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 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF ILLINOIS 
 LIBRARY 
 
 From the collection of 
 James Oollins, | 
 
 Drumcondra, Ireland. | 
 Purchased, 1918. 
 
 I9I4,2 
 DESS 
 
Return this book on or before the 
 Latest Date stamped below. A 
 charge is made on all overdue 
 books. 
 
 | U. of I. Library 
 
 
 
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 NA 2S 1966 
 
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Our English Towns 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 ANUARE GAA 
 
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 LEONARD'S CASTLE AT MALLING, KENT. 
 
 REMAINS OF ST. 
 
 ° 
 
 THE EARLIEST NORMAN KEEP IN EXISTENCE, 
 
 D. 1070, 
 
 A. 
 
 bd 
 
 of Rochester 
 
 Built by Gundulph, Bishop 
 
The Story of 
 
 Our English Towns 
 
 4 
 
 Told by 
 P* He" Ditchfield, F.S.A. 
 
 With Introduction by 
 
 Augustus Jessopp, D.D. 
 
 London 
 George Redway 
 1897 
 

 
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 Tue history of the origin, the growth, and the 
 constitutional development of our English towns 
 has been investigated so carefully and illustrated 
 by such an immense expenditure of acumen and 
 erudition during the last few years, that it is to 
 be wondered at that no book has as yet appeared 
 which has attempted to summarise, in a popular 
 form, the main results which the labours of 
 experts have arrived at. 
 
 The truth is that the literature of the subject 
 has grown to somewhat bewildering proportions, 
 and the questions involved, along with the com- 
 plex historical problems discussed, and still un- 
 solved, are so numerous that the task of presenting 
 to the general reader—other than the professional 
 student of history—a digest of the views put 
 forward, the facts accumulated and the conclu- 
 sions arrived at, is a task that few are qualified 
 
 Vv 
 
 237476 
 
vi PREFACE 
 
 to undertake, and fewer still would venture to 
 enter upon. 
 
 Nevertheless the time has come when the 
 attempt should be made, and it may safely be 
 prophesied that such a volume as this, by an 
 antiquary who has won his spurs, has read widely 
 and has not spared himself the requisite pains, 
 will be accepted as a welcome boon by many who 
 cannot hope to devote years of study to laborious 
 historical research. It was the late John Richard 
 Green who first taught us how much was to be 
 learnt by looking into the past of town life, and 
 how important it was to get an insight into the 
 growth of the town communities. Before the 
 appearance of his ‘Short History of the English 
 People,” few among us had realised that the 
 prowess of heroes and the clash of arms do not 
 make nations. We had been almost taught to 
 believe that institutions can be turned out to 
 order by Acts of Parliaments, by paper constitu- 
 tions, or by the fiats of conquerors. So they can 
 be up to a certain point, but that point is soon 
 reached. Institutions are living organisms that 
 must grow if they are to thrive and last, and 
 though the gardener’s shears may do a great deal 
 
/ 
 
 PREFACE Vii 
 
 in the way of stunting or of shaping the growth, 
 there are limits beyond which he cannot pass in 
 determining how the plant will submit to training. 
 If we desire to know the nature of the organism, 
 we must watch its development from the first 
 appearance of life in it, and we must note its slow 
 or rapid changes, through every successive step 
 from the bud of promise to the branching of the 
 tree that serves to shelter or to shade, or, it may 
 be, to become a mere mischievous and poisonous 
 growth, harmful and deadly. 
 
 When Julius Ceasar about halr a century 
 before Christ paid his first visit to our island, 
 he took some care to collect information con- 
 cerning the people he had set himself to conquer. 
 If that information was not all quite correct, and 
 if Cesar’s half-dozen pages are not all that could 
 be desired, yet the wonder is, not that he did not 
 tell us more that we can rely on, but that so 
 much that he does tell us turns out to be true 
 in the main. 
 
 There were no towns—as we now under- 
 stand the word—in our island before the Roman 
 times. Of communities associated under recog- 
 nised Headmen, whether Provosts, or Mayors, or 
 
Vill PREFACE 
 
 Bailiffs, or by whatever other name they came 
 to be known—communities occupying a certain 
 definite area, enjoying a certain measure of 
 authority, possessing a certain corporate existence, 
 and rejoicing in their own laws and customs, 
 having their own police, and taxing themselves 
 to provide a revenue which was spent upon 
 themselves and for the behoof of all—of such 
 communities, I say, our remote ancestors knew 
 little or nothing. In times of peril, Cesar tells 
 us, the Britons resorted to certain rallying-places 
 which were centres of union, for defence against 
 a common enemy; but of civic life—of city life— 
 they had hardly a notion. Looking back through ~ 
 the dim past, London and Bristol come out of 
 the haze as great trading-places very early. Very 
 early it seems the carrying trade of the West 
 was shared by the Veneti of the mainland and 
 the Britons of the islands. There was commerce 
 in Britain, and that implies association and a 
 much higher civilisation than Cesar’s sketch of 
 Britain would lead us to expect. But it is 
 almost certain that town life among our ancestors 
 began under our Roman masters, who were at 
 the same time our Roman protectors, and the 
 
PREFACE ix 
 
 bringers in of new things for those whom they 
 ruled. The Roman occupation of Britain lasted 
 just four hundred years, dating from the first 
 serious and successful invasion by Aulus Plautius, 
 with an army of at least 50,000 men, in A.D. 43, 
 down to the final abandonment of the island in 
 A.D. 446. During all this long period the work 
 of czvzltsation of the subject people went on 
 continuously. That is to say, the Britons were 
 being taught to see the advantages conferred 
 upon a people by the czvz/ institutions which 
 town life inevitably brings with it. When 
 Britain was left to defend itself against the hordes 
 of German invaders which poured in upon the 
 island from across the sea, there were at least 
 fifty walled towns in England, exclusive of the 
 military stations with their attendant suburbs, 
 which may be looked upon as fortresses capable 
 of defence by disciplined troops against any 
 assaults which might be made upon them by rude 
 warriors imperfectly organised. 
 
