Chapter VII: Part 7

‘Swà ewyn a-pon _the sext day
Of that moneth that we call May_,
Thai ilk forsayd Lordis tway,
The Lyndyssay and the Wellis thay
On horse ane agane othir ran
As thare taylyhè (_tally, a bond, or indenture to fight_) ordanyd than.
The Lyndyssay thare wyth manful fors
Strak qwyte the Wellis fra his hors
_Flatlyngis downe a-pon the grene_.
Thare all his saddile twm (_toom, empty_) was sene.’

“We have, however, sufficient authority for believing that this Justing did actually take place on St. George’s day, for Hector Boethius states, on page 336 b. of his ‘_History_,’ that because it was through the protection of St. George, on whose day Sir David, or rather Earl, Lindsay fought, he had gained this victory, he founded a Chantry, with a gift of 48 marks,--£32 yearly,’--for seven Priests, with divers Virgins, for ever to sing holy Anthems to the Saintly Soldier in the Church of Dundee. ‘The which,’ adds he, ‘they did unto our time,’--that is, about eighty years afterwards--‘not without singular commendations to the Earl.’

“The Poem also speaks of the use of other weapons than lances; and gives both Sir David Lindsay and King Richard a less degree of courtesy than we find mentioned elsewhere, as you will discover in the following passage.

‘Qwhen all thare cursis on hors wes dune,
To-gyddyr thai mellayid on fute swne,
Wyth all thare wapnys, as by the taylyhè
Oblyst thai ware, for til assaylyhè.
Swà wyth thare knwys at the last
Ilk ane at othir strak rycht fast,
Swà of this to tell yow mare
_The Lyndyssay fastnyd his daggare_
In-till Wellis armowris fyne
Welle lauche (_a good depth_) and hym lyftyd syne
Sum thyng fra the earth wyth pyth;
And all (rycht) manful wertu wyth
Oppynly before thame all
He gave the Wellis a gret fall,
And had hym haly at his will
Qwhat evyr he wald have dwne hym til.
The Kyng, in his Swmere Castelle
That all this Towrne sene had welle,
Sayd, ‘Lyndyssay, Cusyne, gud Lyndissay,
Do forth that thow suld do this day.’
As to be sayd, do furth thi dete,
Thare shall ná man here mak lete.’”

“Let _me_ finish this story, Mr. Postern,” said I, as he concluded his repetition of these old Scottish verses; “if it _be_ to have a finish, and you do not really intend to keep me all night in the year 1390 for we must not, certainly, let two such champions pass without one word concerning their families and their Arms; nor leave without distinction the actual Sir David Lindsay, and Lord Wells, who were engaged in this very famous passage of arms. You must, I am sure, remember, Mr. Barnaby, that the immortal Sir William Dugdale, Garter King of Arms, hath, in his ‘_Baronage of England_,’ London, 1676, folio, volume ii., page 11, a memoir of Lord Wells, very meet to be mentioned here. His Lordship was the descendant of Adam de Welles, who lived in the time of Richard I. and he had served in the wars in Flanders, France, and Scotland, under the Kings Edward III., and Richard II., and the valiant John, Duke of Lancaster. As he was ten years old at his father’s death in 1360, he must have been about forty when he justed on London Bridge; and after having been summoned to Parliament from 1376 to 1420, he is supposed to have died in the following year, on the Tuesday next after the Feast of St. Bartholomew the Apostle, which being Sunday, August the 24th, 1421, made it the 26th of the month. Andrew of Wyntown, whom you have quoted, says of this Lord, you remember, in his Chronicle, volume ii., page 354, alluding to the Justing on London Bridge:--

‘For in all Ingelond afore than
The Welles was a commended man;
Manful, stoute, and of gud pyth,
And high of harte he was there wyth.’

“He bore for Arms, Or, a Lion rampant double queuée, Sable. Of Sir David Lindsay, of Glenesk, commonly called Earl of Crawfurd, you may see some notices with proofs, in ‘_The Peerage of Scotland_,’ by Sir Robert Douglas, Edited by John Philip Wood, Esq., Edinburgh, 1813, folio, volume i., page 375. He married Catherine, fifth daughter of Robert II., King of Scotland, and his brother-in-law, Robert III., created him Earl of Crawfurd, April 21st, 1398; though Hector Boethius, on page 336 b of his ‘_History_,’ denies this, saying:--‘There are who write, that the before-named David was created the first Earl of Craufurd by King Robert the Third; but because we discover by the witness of ancient volumes, that James his father,’--rather his uncle, who was created Baron of Crawfurd, January 1st, 1382,--‘was made Earl by Robert the Second, we have followed a different manner in the history of this family.’ Earl David was, however, twice a Commissioner and Ambassador to England, in 1404 and 1406; and it is probable that he died before 1412. The arms borne by the Lindsays were Gules, a fesse Chequé Argent and Azure; but his victorious banner has long since fallen a prey to a mightier conqueror: the lance and the falchion which struck down all before them, have been in their turn overcome by slow-consuming decay: the champion himself lives but in these scattered fragments; remembered only by descendants, or antiquaries; his tomb, and that of his rival, are alike unknown, and even if they could be traced,--

‘The Knights are dust,
And their good swords are rust,
Their souls are with the Saints we trust!’”

I must own that I thought it a little uncivil in Mr. Barnaby Postern, as I finished these reflections with an air of great philosophical wisdom, to give a short dry cough, push the tankard towards me, and then to say, “Sorrow is dry, Mr. Geoffrey, and morality is musty; so do you take another draught of the sack, and I’ll give you another chapter from the Chronicles of London Bridge.”

