*T8 LON 
dure no opposition, enrolled him -as a foot-foldier, and 
fent him to Scotland with the army, where he was taken 
prifoner; and, after undergoing very fevere hardlhips, 
was obliged to pay a confiderable fum for his liberty. 
The following anecdote, being not unlike feveral fup- 
pofed fafts which we have heard of in the laft and pre- 
i'ent centuries, will be acceptable to our readers ; to tliofe 
who are fond of the marvellous, as well as to the fuf- 
pefting mind that feldoni believes until conviction puts 
her feal upon the deed. Stow fays ; “ In the year 154-6, 
the 27th of April, being Tuefday in Eafter-week, W. 
Foxley, pot-maker for the Mint in the Tower of London, 
fell alleep, and l'o continued fleeping, and could not be 
awakened with pricking, cramping, or otherwife burning 
whatsoever, till the firft day of the next term, which was 
full fourteen days and fifteen nights, for that Eafter-term 
beginneth not afore feventeen days after Eafter. The 
caufe of his thus fleeping could not be known, though 
the fame were diligently fearched for by the king’s phyli- 
cians and other learned men ; yea, the king himfelf exa¬ 
mined th? faid W. Foxley, who was in all points found 
at his wakening to be as if he had fiept but one night; 
and he lived more than forty years after in the faid Tower, 
to wit, until the year of Chrift 1587, and then deceafed 
on Wednefday in Eaiter-week.” 
Edward VI. fucceeded to the crown, by the demife of 
his father, in the 9th year of his age. The firll aft of 
his power was exercifed in knighting the mayor of Lon¬ 
don ; for, on the 6th of February, 1557, the lord-protec¬ 
tor, the duke of Somerfet, having knighted the young 
monarch in the prefence of the lord-mayor and many 
other lords and gentlemen ; immediately after, the king, 
Handing under his canopy of fiate, took the fword from 
the lord-proteftor, and conferred the honour of knight¬ 
hood on Henry Hoblethorn, the lord-mayor. 
In this year, according to Howell, in his Londinopolis, 
the price of Malmfey wine, the only fweet wine then im¬ 
ported, and that by the Lombards alone, was but three 
halfpence the pint; for which he quotes the church-war- 
dens’ accounts of St. Andrew Underfliaft, from which it 
appears that they had “paid ten {hillings for eighty pints 
of Malmfey, fpent in the church,” 
Some regulations about labourers were found neceffary 
Qt this time ; and, as they were peculiarly calculated to 
keep peace and order in the metropolis, we mult find place 
for them here. The combinations and confpiracies which 
were daily concerted by the journeymen and other work¬ 
men, being found very detrimental to trade, the parlia¬ 
ment, among other things, enabled, “ that, if any artificers, 
-workmen, or labourers, do confpire, convenant, orpromife 
together, that they {hall not make or do their work but at 
a certain price or rate, or {hall not enterprife or take upon 
them to finifii that work which another hath begun, or 
Shall do but a certain work in a day, or {hall not work 
but at certain hours or times;—that then every perfon fo 
conlpiring, convenanting; or offending, being thereof con- 
■vidled by witneffes, confeflion, or otherwife, {hall forfeit, 
for the firft offence, ten pounds, or have twenty days im- 
prifonment; for the fecond offence, twenty pounds, or 
pillory ; and for a third offence, forty pounds, or to fit 
on the pillory, and have one ear cut off, befides being 
rendered infamous, and incapable of giving evidence upon 
oath.” In this act are included butchers, bakers, brewers, 
poulterers, cooks, Sec. And all juftices of the peace, 
mayors, bailiffs, &c. in their feffions, leets, and courts, 
have full power and authority to inquire, hear, and deter¬ 
mine, all and lingular the offences againft this llatute, and 
to caufe offenders to be punilhed. 