 The Teutonic hordes who poured in upon our 
 forefathers, and whom it is usual to call Anglo- 
 Saxons, found themselves more than a match for 
 the Romano-Britons, and they conceived a not 
 
xX PREFACE 
 
 unnatural contempt for the islanders, who under 
 their Roman masters had never learnt the art of 
 war, and had found the lessons of military tactics 
 hard to learn. The Saxons in the open probably 
 carried all before them. They had an inbred 
 dislike for cities; they associated gates and walls, 
 and streets and rows of houses, with the notion of 
 slavery. A town with them seemed to be little 
 better than a huge prison, which the sooner it 
 was pillaged and destroyed the better. Nor was 
 this all, the Roman cities proved strong places of 
 resistance for the Britons in the long conflict. 
 As one after another they were stormed or 
 reduced to submission by starvation, they were 
 deliberately destroyed or dismantled. Under the 
 Saxon occupation the towns up and down the 
 land ceased to exist, and though it seems that 
 here and there a Roman town in a dwindled and 
 dilapidated condition managed to keep up the 
 miserable semblance of the old civic organisation, 
 it is hardly too much to say that during the two 
 hundred years which followed the departure of the 
 Romans, town life actually died out in our island, 
 leaving only a few scarcely recognisable vestiges 
 of its old self to testify to the ancient grandeur. 
 
PREFACE xi 
 
 With the beginning of the seventh century a 
 new and mighty force began to work its bene- 
 ficent influence among the Saxon invaders. Up 
 to this time they had been fierce pagans, and, 
 from all that appears, pagans with no religious 
 faith or religious observances maintained by the 
 teaching or ritual services of an organised priest- 
 hood. 
 
 The Christian clergy during the long conflict 
 had been driven further and further to the west 
 of the island, and were animated by little or no 
 missionary zeal, but rather by a fierce—if patriotic 
 —hatred of the Teutonic invaders, from whom 
 they and their fathers had suffered so much. 
 But when it pleased God to send the first 
 missionaries from Rome to England in 597, and 
 when the long warfare began to draw to an end, 
 and the fierce Anglo-Saxons began to be weary of 
 battles, and to taste the first sweets of security 
 and peace, the Gospel of Christ gained wonderful 
 acceptance among them. It is true that the 
 mission of St. Augustine produced very much 
 less effect than used, till recently, to be claimed 
 for it; but it certainly was a powerful factor in 
 awakening the best and holiest of those who were 
 
Xii PREFACE 
 
 still to be found in the old British Church to a 
 sense of their responsibilities and their duties; 
 and so great an awakening came about among 
 the clergy of the older communion, that when 
 sixty years after Augustine’s death another band 
 of missionaries arrived from Rome, Theodore, 
 appointed to the Archbishopric of Canterbury, 
 found that Britain was almost a Christian land, 
 and his own work was confined to organising the 
 English Church. Other men had been labouring, 
 and he and his entered into their labours. 
 
 It was the influence of the gospel, preached 
 by devoted men—for the most part working 
 in societies bound together by the bands of a 
 discipline which was immensely potent to give 
 cohesion to the society itself, and to secure 
 effectual co-operation and unity of purpose to 
 the members—which brought about the astonish- 
 ingly rapid conversion of the Anglo-Saxons, and 
 which resulted, too, in the multiplication of those 
 Religious Fortresses which the early monasteries — 
 became in the centuries that followed. 
 
 The Saxon monasteries were slowly contributing 
 to the growth of the new towns, when another 
 stream of invaders burst in upon Britain during 
 
PREFACE xiil 
 
 the ninth century. What is usually called the 
 Danish invasion was only not as devastating and 
 overwhelming as the Teutonic invasion proved, 
 because there was in the ninth century less to 
 destroy and obliterate than there had been in the 
 sixth. But the struggle with the Danes under 
 the great Alfred and his house could not be a 
 time for peace to bring her blessings to us; there 
 could be no quiet town life then. In the main, 
 during the ninth century cevz/zsatzon was going 
 back; and though there was a grand revival in 
 more ways than one in the tenth century, it was 
 not till the Norman Conquest that our English 
 towns began, as we may say, to rise from the 
 dead, or, if we may vary the metaphor, to raise 
 up their heads above-ground, and to start upon 
 a new growth. 
 
 When the great survey was made in 1087, 
 commonly known as the Domesday Book, there 
 were undoubtedly many /¢ownzs to be found 
 through the length and breadth of the land. 
 Some few, as Chester, Lincoln, and York, were 
 survivals of the old Roman cities. They retained 
 certain fragments of their ancient privileges and 
 their ancient importance, and may be said to have 
 
XiV PREFACE 
 
 belonged to nobody, except so far as the mighty 
 conqueror claimed them as his own by right of 
 conquest, and claimed to do with them as he 
 would. 
 
 Some again, as St. Albans, Bury St. Edmunds, 
 and Abingdon, were towns that had grown up 
 as suburbs round a great religious house, and 
 which in the lapse of ages had developed into 
 agoregates of traders, craftsmen, agriculturists, 
 and labourers, who were in all cases tenants of 
 the monastery and subject to considerable exac- 
 tions at the hands of their lords and masters, 
 the abbot and his monks. 
 
 Other towns again belonged to a lord temporal 
 or spiritual—a bishop or baron—almost precisely 
 in the same way as, in our own time, an agri- 
 cultural parish, with every yard of land and every 
 dwelling in it, belongs to the squire or lord of 
 the manor. In these towns the ¢exants were 
 bound to render certain services and to pay 
 certain annual rents—exactly as the tenants of 
 many large estates at the present day are re- 
 quired not only to pay money rents, but to cart 
 a specified number of loads of coal every year 
 to the capital mansion of the landlord. If the 
 
PREFACE XV 
 
 lord of the town were grasping, or the tenants 
 were found to be growing rich too fast at the 
 expense of the lord, the relations between the two 
 would tend to become ‘‘strained,” and each of 
 the contending parties would be trying to get 
 some advantage out of the other; the lord trying 
 to increase his exactions, the tenants endeavouring 
 to secure to themselves more privileges, more 
 security of tenure, more liberty of action for 
 themselves, and more freedom to manage their 
 own affairs and to govern themselves. In all 
 cases the lord of the town, whether he were 
 abbot or earl or bishop, or the king himself, 
 was in the first instance represented by the bailiff, 
 whose business it was to get all he could from 
 the townsmen for his master. It was inevitable 
 that these bailiffs should tend to become the 
 objects of dislike and suspicion to the com- 
 munity over which they exercised a jurisdiction, 
 oppressive in so far as it was a fiscal jurisdiction, 
 and irritating in so far as it was judicial and 
 resulted in the exaction of amercements from 
 the tenants for offences committed against the 
 customs of the town or manor, such customs 
 being of the nature of bye-laws, partly of sur- 
 
xvl PREFACE 
 
 vivals of ancient conditions of tenure imposed 
 in the first instance by the lord, and partly 
 accretions that had grown up under circumstances 
 favourable to usurpations by the lord. 
 
