HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE. 93 



annual courts held in the city, namely, the court of the view of 

 frank-pledge, the court of array, and the great portmote-court. Of 

 these the court of array is the most remarkable, and worthy of 

 record, as illustrative of the manners of our ancestors. 



Early on the morning of Whit-Monday, the high constables of the 

 city, attended by ten men armed with fire-locks, and adorned with 

 ribbons, preceded by eight morrice-dancers, a clown fantastically 

 dressed, and drums and fifes, escort the sheriff, town-clerk, and 

 bailiffs, from the Guildhall to the Bower at Green-hill, a mount situ- 

 ated at the south-east extremity of the city, in the parish of St. 

 Michael, where a temporary booth is erected for their reception. 

 On this mount the title of the court is proclaimed by the common 

 cryer ; the names of all the householders in the twenty-one wards 

 of the city, according as they are enrolled, are called over ; and all 

 persons owing suit and service to this court, called " the court of 

 array, or view of men and arms/' of the manor and lordship of 

 Lichfield, are required to appear, under pain of fine and amercement. 

 After this ceremony is ended, the constables, attended by the armed 

 men, &c. take their leave, and march through the streets to the 

 opposite extremity of the city, and summon the dozener, or petty 

 constable of that ward, to attend. He immediately comes forth, 

 bearing a flag or ensign, joins the procession, and the armed men 

 fire a volley over every house in the ward. The inhabitants, on 

 this salute, invite the constables into their houses and present them 

 refreshments, while drink is given to their attendants. The dozener 

 then, bearing his pageant, attends them to the Bower, and the town- 

 clerk from a roll calls forth the name of every householder in the 

 ward. Those who answer to their names are invited into the booth, 

 and regaled with a cold collation, and those who neglect to appear 

 are fined one penny each. In this manner the constables go through 

 the twenty-one wards, and perform similar ceremonies in each ; 

 consequently, it is late in the evening before they have performed 

 their toilsome task. The Court of Array is then concluded, and 

 the constables, preceded as before by the martial music, dancers, 

 and armed men, and attended by the petty-constables, formed in 

 two lines, with their gorgeous banners, conclude the festivity by a 

 procession through the principal streets to the market-place, where 

 on their arrival the town-clerk, in the name of the bailiffs and citi- 

 zens, delivers a charge to the high-constables. The purport of 

 this address is to thank them for their attendance, and inform them, 

 that in consequence of the firm allegiance of their predecessors, 