“And now, Sir,” recommenced my visitor, “that our history may not be without the mention of at least one strange fish, connected with London Bridge, let me tell you, that on Christmas day in the year 1391, as Stow tells us in his ‘_Annals_,’ page 30 b, ‘a Dolphin came forth of the Sea, and played himself in the Thames at London to the Bridge; foreshewing, happily, the tempests that were to follow within a weeke after; the which Dolphin being seene of Citizens, and followed, was, with much difficulty, intercepted and brought againe to London, shewing a spectacle to many of the height of his body, for he was tenne foote in length. These Dolphins are fishes of the sea, that follow the voices of men, and reioyce in playing of instruments, and are wont to gather themselves at musick. These, when they play in rivers, with hasty springings or leapings, doe signifie tempests to follow. The seas containe nothing more swift nor nimble, for oftentimes with their skips, they mount ouer the sailes of ships.’ The original of this story is to be found, with many more particulars concerning Dolphins, in the ‘_Historia Brevis_,’ of Thomas Walsingham, London, 1574, folio, the admirable edition by Archbishop Parker, page 380.

“As the political troubles which succeeded the appearance of this monster, were productive of a very sumptuous triumph upon London Bridge, I shall take the freedom to remind you, that King Richard being greatly attached to regal magnificence and banquets, naturally found his revenues very insufficient to support the splendours of his Court; for, as Walsingham and Knyghton, the best historians of the time, assert, he valued himself upon surpassing all the other Sovereigns of Europe in magnificence; they add that he daily entertained no less than six thousand individuals; that three hundred servants were employed in his kitchen alone; and that his Queen had an equal number of females in her service. To supply the means for this extraordinary splendour, he endeavoured to procure aid from the Citizens of London; and sent to borrow from them the large sum of £1000; but it then was an unhappy time in England, for a dreadful Plague and Famine had overspread the land, and they not only refused his Majesty’s request, but, upon a Merchant of Lombardy offering to comply with it, they violently attacked, and almost slew him. This was early in the year 1392; and on the 25th of May following, the King, incensed to a very great degree, summoned a Parliament at Stamford, when the City Charter was seized; the Law Courts were removed to York; and the Mayor, Sheriffs, and principal Citizens, deposed and imprisoned; until, by the mediation of Queen Anne, the Bishop of London, and the Duke of Gloucester, the King’s anger was in some degree pacified, and he consented to indulge the Londoners with an audience at Windsor. At this interview the Citizens, after submitting themselves to the King’s pleasure, offered him £10,000 for the redemption of their privileges; but were dismissed in dejection and uncertainty; though when Richard was informed of their sorrow, he determined to proceed immediately to London, to re-assure them of his favour. It was upon this occasion, that the Bridge bore a very important part in the triumph; though the ceremony of receiving the King and Queen with great splendour and a considerable train, began at Wandsworth; where four hundred of the Citizens well mounted, and habited in one livery, entreated him to ride through his Chamber of London. At St. George’s Church, in Southwark, the procession was met by Robert Braybrooke, Bishop of London, and his Clergy of the City, followed by five hundred boys in surplices, who attended them through the streets towards Westminster. When the train arrived at the Gate of London Bridge, nearly the whole of the inhabitants, orderly arranged according to their age, rank, and sex, advanced to receive it, and presented the King with a fair milk-white steed, harnessed and caparisoned in cloth of gold, brocaded in red and white, and hung full of silver bells; whilst to the Queen was presented a palfrey, also of white, caparisoned likewise in white and red. The other streets of London, too, put on all their bravery; the windows and walls being hung with cloths of gold, silver, and silk; the Conduit in Cheapside poured out floods of red and white wine; a child, habited like an angel, crowned the King and Queen with golden crowns, from a sumptuous stage covered with performers in rich dresses; a table of the Trinity wrought in gold, and valued at £800, was given to the King, and another of St. Anne to his consort; and truly I know of nothing which might so well express the splendours of that day, as the passage with which Walsingham concludes his notice of it. ‘There was so much glory,’ says he, ‘so much pomp, so great variety of divers furniture provided, that to have undertaken it might have been a triumph to any King. For horses and trappings, plate of gold and silver, clothes of gold, silk, and velvet, ewers and basons of yellow gold, gold in coin, precious stones, and jewels so rich, excellent, and beautiful, were given to him, that their value and price might not easily be estimated.’

“This gorgeous scene took place on the 29th of August, and you will find my authorities for this account of it in Henry Knyghton’s books ‘_De Eventibus Angliæ_,’ printed in Twysden’s ‘_Scriptores_,’ already cited, page 2740; in Robert Fabyan’s ‘_Chronicles of England and Fraunce_,’ London, 1559, folio, volume ii., page 334; in Stow’s ‘_Annals_,’ page 307; and in Maitland’s ‘_History_,’ volume i., page 180. I will but observe, to finish this portion of history, that the Citizens redeemed their Charter by the payment of £10,000; and the King, by his Letters Patent, dated at Westminster, in February 1392-93, restored them to his favour; and so, observes Stow in his ‘_Annals_,’ ‘the troubles of the Citizens came to quietnesse; which troubles, the Dolphin in the Thames at Christmas last past, did happily signifie afar off.’ Though Maitland, at page 180 of his ‘_History_,’ volume i., most unaccountably makes the Dolphin appear the Christmas _after_ this fine was paid.