 Gradually the townsmen chafed more and more 
 against the pressure brought to bear upon them 
 by the bailiffs, and against the unequal incidence 
 of the dues levied by the lord and exacted by his 
 official. The townsmen clamoured for deliver- 
 ance from what we should call unfair rating, and 
 everywhere the feeling grew that the lord’s dues 
 should be compounded for by a fixed annual pay- 
 ment by the whole body of the townsmen, such 
 annual payment to be adjusted by a new assess- 
 ment of the vafes. Obviously this involved that 
 the townsmen should take the management of 
 their finances into their own hands, and be deli- 
 vered from the presence of the lord’s bailiff, who, 
 under the new arrangement, would be left without 
 any locus standt. But the old bailiffs had been 
 officials of considerable power, and vested with a 
 considerable measure of authority. To get rid of 
 such an official without any magisterial functions, 
 and to leave the townsmen without any one to 
 take his place, would clearly be impossible. This 
 
PREFACE XVll 
 
 would have been to reduce the old government to 
 mere anarchy. When the transition came about, 
 the place of the lord’s bailiff was supplied by a 
 new bailiff, who was the nominee of the towns- 
 men themselves, an officer elected by themselves 
 —holding his position as chief magistrate by 
 no means necessarily for life — strengthened 
 and to some measure controlled by certain 
 assessors, who acted as a council for carrying 
 on the government of the town, which by this 
 time had begun to be a self-governing com- 
 munity. Parz passu with this organic change in 
 the constitution of the towns there was grow- 
 ing up another development of town life. The 
 towns freed from the domination of the old lords 
 stood in very favourable contrast with those other 
 towns which had not yet been able to win 
 autonomy for themselves. It followed that those 
 favoured communities became objects of envy to 
 others. They were desirable places to settle in; 
 they were gradually made free of many vexatious 
 imposts; they gradually acquired many trade 
 privileges, and by reason of these they grew in 
 wealth and importance. But the new townsmen 
 
 were most jealously and fiercely exclusive; they 
 B 
 
XV1ll PREFACE 
 
 were by no means ready to admit “foreigners” to 
 share in the good things which they or their 
 fathers had won for themselves. The spirit of 
 selfishness, and of very short-sighted selfishness, 
 displayed itself in all the history of town life 
 during the Middle Ages. 
 
 Very soon, however, there came a pressure 
 from without which proved irresistible. The 
 towns could look for no growth and no rapid 
 expansion of their trade if only the burgesses or 
 owners of houses within the area of the town, or 
 within the circuit of the city walls, were allowed 
 to engage in commercial operations. Some of 
 the privileges (not all) which the townsmen were. 
 so proud of, and guarded with stubborn intoler- 
 ance of outsiders, were granted to merchants and 
 wholesale dealers who were associated in a new 
 union known as the ‘‘ Merchant Guild.” The 
 “Merchant Guild”? brought new capital into 
 the towns, and in the end extended itself step 
 by step to important dimensions. Next came 
 those trade unions which had apparently bor- 
 rowed their name from the older merchant 
 guilds, but which were, as far as can be made 
 out, mere associations of artificers who banded 
 
PREFACE x1x 
 
 themselves together for the protection of their 
 several crafts, and whose determined and ob- 
 stinate tactics had in view simply the keeping 
 up of wages, the keeping down of competition, 
 and the restriction of the output of such manu- 
 factures as, but for the efforts of these early 
 protectionists, could have been increased inde- 
 finitely, especially in the case of articles of general 
 use. All these checks and fetters upon liberty of 
 trade, all this artificial interference with produc- 
 tion, which modern economists are almost unani- 
 mous in condemning as merely mischievous and 
 indefensible, did nevertheless result in bringing 
 about one benefit to the community at large, which 
 has been too much overlooked. If the volume 
 of English manufactures was kept down, and the 
 consequent expansion of the trade seriously re- 
 tarded, the guality of the work done by the 
 limited number of the artificers could not help 
 being improved. The craftsman could without 
 much difficulty earn a livelihood; he had a great 
 deal of spare time upon his hands, and, if he 
 loved his art, he could pursue it for the mere 
 love of it, with a genuine enthusiasm and a cer- 
 tain large-hearted rivalry, and endeavour to surpass 
 
xx PREFACE 
 
 in excellence and artistic finish the work turned 
 out by his brother craftsmen. An artist could 
 afford to throw his soul into his work, because he 
 was not always toiling for mere pay. 
 
 But as the medieval craftsman had, as I have 
 expressed it, a great deal of spare time upon 
 his hands, so he had an abundance of holidays, 
 and he threw himself into his amusements with 
 a determination to get enjoyment out of them. 
 Hence town life in the days with which this 
 volume deals was in the main a much gayer life 
 than ours. The personal element then was much 
 more apparent than it is among ourselves. The 
 “individual” had not yet begun to ‘“‘ wither,” 
 and in the towns, not yet grown to monstrous 
 aggregates of population, every man knew every 
 one else within the limits of the civic bound- 
 aries. To be quite lost in a medizval English 
 town was by no means easy. A man who 
 desired to be in hiding never felt safe in the 
 streets; a stranger attracted the eyes of all. The 
 habits of the townsman were eminently social; 
 he was strictly drilled in his religious duties, 
 and these obliged his attendance at the pomps 
 and ceremonies of processions and functions in 
 
PREFACE xxl 
 
 which every citizen was expected to bear his 
 part. The Parish Church was the place of re- 
 sort for the whole population, and in the repair 
 and support and ornamentation of this the com- 
 mon home and, in some sense, the palace of the 
 community, all alike took a pride. Things were 
 not done in a corner. 
 
 But— 
 
 “The old order changeth, yielding place to new, 
 And God fulfils himself in many ways, 
 Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.” 
 
