Old and New London, Volume I: A Narrative of Its History, Its People, and Its PlacesThornbury, Walter
History
Old and New London, Volume I: A Narrative of Its History, Its People, and Its Places
Thornbury, Walter
London (England) -- Description and travel; London (England) -- History
On Elizabeth's procession from the Tower before her coronation, January,
1559, Gogmagog the Albion, and Corineus the Briton, the two Guildhall
giants, stood on the Bar; and on the south side there were chorister
lads, one of whom, richly attired as a page, bade the queen farewell in
the name of the whole City. In 1588, the glorious year that the Armada
was defeated, Elizabeth passed through the Bar on her way to return
thanks to God solemnly at St. Paul's. The City waits stood in triumph
on the roof of the gate. The Lord Mayor and Aldermen, in scarlet gowns,
welcomed the queen and delivered up the City sword, then on her return
they took horse and rode before her. The City Companies lined the north
side of the street, the lawyers and gentlemen of the Inns of Court the
south. Among the latter stood a person afterwards not altogether
unknown, one Francis Bacon, who displayed his wit by saying to a friend,
"Mark the courtiers! Those who bow first to the citizens are in debt;
those who bow first to us are at law!"
In 1601, when the Earl of Essex made his insane attempt to rouse the
City to rebellion, Temple Bar, we are told, was thrown open to him; but
Ludgate being closed against him on his retreat from Cheapside, he came
back by boat to Essex House, where he surrendered after a short and
useless resistance.
King James made his first public entry into his royal City of London,
with his consort and son Henry, upon the 15th of March, 1603-4. The king
was mounted upon a white genet, ambling through the crowded streets
under a canopy held by eight gentlemen of the Privy Chamber, as
representatives of the Barons of the Cinque Ports, and passed under six
arches of triumph, to take his leave at the Temple of Janus, erected for
the occasion at Temple Bar. This edifice was fifty-seven feet high,
proportioned in every respect like a temple.
In June, 1649 (the year of the execution of Charles), Cromwell and the
Parliament dined at Guildhall in state, and the mayor, says Whitelocke,
delivered up the sword to the Speaker, at Temple Bar, as he had before
done to King Charles.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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