspeare makes the dying King Henry deliver that noble speech in the ‘_Second Part of King Henry IV._,’ Act 4, Scene 4. We derive, however, such a character of John of Lancaster from Falstaff, that we wonder to find him either in East-Cheap or Bridge-Street; for in that very same dramatic history, and in the preceding scene, he says of him: ‘Good faith, this same young sober-blooded boy doth not love me; nor a man cannot make him laugh;--but that’s no marvel, he drinks no wine.’ Here, then, close all the events of London Bridge which have come under my reading, in the year 1409.

“The Festival of St. Mary Magdalen, July 22nd, in the first year of Henry V., A. D. 1413, brings to us the recollection of a very ancient and curious Saxon law, namely that of Sanctuary: by which privilege, if a person accused of any crime,--excepting Treason and Sacrilege, in which the Crown and the Church were too nearly concerned,--had fled to any Church, or Church-Yard, and within forty days after went before the Coroner, made a full confession of his crime, and took the oath provided in that case, that he would quit the realm, and never return again, without leave of the King, his life should be safe. At the taking of this oath he was brought to the Church-door, where being branded with an A, signifying Abjured, upon the brawn of the thumb of his right hand, a port was then assigned him, from which he was to leave the realm, and to which he was to make all speed, holding a cross in his hand, and not turning out of the highway, either to the right hand or the left. At this port he was diligently to seek for passage, waiting there but one ebb and flood, if he could immediately procure it; and if not, he was to go every day into the sea up to his knees, essaying to pass over. If this could not be accomplished within forty days, he was again to put himself into Sanctuary. These privileges of Sanctuary and Abjuration were taken away in 1624, by the Statute of the 21st of James I., chapter 28: but you will find the ancient law on these points fully set forth in William Rastall’s ‘_Collection in English of the Statutes now in force_,’ London, 1594, folio, under their proper titles, folios 2 a, 399 b, and also in Andrew Horne’s learned work of ‘_La Somme, appellé Mirroir des Justices_,’ London, 1624, 12mo., chapter 1, section xiii., page 102. Rastall, you will recollect, was Chief Justice of the Common Pleas under Queen Mary; and Horne was a Lawyer of great erudition and eminence, in the reigns of the First and Second Edwards.

“Well, Sir, having brought to your remembrance these ancient privileges, I am next to tell you that in 1413, a train of five abjurants of the realm crossed London Bridge on their way to Calais; having issued from a member of the famous Sanctuary of St. Martin’s le Grand, which was founded by Ingelric, Earl of Essex, and his brother Girardus, in 1056, and confirmed by Pope Alexander II., and King William I., in 1068. For these facts I must refer you to Stow’s ‘_Survey_,’ volume i., pages 605-606; and to page 16, &c. of a modest little volume of much curious information by Mr. Alfred John Kempe, entitled ‘_Historical Notices of the Collegiate Church, or Royal Chapel and Sanctuary, of St. Martin’s le Grand_,’ London, 1825, 8vo. As for the circumstance which caused these worthies to fly their country, we have it set down in the following terms, in that Chronicle contained in the Harleian Manuscript, No. 565, folio 74 a. ‘And in the same yere, on Seynt Marie Maudeleyn day,’--July 22nd.--‘John Nyaunser, Squyer, and his men, sclowen Maist^r. Tybbay, Clerk,’--Archdeacon of Huntingdon, and Chancellor to Joan, Queen of Henry IV.--‘as he passyd thorugh lad lane. For the whiche deth the same John Nyaunser and iiij of his men fledden in to Seynt Anne’s Chirche with inne Aldrich gate,’--that is to say, St. Anne in the Willows, as we now call it, though without exactly knowing why,--‘And with inne the said Church they were mured vp. And men of diuers wardes wacched them nyzt and day. And y^e forsaid John Nyaunser and his men for suoren the Kynges lond, and passyd through the Citee of London,’--on August the 21st,--‘toward Caleys, in there schertes and breches,’--a purse about their necks,--‘and ich of them a cross in ther hand.’ Let me add, that you will also find this circumstance recorded in Stow’s ‘_Annals_,’ page 345.”

