The coronation of the young prince who now succeeded to his father’s throne, only to occupy it however for a few weeks, was fixed to take place on the first Sunday in May; and on the 19th April the City was busy making arrangements for the prince’s reception. It was decided that the mayor and aldermen should ride forth to meet the king, clad in gowns of scarlet, their attendants being provided with gowns of the colour of lion’s-foot (_pied de lyon_), at the public cost. Five sergeants-at-mace belonging to the mayor, and nineteen sergeants-at-mace in the service of the sheriffs, were also to ride out to meet the king, clad in gowns of the last-mentioned colour. The sword-bearer was to be provided with a gown of murrey, and a deputation from the civic guilds, to the number of 410 persons, clad in gowns of the same colour, was to join the cavalcade.(949) On the 14th May they rode out to Hornsey, where they met the prince and his uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, and escorted them to the city. The duke was the same day appointed Protector, to the great disappointment of the queen, who again took sanctuary at Westminster. She was induced shortly afterwards to give up possession of her younger son, the Duke of York, and he and Prince Edward were lodged in the Tower by order of Gloucester, who took up his quarters at Crosby Palace, the mansion house of Sir John Crosby, in Bishopsgate Street. Although preparations had been made for the coronation, and the City had appointed representatives from the livery companies to assist the chief butler at the banquet(950) according to custom, that ceremony never took place. Gloucester feared that if once the young king was crowned, the project which he had already begun to entertain of transferring the crown to his own head would be less capable of realization. Although he took an oath of allegiance to the new king,(951) it was not long before he determined to feel the pulse of the citizens as to their feelings towards himself as a claimant of the crown. (M511) In order to do this he called to his assistance Dr. Shaw, an eminent preacher, whose brother, Sir Edmund Shaa, or Shaw, happened to be mayor at the time. Acting upon instructions from Gloucester, Shaw preached a sermon at Paul’s Cross on Sunday, the 22nd June (1483), in which he charged the late king with bigamy, Edward IV having, as he declared, made a contract of marriage with one of his mistresses before he married Elizabeth Woodville, and this being the case the late king’s children by her were illegitimate, and Gloucester was the rightful heir to the throne. It was arranged that at this point in his discourse Gloucester himself should appear on the scene, coming up, as if by chance, from his lodgings at Castle Baynard. By some mischance the duke failed to appear at the proper moment, and the effect was lost. The citizens sat stolidly silent, not a single cry being raised in favour of Gloucester. (M512)