The time had arrived for calling a new Parliament, since the Convention lacked certain constitutional attributes: and it seemed a further reason for summoning another House of Commons, that the Presbyterians in the Convention, notwithstanding secessions from their ranks, were still too numerous, and too troublesome, to be well managed by the Court. Writs were issued upon the 9th of March, 1661; and, in ten days, the whole country was found uproariously busy in the election of Knights and Burgesses. The City of London took the lead; and, as so much new and curious information on the subject is afforded by letters in the State Paper Office, I shall largely make use of them in the present chapter. It was known that the new Parliament would have important ecclesiastical questions to settle, and therefore a great deal of religious feeling became mixed up with the political sentiments of the electors. The Guildhall of the City of London, though magnificently restored very recently, carries back our thoughts to distant days, but it has rarely, if ever, contained within its walls a throng so densely packed, or been filled with shouts so dissonant, as on the 19th of March, 1661. [Sidenote: 1661.] In confused ways, the Lord Mayor and some of the Aldermen were proposed as candidates:--Recorder Wylde, Sir John Robinson, Sir Richard Ford, Sir Thomas Bloworth, Sir Nicholas Crisp, and Alderman Adams, stood on the Royalist side; on the popular side, appeared Alderman Thompson and Alderman Love--"godly men, and of good parts, Congregationalists,"--Captain Jones, a Presbyterian, and Alderman Foulke, "not much noted for religion, but a countenancer of good ministers, one who was present at the act for abolishing Kingly Government," and "deeply engaged in Bishops' lands." Recorder Wylde, and Sir John Robinson, with Sir Richard Brown, and William Vincent, had been City Members of the Convention Parliament; but the citizens disliked them, because they were not sufficiently advanced in political sentiments, and also because they had not opposed the abolition of Purveyance, and the Court of Wards, the imposition of the Excise, and the levying of Poll Money. The tide just then ran strongly in favour of ultra-dissent. The candidates of the Royalist party, except Ford, had scarcely a word spoken in their favour. The Recorder's name, Wylde, awakened rude shouts, amidst which might be heard a feeble pun: "We have been too WILD already." Episcopacy stood at a discount, and the old Hall echoed with cries of "No Bishops--no Bishops." Ten thousand citizens in livery--no doubt an exaggeration--were computed to be present; but the multitude, whatever the exact number, seemed of one mind. A shrewd courtier in one corner whispered to an elector, that he hoped what was going on there would be a warning to the Bishops. The calling of nicknames, and the outpouring of ridicule, were shared, in nearly equal portions, by the two parties. The Royalists pelted their