“The manner of holding a Common Council is as follows:—The day before the meeting thereof, the Mayor and Aldermen are to cause summons to be made by the serjeants of the Chamber, for sixteen, twelve, eight, or four (according as the Ward is great or small) of the wisest and most wealthy persons of each Ward to appear on the morrow at the Guildhall; and [further, to give notice] that no one is to appear unless summoned, or presume to be present at such Council, under pain of imprisonment, according to ancient usage, as also, by recent enactment, under a certain penalty and chastisement named in an ordinance made in the Mayoralty of Nicholas Wottone. All the commoners, too, that are summoned are to be called over one by one, by a serjeant of the Chamber standing aloft; and as to those who make default, they are to be noted by a clerk of the Chamber in a roll which he holds in his hands, in which are entered the names of those who have been summoned. And as to those who duly appear, they shall then form a congregation; and if any matter of great difficulty or doubt shall arise, upon which they cannot agree, they shall be severally examined by the Serjeant-at-Law of the Common Clerk and of the Common Serjeant-at-Arms, upon the oath by which they are bound unto the City, etc. And observe, that the business of the City is not to be delayed for the arrival of the men of a Ward or two, supposing that they have been duly summoned; but it must be proceeded with, the presence of the persons so absent not being waited for. Every one, too, of the persons so summoned who does not appear is to be amerced in the sum of two shillings on each occasion, etc. The oath of the men elected to the Common Council is as follows:— You shall swear that you shall be trusty unto our lord the King N, and unto his heirs; and shall quickly come, when you are summoned to the Common Council of this City, if you be not reasonably excused; and good and true counsel you shall give, after your wit and cunning; and that for favour of any man you shall maintain no singular profit against the public or common profit of the said City; and that after you come to the Common Council, you shall not from thence depart, without reasonable cause or the Mayor’s license, until the Mayor and his fellows shall have departed; and that what shall be spoken in the Common Council you shall not disclose,—So God you help, and God’s Holy Gospels.