 Things could not go on for ever as they 
 once did among the old burghers. The great 
 break-up came. The suppression—which means 
 the brutal and savage pillage—of the religious 
 houses throughout England brought about in- 
 calculable changes in the sentiments, the beliefs, 
 and the habits of Englishmen in town and 
 country. If the townsman did not suffer as 
 cruelly as the countryman did, yet he did suffer 
 sadly—town life could never again be what it 
 had been. English town life, such as it was, 
 passed away for ever. Reading about it now- 
 a-days, we find ourselves reading ancient history 
 
xxl PREFACE 
 
 indeed. But it is ancient history which has more 
 than one side to it, and these many sides are 
 presented to us in an attractive way in the fol- 
 lowing pages. There is a bright and hopeful 
 side, when the townsmen are seen at their best, 
 each interested in, and each cheerfully working 
 for, the welfare and the glorification of the com- 
 munity of which they were members; there is a 
 dark and repulsive side, when we see the sordid 
 greed of gain making men mean and covetous, 
 each seeking his own advancement by the meanest 
 tricks of a truculent trade-unionism, or by blind 
 and ignorant efforts to carry on a stupid fvo- 
 tectzon of class interests at the expense of those’ 
 not yet admitted to privileges and immunities. 
 There is a noble and a generous side, when 
 the poor are cared for by the self-sacrifices 
 of the well-to-do, and the claims of the needy 
 and unfortunate upon the rich and thriving are 
 responded to by large alms-giving and splendid 
 hospitality; there is a tender and pathetic side, 
 when we are confronted by the religious acti- 
 vity which exhibits itself in all the public and 
 private life of these medizval townsmen. Their 
 beliefs were not quite identical with ours; their 
 
PREFACE XXill 
 
 worship was, so we are pleased to assure our- 
 selves, tainted with superstition, but their prac- 
 tical Christianity (make all the deductions you 
 please) puts us to the blush when we reflect how 
 they were living nearer to their creed than, I 
 fear, we are; and how much more profoundly 
 the religious sentiment influenced the thoughts 
 and habits of the townsmen of the fourteenth 
 and fifteenth centuries than it does ours. 
 
 Be it, however, as it may, while we read these 
 pictures of a past which has gone, no wise man 
 will wish to bring back that past— 
 
 “Dead and gone is the old world’s ideal, 
 The old arts and old religion fled ; 
 But we gladly live amid the real, 
 
 And we seek a worthier ideal. 
 Courage, brothers ! God is overhead.” 
 

 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 INTRODUCTORY 
 
 Old English towns—Foreign towns—Decayed towns—Con- 
 trast between English and foreign towns—* Belford 
 Regis’ —Growing interest in old ee ee l geri 
 birthplace of freedom 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 BRITISH AND ROMAN TOWNS 
 
 Mythical origins of British towns— Earthworks — Pit- 
 dwellings—King Lud and London—King Coel— 
 Bath and Prince Bladud—King Lear and Leicester— 
 et York—Edinburgh — Carlisle — Gloucester — Birmin - 
 
 ham nail-makers —Chun Castle — Roman towns— 
 Itineraries . 
 
 debe hoa Ii 
 A ROMAN CITY 
 
 Silchester—Results of recent excavations—Description of the 
 old city—Calleva Attrebatum’”’—Roads—V illas— 
 Hypocausts—Pavements—Villa at Brading—Forum 
 
 XXV 
 
 PAGE 
 
 31 
 
 44 
 
Xxvl CONTENTS 
 
 at Silchester and the Basilica—Discovery of Christian 
 church — Baths — Amphitheatre — ee ae Roman 
 
 cities— Roman London. 
 
 GAAP ERs 
 SAXON TOWNS 
 
 Saxon ravages—Saxon settlements—A thane’s household— 
 Their daily life—Merchants and craftsmen—Danish 
 wars and their effects—Saxon civilisation—Their 
 churches—St. Andrew's, Hexham— Brixham Church 
 
 —‘ Domesday Book’’—York—Northern England— 
 Lincoln — Chester — Colchester — Death of Saxon 
 Sreedom ; ; : 
 
 COAPUE RS. 
 
 CHURCH TOWNS 
 
 Monastic towns — Peterborough —Orders of monks—The 
 Benedictine order—Reading Abbey in olden days— 
 Piers Ploughman’s description of a monastery—Dis- 
 solution of monasteries — Bishop's towns — Wells— 
 Bishop’ s castles—Selby and its hermitage—Influence of 
 the Church—Chaucer’s ** Poor Parson of a Town”? . 
 
 CHA PATER: Vi) 
 CASTLE TOWNS 
 
 Castles, the mothers of citiee—Norman tyranny—Effects of 
 the Conquest on the towns—English merchants—A 
 Norman keep and fortress—Dungeons and their story 
 —The burghers of castle towns—Their services to the 
 
 lord—Corfe Castle—Social life in the twelfth century— 
 
 PAGE 
 
 57 
 
 73 
 
 93 
 
CONTENTS XXV11 
 PAGE 
 
 Fitz-Stephen’ s, aes a a at NE as 
 Tilting and tournaments - 109 
 
 CHAPTER Vil 
 THE GUILDS 
 
 Numerous kinds of guilds and their objects —Their origin— 
 Ordinance of guild at Abbotsbury—Guilds and their 
 plays — London — Cambridge—Exeter—The  guild- 
 merchant— Royal Winchester and its guilds—Guild- 
 halls : : : ; ; ’ , veto 
 
 CHAPTER GVIIT 
 THE TYRANNY OF GUILDS: MODERN SURVIVALS 
 
 Some disadvantages of guild-life—Irksome restrictions— 
 Heavy fines — Foreigners”? and “ Evil May-day”’— 
 Aristocratic tendencies—Basingstoke Guild—Guilds of 
 the Kalendars and other forms of guild-life—Henry 
 VIII. and the City Companies—Destruction of guilds 
 —Preston Guild—Newcastle—Trinity House—Bene- 
 fits conferred by the guilds. : ; : . 148 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 MEDIEVAL TOWNS 
 
 Towns built by special decree of the king—Hull— Merchants 
 and their houses—Cannynge of Bristol—Richard 
 Whittington and his cat—Sir John Crosby—John 
 Taverner of Hull and his “ Grace Dieu’’—Ecclesias- 
 tical traders—An old town in medieval times—Town 
 houses —St. Marys Hall, Coventry —Craftsmen’ s 
 hovels—State of the streets —Plagues—* Black Death”’ 
 —Fires—Foreign traders—Expansion of commerce . 169 
 
XXVlil CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 IN THE STREETS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Street scenes—The London Livery Companies—The Mercers 
 and their pageant—Triumphal return of Henry V. from 
 Agincourt: a City welcome—Pageant for Henry VI. 
 —River pageants—Chester’s “ setting of the watch” 
 —Coventry plays and pageants—Kenilworth—Corpus 
 Christi Day—Chester plays—Reading—Pillories and 
 punishments—Master Lickpenny’s adventures . ee ie 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 IN FAIR AND MARKET 
 
