A. D. 1 189. 349 



citizens from expeditions, and bellows feveral other privileges agree- 

 able to the manners of the age. [Chcirta in Lambecii Orig. Hamb. p. 83.] 

 After the Norman conquefl: London appears to have been governed 

 for fome time by a portgeref and a provoft conjundly *. The emprefs 

 Matilda, as queen of ILngland, appointed Godfrey Magnaville to be port- 

 geref and lliirref of London and Middlefex. In the reign of her fon. 

 King Henry II, we fee 110 more provofls, but find the names of feveral 

 portgerefs, or portgraves, who feem to have remained in office many 

 years, perhaps for life. In fome records the principal magiflrates of 

 London are alfo called fhirrefs (vicecomites), domefmen, and aldermen: 

 but it is not, I believe, known, whether thofe titles fucceeded each other 

 as belonging to the fime office of magiftracy, or belonged to co-exift- 

 ing offices. In thefirft year of King Richard, the oldeft furviving fon 

 of Henry II, the city began to have two fhirrefs, or bailifs, and a mayor, 

 who was the chief magiflrate. This year, at Michaelmas, Henry Fitz- 

 Alwin was appointed by the king to be the firft mayor, and he retain- 

 ed the office above twenty-four years. {Stow's Survey of London, pp. 914, 



Immediately after the commencement of Fitz-Alwin's mayorality, an 

 excellent regulation for the fafety of the lives and properties of the in- 

 habitants of London took place. The houfes being built of timber, 

 with roofs of ft raw or reeds, fires were very frequent : and, in order to 

 prevent fuch calamities, it was ordered, that the houfes in the city fhould 

 thenceforth be built of ftone up to a certain height, and covered with 

 flate or tile. That fafe and lubftantial mode of building was generally 

 perfevered in for about two hundred years, after which timber build- 

 mgs again came in ufe. \_Maniifcripts quoted by Stow, Survey^ pp. 131, 



533-] 



In the reign of Henry II the Jews had met with fome relaxation of 



the rigorous treatment to which they had formerly been iubje6led. De- 

 firous of conciliating the favour of the new king by valuable gifts, fome 

 of the chief men among them, aflembled from various parts of the king- 

 dom, went to prefent their offerings on the day of the coronation (Sep- 

 tember 3''), but were rudely repulfed by the guards, who alleged the 

 king's order for excluding them. The rabble fomehow got a notion 



Jirjl notice of bills of exchange, I muft here give a ' have been a confidcrable place of commerce, fince 



part of the charter in the original words. — ' Ar- ' biUsof exchange, or moneysremitted by exchange, 



' gentum quoqiie in ipfa civitate fi quis cambiare ' were very neiu at this time in Europe, and were 



' voluerit, in quocunque loco fuerit opportmnim, ' then in ufe only in the moil confiderable cities 



' cambiat, nlfi fuerit ante domum monetas. Po- ' of commerce.' — Domus monet<c, which I have 



' teftatem etiam liabeant examinandi denarios mo- clofely tranflated tie money-houfe, feems to be the 



' netariorum in pondere et puritate.' From thefe mint. 



words Mr. Anderfon, by a ftrange inadvertency, * Some hints concerning the magiftracy, &c. 



concludes, that the emperor gave the Hamburgh- of London before the conqneft, may be feen in p. 



ers 'liberty to negociate money by exchange, &c. 297. 

 ' which lall privilege Ihews, that Hamburg muft 