“I can scarcely imagine, worthy Mr. Barbican, what could induce the accurate Stow,--and of course all other Authors of London history,--to remark, when speaking of the year 1395, our next eminent epoch in the Chronicles of London Bridge, that, because the Justing which we have already spoken of was, as he says, then holden upon it, such ‘history proveth that at that time, the Bridge being coaped on either side, was not replenished with houses built thereupon, as since it hath been, and now is.’ You will observe that this passage, which occurs in volume i., page 61, of his ‘_Survey_,’ is no interpolation of later, or more unskilful, Editors, because it is to be found in the first black-letter edition of that most valuable work, 1598, small folio. Now, in most of his preceding pages he has been giving proofs of the Bridge being built upon at an early period to some extent; and I also, after him and others, have adduced to you abundant evidence that such was the case. I have shewn that the Gate and Towers were certainly as ancient as 1264; that in the Patent granted to Isenbert of Xainctes, in 1201, it is stated ‘that the rents and profits of the several houses, which the said Master of the Schools shall cause to be erected on the Bridge, shall be for ever appropriated to repair, maintain, and uphold the same;’ that in the Patent of relief granted by Edward I., in 1280, it is observed that the dilapidations of the Bridge may occasion not only its sudden fall, ‘but also the destruction of innumerable people dwelling on it;’ and that in the reign of the same Edward, the Assize Rolls mention the very rents and situations of houses then standing on London Bridge. All this, I imagine, might be received as fair and conclusive evidence that this part of the City was built upon and inhabited, long before 1395; to which let me add, that Richard Bloome, one of the continuators of Stow, observes, on page 62, when speaking of the dreadful conflagration of the Bridge in 1632-33, that some of the houses remained unbuilt until the year 1666, when the Great Fire of London destroyed all the new edifices. ‘But,’ rejoins he, ‘the old ones at the South end, some of which were built in the reign of King John,’--and he died, you will remember in 1215,--‘were not burnt.’ It is, however, extremely probable, that London Bridge did not even in 1395 present that form of a continued street which was afterward its most celebrated and peculiar character. There were, I doubt not, several places open to the water, perhaps, as Stow says, ‘plainly coped with stone;’ and in one of these, it is most probable, that the Justing, which he erroneously mentions in that year, took place.

“Anne of Bohemia, the Queen of Richard II., dying in 1394, his sorrow for her loss was both passionately expressed, and deservedly bestowed; though, so early afterwards as in 1396, during an interview between him and that insane Monarch, Charles VI. of France, a truce was concluded betwixt the two Kingdoms for twenty-eight years, and Richard espoused Isabel, the French King’s eldest daughter, although she was then under eight years of age; whence she was called ‘The Little,’ and the English Sovereign was about thirty. This marriage was solemnized by Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury, in the Church of St. Nicholas, at Calais, on Wednesday, October the 31st, or rather the 1st of November, when Richard is said to have expended on the occasion, the immense sum of three hundred thousand marks, or in modern coinage £200,000. On the 2nd of November they sailed for England, and on arriving at Blackheath the Royal train was met by the usual procession of the Mayor and Aldermen of London, habited in scarlet, who attended the King to Newington, where he dismissed them, as he was to rest for a short time at Kennington. On the 13th, however, Richard and his Consort entered the City on their way to the Tower; when so vast a multitude was collected on London Bridge to see the young Queen pass, that nine persons were killed in the crowd, of whom the Prior of the Austin Canons at Tiptree, in Essex, was one, and a worshipful matron of Cornhill was another. John Stow is commonly cited as the authority for this circumstance, and it may be seen related in his ‘_Annals_,’ page 315; though it is also to be found in ‘_The Chronicle of Fabian_,’ London, 1559, small folio, page 338. Robert Fabian, as you must well remember, was, in 1493, an eminent Merchant and Sheriff of London, and died in 1512, about thirteen years previously to the birth of John Stow. You will also see the following notice of the event in the Harleian Manuscripts, No. 565, article 5, page 61 a, which consists of ‘_A Chronicle of English Affairs, and especially of those relating to the City of London, from the first year of King Richard I., 1189, to the 21st of Henry VI., 1442, inclusive_’--‘In yis yere, a bouzte y^e feste of Alhalwen, Isabell y^e Kynges doughter of Fraunce was spoused to Kyng Richard at Caleys: whiche afterward on y^e viij day of Januer was crowned Quene at Westm^r. At whos comynge to London, y^e Priour of Typtre in Essex, with other viij persones vp on London bregge in y^e gret prees weren crowsed to y^e deth.’ Now, as I shall hereafter frequently, have to cite this Chronicle for some particulars of events not to be found in any other Annals, I must observe that it is a small quarto, fairly written on parchment, in a current Court-hand of the time of Edward IV., and decorated with vermillion lines and ornaments.

“It was, you will recollect, in 1397, that Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, and uncle to Richard II., being charged with disaffection and conspiracy, was suddenly carried to Calais; in which confinement and exile he died, on the 24th of September in the same year, of an apoplectic fit, as some Historians relate, although the greater number charge Richard with his murder, and assert that he was smothered, or strangled: for he was rude and overbearing in his disposition, and usually opposed the King in most of his measures; censured his extravagant expenditure, and on several occasions is said to have reproached and upbraided him with great severity of language. On these accounts is the Duke’s death charged upon the King, and his favourites; and you have a very curious and interesting examination of the circumstance, in Richard Gough’s ‘_History and Antiquities of Pleshy, in the County of Essex_,’ London, 1803, quarto, pages 85-123. The reign of this unfortunate Monarch was, however, nearly at a close; for, on the 29th of September, 1399, he resigned the ensigns of Royalty to the Duke of Lancaster, afterwards Henry IV., and in the formal accusation, consisting of 33 Articles, drawn up for his deposition, in the fourth he is charged with having caused the murder of the Duke of Gloucester. When these accusations were read over to Richard, and he had named his principal advisers in each action, it was Henry of Lancaster’s care to discover the four Knights who actually strangled the Duke of Gloucester in the Castle of Calais; and having done so, he confined them in four separate prisons in London, ‘and would not,’ says Sir John Froissart, ‘have taken twenty thousand nobles for their deliverance.’ Sir Thomas Knolles, the Mayor, and the Citizens of London, were next acquainted with the Articles of Deposition, and the King’s confession concerning the four Knights; when the crowds, which had assembled in the Guildhall, cried out with execrations against them, and loudly demanded their immediate condemnation. This very speedily followed, and old London Bridge, which has in its days witnessed so many scenes of blood, was appointed the place for the exhibition of their heads; but in giving you a short narrative of this execution, we can go to no better authority than to the Herodotus of his time, Sir John Froissart, who, as you will doubtless recollect, was born at Valenciennes in 1337, and was Priest, Canon, and Treasurer of the Collegiate Church of Chimay; he died about 1401, and his Chronicles of his own time were compiled from the most authentic sources.