 Fairs and their origin—The royal right—Toll and tribute— 
 Description of a fair—Strafford custom—Stourbridge 
 Fair—Fairs in churches and churchyards—Boston 
 Fair and the robber knights—Markets and market- 
 places—Canterbury monks and citizens—The fight 
 for freedom—A burgher’s difficulties —Causes of his 
 prosperity—The growth of manufacture—The coming 
 of the Flemings—Henry V ILI. and the destruction us 
 municipal freedom : : 200 
 
 COAL TE Re ST 
 THE GREAT METROPOLIS 
 
 Royal Winchester—Mercantile supremacy of London— 
 Medieval London—A tour of the walls of the city— 
 A city of palaces—The Strand and the houses of 
 nobles—Bishops’ palaces —Riots—The Intelligencer ”’ 
 of 1648—The “ Newes”’ of 1665—The Plague— 
 The Great Fire—Memorable buildings. : eae 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHALLE Ree Lid 
 IN THE DAYS OF GOOD QUEEN BESS 
 
 “ Merrie England”?-—Ruins and desolation—Scene in 
 Reading Abbey—Destruction of monasteries and dis- 
 Sigurement of churches—The Church and the people— 
 Church-ales—Morrice-dancers and minstrels —Elza- 
 bethan houses—<A merchant’s household—Costumes of 
 women—May-day— Pageants at Norwich— Rogues 
 and vagabonds—Cruel laws : ; : 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 MEMORABLE SIEGES OF GREAT TOWNS 
 
 In time of war—Exeter sieges—Alfred and the Danes— 
 Exeter and the Conqueror—A siege in medieval times 
 —Perkin Warbeck—“ Semper fidelis’’—The siege of 
 Gloucester—Colchester—The death of heroes 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 UNIVERSITY TOWNS 
 
 Oxford and Cambridge—Mythical founders—The history of 
 Oxford—Massacre of the Danes—Saxon Palace— 
 Norman Castle—The flight of the Empress Maud— 
 Old college life—First colleges at Oxford and Cam- 
 bridge—The battles of scholars—Effect of the disso- 
 lution of monasteries — Begging scholars—Destruction 
 of college libraries—Oxford in the Civil War—The 
 
 homes of learning 
 
 Xx1X 
 
 PAGE 
 
 231 
 
 247 
 
 256 
 
XXX 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 CINQUE PORTS AND HARBOURS 
 
 Special privileges of the Cinque Ports—The fickleness of the 
 
 sea—The navy in olden times—Old Sandwich—The 
 troubles of Hythe—Rye and Winchelsea—The Armada 
 —Drake and the ‘Golden Hind’’—Feuds and 
 piracies—Smuggling days 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 PALATINATE TOWNS AND CATHEDRAL CITIES 
 
 Mighty Durham—lIts days of splendour—Lancaster and its 
 
 Duke—Old county towns—Ely and its Palatinate— 
 Chester and its memories—Cathedral towns and their 
 associations—Wells and Salisbury—The bishop and 
 
 canons . ° ° e . 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 MODERN CHANGES AND SURVIVALS 
 
 Contrasts—Changes in the appearance of manufacturing 
 
 towns—Changed industries—The old town-halls—The 
 market-cross — Scenes in the market-place — Burning 
 witches—Norwich riots—Birmingham riots—WNotting- 
 ham and the framework knitters—The parish church— 
 Old windows— Desecrations—Preservation of ancient 
 features of the church—Old Inns—The *‘ Bull” Inn at 
 
 Coventry—Anctent hostels—Curious signs—Conclusion 
 
 PAGE 
 
 270 
 
 279 
 
 290 
 
Our English Towns 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 PINT OL)  CL7-O Rey 
 
 Old English towns—Foreign towns—Decayed towns— 
 Contrast between English and foreign towns— Belford 
 Regis? — Growing interest in old municipal life—The 
 birthplace of freedom. 
 
 To those who love antiquity there can be no 
 greater pleasure than to wander through the 
 streets of some of our English towns, and to 
 picture to our mind the strange events which 
 have happened on the very ground upon which 
 we are standing, and the manners and customs 
 of the good townsfolk of ancient days. Every 
 town thus becomes to us a “‘city of memories,” 
 and at every turn and corner we meet with some- 
 thing that reminds us of the past, and recalls 
 the pleasing associations of old town life. 
 
 In most of our large towns the old features 
 
 31 
 
Ba OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 are fast disappearing ; historical houses, the old 
 quaint, half-timbered and gabled shops, have been 
 pulled down to make room for buildings more 
 adapted to present needs; a new Town Hall 
 occupies the site of the ancient Guild Hall 
 wherein the Merchant Guild of medizval times 
 transacted their business; and everything is being 
 hopelessly modernised. This process is, of course, 
 inevitable; and these new abodes are doubtless 
 more comfortable and serviceable; but perhaps 
 we may be allowed to sigh over the disappearance 
 of the picturesqueness of our old towns, and the 
 destruction of many features of historical interest 
 and association. ; 
 
 One of the great pleasures in visiting the old 
 cities and towns on the Continent, which have 
 preserved traces of their medieval grandeur, is to 
 recall the story which their walls, towers, and 
 belfries have to tell of the busy life of past times. 
 Standing beneath the belfry tower at Ghent, we 
 hear the great bell send forth its sonorous note, 
 and think of the time when, at the summons of 
 ~ the bell called ‘‘ Roland,” thousands of sturdy 
 citizens would muster in the market-place, and 
 bid defiance to kings and emperors, who had 
 dared to trifle with the rights and liberties of the 
 brave but turbulent burghers. So mighty was 
 
