eg LON 
king fliould take it for a full noble of fix {hillings and 
eight pence; and, if it were of lefs value than five fliil- 
lings and eight pence, then the perfon paying- that gold 
to make it good to the value of five {hillings and eight 
pence; and, if the noble fo paid be better than five {hil¬ 
lings and eight pence, the king to pay again the furplu- 
fage that it was better than five {hillings and eight pence. 
This year was fuch a fcarcity of white money, that, 
though a noble were fo good of gold and weight as fix 
{hillings and eight pence, men might get no white money 
for them.''’ 
An eftimate of the public revenues and ordinary ex- 
penfes, probably intended to be fubmitte.d to parliament, 
is preferved in the Feeders, by which it appears, that the 
annual revenue amounted to 55,754!. 10s. io|?d. and the 
expenditure to 52,235k 16s. iofd. leaving a number of ar¬ 
ticles unprovided for, and many debts unpaid. It is wor¬ 
thy of remark, that the duties on wool alone amount to 
upwards of 30,000k more than half the revenue. 
On the thirty-firft of Auguft, 1422, king Henry V. 
died in France, from whence his corpfe was brought to 
England, and carried through London in a pompous man¬ 
ner, on an open chariot drawn by fourhorfes, to St. Paul’s 
cathedral, where the funeral obfequies being performed, 
the body was taken to Weftminfter, and depofited among 
the remains of his royal progenitors. At this funeral, 
James king of Scotland afTifted as chief mourner, and was 
attended by the princes of the blood, almoft all the nobi¬ 
lity, and the principal gentry of the kingdom. 
The fon of Henry, though not nine months old, fuc- 
eeeded his father by the name of Henry VI. and, in the 
month of November following, the young monarch was 
carried through the city, in his mother’s lap, in an open 
chair, to the parliament then fitting at Weftminfter. 
Soon after the young king’s accemon to the throne, in 
the year 5423, a petition was preferred to the king in 
council, for permiflion to remove the prifoners out of 
Newgate, in order to rebuild that prifon, in conformity 
to the will of fir Richard Whittington, late lord.mayor 
of London ; and, the petition being granted, the work 
was performed under the inflection of fir Richard’s ex¬ 
ecutors. 
In this year fir John Mortimer, a victim to the jealoufy 
cf the houfe of Lancafter againft that of York, w-as exe¬ 
cuted at Tyburn. He was put to death on a fiftitious 
charge, by an ex-poJ}~fa 6 lo law, called the Statute of Ef- 
capes, made on purpofe to deftroy him ; and thus, fays 
Pennant, was Henry VI. ftained with blood even in his 
infancy, and began a bloody reign with {laughter, con¬ 
tinued to the end of his life by ambition and cruelty not 
his own. 
About the year 1426, the biftiop of Winchefter, who 
was great uncle to the king, formed a defign of feizir.g the 
prote6lorfhip into his own hands; and, as the moft like¬ 
ly method to accomplifti his ends, determined to furprife 
the city of London. The duke of Gloucefter, who was 
protestor, having received intelligence that this bold plan 
was intended to be carried into execution in the night 
fucceeding lord-mayor’s day, when the citizens were en¬ 
gaged in feftivity, he fent an order to the lord-mayor to 
raife fuch a number of citizens as might be fufficient to 
defeat the attempt. Sir John Coventry, the mayor, obey¬ 
ed this order fo effectually, that, when the bifhop’s archers 
and men at arms attempted to force a paffage at London- 
bridge, they were eafily repulfed ; and the infurrection 
was wholly fuppreffed, with very little damage on either 
fide. 
On the young king’s return to England from France, 
where although his power began to decline, the duke of 
Bedford bad him crowned at'Paris, the citizens of Lou¬ 
don gave him a mark of loyalty by the pompous recep¬ 
tion which he met at their hands. On the 20th of Febru¬ 
ary, 1431, the mayor of London, dreffed in crimfon vel¬ 
vet, with a large furred velvet hat, a girdle of gold about 
his middle, and a baldiic of gold about his neck. 
