History of the Company. 75 



In August of the same year, the anniversary 

 A.D. 1608. of the King's deHvery from the Gowrie 



The Gowrie /-> • • i, ^ • i . i 



Conspiracy. Conspiracy eight years previous/ the 

 Company again attended at Paul's Cross to return 

 thanks, a custom which they annually observed 

 until 1616. 



In June of the following year the Court of the 



Company were specially convened to 



A.D. 1609. j-alse " ayde money," a tax levied 



" Ayde money. " i i i • i i 



throughout the kingdom, on the occa- 

 sion of the knighting of Prince Henry. The 

 following May the Prince was created Prince of 

 Wales, and the Company, in common with the 

 other Companies, took part in the processional 

 ceremony ; on this occasion It Is recorded that a 

 Liveryman of the Company, for absenting him- 

 self from the ceremony, was committed to prison. 



In the year 1609 mention occurs of the scheme 

 for colonizing Virginia. That country 

 had been taken possession of by 

 Raleigh in the previous reign, and unsuccessful 

 attempts had been made to colonize it. James 

 was very desirous of accomplishing this, and in 

 1606 and 1 6 10 granted patents for the formation 

 of two expeditions. In 1609 the Lord Mayor 



^ This was a conspiracy to dethrone James VI. of Scotland. 

 James was decoyed into the Earl of Cowrie's house at Perth, 

 5th August, 1600 ; the plot, however, was frustrated, and 

 the Earl and his brother slain. 