In the year 154.8, the march of the city-watch, which 
bad been difeontinued by command of king Henry VIII. 
was revived by fir John Grefliam, the mayor. The pro- 
ceffion received an additional fplendour from three hun¬ 
dred light horfemen, which had been raifed by the citi¬ 
zens for the fervice of the king. 
On St. Peter’s day, Gardiner bifliop of Wine belter, a 
DON. 
zealous catholic, preached before the king, at Whitehall. 
He had been warned not to fpeak on controverfial i'ubjecb, 
and the anfwer he gave was moderate and fatisfadlory 5 
but, when in the pulpit, he forgot his promifes, andi 
warmly fupported the real prefence in the facrament. The 
effect of this ill-judged conduct was grofsly indecent. 
Each party, although in the church, and before the king, 
cried out aloud, aud with vehemence, to fupport or to in- 
fult the preacher; and, on his leaving the pulpit, the im¬ 
polite orator was taken to prifon. 
London was again vifited by the plague in the month, 
of July of this year, which carried off a great number of 
its inhabitants. 
From Strype’s Ecclefiaftical Memorials, we learn, that, 
in this year, wheat fold at fix {hillings and eight pence 
per quarter; barley, malt, and rye, at five {hillings; and 
peafe and beans, at four {hillings. And, by an aft of par¬ 
liament for regulating the purveyors of the king’s houfe- 
hold, the rate of poft-horfes was fixed at one penny per mile. 
Houfe-rents muff have been very low at this time; for 
archbilhop Nicholfon, in his Hiltorical Library, fays, “a 
houle, in the very precinfts of king Edward Vi’s court, 
in Channel-row, Weftminfter, was let to no lefs a perfon 
than the comptroller of that king’s houfehold, for the 
yearly rent of thirty {hillings.” At a time like the pre- 
fent, when the above articles are fo extravagantly ad¬ 
vanced in price, owing to various circumftances, the rea¬ 
der will find amufement and intereft in the foregoing ac¬ 
count, by comparing the caufes and the effects in the im¬ 
partial balance of his judgment. 
In the year 1550, the Thames at London-bridge wa& 
obferved to ebb and flow three times within nine hours, 
occafioned by a ftrong eafterly wind repelling the ebb be¬ 
fore it could perform its natural courfe. 
In this year a captain Bodenham made a trading voy¬ 
age from London to the ifles of Candia and Chios, in the 
Levant, from whence he loaded home with wines, &c. 
and returned in the following year. 
The firft parliament in Edward’s reign having given all 
the lands and poffelficns of colleges, chantries, &c. to the 
king, the different companies of London redeemed thofe 
which they had held for the payment of priefts’ wages, obits, 
and lights, at the price of twenty thoufand pounds, and 
applied the rents arifing from them to charitable purpofes. 
The butchers of London having greatly enhanced the 
price of meat, owing to a combination between the gra¬ 
ziers and falefmen, the king and council, to reltrain the 
like impofition for the future, fixed the prices of cattle 
fold in the different feafons, in the following manner: 
From Midfummer to Mich almas. 1. s. d. 
The beft fat ox, to be fold at - - -250 
The belt fteers and runts - - -150 
Xhe belt heifers and kine - - - -120 
From Hollowmas to Ckrijlmas. 
The beft fat ox - - - - - 2 6 8 
The bell fteers and runts - - - - 1 6 8 
The bell heifers and kine - - - -130 
From Chrijlmas to Shrovetide, 
The beft fat ox - - - - - - 2 8 4 
The bell fteers and runts - - - -184 
From Shearing-time to Mich almas. 
The beft fat wether at - - - - - o 4 4 
If fhorn - - - - - - -030 
The beft fat ewe - - - - - -026 
If {horn - - - - - - -020 
From Michalmas to Shrovetide. 
The beft fat wether - - - -044 
If {horn - - - - - - - 03 0 
A great dearth happening the fame year, the follow¬ 
ing prices of proviftoas were aho fixed by the king and 
council s 
s. d. 
Whit c wheat, the quarter, at » - =. -130 
w Red 
