Edward IV. was not behind his predecessors in favouring the citizens, but then it must be noted they paid him some 12,000_l._ for four charters. In 1462 the Mayor, ex-Mayors, and Recorder were all made perpetual justices, and were exempted from serving on juries, &c., while Bartholomew Fair, with a court of Pie Poudre, was to be held in Smithfield. And in 1478 they obtained the right of electing a coroner, and for wine-gauging, &c. As it was Edward IV. who granted the Ironmongers their charter, we have traced the progress of the City privileges so far, and leave the Ironmongers’ records to tell the tale of subsequent progress. In the course of the preceding remarks the citizens have been so continually alluded to, that a few notes about them and what really constituted a citizen will not be out of place here. In the first place, we think it is not generally known that every member of a City Company is a citizen of London, but every citizen is not a member of a Company. There are two grades of citizens—one free of the City only; the other free of both City and Company, the latter freeman being designated as “citizen and ironmonger,” or whatever Company he may belong to. As the elections or admissions to all the Companies are the same, that describing the admission to the Ironmongers’ will be found in a subsequent chapter of our history. In all the early charters the general term is “citizens,” but the Conqueror calls them “burhwarn” (inhabitants or burgesses of the borough), and John and Henry III. call them “barons.” The citizens or freemen were the men or inhabitants of free condition and householders, in contradistinction to the bondsmen or villains of the great lords. In the time of Henry III. (1260) all persons of the age of twelve years and upwards were commanded to swear allegiance to the king. In 1305 four persons who held land from the Bishop of London, and dwelt outside the City, were deprived of their freedom, and about the same time the City records declare that everyone who is sworn a freeman, and acts contrary to his oath, should be compelled to “forsweare the town” and lose his privileges. The statute of the 18th Edward II. for View of Frankpledge contains a list of articles still in use, but the statute has been improperly neglected. In 1326 all alien merchants were directed to be amerced, and in 1364 it was ordained that a citizen should obtain his privileges by birth (as a son of a citizen), by servitude (as an apprentice), or by presentment of a mystery or Guild. In 1377, and for a few years after, it was decreed that members of the Common Council should only be chosen from the mysteries, and in 1385 a most important decision was come to, for upon the complaint of the Mercers and the Drapers that some persons had been improperly admitted to the Haberdashers’ and Weavers’ Guilds who were not of those trades, they were at once expelled the City. In the seventh year of Edward IV. no freeman or officer of the