CLXX ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



such matters. The dark oak panelling of the walls, the fire-place with 

 mixed architectural features, and the elaborate ceiling, all harmonize 

 with the quaint exterior of the building, and wiih the grotesque carvings 

 found in various passages and doorways. From this example of the 

 dwelling-houses of earlier times, we may judge what must have been the 

 appearance of Bristol when such buildings gave their distinctive character 

 to the streets. 



This seems to be the right point at which to introduce you to a 

 fifteenth- century mayor of Bristol. The scene depicted is the induction 

 of the new mayor at the Gruildhall. It is taken from the same manu- 

 script volume called the " Mayor's Kalendar," which furnished us with 

 the eai'liest plan of the city. This illumination represents what was 

 familiar to the Bristol burgesses from the time of Edward III. down to 

 the passing of the " Municipal Corporations Eeform Act," sixty years ago. 

 The modern procedure is shorn of almost every trace of mediteval usage, 

 although the robes of oflice, the corporation oââcials, and the civic in- 

 signia are still much the same. This ceremony of the induction of the 

 new mayor marks a great advance in the power and liberty of the 

 community, as compared with the period when the barons exercised 

 their despotic sway. In the charter of Edward III., which may be called 

 the Magna Charta of Bristol, it was provided that the burgesses might 

 elect their own mayor, and that his oath on taking ofiice should be taken 

 before his predecessor, instead of before the constable of the castle. 

 Bristol was at the time sharing in the remarkable development which 

 characterized town life at this period, and, as a growing seaport, it had 

 become the more necessary that the king should stand well with a place 

 from which so much might be expected. No longer, therefore, was the 

 outward and visible sign of subordination to the castle allowed to exist, 

 and it is no wonder that an event so important should have been thought 

 worthy of being pictorially represented as well as verbally recorded. 

 The incoming mayor is in the act of repeating the oath, which is pre- 

 served verbatim in the volume. The outgoing mayor holds the Bible, 

 upon which the hand of the incoming mayor rests, while he repeats the 

 form of oath which is read by the town clerk. Standing below on either 

 hand of the chief actors in the scene are the ''grave, sad, and worshipful 

 aldermen." Below, on the left, is the chamberlain with his mace, and 

 next him the sword-bearer, whose modern representative still continues 

 to carry the sword and wear the cap of maintenance. On the table are 

 seen the roll of parchment representing the chamberlain's accounts, the 

 bag containing the common fund, and the ink horn. The case for pre- 

 serving the Bible on which the oath is taken is also there. Below the 

 table, stand the sergeants with their maces, and below these again the 

 commonalty of the tov^•n, who have come to witness the ceremony which 

 gives them a new mayor. In this fifteenth century the duties attached to 