“My worthy Mr. Postern!” exclaimed I, for I now began to grow exceedingly impatient, “I really can bear this no longer: you promise to give me a descriptive history of London Bridge, and here you tell me of nothing but a riot which took place in the street _near_ to it, and of a troop of knaves which _probably_ walked over it. Positively, my good Sir, it’s too bad; and unless your story mend, why----”

“‘It shall be mended, Mr. Barbican,’” answered the imperturbable Antiquary, in much the same tone of voice as that with which _Lope Tocho_ calmed the enraged Muleteer, in the same words;--“‘It shall be mended,’ and our Chronicles too, Mr. Geoffrey; but sweeten your disposition, my good friend, I pray you. Remember, that an Antiquary may _ruffle_ his shirt, but never his temper; for though I confess to you that the collateral events which I am obliged to introduce, are somewhat like--

‘Rich windows that exclude the light, And passages which lead to nothing:’--

yet, when we consider how little the tooth of Time hath left to us of continuous History, we should labour to supply that defect by joining all the fragments with which we meet, wherever they may be united to the principal, but still imperfect, chain. We are, however, now arrived at a period, which our Bridge Historians do in general pass over, with little information to their readers, and less labour to themselves; yet even here, although we have no pictorial delineations to refer to, yet, with a little research, we have enough of descriptive story to call up the very scenes before our eyes, and to bring the actors again living before us.

“The year 1415 is not only immortalized in History by the famous Battle of Agincourt, fought on the 25th of October, but even in the Chronicles of London Bridge it is a most memorable era, on account of the splendid Pageants which welcomed the victorious Henry V., as he returned over that edifice to his Palace at Westminster. About the middle of November, or, as some tell us, the 16th, the King embarked for England, bringing his principal prisoners with him; and you may remember, by the way, that his fleet being encountered by a violent storm, two of his ships were sunk, and all were in extreme danger. You will find a few particulars of these facts in Stow’s ‘_Annals_,’ page 351, and also in that Chronicle which I have so often quoted, in the Harleian Manuscript, No. 565; of which latter, the following are the words, from page 76 b.

“‘Also in this yere, that is to say the xxviij day of Octobr., the Kyng com to his Town of Caleys, and was there til y^e xvj day of Nouembr. And that same day y^e King schypped fro his Town of Caleys toward Engelond: And he landed y^e same day at nyzt, at Douerre, and com forth all y^e woke after toward London. And y^e fryday at nyzt, y^e King come to Eltham, and there he lay all that nyzt; and on y^e morwe was Satyrday, y^e xxiij day of Nouembr. The Maire of London, and alle y^e Aldermen, with all y^e Craftes of London, reden euery man in reed, with hodes reed and white, and mette with y^e Kyng on y^e Blake heth comyng from Eltham ward, toward his Citee of London; and ayens his comynge was ordeyned moche ryalte in London: that is to weten, at London Bregge, at y^e Conduyt in Cornhill, at the grete Conduyt in Chepe; and at y^e Crosse in Chepe was mad a Ryall Castell with Angells and Virgynes, syngynge there jnne. And so y^e Kyng and hise presoners of Frensshmen reden thorugh London vn to Westminster to mete.’

“It is fortunate for us Antiquaries, however, that we have still better descriptions of these Pageants, and especially of that exhibited on London Bridge; and if in relating them to you, I seem to speak over much upon one subject, I pray you to remember, as I said, how very slightly that subject--at least so far as concerns the Bridge,--has been treated by Historians in general; and how many of those who have pretended to write of this edifice, have omitted it altogether. Give me your patience, then, whilst I translate for you two curious accounts of those Pageants, which welcomed King Henry into the best and the greatest of Cities.

