Londons Lamentation For the Loss of their CHARTER.  
AH wo to us! wo to us! we have lost our Charter, our Franchises, our Liberties, which were Royal privileges in the hands of Subjects, given to us by the Kings and Queens of England, by several gracious Grants, &c. which were to us of great Benefit, Power and Freedom, which we through Princely Bounty enjoyed above others: We indeed derived our Corporation from the Kings of England, yea, from thence proceeded its Origination and Essence; but we have now lost those privileges and Franchises which we did enjoy; so that we( by sad experience) find that Corporations are not immortal, though this of London hath been very long-lived, very great and splendid; yet we find that Liberties and Franchises may belost, and forfeited( as the great Bracton saith) either through the Abuse, or for want of the right use thereof, and that so large is the extent of Royal Prerogative, that so mighty is the Power of the Prince, that he can call in question the Franchises of the most Magnificent Corporations, and if those Franchises( even those Royal privileges( through the Princes Bouney, put in the hand of a Subject) be misused, they may be seized into the Kings hands, and He that granted them to us, through our Misuse thereof) can take them away from us. Great were our privileges, and sumptuous was the Administration of the Government of our City( though through our Abuse of our Franchises, our Glory is now eclipsed; for our Common Council was as the Parliament of our City, and our Mayor as the King thereof, and our Aldermen, as the Peers, the Commonalty the Commons thereof: We had power to make By-Laws and Ordinances in our Respective Companies; but now, alas! we are at present divested; but in expectation of the Princely Favour and Grace towards us, and that our Benign Prince will condescend to show us Favour, and that we may build lastingly, we design to lay our Foundation low, to stoop low, humbly and submissively to our Prince, whose Favour, we do not despond of, through our humility, neither will we grow too much discontented with our loss, since our Grief in this case cannot avail us, but render us the more unhappy; for discontented men are as a Watch over-wound, wrested out of Tune, and going false; or like Ink poured into water, that fills the whole Fountain full of Blackness and Disuse, it casts the Soul into the shade, and fills it more with consideration of the unhappiness, than thought of the Remedy; nay it is so busied in contemplation of its Misery, as there is neither room nor time for seeking and requesting the Methods of Relief; but we will not so greatly lament as those without hope, which is as the miserable Mans God, that in the hardest gripe of Calamity, never fails to yield some Beams of comfort; therefore will we lye at the foot of our Gracious King, that he would let us rise as the Phoenix; and though we cannot forbear to mourn in some measure for our faults and for our loss, which if we could not lament, were hardness, but to mourn as desponding, is endless; for though we fall, yet our Confidence is, that we shall rise again, and that upon our humble submission, our Princes inclinations are so gracious, that we shall not abide Desolate, but be a Magnificent, a Loyal and Dutiful Corporation; which Submission, Loyalty and Obedience will render us desirable to our Prince, and give us a true and permanent Interest in his Favour and Benignity.  
FINIS.   

LONDON, Printed for A. Banks. MDCLXXXXIII.