“The French of that part of Froissart’s Chronicles to which I have alluded, commences ‘_A donc se tirerent ensemble le Maire de Londres_,’ &c., volume iv., chapter cxii.; but we shall take the excellent English of Colonel Johnes’ translation, Hafod Press, 1803, quarto, volume iv., pages 663-664. ‘The Mayor and Lawyers,’ says he, ‘retired to the judgment-seat, and the four Knights were condemned to death. They were sentenced to be brought before the apartment of the Tower of London in which King Richard was confined, that he might see them from the windows, and thence drawn on sledges by horses to Cheapside, each person separately, and there beheaded, their heads affixed to spikes on London Bridge, and their bodies hung upon a gibbet, and there left. When this sentence was pronounced, they hastened to execute it. Every thing being prepared, the Mayor of London, and the Lords who had assisted him in this judgment, set out from Guildhall with a large body of people, and came to the Tower of London, where they seized the four Knights of the King, Sir Bernard Brocas, the Lord Marclais, Master John Derby, Receiver of Lincoln, and the Lord Stelle, Steward of the King’s Household. They were all brought into the court, and each tied to two horses, in the sight of all in the Tower, who were eye-witnesses of it as well as the King, who was much displeased, and in despair; for the remainder of the King’s Knights that were with him looked for similar treatment, so cruel and revengeful did they know the Londoners. Without saying a word, these four were dragged from the streets to Cheapside, and on a fishmonger’s stall had their heads struck off, which were placed over the Gate on London Bridge, and their bodies hung on a gibbet. After this execution, every man retired to his home.’

“The fatal tragedy of the reign of King Richard II. was at length consummated by his murder at Pontefract Castle, February 14th, 1399-1400; for whether he died of grief, starvation, or by the weapon of Sir Piers Exton, his death cannot be called by any other name; though Henry of Lancaster was not yet so firmly seated on the throne as to prevent numerous insurrections throughout the realm, on behalf of the younger Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, the legitimate heir to the crown. For about the year 1386, King Richard had appointed as his successor Roger Mortimer, the son of Edmond, second Earl of March, and Philippa his Countess, who was daughter and heiress to Lionel, Duke of Clarence, _third_ son of King Edward III.: whereas Henry of Lancaster was the son of John of Ghent, who was only _fourth_ son of that Monarch. One of the most famous of these insurrections, was that raised by Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, which was overthrown by Sir Thomas Rokeby, Sheriff of York, at Horselwood, on February the 19th, 1407-1408. In which encounter, Lord Thomas Bardolf,--who is a character in Shakspeare’s ‘_Second Part of King Henry the Fourth_,’--was mortally wounded, and died soon afterwards; but being on the party of the Earl, his body was quartered as a traitor’s, and set up at several places, with the Earl’s, one of which was London Bridge. This you find identified by Thomas of Walsingham, in his ‘_Historiæ Angliæ_,’ page 419; for there he says, with considerable pathos: ‘The root of Percy dies in ruin wild! for surely this Nobleman was altogether the living stock of the Percy name; and of most of the various others who were lost in his defeat. For whose unhappy end the common people did not grieve the least; recalling that famous, glorious, and magnificent man, and applying to him the mournful song of Lucan, where he says,

‘But not his blood, his wounds did not so move
Our grieving souls, or wake our weeping love,--
As that we saw, in many a town, appear
His aged head transfixed on a spear.’
PHARSALIA, ix. 136.

For his venerable head adorned with its silver locks, set upon a pole, was publicly carried through London, and regardlessly placed upon the Bridge.’

“Sir William Dugdale, in his ‘_Baronage_,’ volume i., page 683, says that Lord Bardolf’s head was erected over a gate at Lincoln; and this is partly supported by the Chronicle in the Harleian Collection, No. 565, page 68 a, which states that in the ninth year of Henry IV., ‘the Erle of Northumberland and y^e Lord Bardolf, which arysyn a yeynis y^e Kyng, were taken in y^e north cuntre, and be heded, and y^e hed of y^e forsaid Erle, and a quarter of y^e Lord Bardolf, were sent to London, and sett vp on London Brigge.’ Dugdale adds, however, from the authority of the Close Rolls, that Avicia, the widow of that Baron, was permitted by the King to take down his body and bury it.