“The first which I shall cite, is, most probably, from the pen of an eye-witness, both of the King’s valour abroad, and of his triumphs at home; since it is from a Latin Manuscript in the Cottonian Library, marked _Julius_, E. IV., Article 4, which the Catalogue at page 17 calls ‘_The Acts of King Henry V.: the Author, a Chaplain in the Royal Army, who saw them for himself_.’ This Manuscript is written on paper, in a very small and fair current black-letter, full of contractions; and on page 122 b, the account of the Bridge Pageants runs thus. ‘And therewith, about the hour of ten in the day, the King came in the midst of them all; and the Citizens gave glory and honour to God, and many congratulations and blessings to the King, for the victories he had brought them, and for the public works which he had wrought; and the King was followed by the Citizens towards the City, with a proper, but a moderate, protection. And for the praise and glory of the City, out of so many magnificent acts of the noble Citizens, some things worthy of note the pen records with applause. On the top of the Tower at the entrance of the Bridge, which stands, as it were, on going into the strength of the City, there stood on high a figure of gigantic magnitude, fearlessly looking in the King’s face, as if he would do battle; but on his right and left hand, were the great keys of the City hanging to a staff, as though he had been Gate-keeper. Upon his right, stood the figure of a woman not much less in size, habited in the gown, tunic, and ornaments of a female, as if they had been meant for a man and his wife, who appeared favourers of the King, and desired that they might see his face, and receive him with many plaudits. And the towers about them were ornamented with halberts and the Royal Arms; and trumpeters stood aloft in the turrets, which were resounding with horns and clarions in winding and expanding melody. And in the front of the fortress this appropriate and elegant writing was imprinted, ‘_The King’s City of Justice_.’ And there appeared, on both sides, all the way along the Bridge, very little youths; and, also, on both sides, out of the stone-work before them, was a lofty column, the height of the smaller towers, made of wood, not less delicate than elegant, which was covered over with a linen cloth painted the colour of white marble and green jasper, as if it had been of a square shape, and formed of stones cut out of the quarries. And upon the summit of the column on the right side, was the figure of an Antelope rampant, having a splendid shield of the Royal Arms hanging about his neck, and in his right foot he held a sceptre extended, and offered it to the King. Upon the top of the other column was the image of a lion, also rampant, which carried a spear having the King’s banner displayed upon the upper end, which he held aloft in his dexter claw. And across, at the foot of the Bridge, was erected the fabric of a Tower, the height of the aforesaid columns, and painted; in the midst of which, under a superb tabernacle, stood a most beautiful effigy of St. George, all in armour, excepting his head, which was adorned with laurel interwoven with gems, which shone between it like precious stones for their brightness. Behind him was a tapestry of cotton, having his Arms resplendently embroidered in a multitude of escutcheons. Upon his right was suspended his triumphal helmet; upon his left his shield of Arms of a correspondent magnitude; and he had his right hand upon the handle of his sword, which was girt about him. Upon the tower was raised an extended scroll, containing these words, ‘_To God only be honour and glory_;’ and in front of the building, this congratulatory prophecy,--Psalm xlvi. 4.--‘_The streams of the River make glad the City of God_:’ and all the principal towers were gallantly adorned with the Royal Arms embossed upon them, or displayed in banners upon lances reared above them. In the house adjoining to the fortress behind, were innumerable children representing the English Priesthood, in radiant garments with shining countenances: others were like virgins, having their hair adorned with laurels interwoven with gold; and they continued singing from the coming in of the King, with modulation of voice and melody of organs, according to the words of this song in English.’

“I know very well that it is most common for the events of the reign of Henry V., to be cited from the ‘_History of his Life and Actions_,’ written in Latin verse by Thomas, a Monk of Elmham, in Norfolk, in his time Prior of the Monastery of the Holy Trinity at Lenton, in the County of Nottingham. As that part of his Poem, however, which treats ‘_De adventu Regis ad Pontem Londoniarum_,’--concerning the King’s entrance at the Bridge of London,--is considerably inferior to the account which I have already given you, I shall dispense with your labour in listening to it, and mine in translating it; and only observe to you, that an authentic copy of Thomas of Elmham’s ‘_Historia de Vitâ et Gestâ Henrici V. Anglorum Regis_,’ is preserved in the Cottonian Manuscript which I last cited, article 3, fairly written on parchment, in the small black text-hand of the latter part of the fifteenth century; and that the passage will be found at folio 101 b. Capitulum