London Stone, 



marched over the bridge and led his followers into the capital. 

 Shakespeare lays this scene in Cannon street : Jack Cade and his 

 followers enter and he strikes his staff on London Stone, saying " Now 

 is Mortimer lord of this city, and here sitting upon London Stone I 

 charge and command that of the city's cost, the conduit run nothing 

 but claret wine this first year of our reign. And now henceforth it 

 shall be treason for any that calls me other than Lord Mortimer." Now 

 you will observe here two things; first, that Jack < lade proclaims him- 

 self lord of London after he has struck London Stone ; and, second, 

 sitting on the stone he issues his first proclamation. He was sur- 

 rounded by a large body of followers, and they were all engaged in a 

 desperate undertaking — a rebellion against the crown, and if unsuc- 

 cessful they would pay the penalty with their lives. This then would 

 be no time for an idle ceremony, and besides, before his followers he 

 would not have gone through with an idle and senseless form ; for we 

 must not forget that he was a man of considerable ability, and Holin- 

 shed says of him that he " was sober in talk and wise in reasoning; " 

 and this same historian who has related every fact with the greatest 

 particularity, would not, I think, have failed to tell us if this address 

 had only been unmeaning words. We are therefore compelled to 

 admit, that his action and his words had a definite and intelligent 

 meaning; nay more, that they conveyed an assurance to his mind that 

 they would be accepted and understood by all present. No doubt 

 there were citizens of London there at that time, and if his followers 

 from Kent did not understand what he did, it is certain that they 

 could not have misapprehended him, for he used a tradition that must 

 have originated within the walls of London alone ; and as no objection 

 or comment is recorded, we cannot doubt as to the truth of his re- 

 mark, which would otherwise be absurd and unintelligible. There 

 must have been, therefore, some tradition or fact, which connected 

 London Stone with the liberty of the city ; aud the man who appro- 

 priated the stone secured for himself the lordship of the city. 



If we can show any thing tending to prove these facts, we have dis- 

 covered why the citizens of London should preserve so carefully and 

 revere for so many years this old monument. 



Mr. Henry Charles Coote, in a learned and valuable paper read be- 

 fore the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society, connects the 

 tradition of London Stone with a lost charter of the city of Loudon; 

 and I avail myself of the line of argument he presents in support of 

 his theory. And to understand this, we shall have to examine a little 

 into the history of the temporal government of London, as connected 

 with the privileges which the kings of England have from time to time 