“The only historical notice which I find connected with London Bridge, immediately succeeding the last unhappy story, is of a light and even trivial nature, being nothing greater than a dispute in the Bridge-Street, between Thomas of Lancaster, Duke of Clarence, and John of Lancaster, Duke of Bedford, the second and third sons of Henry IV., their followers and the Citizens. Stow, in relating this circumstance, in his ‘_Annals_,’ page 338, makes no farther mention of the place than that they ‘being in East-Cheape, in London, at supper, after midnight, a great debate hapned betweene their men and men of the Court, lasting an houre, till the Maior and Sheriffs, with other Citizens, ceased the same:’ and Maitland adds, in volume i., of his ‘_History_,’ page 185, that these Officers were, in consequence, summoned before Sir William Gascoigne, the Chief Justice, to submit themselves to the King’s mercy on behalf of the Citizens. Richard Marlow, however, the then Lord Mayor, and John Law and William Chicheley, the Sheriffs, with the Aldermen, strenuously asserted their innocence, alleging that they had only done their duty in preserving the peace of the City; and the King being fully satisfied with this answer, the Corporation returned to London. I have only farther to remark, that Prince Thomas of Clarence was engaged in a similar fray in East-Cheap in the year previous to the present, namely 1407-8; and that it is to him that Shakspeare makes the dying King Henry deliver that noble speech in the ‘_Second Part of King Henry IV._,’ Act 4, Scene 4. We derive, however, such a character of John of Lancaster from Falstaff, that we wonder to find him either in East-Cheap or Bridge-Street; for in that very same dramatic history, and in the preceding scene, he says of him: ‘Good faith, this same young sober-blooded boy doth not love me; nor a man cannot make him laugh;--but that’s no marvel, he drinks no wine.’ Here, then, close all the events of London Bridge which have come under my reading, in the year 1409.

“The Festival of St. Mary Magdalen, July 22nd, in the first year of Henry V., A. D. 1413, brings to us the recollection of a very ancient and curious Saxon law, namely that of Sanctuary: by which privilege, if a person accused of any crime,--excepting Treason and Sacrilege, in which the Crown and the Church were too nearly concerned,--had fled to any Church, or Church-Yard, and within forty days after went before the Coroner, made a full confession of his crime, and took the oath provided in that case, that he would quit the realm, and never return again, without leave of the King, his life should be safe. At the taking of this oath he was brought to the Church-door, where being branded with an A, signifying Abjured, upon the brawn of the thumb of his right hand, a port was then assigned him, from which he was to leave the realm, and to which he was to make all speed, holding a cross in his hand, and not turning out of the highway, either to the right hand or the left. At this port he was diligently to seek for passage, waiting there but one ebb and flood, if he could immediately procure it; and if not, he was to go every day into the sea up to his knees, essaying to pass over. If this could not be accomplished within forty days, he was again to put himself into Sanctuary. These privileges of Sanctuary and Abjuration were taken away in 1624, by the Statute of the 21st of James I., chapter 28: but you will find the ancient law on these points fully set forth in William Rastall’s ‘_Collection in English of the Statutes now in force_,’ London, 1594, folio, under their proper titles, folios 2 a, 399 b, and also in Andrew Horne’s learned work of ‘_La Somme, appellé Mirroir des Justices_,’ London, 1624, 12mo., chapter 1, section xiii., page 102. Rastall, you will recollect, was Chief Justice of the Common Pleas under Queen Mary; and Horne was a Lawyer of great erudition and eminence, in the reigns of the First and Second Edwards.

“Well, Sir, having brought to your remembrance these ancient privileges, I am next to tell you that in 1413, a train of five abjurants of the realm crossed London Bridge on their way to Calais; having issued from a member of the famous Sanctuary of St. Martin’s le Grand, which was founded by Ingelric, Earl of Essex, and his brother Girardus, in 1056, and confirmed by Pope Alexander II., and King William I., in 1068. For these facts I must refer you to Stow’s ‘_Survey_,’ volume i., pages 605-606; and to page 16, &c. of a modest little volume of much curious information by Mr. Alfred John Kempe, entitled ‘_Historical Notices of the Collegiate Church, or Royal Chapel and Sanctuary, of St. Martin’s le Grand_,’ London, 1825, 8vo. As for the circumstance which caused these worthies to fly their country, we have it set down in the following terms, in that Chronicle contained in the Harleian Manuscript, No. 565, folio 74 a. ‘And in the same yere, on Seynt Marie Maudeleyn day,’--July 22nd.--‘John Nyaunser, Squyer, and his men, sclowen Maist^r. Tybbay, Clerk,’--Archdeacon of Huntingdon, and Chancellor to Joan, Queen of Henry IV.--‘as he passyd thorugh lad lane. For the whiche deth the same John Nyaunser and iiij of his men fledden in to Seynt Anne’s Chirche with inne Aldrich gate,’--that is to say, St. Anne in the Willows, as we now call it, though without exactly knowing why,--‘And with inne the said Church they were mured vp. And men of diuers wardes wacched them nyzt and day. And y^e forsaid John Nyaunser and his men for suoren the Kynges lond, and passyd through the Citee of London,’--on August the 21st,--‘toward Caleys, in there schertes and breches,’--a purse about their necks,--‘and ich of them a cross in ther hand.’ Let me add, that you will also find this circumstance recorded in Stow’s ‘_Annals_,’ page 345.”

“My worthy Mr. Postern!” exclaimed I, for I now began to grow exceedingly impatient, “I really can bear this no longer: you promise to give me a descriptive history of London Bridge, and here you tell me of nothing but a riot which took place in the street _near_ to it, and of a troop of knaves which _probably_ walked over it. Positively, my good Sir, it’s too bad; and unless your story mend, why----”

“‘It shall be mended, Mr. Barbican,’” answered the imperturbable Antiquary, in much the same tone of voice as that with which _Lope Tocho_ calmed the enraged Muleteer, in the same words;--“‘It shall be mended,’ and our Chronicles too, Mr. Geoffrey; but sweeten your disposition, my good friend, I pray you. Remember, that an Antiquary may _ruffle_ his shirt, but never his temper; for though I confess to you that the collateral events which I am obliged to introduce, are somewhat like--

‘Rich windows that exclude the light,
And passages which lead to nothing:’--

yet, when we consider how little the tooth of Time hath left to us of continuous History, we should labour to supply that defect by joining all the fragments with which we meet, wherever they may be united to the principal, but still imperfect, chain. We are, however, now arrived at a period, which our Bridge Historians do in general pass over, with little information to their readers, and less labour to themselves; yet even here, although we have no pictorial delineations to refer to, yet, with a little research, we have enough of descriptive story to call up the very scenes before our eyes, and to bring the actors again living before us.