INTRODUCTORY 33 
 
 the tongue of ‘‘ Roland,” which seemed a living 
 thing, endowed with a human voice, that the 
 conqueror of Ghent, Charles V., thought fit to 
 silence it for ever, lest it should again rouse the 
 citizens to arms. Steaming down the Rhine in 
 a few hours from Bingen to Cologne, passing by 
 the ruins of many a lordly castle, we think of 
 the time when our journey would not have been 
 quite so speedy, when bands of armed warriors 
 would have sallied forth from every castle wall, 
 and demanded toll and tribute;—and if we re- 
 fused to pay, there was always a convenient 
 dungeon for us to occupy until we agreed to 
 satisfy the lord’s demands. And we might have 
 seen the monks cultivating their vines on the 
 steep, rocky banks, and, perhaps, heard the weird 
 song of the Lorelei, who, seated upon a high 
 rock, by the sweetness of her music, lured gallant 
 sailors and fishermen to their destruction in the 
 swift-flowing river. Or go to Rome itself, the 
 city of cities, where, heaped together, we have 
 the records of all the ages, and where every 
 stone, palace, church, and cathedral have their 
 story to tell of the strange events of the past. 
 But it is not necessary to journey to Rome, 
 or Belgium, or the Rhine, in order to surround 
 ourselves with the treasures of past ages. Have 
 C 
 
34 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 our own towns no story to tell us? Let us 
 endeavour to discover how rich the towns and 
 cities of England are in historical association, to 
 depict their ancient appearance, and to describe 
 their various origins. Let us live again in the 
 past, and see the knights clad in their coats of, 
 mail riding along the streets with their men-at- 
 arms, and the merchants in their sober suits of 
 cloth meeting together at the Guild Hall to dis- 
 cuss the king’s wars, or the “‘ hard times,” or the 
 troublesome nature of apprentices and craftsmen. 
 A lordly abbot mounted on a mule rides past 
 us, and receives with the utmost complaisance 
 the humble homage of the citizens. A friar too 
 walks along, but he does not meet with the 
 same amount of favour. Smock-frocked peasants 
 and lazy apprentices move along the streets, and 
 ladies with wondrous gowns and curious head- 
 gear complete the picture. 
 
 We will endeavour to realise the conditions of 
 municipal life in still earlier ages, long before the 
 palmy days of ancient chivalry, and to discover 
 who first built and inhabited our towns, and what 
 were the causes of their development and growth. 
 There is a wonderful variety in their origin and 
 character. Some were called into being by the 
 establishment of a great monastery; others by a 
 
INTRODUCTORY 35 
 
 royal decree. Others again owe their origin to 
 the legionaries of Rome, or to the erection of 
 a Norman fortress. There are Bishop’s towns, 
 Castle towns, King’s towns, and many others, 
 which we shall meet with in our wanderings, and 
 try to mark their various characteristics and 
 varied history. 
 
 Some too have sent their names across the seas, 
 and many of their inhabitants also, and established 
 themselves in new lands, in America and Australia, 
 and there attained a pre-eminence unknown in the 
 Old Country. New York, Boston, Melbourne, 
 and many others have long ago eclipsed in size 
 their mother towns and cities here at home. 
 
 We hope to visit also some of the decayed old 
 market-towns of England, which now seem so 
 still and peaceful, where, except on market-day, 
 everybody appears to be asleep and no excitement 
 ever comes. And yet through what stormy and 
 tumultuous times these still country towns have 
 passed! Many of them were very active busy 
 places ere the railroads left them high and dry to 
 wither and decay in the grave and sober respect- 
 ability of old age. It 1s difficult to imagine that 
 the grey-haired, wrinkled, quiet old man, who 
 walks sedately down the street with bowed head 
 and bent back, was ever the dashing young soldier 
 
36 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 who fought so bravely in the Mutiny, and stormed 
 the rebel stronghold at Lucknow. Just as difficult 
 is it to imagine that the nation’s pulse ever beat 
 quickly in the sleepy streets of Slowchester, or that 
 any more exciting questions were discussed in the 
 market-place than the price of pigs or the rate 
 of wages. 
 
 The railroads destroyed the prosperity of many 
 of these old coaching towns through which forty 
 or fifty coaches used to rattle daily, where the 
 inns were ever filled with streams of guests, and 
 their huge stables with post-horses; but they did 
 not destroy their picturesqueness. Indeed with 
 regard to their appearance and beauty our English 
 towns compare very favourably with those on the - 
 Continent. We have had wars in this country, 
 but these have never been so incessant as they 
 were in other lands. Hence there are few towns 
 in England which were strongly fortified ; whereas 
 abroad almost every town was a_ stronghold, 
 and no buildings or trees outside the walls were 
 allowed to spring up, lest they should be used as 
 a cover by an enemy. The poor live huddled 
 together in large high houses, with narrow streets 
 between them, and the filth and refuse which accu- 
 mulate in the ill-drained thoroughfares generally 
 give forth most disagreeable odours. There 
 
INTRODUCTORY 37 
 
 is always a peculiar smell about a German or 
 Belgian town which is not particularly agree- 
 able to English visitors. Our towns, unenclosed 
 by fortified walls, have naturally extended them- 
 selves, and the lines of old English cottages, with 
 their well-tilled gardens, their flowers and creepers, 
 which form the approach to most of our country 
 towns, add a charm and a delight to them. 
 
 Miss Mitford in her delightful book, ‘ Belford 
 Regis,” thus describes the appearance of the town 
 from which her novel takes its name, and which 
 is none other than the good old town of Reading, 
 our Berkshire metropolis, as it appeared at the 
 beginning of the century :— 
 
 ““No sooner do we get within a mile of the 
 town, than our approach is indicated by successive 
 market-gardens on either side, crowned, as we 
 ascend the long hill on which the turnpike-gate 
 stands, by an extensive nursery-ground, gay with 
 long beds of flowers, with trellised walks covered 
 with creepers, with whole acres of flowering shrubs, 
 and ranges of greenhouses, the glass glittering 
 in the southern sun. Then the turnpike-gate, 
 with its civil keeper, then another public-house, 
 then the clear bright pond on the top of the hill, 
 and then rows of small tenements, with here and 
 there a more ambitious single cottage standing in 
 
38 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 its own pretty garden, which forms the usual 
 gradation from the country to the town. 
 
 ““About this point, where our road, skirting 
 the great pond and edged by small houses, diverges 
 from the great southern entrance, and where two 
 streets, meeting or parting, lead by separate ways 
 down the steep hill to the centre of the town, 
 stands a handsome mansion, surrounded by 
 orchards and pleasure-grounds, across which is 
 perhaps to be seen the very best view of Belford, 
 with its long ranges of modern buildings in the 
 outskirts, mingled with picturesque old streets, 
 the venerable towers of St. Stephen’s and St. 
 Nicholas’, the light and tapering spire of St. 
 John’s, the huge monastic ruins of the abbey, the 
 massive walls of the county gaol, the great river 
 winding along like a thread of silver, trees and 
 gardens mingling amongst all, and the whole 
 landscape environed and lightened by the drooping 
 elms of the foreground, adding an illusive beauty 
 to the picture by breaking the too formal outline, 
 and veiling just exactly those parts which most 
 require concealment. 
 
