BEiiRY—The ''Friday Book,'' 1567-1611. 479 



city ; and sheriffs were fined for including their names in the lists of those 

 liable. By the year 1597, however, the number of soldiers coming to the city 

 was found to have increased so much that it seemed only just that this 

 privileged class should bear their part in relief of their neighbours. 



As to the office of recorder, when a vacancy occurred in 1595, Edward 

 Loftus, then a law student in England, was specially recommended by the 

 Lord Chancellor for the post; and inquiries as to his competency were 

 directed to be sent to that country. 



There is some mention of the city plate, and special articles were purchased 

 from time to time, "to follow the sword," as the record (using an ancient 

 phrase, denoting the mayor's jurisdiction) quaintly puts it. In 1609 a sum 

 of £7 15s. was expended in having a new pommel and cross of pure silver 

 set in the King's sword, which was daily carried before the mayor. 



Naturally, the subject of the defence of the city in times of danger 

 occupied a considerable portion of the deliberations of the assembly. Gun- 

 powder was kept in the city store-house, and pikes were provided. In 1597, 

 during the progress of Tyrone's rebellion, a number of entries concern the 

 watch, both standing and roaming, who were employed on the walls, at the 

 gates, and within the city, night and day. St. Audoen's bell was rung at the 

 appointed time, and the mayor had imposed on him the duty of seeing to this. 

 The captains of the guard kept their court in the new hall, and had a fixed 

 allowance for fire and candlelight. The postern gates in the city walls were 

 a source of anxiety, and the mayor directed such persons as had any in their 

 premises to have them built up with stone and lime. Sii" John Gilbert, in 

 Appendix II. to his third volume of " Ancient Records of Dublin," has 

 brought together a large number of " civic regulations for the defence and 

 protection of Dublin," 1596-1601, taken from Egerton ms., 1769, British 

 Museum, London, the originals of which are those found in the "Friday 

 Book" before us, of whose existence Gilbert seems to have been unaware. The 

 Egerton MS. is but a copy — an accurate one, however, as I have collated the 

 entries. Some precautions against the peril of fire are recorded; and on 

 many occasions the scourge of the plague occupied the anxious attention of 

 the city fathers. Alarm was created by its appearance in England in the 

 autumn of 1592, when London suffered much. The mayor was empowered 

 to send two sufficient persons to board every vessel coming to the city from 

 England, and no goods were to be put off until he gave order. On one 

 occasion, the master of the Barber Surgeons' Gild was moved to send two of 

 its members to examine and certify as to a case of the plague. 



Many entries relate to the trades exercised in the city and suburbs. In 

 1581 sellers of ale and victuallers licensed by the mayor were to lodge aU 



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