“In the fourth year of the reign of King Edward the Sixth,--1550,--those extensive Letters Patent were granted to Southwark, by which the famous Fair was instituted in that Borough, to be held on the 7th, 8th, and 9th of September. The Patent was dated the 20th of April, and the sum of £647. 2_s._ 1_d._ was paid for it to the King, by the Mayor and Corporation of London. At the time of this Fair, anciently called ‘Our Lady Fair in Southwark,’ the Lord Mayor, and Sheriffs, used to ride to St. Magnus’ Church after dinner, at two o’clock in the afternoon; the former being vested with his collar of SS., without his hood, and all dressed in their scarlet gowns, lined, without their cloaks. They were attended by the Sword-Bearer wearing his embroidered cap, and carrying ‘the Pearl Sword;’ and, at the Church, were met by the Aldermen, all of whom, after Evening Prayer, rode over the Bridge in procession, passed through the Fair, and continued either to St. George’s Church, Newington Bridge, or to the stones pointing out the City liberties at St. Thomas of Waterings. They then returned over the Bridge, or to the Bridge-House, where a banquet was provided, when the Aldermen took leave of the Lord Mayor, and, all parties being returned home, the Bridge-Masters gave a supper to the Lord Mayor’s officers. Stow and his continuators are my authorities for these particulars; see volume ii. of his ‘_Survey_,’ pages 5, 249. “Our voyage down the stream of history, and of time, has at length conducted us to the reign of Queen Mary, and the year 1554; when her proposed marriage with Philip II., of Spain, alarmed all the nation, lest the Inquisition should be established in England, and the people become the vassals of the Spanish crown. But although the Protestants were the most alarmed at this marriage, when the treaty was made public the complaints and murmurs against it became almost universal; and, finally, produced a conspiracy against Mary, of which it was certainly either the cause, or the pretence. One of the principal leaders of this plot was Sir Thomas Wyat, a gentleman of Kent, who had frequently been Ambassador to Spain, where the cruelty and subtilty of the people had alarmed him for the future fate of his own country. As the insurrection was intended to be general, _his_ sphere of action was to be Kent; whilst Sir Peter Carew excited a rising in Cornwall, and the Duke of Suffolk in Warwickshire, as being the centre of the kingdom. From too hasty preparations, however, and too rapidly assembling his forces, the designs of Carew were discovered before they were entirely perfected; one of his accomplices was arrested; and he saved himself only by deserting the enterprise and escaping to France. This unexpected discovery accelerated all the other measures; for, though it was intended to await the arrival of King Philip, to give a colour to the rebellion, Wyat, notwithstanding he was unprepared, marched his few