 ‘* Nobody can look on Belford from this point 
 without feeling that it is a very English and very 
 charming scene, and the impression does not 
 diminish on further acquaintance. We see at 
 
INTRODUCTORY 39 
 
 once the history of the place, that it is at once an 
 antique borough town, which has recently been 
 extended to nearly double its former size; so that 
 it unites in no common degree the old romantic 
 irregular structures in which our ancestors de- 
 lighted, with the handsome and uniform buildings 
 which are the fashion nowadays. I suppose that 
 people are right in their taste, and that the modern 
 houses are pleasantest to live in, but, beyond all 
 question, those antique streets are the prettiest to 
 look at. The occasional blending too is good. 
 Witness the striking piece of street scenery which 
 was once accidentally forced upon my attention, 
 as I took shelter from a shower of rain in a shop 
 about ten doors up the right hand side of Friar 
 Street—the old vicarage-house of St. Nicholas 
 embowered in greens, the lofty town-hall, and the 
 handsome modern house of my friend Mr. 
 Beauchamp, the fine church tower of St. Nicholas, 
 the picturesque piazza underneath, the jutting 
 corner of Friar Street, the old irregular shops in 
 the market-place, and the trees of the Forbury just 
 peeping between with all their varieties of light 
 and shadow. I went to the door to see if the 
 shower was over, was caught by its beauty, and 
 stood looking at it in the sunshine long after the 
 rain had ceased.”’ 
 
40 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 Thus does the charming authoress of ‘ Our 
 Village” describe an old-fashioned English town 
 as it appeared at the beginning of the century. 
 If she could visit it now, she would probably be 
 grieved at the destruction of many beauties which 
 her graphic pen so lovingly described. Prosperity 
 has its drawbacks, as well as its advantages. But 
 in spite of modern changes it is still possible to 
 call to mind the stories of the past that cluster 
 round its ancient abbey, its churches, streets, 
 and those historic houses which the hand of the 
 moderniser has as yet spared. 
 
 In many places huge manufactories, smoky 
 mill-chimneys, iron-works belching forth their 
 clouds of black smoke, chemical works which. 
 kill all the trees for miles round, collieries which 
 blacken and disfigure the country, and such things, 
 have obliterated all beauty and picturesqueness ; 
 but even then they have not quite destroyed all 
 the interesting associations which cluster round 
 the history of an English borough. And it is 
 our endeavour to revive the recollections of the 
 past, rather than to dwell on the outward beauty 
 of our towns. 
 
 During recent years considerable attention has 
 been paid to municipal history. Several large 
 volumes of the corporation records and docu- 
 
INTRODUCTORY AI 
 
 ments of some of our large towns have been 
 published. Abbey charters and churchwardens’ 
 account-books have been ably transcribed and 
 printed; many writers have thrown light upon 
 the early history of English Guilds. Hence we 
 have a mass of material to aid us in our investi- 
 gations, and to enable us to realise the social 
 manners and customs of our forefathers, and the 
 growth of their constitutions and laws. In such 
 matters all Englishmen must take a profound 
 interest ; and there is much truth in the saying 
 that “they who care nothing for their ancestors, 
 care little for their posterity—indeed, little for 
 anything but themselves.” 
 
 To the towns of England we, English people, 
 owe a vast debt of gratitude; we owe to them 
 our progress and our freedom. ‘‘In the silent 
 growth and elevation of the English people,” says 
 Green, their historian, “the boroughs led the 
 way: unnoticed and despised by prelate and noble, 
 they had all along preserved or won back again 
 the full tradition of Teutonic liberty. The 
 rights of self-government, of free speech in free 
 meeting, of equal justice by one’s equals, were 
 brought safely across the ages of tyranny by the 
 burghers and shopkeepers of the towns. In the 
 quiet, quaintly-named streets, in town-mead and 
 
42 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 market-place, in the lord’s mill beside the stream, 
 in the bell that swung out its summons to the 
 crowded borough-mote, in merchant-gild, and 
 church-gild, and craft-gild, lay the life of 
 Englishmen who were doing more than knight 
 and baron to make England what she is, the life 
 of their home and their trade, of their steady 
 battle with oppression, their sturdy, ceaseless 
 struggle for right and freedom.” 
 
 The progress of this achievement was peaceful, 
 gradual, but sure. ‘*’The bell which swung out 
 from the town tower gathered the burgesses to 
 a common meeting, where they could exercise 
 rights of free speech and free deliberation on 
 their own affairs. Their merchant-gild, over its 
 ale-feast, regulated trade, distributed the sums 
 due from the town among the different burgesses, 
 looked to the due repair of gate and wall, and 
 acted in fact pretty much the same part as a 
 Town Council of to-day. Not only were all 
 their rights secured by custom from the first, 
 but they were constantly widening as time went 
 on. Whenever we get a glimpse of the inner 
 history of an English town, we find the same 
 peaceful revolution in progress, services dis- 
 appearing through disuse or omission, while 
 privileges and immunities were being purchased 
 
INTRODUCTORY 43 
 
 in hard cash. The lord of the town, whether 
 he were king, baron, or abbot, was commonly 
 thriftless or poor, and the capture of a noble, or 
 the campaign of a sovereign, or the building of 
 some new minster by a prior, brought about an 
 appeal to the thrifty burghers, who were ready to 
 fill again their master’s treasury, at the price of a 
 strip of parchment, which gave them freedom of 
 trade, of justice and of government.” Thus by 
 sheer hard bargaining were the liberties of our 
 towns acquired; and the freedom-loving burghers 
 have taught the people of England in what true 
 freedom really consists, and inspired them to win 
 for themselves those privileges of liberty and jus- 
 tice which all Englishmen have learnt to prize. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 BRITISH AND ROMAN TOWNS 
 
 Mythical. origins of British towns—Earthworks—Pit- 
 dwellings—King Lud and London—King Coel—Bath 
 and Prince Bladud—King Lear and Leicester—York 
 — Edinburgh — Carlisle— Gloucester — Birmingham nail- 
 makers—Chun Castle—Roman towns—Ttineraries. 
 