“The year 1415 is not only immortalized in History by the famous Battle of Agincourt, fought on the 25th of October, but even in the Chronicles of London Bridge it is a most memorable era, on account of the splendid Pageants which welcomed the victorious Henry V., as he returned over that edifice to his Palace at Westminster. About the middle of November, or, as some tell us, the 16th, the King embarked for England, bringing his principal prisoners with him; and you may remember, by the way, that his fleet being encountered by a violent storm, two of his ships were sunk, and all were in extreme danger. You will find a few particulars of these facts in Stow’s ‘_Annals_,’ page 351, and also in that Chronicle which I have so often quoted, in the Harleian Manuscript, No. 565; of which latter, the following are the words, from page 76 b.

“‘Also in this yere, that is to say the xxviij day of Octobr., the Kyng com to his Town of Caleys, and was there til y^e xvj day of Nouembr. And that same day y^e King schypped fro his Town of Caleys toward Engelond: And he landed y^e same day at nyzt, at Douerre, and com forth all y^e woke after toward London. And y^e fryday at nyzt, y^e King come to Eltham, and there he lay all that nyzt; and on y^e morwe was Satyrday, y^e xxiij day of Nouembr. The Maire of London, and alle y^e Aldermen, with all y^e Craftes of London, reden euery man in reed, with hodes reed and white, and mette with y^e Kyng on y^e Blake heth comyng from Eltham ward, toward his Citee of London; and ayens his comynge was ordeyned moche ryalte in London: that is to weten, at London Bregge, at y^e Conduyt in Cornhill, at the grete Conduyt in Chepe; and at y^e Crosse in Chepe was mad a Ryall Castell with Angells and Virgynes, syngynge there jnne. And so y^e Kyng and hise presoners of Frensshmen reden thorugh London vn to Westminster to mete.’

“It is fortunate for us Antiquaries, however, that we have still better descriptions of these Pageants, and especially of that exhibited on London Bridge; and if in relating them to you, I seem to speak over much upon one subject, I pray you to remember, as I said, how very slightly that subject--at least so far as concerns the Bridge,--has been treated by Historians in general; and how many of those who have pretended to write of this edifice, have omitted it altogether. Give me your patience, then, whilst I translate for you two curious accounts of those Pageants, which welcomed King Henry into the best and the greatest of Cities.

“The first which I shall cite, is, most probably, from the pen of an eye-witness, both of the King’s valour abroad, and of his triumphs at home; since it is from a Latin Manuscript in the Cottonian Library, marked _Julius_, E. IV., Article 4, which the Catalogue at page 17 calls ‘_The Acts of King Henry V.: the Author, a Chaplain in the Royal Army, who saw them for himself_.’ This Manuscript is written on paper, in a very small and fair current black-letter, full of contractions; and on page 122 b, the account of the Bridge Pageants runs thus. ‘And therewith, about the hour of ten in the day, the King came in the midst of them all; and the Citizens gave glory and honour to God, and many congratulations and blessings to the King, for the victories he had brought them, and for the public works which he had wrought; and the King was followed by the Citizens towards the City, with a proper, but a moderate, protection. And for the praise and glory of the City, out of so many magnificent acts of the noble Citizens, some things worthy of note the pen records with applause. On the top of the Tower at the entrance of the Bridge, which stands, as it were, on going into the strength of the City, there stood on high a figure of gigantic magnitude, fearlessly looking in the King’s face, as if he would do battle; but on his right and left hand, were the great keys of the City hanging to a staff, as though he had been Gate-keeper. Upon his right, stood the figure of a woman not much less in size, habited in the gown, tunic, and ornaments of a female, as if they had been meant for a man and his wife, who appeared favourers of the King, and desired that they might see his face, and receive him with many plaudits. And the towers about them were ornamented with halberts and the Royal Arms; and trumpeters stood aloft in the turrets, which were resounding with horns and clarions in winding and expanding melody. And in the front of the fortress this appropriate and elegant writing was imprinted, ‘_The King’s City of Justice_.’ And there appeared, on both sides, all the way along the Bridge, very little youths; and, also, on both sides, out of the stone-work before them, was a lofty column, the height of the smaller towers, made of wood, not less delicate than elegant, which was covered over with a linen cloth painted the colour of white marble and green jasper, as if it had been of a square shape, and formed of stones cut out of the quarries. And upon the summit of the column on the right side, was the figure of an Antelope rampant, having a splendid shield of the Royal Arms hanging about his neck, and in his right foot he held a sceptre extended, and offered it to the King. Upon the top of the other column was the image of a lion, also rampant, which carried a spear having the King’s banner displayed upon the upper end, which he held aloft in his dexter claw. And across, at the foot of the Bridge, was erected the fabric of a Tower, the height of the aforesaid columns, and painted; in the midst of which, under a superb tabernacle, stood a most beautiful effigy of St. George, all in armour, excepting his head, which was adorned with laurel interwoven with gems, which shone between it like precious stones for their brightness. Behind him was a tapestry of cotton, having his Arms resplendently embroidered in a multitude of escutcheons. Upon his right was suspended his triumphal helmet; upon his left his shield of Arms of a correspondent magnitude; and he had his right hand upon the handle of his sword, which was girt about him. Upon the tower was raised an extended scroll, containing these words, ‘_To God only be honour and glory_;’ and in front of the building, this congratulatory prophecy,--Psalm xlvi. 4.--‘_The streams of the River make glad the City of God_:’ and all the principal towers were gallantly adorned with the Royal Arms embossed upon them, or displayed in banners upon lances reared above them. In the house adjoining to the fortress behind, were innumerable children representing the English Priesthood, in radiant garments with shining countenances: others were like virgins, having their hair adorned with laurels interwoven with gold; and they continued singing from the coming in of the King, with modulation of voice and melody of organs, according to the words of this song in English.’

