The Merry Past 



older men of every generation firmly believed them- 

 selves to be perfect in every respect, and determined 

 that all things should remain as they were. The 

 junior members of the rising generation, on the other 

 hand, were as firmly convinced that their improve- 

 ments upon the methods of their parents were greatly 

 superior, and determined they should be adopted in 

 practice when the seniors were removed to a better 

 world. 



The modes of government, the principles, and the 

 habits of the citizens generally, were, in certain 

 respects, strictly patriarchal. The Lord Mayor was, 

 in their opinion, the greatest man in all the world ; 

 and though his office lasted but one year, it was the 

 great ambition of most young men one day to fill it, 

 and the retrospect made those who had served it 

 happy for the rest of their life, by reflecting on the 

 great honours they had received, and the great 

 actions they had committed during the twelve 

 months that their commands were as absolute within 

 their own precincts as those of the Pope or the Grand 

 Signor within their respective dominions. The alder- 

 men were patriarchs, each in his own ward, as absolute 

 as the Lord Mayor was over the whole city, and ex- 

 acted equal respect in their own limited jurisdiction. 

 The Common Council were the respectful advisers 

 of the alderman in his own wardmote, and, when all 

 were assembled in the Witenagemote at Guildhall, 

 they constituted the parliament of the Lord 

 Mayor. 



Whilst the Lord Mayor of London was as a rule 



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