■g'6 t O' N 
premifes into eenfi’derati'oiL and give the petitioners fuch 
relief as the houfe fhould think lit.’’ Whereupon a bill 
kvas ordered to be brought in,* for regulating elections in 
the city of London ; and for preferring the peace, good 
order, and government, of the laid city. This bili cre¬ 
ated a great ferment in the city, and was ftrongly oppofcd 
in the houfe of commons by three of the city-reprefenta- 
tives, who received the thanks of the court of common- 
council for their ftrenuous endeavours to prevent it from 
'palling into a law. As foon as the citizens knew that 
the bill was fent up to tire houfe of lords, a great number 
of them petitioned the houfe agaiult it, as-being injurious 
■to their liberties. The bill was pnffed into a law ; but 
-the fifteenth claufe, by which, a negative in palling adlsof 
common-council was given to the lord-mayor and aider- 
men, was afterwards repealed. 
George II. was proclaimed king on the 15th of June, 
.5727 ; and, having been invited, foon after, by the cor¬ 
poration of London, to dine at Guildhall on the approach¬ 
ing lord-mayor’s day, his majefty came into the city, af- 
fifted at the dinner, which was molt fumptuoufly ferved, 
and honoured the ball with his prefence till eleven o’clock 
an the evening.—At his departure, he ordered the fum of 
one thoufand pounds to be paid to the fheriffs, for the 
^relief and difcharge of poor infolvent debtors. The ex¬ 
pen fe of this entertainment, as it is recorded in the cham¬ 
ber of London, amounted to 4889I. 4s. 
I11 the year 172S, a daring project was concerted to rob 
the queen on her return at night from the city, as was 
afterwards confelfed by one of the gang when under fen- 
ter.ce of death. This fcheme, however, was happily fruf- 
t;-ated by the villains being bufily employed, at the time 
her majefty palled, in robbing fir Gilbert Heathcote, an 
alderman of London, as be was returning in his chariot 
from the houfe of commons. This circumftance, toge¬ 
ther with the great number of robberies which had been 
Committed in the molt daring manner within the cities of 
Shondon and Weltminlter, greatly alarmed both the court 
-and city 5 and letters were immediately fent from the fe- 
Cretaries of Hate to all the magiftrates, enjoining them to 
life their utmoft endeavours to fupprefs fuch villanies, 
gnd to bring the offenders to juitice. 
An idea may be formed of the Hate of the commerce 
of London at this period by the number of veflels which 
arrived at its port between Chriftmas, 1727, and Chriftmas, 
<5728; viz. from foreign ports, Britilh veflels, 1839; fo¬ 
reign fhips, 213; coalters, 6837: total, 8889 veflels. To 
Compare this with recent times, fee the article England, 
vol. vi. p. 803-805. and Great Britain, vol. viii. p. 
1823-825. 
On the laft day of December, in the year 1731, the tide 
in the river Thames rofe fo high, that it overflowed Wap- 
ping, Tooley-ftreet, and many other places ; and did in¬ 
credible damage by filling cellars and warehoufes, and 
4'poiling great quantities of different forts of merchandife. 
I11 the year 1734, the chamberlainfhip of the city of 
iondon being vacant, a gr^jat conteft arofe between the 
citizens and the miniltry, refpcfring the eledion of a pro¬ 
per perfon into that office. The candidates were Mr. 
John Bofworth, a tobacconiff, of Newgate-ffreet; Mr. 
William Selwin, a filkman, in Paternofter-row ; and Mr. 
John Thomas, a fiflimonger, near the Monument. Mr. 