“I know very well that it is most common for the events of the reign of Henry V., to be cited from the ‘_History of his Life and Actions_,’ written in Latin verse by Thomas, a Monk of Elmham, in Norfolk, in his time Prior of the Monastery of the Holy Trinity at Lenton, in the County of Nottingham. As that part of his Poem, however, which treats ‘_De adventu Regis ad Pontem Londoniarum_,’--concerning the King’s entrance at the Bridge of London,--is considerably inferior to the account which I have already given you, I shall dispense with your labour in listening to it, and mine in translating it; and only observe to you, that an authentic copy of Thomas of Elmham’s ‘_Historia de Vitâ et Gestâ Henrici V. Anglorum Regis_,’ is preserved in the Cottonian Manuscript which I last cited, article 3, fairly written on parchment, in the small black text-hand of the latter part of the fifteenth century; and that the passage will be found at folio 101 b. Capitulum xliiii. I would remind you, also, that a printed edition of this work was published by Tom Hearne, Oxford, 1727, 8vo., which is not one of his most common books; the text was taken from several old Manuscripts, and the value of a large-paper copy fluctuates between four and six guineas. The next authority, therefore, whom I shall quote upon this subject, is supposed to have been the production of the justly famous old John Lydgate, who was in his days a very eminent English Poet; being born about 1375, and dying about 1461. He was a Monk of the Abbey of Bury, in Suffolk; and of these historical verses by him there is a Manuscript copy, written on parchment in an old Court-hand, ornamented with vermillion chorusses and lines, in No. 565, of the Harleian Manuscripts, in the British Museum. You will find them forming Articles 8 and 9 of that volume, and thus entered in the Catalogue, volume i. page 351. ‘_A Poem upon the Wars of King Henry the V. in France; and his return to England, after the battle of Agincoure; composed perhaps by John Lidgate_.’--‘_The making of_ (i. e. Poem upon) _the comynge of the Kynge_ (Henry V.) _out of Fraunce, to London. By John Lidgate, the Monke of Bury._’ Such are the titles of these verses, from which I shall repeat to you all that concerns the King’s entry at London Bridge; and, firstly, at page 111 b. the story runs thus, beginning at the second stanza of ‘_Passus Tercius_.’

“The Mayr of london was Redy bown,
With all y^e craftes of that Cite
Alle clothyd in red, thorugh out y^e town
A semely sight it was to se:
To y^e black Hethe thanne rod he,
And spredde y^e way on euery syde;
Xx^{ti} M^l. men myght wel se
Oure comely kynge for to abyde.
_Wot ze right well that thus it was
Gloria tibi Trinitas._

The kyng from Eltham sone he nam,
Hyse presoners with hym dede brynge;
And to y^e Blake Heth ful sone he cam,
He saw london with oughte lesynge.
‘Heill Ryall london,’ seyde our kyng,
‘Crist y^e kepe from euere care!’
And thanné zaf it his blessyng
And preied to Crist that it well fare.
_Wot ze right well that thus it was,
Gloria tibi Trinitas._

The Mair hym mette with moche honour
With alle y^e Aldermen with oughte lesyng;
‘Heyl,’ seide y^e Mair, ‘thou conquerour,
The grace of God with the doth spryng:
Heil Duk, Heil Prynce, Heil comely Kyng;
Most worthiest Lord vndir Crist ryall,
Heil rulere of Remes with oughte lettyng,
Heil flour of knyghthood now ouer all.’
_Wot ze right well that thus it was,
Gloria tibi Trinitas._

‘Here is come youre Citee all
Zow to worchepe, and to magnyfye;
To welcome zow bothe gret and small,
With zow euere more to lyue and dye.’
‘Graunt mercy Sires,’ oure kyng ’gan say,
And toward london he ’gan ryde;
This was vp on Seynt Clementys day
They welcomed hym on euery side.
_Wot ze right well that thus it was,
Gloria tibi Trinitas._

The lordes of Fraunce thei ’gan say then,
‘Jngelond is nought as we wene;
Jt farith by these Englyssh men,
As it doth by a swarm of bene:
Jngeland is lik an hyve with jnne,
There fleeres makith vs full evell to wryng,
Tho ben there arrowes sharpe and kene,
Thorugh oure harneys they do vs styng.’
_Wot ze right well that thus it was,
Gloria tibi Trinitas._

To london Brygge thanne rood oure kyng,
The processions there they mette hym ryght;
‘_Ave Rex Anglorum_,’ thei ’gan syng,
‘_Flos Mundi_,’ thei seide, ‘goddys knyght.’
To london Brigge whan he com right,
Vp on the gate ther stode on hy
A gyaunt, that was full grym of myght,
To teche the Frensshe men curtesy.
_Wot ze right well that thus it was,
Gloria tibi Trinitas._

And at the Drawe brigge that is faste by,
Two toures there were vp pight;
An Antelope and a Lyon stondyng hym by,
Above them Seynt George oure lady’s knyght.
Be syde hym many an Angell bright,
‘_Benedictus_’ thei ’gan synge;
‘_Qui venit in nomine domini_, goddys knyght’
_Gracia Dei_ with zow doth sprynge.’
_Wot ze right well that thus it was,
Gloria tibi Trinitas._”

“Thus finish Lydgate’s verses, so far as they relate to these Pageants on London Bridge; but as they tell us nothing of the Royal display upon that occasion, let me remark to you, that we are told, in an Heraldical Manuscript in the Harleian Collection, No. 6079, folio 24 a, that ‘At the cominge in of Kinge Henry the V^{th} out of Fraunce into Englande, his coursers were trapped w^{th} trappers of partye colours: scilicet, one syde blewe velute embroudered w^{th} Antellopes sittinge vpon stayres w^{th} longe flowers springinge betwixt their horns.’ Which trappings were, by the King’s order, subsequently given to the Abbey of Westminster for the vestry, where they were converted into copes and other Ecclesiastical habits.”

