It is supposed that the annual pageant connected with the election of the Mayor had its origin in an old custom that the newly-elected officer should be presented to the King or his justiciar; we have, however, little information concerning the earlier processions, and they are hardly noticed by chroniclers until the fifteenth century. It appears that the practice of proceeding to Westminster on horseback was started in 1415, but an infirm Mayor in 1453 introduced the custom of making the progress by barge on the river; this lasted until the middle of the seventeenth century, but there was, in addition, always the ride on horseback from the Guildhall to the point of embarkation. The fashion for pageantry and display, which was so prominent a feature of Henry VIII.'s reign, influenced this annual function, which tended to become more and more elaborate. =Source.=—William Smith's _Brief Description of London_ (1575). The day of St. Simon and Jude, he (the Mayor) entered into his estate and office; and the next day following he goeth by water to Westminster in most triumphlike manner. His barge being garnished with the arms of the city; and near the said barge goeth a ship boat of the Queen's Majesty, being trimmed up, and rigged like a ship of war, with divers pieces of ordinance, standards, pennons, and targets of the proper arms of the said Mayor, the arms of the City, of his company; and of the merchants adventurers, or of the staple, or of the company of the new trades; next before him goeth the barge of the livery of his own company, decked with their own proper arms, then the bachelors' barge, and so all the companies in London, in order, every one having their own proper barge garnished with the arms of their company. And so passing along the Thames, landeth at Westminster, where he taketh his oath in the Exchequer, before the judge there (which is one of the chief judges of England), which done, he returneth by water as aforesaid, and landeth at Powles wharf, where he and the rest of the Aldermen take their horses, and in great pomp pass through the great street of the City, called Cheapside. And first of all cometh two great standards, one having the arms of the City, and the other the arms of the Mayor's Company; next them two drums and a flute, then an ensign of the City, and then about xx or xxx poor men marching two and two together in blue gowns, with red sleeves and caps, with every one bearing a pike and a target, whereon is painted the arms of all them that have been Mayor of the same company that this new mayor is of. Then two banners, one of the King's arms, the other of the Mayor's own proper arms. Then a set of hautboys playing, and after them certain wyfflers, in velvet coats, and chains of gold, with white staves in their hands, then the pageant of triumph richly decked, whereupon by certain figures and writings, some matter touching justice, and the