Thomas, making no fliow of hands in the common-hall, 
declined ; but the numbers appeared 1b equal for each of 
the other candidates, that a poll was demanded by the 
friends of Mr. Selwin againft Mr. Bofworth, who was 
declared to have the majority of hands. The poll was 
managed with all the dexterity and influence that can he 
imagined ; and, though both the candidates were perfon- 
ally well refpefted by their fellow-citizens, and were 
looked upon to be equally qualified for the difcharge of 
that important truft, yet the conteff, for fever, days, was 
the warmeft ever known ; the citizens being determined 
ty .preferve their freedom of ekcuyn again!! any miuille^ 
D 0 K. 
rial oppofition whatever. Off the clofe of the poll, how¬ 
ever, the numbers appeared fo equal, that a fcrutiny was 
demanded ; and when the declaration was made, they 
flood as follows : 
For Mr. Bofworth, - - 3212 
Mr. Selwin, ... 3208 
In confequence of which, to the great fatisfaCtion of the 
citizens, Mr. Bofworth was declared duly elefted, and 
chamberlain of the city of London. The miniftry, how¬ 
ever, fo highly refented this ftrenuous oppofition to a can¬ 
didate of their choice, that they conferred the office of 
receiver general of the land-tax, which had generally been 
annexed to the chamberlainthip, on their difappoir.ted 
friend, Mr. 'Selwin, who had obtained the ill-will of the 
independent voters of the city of London, by having un- 
advifedly l’oiicited the miuifterial party to oblige all their 
dependents to vote for him. 
In the year 1735, the inhabitants of the precinfl of 
Blackfriars claiming a privilege of exemption from the 
jurifdiftion of the city of London, in right of the an-* 
cient monaftery diflolved there by king Henry VIII. oc- 
cafioned the lord-mayor and aldermen to afeertain their 
right thereto ; which they did by a trial in the court of 
King’s Bench, on the 10th of July ; wherein John Bof¬ 
worth, efq. chamberlain of the city of London, was plain¬ 
tiff, and Daniel Watfon, ftialloon and drugget-feller, de¬ 
fendant. The action was brought againft the latter, for 
opening a ffiop in Blackfriars, and, retailing his goods 
there, without being a freeman of the city. The counfel 
for the plaintiff alleged, that Blackfriars actually belonged 
to the city of London when it was a monaftery, and be¬ 
fore trades were ever occupied there; to prove which, 
they produced feveral ancient records, viz. a charter of 
Edward I. and a record, 2 Richard II. calling it the Friary 
of London •, and another, 21 Hen. VIII. mentioning a par¬ 
liament, held at the Friars-preachers of the city of Lon¬ 
don, Nov. 3, 1530; and other records of this kind ; they 
likewife cited a parallel cafe to this, 15 Car. I. when an 
aftion was brought againft one Philpot, a fhoemaker, of 
Blackfriars, for opening a fhop, and vending flioes there, 
without being free of the city. After a fair trial, by 
an equal and indifferent jury of the county of Hertford, 
a verdict was given for the city, with five (hillings da¬ 
mages. In confequence of this decificn, Blackfriars be¬ 
came a precinct of the ward of Farringfton Within, and 
fends two members to reprefent it in the common-council 
of this city. 
An act of common-council was palled, in November, 
for the better regulation of bakers; in which it was 
enabled, that, in addition to the fine, the name and place 
of abode of every baker, convicted of making bread un¬ 
der weight, fliall be publifhed. 
The ltreets of London being greatly infefted with rob¬ 
bers and houfe-breakers, owing to the infufficiency of the 
lights in the night, application was made to parliament, 
by the lord-mayor and common-council, to enable them 
to light the ftreets in a more effectual manner; in com¬ 
pliance with which, an aft was palled, empowering the 
lord-mayor, aldermen, and commonalty, to ereft a fuffi- 
cient number of fuch glals lamps, and in fuch places, as 
they (hall judge proper, to be kept burning from the fet- 
ting to the riling of the fun, throughout the year ; and 
giving them power to make a rate, to defray the expenle 
thereof. 
The city, in 1739, petitioned the houfe of lords-againft 
the Spanifh convention, by which they found themlelves 
aggrieved.— It was on this occafion that fir Robert Wal¬ 
pole took the liberty to call the citizens of London Jlurdy 
beggars ; and, for the purpofe of propagating a mean opi¬ 
nion of them, and taking off the weight of their peti¬ 
tions in matters of national concern, lie circulated printed 
lifts of the common-councilmen of London, with the ad¬ 
dition of their feveral trades, or companies, to infinuate, 
that, they were a contemptible body of tradelmen or me- 
, clui.iics: 
