CHAPTER I

THE MAYOR

In the year 1500 a change of some importance was effected by Sir John Shaw, Mayor of that year. Before his time the civic feasts had been held at the Hall of the Grocers or the Taylors. Sir John Shaw built kitchens and offices at the Guildhall and began the custom of holding the Lord Mayor’s feast in that place.

The election of Sheriffs was formerly conducted by the citizens, who, by the Charter of King Henry IV., could appoint Sheriffs from their own body “according to the tenor of the Charters granted by the King’s progenitors and not in any other way” (_Liber Albus_, p. 148), and in the first book of the same work the manner of the election of the Sheriff is described in greater detail (_Liber Albus_, 1861 edition, p. 39):—

“As concerning the election of Sheriffs,—the Mayor, Recorder, Aldermen, and Commons, are to be assembled on the day of Saint Matthew the Apostle [21 September], in such manner as is ordained on the election of the Mayor; and in the first place, the Mayor shall choose, of his own free will, a reputable man, free of the City, to be one of the Sheriffs for the ensuing year; for whom he is willing to answer as to one half of the ferm[7] of the City due to the King, if he who is so elected by the Mayor shall prove not sufficient. But if the Mayor elect him by counsel and with the assent of the Aldermen, they also ought to be answerable with him. And those who are elected for the Common Council, themselves, and the others summoned by the Mayor for this purpose, as before declared, shall choose another Sheriff, for the commonalty; for whom all the commonalty is bound to be answerable as to the other half of the ferm so due to the King, in case he shall prove not sufficient.”

The custom is illustrated by the following story concerning the election of William Massam as Sheriff by Sir Edward Osborne, the Mayor:—

“In this year, one day in the month of July, there were two great feasts at London, one at Grocers’ Hall, another at Haberdashers’ Hall (as perhaps there was in all the rest upon some public occasion). Sir Edward Osborne, Mayor, and divers of his brethren the Aldermen, with the Recorder, were at Haberdashers’ Hall, where the said Mayor, after the second course was come in, toke the great standing cup, the gift of Sir William Garret, being full of hypocrase; and silence being commanded through all the tables, all men being bare-headed, my Lord openly with a convenient loud voice, used these words:—‘Mr. Recorder of London, and you my good brethren the Aldermen, bear witness, that I do drink unto Mr. Alderman Massam, as Sheriff of London and Middlesex, from Michaelmas next coming, for one whole year; and I do beseech God to give him as quiet and peaceable a year, with as good and gracious favour of her Majesty, as I myself, and my brethren the Sheriffs now being, have hitherto had, and as I trust shall have.’ This spoken, all men desired the same.

The Sword-bearer in haste went to the Grocers’ feast, where Mr. Alderman Massam was at dinner, and did openly declare the words that my Lord Mayor had used; whereunto silence made, and all being hush, the Alderman answered very modestly in this sort:—

‘First, I thank God, who, through His great goodness, hath called me from a very poor and mean degree unto this worshipful state. Secondly, I thank her Majesty for her gracious goodness in allowing to us these great and ample franchises. And, thirdly, I thank my Lord Mayor for having so honourable an opinion of this my Company of Grocers, so as to make choice of me, being a poor Member of the same.’ And this said, both he and all the Company pledged my Lord, and gave him thanks.”

The Lord Mayor’s Show in the sixteenth century, conducted partly on horseback, and partly by water, was a far finer pageant than any that our generation has been enabled to witness. The following is a contemporary account:—

“The day of St. Simon and Jude, he (the Mayor) entrethe into his estate and offyce; and the next daie following he goeth by water to Westmynster in most tryumphlyke maner. His barge beinge garnished with the armes of the citie; and nere the sayd barge goeth a shyppbote of the Queenes Majestie, beinge trymed upp, and rigged lyke a shippe of warre, with dyvers peces of ordinance, standards, penons, and targetts of the proper armes of the sayd Mayor, the armes of the Citie, of his company; and of the merchaunts adventurers, or of the staple, or of the company of the newe trades; next before hym goeth the barge of the lyvery of his owne company, decked with their owne proper armes, then the bachelers’ barge, and soo all the companies in London, in order, every one havinge their owne proper barge garnished with the armes of their company. And so passinge alonge the Thamise, landeth at Westmynster, where he taketh his othe in Thexcheker, beffore the judge there (whiche is one of the chiefe judges of England), whiche done, he returneth by water as afforsayd, and landeth at powles wharfe, where he and the reste of the Aldermen take their horses, and in great pompe passe through the greate streete of the citie, called Cheapside. And fyrste of all cometh ij great estandarts, one havinge the armes of the citie, and the other the armes of the Mayor’s Company; next them ij drommes and a flute, then an ensigne of the citie, and then about IXX or IXXX poore men marchinge ij and two togeather in blewe gownes, with redd sleeves and capps, every one bearinge a pyke and a target, whereon is paynted the armes of all them that have byn Mayor of the same company that this newe mayor is of. Then ij banners, one of the kynges armes, the other of the Mayor’s owne proper armes. Then a sett of hautboits playinge, and after them certayne wyfflers, in velvett cotes, and chaynes of golde, with white staves in their handes, then the pageant of tryumphe rychly decked, whereuppon by certayne fygures and wrytinges, some matter touchinge justice, and the office of a maiestrate is represented. Then xvj trompeters, viij and viij in a company, havinge banners of the Mayor’s company. Then certayne wyfflers in velvet cotes and chaynes, with white staves as afordsayde. Then the bachelers ij and two together, in longe gownen, with crymson hoodes on their shoulders of sattyn; which bachelers are chosen every yeare of the same company that the Mayor is of (but not of the lyvery) and serve as gentlemen on that and other festivall daies, to wayte on the Mayor, beinge in nomber accordinge to the quantetie of the company, sometimes sixty or one hundred. After them xij trompeters more, with banners of the Mayor’s company, then the dromme and flute of the citie, and an ensigne of the Mayor’s company, and after, the waytes of the citie in blewe gownes, redd sleeves and cappes, every one havinge his silver coller about his neck. Then they of the liverey in their longe gownes, every one havinge his hood on his lefte shoulder, halfe black and halfe redd, the nomber of them is accordinge to the greatnes of the companye whereof they are. After them followe Sheriffes officers, and then the Mayor’s officers, with other officers of the citie, as the comon sargent, and the chamberlayne; next before the Mayore goeth the sword-bearer, having on his headd the cappe of honor, and the sworde of the citie in his right hande, in a riche skabarde, sett with pearle, and on his left hand goeth the comon cryer of the citie, with his great mace on his shoulder, all gilt. The Mayor elect in a long gowne of skarlet, and on his lefte shoulder a hood of black velvet, and a riche coller of gold of SS. about his neck, and with him rydeth the olde Mayor also, in his skarlet gowne, hood of velvet, and a chayne of golde about his neck. Then all the Aldermen ij and ij together (amongst whom is the Recorder) all in skarlet gownes; and those that have byn Mayors, have chaynes of gold, the other have black velvett tippetts. The ij Shereffes come last of all, in their black skarlet fownes and chaynes of golde.

