A. D. I 



327- 



499 



deputed from each ward, eledted the mayor, and other city officers *. 

 But they do not appear to have been noticed, at leafl: by the kings, as 

 principal conftituent members of the corporation of the city, all writs 

 or mandates (at leafl as far as I can find from any acceflible records) be- 

 ing addrefled to the mayor and bailifs (or bailies, ' balivis'), till nowf, 

 that the king ordered the mayor, aldermen, and whole community of 

 London, and the mayor and bailifs, or the bailifs, of other cities and towns, 

 to provide as many men as they were able, properly furnifhcd with arms 

 and horfes, for his fervice. [Foedera, V. '\v,p. 287.] 



July — Gun-powder, which was undoubtedly made by Roger Bacon 

 in the thirteenth century, is faid to have been invented in the year 

 1330 by Barthold Schwartz, a German apothecary, whofe procefs of 

 making it became public, and was foon followed by the invention of 

 cannons, then called bombards. That the invention, or rather re-in- 

 vention, of it was earlier, is evident from the ufe of it in war being now 

 known in England, as appears from the Scottifh poet Barber, who (in 

 hk Life of Kw^ Robert, p. 40S, eri. 1758) relates, that the Englifh now 

 had guns of fome kind, which he calls cracks of ivar, at the battle, or 

 fkirmifh, on the banks of the Were, and that the Scots had never before 

 heard any iMQ)a. cracks. But in the year 1339 ^^ Scots ufed cannons to 

 batter the walls of Stirling caflle, which they probably received from 

 France %. [FroiJJart, L. i, c. 74.] 



proprietary aldeimen. In the year 1266 the al- 

 dermen of London, together with the baih'fs, be- 

 came bound for the payment of ,^500, due by the 

 king to fome merchants of Doway. \_MadoK's 

 Ftrma hurgi, p. 136; and fee u'fo p. 14.] 



* &ee Brady on burghs, p. 22, who quotes the 

 records in the city's archives, as does alfo Strype 

 in liis Survey of London, B, v, p. 73. Both thefe 

 authors wrote after the great fire, which deftroyed 

 fome of the records. But thofe llill remaining, 

 are, by fubfequent misfortunes, and removals in , 

 confequence of new buildings, in fuch a confufed 

 ftate (as they appeared when I faw them by the 

 favour of Mr. Woodthorpe, the city clerk) that 

 they will require the labour of a perfon verfed in 

 antiquarian literature to arrange them, and make 

 a catalogue of them, before they can be rendeied 

 ufeful. 



•}• The lad writ I find addrefled to the mayor 

 and bailifs of London, is dated 2S"' September 

 1326. [Fadera, V. iv, />. 234.] But the other 

 cities and towns, as far as I can iee, were governed 

 by bailifs, either in conjunflion with, or without, 

 a mayor : nor was the title of bailif generally fu- 

 perfeded by that of alderman, till many years after 

 this time. \_See above, p. 438, and Fadera, V. iv, 

 pp. ep, 234, 288, 668, 718, &c. &c.] In the 

 year 1336 we find the mayor, the bailif, and two 

 aldermen, of Cambridge ; and aldermen of Oxford 



and fome other towns appear afterwards. \_Rot. 

 pat, prim. 10 Ediv. Ill, m. 32 ; prim. 20 Fd'W. 

 ill, (ergo, 30. — Fadera, F. v, pp. 353, 254 — See 

 alfo Spelman, Glcjf. vo. .^Idermiuinus ctvilulis. 



It may be oblerved, as a curious circumftance, 

 that England and Scotland have in fome degree 

 made an exchange of the titles of magiftracy, every 

 city and town in the former being at prefent go- 

 verned by a mayor and feveral aldermen, and al- 

 moft every one in the later by a provoft and feveral 

 bailies, the titles of mayor and alderman being ut- 

 terly forgotten. See above, pp. 297, 446, and 

 below, under the year 1 557. 



^ Some have afferted that the firft appearance 

 of guns of any kind was in the year 1350 ; others 

 fay that they were firft ufed at the battle of CrefTy 

 in 1346 by the Englifli ; and Polydorc Vergil 

 was fo ill informed as to fay that they were fiifl: 

 ufed in the year 1300 by the Venetians, who were 

 taught by the difcoverer of gun-powder. That 

 man wrote a book exprefsly upon the Invealcrs cf 

 things, and alfo a Hi/lory cf Eiigla:4d, without 

 knowing any thing of the date of lo important a 

 change in the method cf carrying on war. The 

 Moorifli king of Grenada in the year 1 33 1 had 

 guns, which fnot balls ot iron capable of throw- 

 ing down walls. [_Zurita, ^Innales de Aragon, V. 

 ">/• 99 ^-1 "^^^ "'^ "^ guns was even common 

 before the year 1334, as appears from a curious 



dialogue 



