i8 THE APOTHECARIES' GARDEN 



possessor. The unopposed despot slides so 

 easily down the smooth road to Avernus. 



King James had thus made the position of 

 the tottering Apothecaries' Company firmer 

 than ever, but the civic authorities could hardly 

 be expected to welcome the new-comers. It 

 was not until seven years afterwards that the 

 Lord Mayor sent them an invitation to attend 

 St. Paul's to hear the sermon on Christmas Day, 

 together with the other City Companies. Then 

 peace was made, and civilities were exchanged. 

 Barrett quotes a long entry in the Company's 

 books relating to the happy event : " After 

 the sermon the Lord Mayor and the Aldermen 

 came in a most noble and courteous manner 

 and saluted the Company." The Apothecaries 

 presented the Lord Mayor with " a tun of 

 wine." Next year they took part in the 

 procession on Lord Mayor's Day in a barge 

 hired for the occasion, but under banners of 

 their own. 



Then their wanderings in the wilderness 

 came to an end. Cobham House, 1 on the 

 bank of the Thames, where the little Fleet 

 river joined it at Blackfriars, was purchased 

 from Lady Howard of Effingham. It had 

 waste land and tenements all the way down to 

 its landing stage on the Fleet. A road called 

 Water Lane led to the house from Ludgate 

 Hill, and on to the Thames at Blackfriars 

 Stairs (under the present railway bridge). 

 There was a road from Cobham House across 

 Water Lane, down the bank of the Fleet to the 



1 In 1600 Lord Cobham had entertained Queen Elizabeth at a 

 masque at Cobham House. London Past and Present, Wheatley. 



