* LON 
cial port; but from this charter, and that of William 
the Conqueror, the portreve of London appears to have 
been alfo at the head of its civil government. Of the 
change of the name of this high officer from portreve to 
bailiff, and from bailiff to mayor, we have fpoken at p., 6r. 
In the year 1Z13, the citizens of London obtained the 
privilege of choofing their own mayor, but with this con¬ 
dition,'"that he Ihould be prefented annually to the king, 
or, in his abfence, to his juftice, to be fworn into office. 
King Edward III. a few years after his fecond charter, 
by which Southwark was granted to the citizens, added 
thele privileges—that a gold.or filver mace ftiould be car¬ 
ried before the chief magiftrate,' and that the title of lord 
(hould be prefixed to that of mayor. 
In thefe remote times, we underftand that the elections 
for city-officers were made tiimultuoufly, by all the citi¬ 
zens, without diftinftion; but, this giving rife to great 
difturbances, the magiftrates were afterwards chofen by a 
feleft number, fometimes more, and fometimes fewer, out 
of each ward; and this feleft number was called the 
commonalty. This mode of eleftion by delegates continued 
from the’ reign of Edward I. or perhaps earlier, to that 
of Edward IV. in whofe reign (by aft of common coun¬ 
cil, anno 1471) the eleftions were made by the liverymen 
of the refpeftive companies ; which method has continued 
ever fince, and is eftabliflied by aft of parliament, 11 Geo. I. 
c. 18. By virtue of this authority the livery affemble an¬ 
nually, on Michaelmas day, at Guildhall for that purpof'e. 
Soon after the elefticn, the new lord-mayor, accom¬ 
panied by the recorder and feveral of 'the aldermen, is 
prefented to the lord-chancellor, as his majefty’s repre¬ 
sentative, for his approbation, without which the perfon 
elefted has no legal authority to execute the office; but, 
this being obtained, he is, on the 8th of November, fworn 
into the office of lord-mayor at Guildhall, and, the next 
day, before the barons of the exchequer at Weftminffer. 
On the morning of the 9th of November, being the day 
on which the lord-mayor eleft enters upon his office, the 
aldermen and file riffs repair to his refidence, from whence 
diey attend him to Guildhall, in a proceffion formed by 
coaches, which, about noon, proceed to Blackfriars, where 
the lord-mayor, aldermen, recorder, and fiieriffs, go on¬ 
board the city-barge, (itiep. 64.) attended by feveral cor¬ 
porations of the citizens, in their formalities, and (lately 
barges, and thence proceed to Weftminffer, forming a 
grand and magnificent appearance. The ceremony being 
over at Weftminffer, the proceffion returns by water to 
Blackfriars-bridge, whence the livery of many of the city- 
jeompanies, preceded by colours and bands of rnufic, march 
to their halls to dinner. When the lord-mayor lands at 
Blackfriars, he is received by the artillery-company, a 
jnilitary body compofed principally of young citizens, 
who take the lead of the proceffion, and are followed by 
the company to which his lordfliip belongs ; after thele 
come fome others of the city companies, among whom, 
that of the Armourers frequently attends, preceded by 
a perfon on horfeback dreffed in poliffied armour. Next 
march the lord-mayor’s officers and fervants, followed by 
his lordIhip in the city ftate-coach; and after him come 
the aldermen, recorder, fiieriffs, chamberlain, common- 
ferjeant, town-clerk, &c. in their feveral carriages and 
iblendid equipages; and in this manner they proceed to 
Guildhall, where an elegant entertainment is provided. 
On all public occalions the lord-mayor is clothed, ac¬ 
cording to the feafon, either in fcarlet or purple robes, 
richly furred, with a velvet hood, and golden chain, or 
collar of S S. with a rich jewel appendant. Many con¬ 
jectures and antiquarian difquifitions have been made 
upon the fignification of the S S. which compote the col¬ 
lar of the lord-mayor, as well as that of tile heralds and 
ferjeants at arms : fome take them as the fir It letter of 
Scutifer, ffiield-bearer; efquire, ccuycr ; others as the ini¬ 
tials of Sdus Sn/picius, &c. After long refearches of our 
own on the iubjeft, and nearly bewildered by the number 
of opinions, we limply reiurn to our original funnife, 
that Lhe S S. are nothing more than an ornament without 
DON. 
fpecial meaning, and merely chofen on account of their 
fliape, which being bent contrary ways, forms naturally, 
when united, the links of a chain. See the article He¬ 
raldry, vol. ix. p. 450.—When the lord-mayor, goes 
abroad in his ftate-coach, the mace-bearer fits upon a 
ftool in the middle, facing one of the windows, and the 
fword-bearer upon another ftool, oppofite the other; 
when on foot, his train is fupported by a page, and the 
mace and (word are carried before him. The nrlt lord- 
mayor who had fix horfes to his coach was Humphrey 
Parfons, anno 1740. 