In this order they passe alonge through the citie, to the Guyldhall, where they dyne that daie, to the number of 1000 persons, all at the charge of the Mayor and the ij Shereffes. This feast costeth £400, whereof the Mayor payeth £200 and eche of the Shereffes £100. Immediately after dyner, they go to the churche of St. Paule, every one of the aforesaid poore men bearrynge staffe torches and targetts, whiche torches are lighted when it is late, before they come from evenynge prayer.” (Drake, _Shakespeare and his Times_, vol. ii. p. 164.)

The very pretty story of Edward Osborne and the rescue of his master’s daughter is narrated by Maitland as belonging to the year 1559, but the date does not matter.

Sir William Hewitt, citizen and clothworker, Mayor in 1559, lived on London Bridge. He was himself the son of a country gentleman of Yorkshire; he had for apprentice one Edward Osborne, also son of a country gentleman, Richard Osborne, of Ashford, Kent. Hewitt had three sons and one daughter. It happened one day, the child being yet an infant, that the maid playing with her at the open window let her fall out of the window into the river below. The ’prentice Osborne, fortunately seeing the accident, boldly jumped into the river and saved the child. Years after, when the child was grown up, Hewitt, one of the richest of London merchants, refused to give her in marriage to the Earl of Shrewsbury and other noble suitors, but gave her to the man who had saved her life. Sir Edward Osborne, as he afterwards became, Mayor in 1583, was the ancestor of the Dukes of Leeds.

Until recently it was customary for the Lord Mayor to go on Sundays in state to one or other of the City churches.

On these occasions the Lord Mayor was accompanied by the sheriffs and officials of the Corporation, and escorted by the mace-bearer and sword-bearer, the latter wearing the cap of maintenance, and carrying the state sword. It was usual for the Alderman of the Ward to be present with any other alderman that pleased to come, and as many as came brought with them their ward beadles, carrying the ward maces.

Towards the latter part of the sixteenth century the practice of carrying the sword into church before the Lord Mayor became customary. It is not clear when this practice first began, but after the Fire of London and the rebuilding of the City it became the universal custom, and so continued until a comparatively recent period, when the exodus of the citizens made it not only inconvenient but an absolute tax upon the officers of the Corporation if the Lord Mayor attended church in state with his sword borne before him.

But for the time that it lasted, that is rather more than two centuries, it necessitated the introduction into the City churches of a convenient stand or case upon which the City sword was placed. The State visits of the Lord Mayor having been discontinued in the mayoralty of Sir Robert Fowler, the consequence is that the sword-stands have ceased to have any use. Those stands which had artistic merit will no doubt be preserved.

It may be taken as certain that these sword-cases or stands were not in use before the reign of Queen Elizabeth. There were many schedules of ecclesiastical furniture in existence prior to that date, but in none of them is there any mention of such an article as a sword-case, or sheath, or stand, although the list of articles is most minute. The earliest mention is in the Account Books of St. Michael’s, Cornhill, published by Mr. Alfred I. Waterlow.

Under date 1574, that is, in the sixteenth year of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, there is the following entry:—

“Paid for guylding of the case for my Lord Mayor’s swearde ... 9s.”

Hawes was a resident in the parish, and was Lord Mayor in the year 1574–1575. He had had a new pew made for him just outside the chancel screen a year or two before, on his being appointed Alderman of Cornhill Ward, and the pew was further fitted with a gilded sword-case on his being made Lord Mayor.

The worthy Machyn has a note on a Civic hunting which reads pleasantly:—

“The xviij day of September my lord mare and my masters the althermen and mony worshephull men, and dyvers of the masturs and wardens of the xij compenys, rod to the condutt hedes for to se them, after the old coustum; and a fore dener they hundyd and hare and kyllyd, and so to dener to the hed of the condyth, for ther was a nombur, and had good chere of the chamburlayn; and after dener to hontyng of the fox, and ther was a goodly cry for a mylle, and after the hondys kyllyd the fox at the end of sant Gylles and theyr was a grett cry at the deth, and blohyng of hornes; and so rod thrugh London, my lord mare Harper with all ys compene home to ys owne plase in Lumberd Street.”