“But before you quite shut up your account of these Pageants, my good Mr. Postern,” said I, as he came to a close, “let _me_ say a word or two, touching those Royal supporters, which sat upon the columns on London Bridge; since there are many curious little points of Antiquity to be met with in the history of Heraldic bearings. The first use of an Antelope as a supporter to the King’s Arms, is doubtfully hinted at in a Manuscript in the Harleian Library in the British Museum, No. 2259, as having been so ancient as the reign of King Richard II.; though we are much more certain that King Henry IV. entertained a Pursuivant named Antelope, and probably adopted such an animal as his dexter supporter, from the family of Bohun, Earl of Hereford and Essex, into which he married. The instance of a Lion also appearing as a supporter, is mentioned in Gough’s ‘_Sepulchral Monuments_,’ which you have already quoted, volume ii., part ii., page 68, from the information of John Charles Brooke, Esq., Somerset Herald, who says that when Henry V. became King, he bore on the dexter side of his Arms, a Lion rampant guardant, and on the sinister, an Antelope. We read also that he bore an Antelope and a Swan, and two Antelopes; and you may see all these excellently drawn and described in Mr. Thomas Willement’s ‘_Regal Heraldry_,’ London, 1821, 4to., pages 21, 28, 30, 33, and 36.”

“Many thanks to you, Mr. Geoffrey Barbican,” recommenced my visitor, “for this most opportune display of your Heraldical learning: and, in returning to London Bridge, I must observe, that as all history is but a record of the evanescent scenes of human life, it must, of course, be formed of all those strong lights and shades which are so very conspicuous in its original; and hence arises that striking contrast of events, which so frequently fills us with solemnity and awe. We retire, perchance, from a banquet to a prison, or from a triumph to an execution; at least, such is the nature of the next event which I find for our Chronicles, for the Towers of London Bridge usually claimed a portion in most of the victims of the axe and the scaffold. The principles of the Lollards, as they were invidiously called, were then rapidly spreading; and Sir John Oldcastle, commonly called the good Lord Cobham, was one of the most active leaders in the religious reform commenced by Wickliffe: as he was not only at a very considerable cost in collecting and transcribing his works, which he caused to be widely distributed, but he also maintained many of his disciples as itinerant preachers throughout the country. Oldcastle had, however, escaped from the power of the Clergy who had condemned him as a heretic, and confined him in the Tower; when King Henry being persuaded by them that he headed 20,000 Lollards for his destruction, he was attainted, and a large reward offered for his head: in confirmation of which Stow informs us, in his ‘_Annals_,’ page 352, that on the ‘viii day of October’--1416--‘was a Parchment maker of Trill-melle Streete drawne, hanged, and headed, for that he had harboured Sir John Oldcastle:’ and the Harleian Chronicle, No. 565, page 77 a, adds, that his head ‘was set upon London Bridge for tretory.’ Another obscure person, most probably concerned in the same unhappy society, is also recorded as coming to a similar end: for, ‘John Benet, Woolman,’ says Stow, in the place I last cited, ‘who had in London scattered sceduls full of sedition, was drawne, hanged, and beheaded on Michaelmas-day:’ and the Harleian Chronicle adds, that his head was also fixed upon London Bridge.

“Our next ceremonial procession over this edifice was the solemn and splendid funeral of King Henry V.; when that gallant Sovereign had departed this life, on Monday, the last day of August, 1422, at the Castle of Bois de Vinciennes, a short distance from Paris. That sumptuous spectacle is described in several places, although I do not find it mentioned either in the Life by Thomas of Elmham, or in that by Henry’s Chaplain; but Stow, in his ‘_Annals_,’ page 363, says that the Royal body arrived in London about the tenth of November, and so was conveyed by London Bridge through Cheapside, to the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, where funereal exequies were performed; and thence it was carried and interred in Westminster Abbey. As the corse advanced in rich and solemn procession over the Bridge, it was truly a magnificent and imposing spectacle. On a royal chariot, decorated with cloth of gold like a bed of state, was laid a figure exactly representing the late King, habited in a robe of purple velvet, lined with ermine; wearing an imperial diadem of gold and jewels on the head, and bearing in the hands, the regal sceptre, and the mound and cross. The face, which was painted exactly to resemble the life, was uncovered, and looking towards Heaven; and on the bed lay a covering of red silk beaten with gold. The chariot was drawn by six stout horses, richly harnessed, with heraldic devices upon their housings: thus, the first bore the Arms of St. George; the second, of Normandy; the third, those of King Arthur; the fourth, those of St. Edward the Confessor; the fifth, the coat of France, alone; and the sixth, those of France and England quarterly. When the chariot passed through any town of eminence, a rich and costly canopy was held over it, by some of its more honourable attendants; and it was surrounded by three hundred torch-bearers habited in white; by five thousand men-at-arms on horseback in black armour, holding their spears reversed; and by a multitude of Lords bearing pennons, banners, and bannerolls; whilst twelve captains went before carrying the King’s achievement. After the body followed the servants of the Household all in black; then came James I., King of Scotland, as Chief Mourner, with the Princes and Lords of the Royal blood, in mourning habits; and lastly, at the distance of two miles in the rear, followed Queen Katharine, no less honourably attended.