D O N. 
waving down his back, attended by-three horfemen, 
on {lately horfes, clothed infcarlet befpangled with fiiver, 
and by all the aldermen in fcarlet gowns with fanguine 
hoods, and avail company of citizens in white gowns and 
fcarlet hoods, the fymbol of each trade and myltery em¬ 
broidered richly upon their {leeves, and all on liorfeback, 
fumptuoufiy accoutred, met his majefty on Blackbeath, 
and preceded him to London. The city, on this occafion, 
was decorated with rich filks and carpets; and on the 
bridge, and ftreets through which the cavalcade paffed, 
were ere fled a variety of {lately pageants, filled with per- 
fons reprefenting the lares, graces, and fciences ; who, by 
their curious orations and charming melodies, added very 
much to the elegance of the procefiion. Two days after, 
the mayor and aldermen attended the king at Weftmin¬ 
fter, and prefented him with a golden hamper, containing 
a thoufand pounds in nobles. 
The long quarrels between the company of fifiimongers 
of this city and foreign retailers of fiftt were-at laft put an 
end to, in favour of the latter, by an aft of parliament, 
enacting that no perfon whatfoever fnould prefume to 
hinder or obftruft any fifherman, either foreign or domef- 
tic, from difpofing of his lifts as he ftiould lee convenient, 
upon the penalty of ten pounds. 
Some idea may be formed of the rate of living at this 
period, from biftiop Fleetwood’s Chronicon Preciofum, 
who, under the year 1439, fays, “At this time a Angle 
clergyman might fupport hitnfelf with decency for five 
pounds per annum.” It mull not, however, be overlooked, » 
that five pounds at that time contained as much iiiver as ten 
pounds of the prefent currency ; fo that living may be efti- 
rnated at about five times as cheap as in our days. And this 
opinion is corroborated by an aft of parliament paffed in 
this year for regulating the qualifications for juftices of 
the peace in counties, which was to be “twenty pounds 
yearly, in lands or tenements,” a futn very nearly equi¬ 
valent to the prefent qualification of one hundred pounds. 
Superftition is inceffantly at work, and wiil be lo to the 
end of time; that is, as long as knaves and fools {hall be 
found among men. The year 144° was remarkable for 
the hoax played upon the public mind by the vicar of 
Barking. Sir Richard Wick, vicar of Hermetfworth in 
Efiex, was burnt on Tower-hill, on account of his religi¬ 
ous tenets; and, as he had the reputation of being a man 
of remarkable fanftity, the vicar ot Barking embraced this 
opportunity of impofing upon the people, by mixing a 
quantity of odoriferous fpices with fome allies, which he 
privately ftrewed on the place where Wick had been burnt, 
in order to induce the people to worihip him, as a martyr 
to the faith. This trick drew numbers of people to 
the fpot, who began to invoke the deceafed as a {hint, and 
offer flatties of wax, and money, at his (brine, which the 
impoftor repaid, by prefenting them with the allies as fa- 
cred relics, and fupplying the place with frefti allies dur¬ 
ing the night. After this farce had been carried on for 
about a week, the vicar was feized and imprifoned, and, 
in a (liort time afterwards, the whole cheat was dilcovered 
by his own confeffion. 
The votaries of the law, as well as thofe of religion, 
gave dangerous fpecirttens of their zeal, and of their pro- 
penfity for broils and commotions; for, in Auguft 1442,3 
fray began between the Undents of the inns of court, headed 
by one Harbottle of Clifford’s Inn, and the neighbouring 
citizens, in which many were wounded and killed on both 
fides; but it was happily quelled before the morning by 
the citizens, headed by the mayor and (herifts. But the 
attempt of the merchant-taylors to fet afide the lord-mayor 
at the next eleftion had like to have proved of much 
worfe confcquence to the city. They demanded Ralph 
Holland, a member of their company, to he cbofen by the 
court of aldermen, in oppofttion to Robert Clopton, a 
draper, upon whom the choice had already fallen. And 
the merchant-taylors became fo outrageous, that fir John 
Paddelley, the mayor, was obliged to exert his authority; 
who, by committing home of the rioters to Newgate, re- 
1 moved 
