On the landing of the Earl of Richmond, afterwards King Henry the Seventh, at Milford Haven, in August, 1485, he determined to march for Shrewsbury. On his arriving at the Welsh Bridge he found the place in a posture of defence, the gates closed against him, and the bailiffs within ready to give their answer. On his demanding admittance as their rightful king, a curious MS. records that the chief bailiff, Thomas Mytton, replied—“He knew no king but Richard, whose bailiffs he and his fellow were, upon which he swore that the earl should not enter there but over his belly.” On this, Richmond returned and passed the night at Forton Heath, where his army was encamped. He, however, succeeded the next morning; and Mr. Mytton, in order to conform with the letter of his oath, laid himself down on the ground, and permitted the earl to step over him, whereupon the portcullis of the bridge was drawn up, and the earl with his retinue were admitted, to the general joy of the inhabitants, notwithstanding it went _against the stomach_ of the “stoute wyse gentilman, Maister Myttoon.” In Shrewsbury Richmond was first proclaimed king, and raised soldiers, but left the bailiffs to pay them. He lodged in a house on the Wyle Cop (three doors below the Lion Inn), from whence he marched to Bosworth Field, where the engagement took place which deprived Richard III. of his throne and his life. Henry VII. visited the town in 1490, with his queen, and son (Prince Arthur), and kept the feast of St. George in the collegiate church of St. Chad; they made another visit in 1495, and were sumptuously entertained by the corporation. At the general dissolution of monasteries, in 1539, it appears to have been the intention of Henry VIII. to form thirteen new bishopricks, {10} one of which was to have been at Shrewsbury. Browne Willis states that John Boucher, Abbot of Leicester, was actually nominated “BISHOP OF SHREWSBURY;”—hence the tradition, as our historians remark, so gratifying to the pride of every true Salopian, that their forefathers had the offer of having their borough converted into a city, but that they preferred inhabiting the FIRST OF TOWNS. 1551. The spring of this year was fatally distinguished by the commencement of a dreadful epidemic in this town, called the “sweating sickness.”