The principal officers belonging to the lord-mayor, 
for the fupport of his dignity, are, the fword-bearer, the 
common hunt, the common crier, and the water-bailiff - 
who have all good falaries or perquifites, with each the title 
of Efquire. 1 -Ie has alfo three ferjeant carvers, three fer¬ 
jeants of the chamber, a ferjeant of the channel, two yeo¬ 
men of the chamber, four yeomen of the water-fide, a 
yeoman of the channel, an under water-bailiff, fix young 
men waiters, three meal-weighers, two yeomen of the 
wood-wharf, an officer called a foreign taker, and the city 
marflials. There are, beiides thele, feven gentlemen’s 
men ; as, the fvvord-bearer’s man, the common hunt’s 
two men, the common crier's man, and the carver’s three 
men. Nine of the foregoing officers have liveries of the 
lord-mayor, viz. the fword-bearer and his man, the three 
carvers, and the four yeomen of the water-fide. All the 
reft have liveries from the chamber of London. 
Although the office-of lord-mayor is eleftive, it may be 
faid to be, in fome meafure, perpetual ; for his power doe* 
not ceafe on the death of the king. When this circuni- 
ftance happens, the lord-mayor is the principal officer in 
the kingdom, and takes his place accordingly in the privy- 
council, until the new king is proclaimed; in proof of 
which, when James I. was invited to come and take pof- 
fefiion of the throne of England, Robert Lee, the then 
lord-mayor, figned the invitation before all the great of¬ 
ficers of (late and the nobility. His power is very confi- 
derable; for he is not only the king’s reprefentative in 
the civil government of the city, but alfo (lift com. 
miffioner of the lieutenancy, perpetual coroner, and ef- 
cheator, within the city and liberties of London, and the 
borough of Southwark, chief juftice of oyer and terminer 
and gaol-delivery of Newgate, judge of the court of ward¬ 
mote at the eleftion of an alderman, confervator of the 
rivers Thames and Medway, perpetual commiffioner in 
all affairs relating to the river Lea, and chief butler of the 
kingdom at all coronations, fie (its every morning at the 
manfion-houfe, to determine differences among the citi¬ 
zens, and to do the other bufinefs incident to his office of 
chief magiftrate. The perfon of the lord-mayor is invio¬ 
lable, and it is a high crime to afi'ault or refill him. Thus 
in the year 1339, in the mayoralty of Andrew Aubrey' 
lie, with fome of his fervar.rs, being affaulted in a popular 
tumult, headed by two perfons of the names of Haunfart 
and Brewere, thefe two ringleaders were apprehended.and 
tried for that offence at Guildhall, and, being convifted, 
were immediately beheaded in Cheapfide. 
The title of dignity, Alderman, is of Saxon original, 
and of the greatelt honour, anfwering to that of earl; 
though now it is no-where to be found but in chartered 
focieties. And from hence we may account for the rea- 
fon why the aldermen and commonalty of London were 
called barons after the conqueft. Thefe magiftrates are 
properly the fubordinate governors of their refpeftive wards, 
under the lord-mayor’s juriidiftioh ; and they originally 
held their aldermanries either by inheritance or purchafe • 
at which time the aldermanries, or wards, changed their 
names as often as their governors or aldermen. The op- 
preflions, to which the citizens were fubjeet from fuck 3 
government, put them up n means to abolifli the perpe¬ 
tuity of that office; and they brought it to an annual, 
eleftion. But, that manner of eleftion being attended 
with many incojiveniencies, and becoming a continual 
bone of contention ainonglt the citizens, the parliament 
in the year 1394, enafted, “ That the aldermen of L011- 
J \ doa 