 WownperFuL legends and stories are told by 
 the early chroniclers of the number and strength 
 and mythical origin of the towns of ancient 
 Britain. Our ancestors must have had very lively 
 imaginations. Even the venerable Bede in his 
 Ecclesiastical History tells us that “‘the island 
 was formerly embellished with twenty-eight 
 noble cities, besides innumerable castles, which 
 were all strongly secured with walls, towers, 
 gates, and locks.” Cesar states that there were 
 towns in Britain when he came to subdue our 
 brave wode-dyed ancestors. ‘*’ The numbers of 
 their towns was great,” he says; but in describing 
 them he adds that the Britons call that a town 
 
 where they have been used to assemble for the 
 44 
 
BRITISH AND ROMAN TOWNS 45 
 
 sake of avoiding an incursion of enemies when 
 they had fortified the entangled woods with a 
 rampart and a ditch. 
 
 Traces of these rude British towns may be 
 found in every county, and probably many of my 
 readers will have observed on the crest of some 
 hill huge earthen ramparts, encircled by a deep 
 ditch, which once constituted the fortifications 
 of an old British town. Some have several 
 ramparts, and were evidently important strong- 
 holds. But inside this enclosure the buildings 
 were simply a few huts composed. of wood and 
 thatch, and sometimes the only habitations were 
 holes dug in the ground, covered by a thatched 
 roof. Buckland in his “Curiosities of Natural 
 History”’ thus describes some pit-dwellings dis- 
 covered at Brighthampton, near Oxford: ‘‘ The 
 ancient Britons were in the habit of digging holes 
 for shelter. Not many weeks ago some labourers, 
 when digging gravel at Brighthampton, near Ox- 
 ford, came across several such excavations. They 
 were simply pits dug in the earth large enough to 
 hold one or two persons.’ At Worlebury, near 
 Weston-super-Mare, there is a British ‘‘ town,” and 
 the pit-dwellings may still be seen. Very suitable 
 for purposes of defence were these ancient strong- 
 holds; the earthen ramparts were sometimes as 
 
46 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 much as twenty feet in height, and above them 
 was fastened felled timber, which made them 
 more impregnable. 
 
 These rude British towns were very different 
 from the wonderful descriptions of them which we 
 find in the early chronicles. We read of the great 
 King Lud, who, according to Geoffrey of Mon- 
 mouth, ‘‘ became famous for the building of cities, 
 and for rebuilding the walls of Trinovantum 
 (London), which he also surrounded with in- 
 numerable towers. He likewise commanded the 
 citizens to build houses, and all other kinds of 
 structures in it, so that no city in all foreign 
 countries to a great distance round could show 
 more beautiful palaces. He was withal -a 
 warlike man, and very magnificent in his feasts 
 and public entertainments. And though he 
 had many other cities, yet he loved this above 
 them all, and resided in it the greater part of 
 the year; for which reason it was called Kaerlud; 
 and by the corruption of the word Caerlondon; 
 and again by change of languages, in process of 
 time, London; as also by foreigners who arrived 
 here and reduced this country under their sub- 
 jection, it was called Londres. At last, when he 
 was dead, his body was buried by the gate 
 which to this time is called in the British tongue, 
 
BRITISH AND ROMAN TOWNS 47 
 
 Parthlud (in Latin Porta-Lud), and in the Saxon, 
 Ludesgata.”’ 
 
 There is a story, too, of a son of Lud, who 
 married Blanche, a cousin of Julius Cesar, to 
 whom a legend ascribes the origin of Norwich 
 Castle. How the Roman Cesar came to have a 
 cousin named ‘‘ Blanche”’ is not explained. And 
 who has not heard of the fame of the mythical 
 founder of Colchester, King Coel, or Cole, whose 
 memory is recorded in the well-known rhyme of 
 “Old King Cole”? But Cole, his fiddlers, and 
 his pipe, exist only in legends, and Colchester 
 derives its name from the river Colne, on which 
 it stands, or perhaps, as some writers maintain, 
 from Colonia, a Roman colony. 
 
 Familiar also is the mythical story of the origin 
 of the city of Bath and of the discovery of the 
 hot springs which cure rheumatism and many 
 other ills of life. The legend tells us of a certain 
 Prince Bladud who lived in the year 1853 B.c., 
 or according to Geoffrey of Monmouth gI0 B.c. 
 This prince was educated in the learned city of 
 Athens, but being afflicted with leprosy, he was 
 exiled from his country, and became a swineherd. 
 His pigs too became leprous, but by rolling in 
 the black, steaming mud, where the hot springs 
 now boil up, they became healed. The prince 
 
48 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 followed their example, and was thus cured of 
 his malady. In gratitude for his deliverance he 
 founded the city of Bath, then called Kaerbadus, 
 ‘‘and made hot baths in it for the benefit of 
 the public, which he dedicated to the goddess 
 Minerva; in whose temple he kept fires that 
 never went out, nor consumed to ashes, but as 
 soon as they began to decay were turned into 
 balls of stone. About this time the prophet 
 Elias prayed that it might not rain upon earth, 
 and it did not rain for three years and six 
 months. This prince was a very ingenious man, 
 and taught necromancy in his kingdom, nor did 
 he leave off pursuing his magical operations, till 
 he attempted to fly to the upper region of the 
 air with wings which he had prepared, and fell 
 down upon the temple of Apollo in the city of 
 Trinovantum (London), where he was dashed to 
 pieces.” 
 
 We might narrate many other of these stories ; 
 of King Lear, immortalised by Shakespeare, whose 
 _real name was Leir, and who built Leircestre, or 
 Leicester; of Hludibras, the father of Biadud, 
 who built Kaerlem or Canterbury, Kaerguen or 
 Winchester, and the town of Mount Paladur, 
 now Shaftesbury. ‘‘ At this place an eagle spoke,” 
 says the chronicler, ‘while the wall of the town 
 
BRITISH AND ROMAN TOWNS 49 
 
 was being built ; and indeed I should have trans- 
 mitted the speech to posterity, had I thought it 
 true, as the rest of the history.” About the time 
 that David reigned in Judea, our British king 
 Ebrancus, after invading Gaul and enriching him- 
 self with an infinite quantity of gold and silver, 
 built Kaerebranc, the city of Ebrancus, or York, 
 and also Mount Agned (Edinburgh), “called in 
 this time the castle of Maidens, or the Mountain 
 of Sorrow.” When King Solomon was building 
 the temple at Jerusalem, our Leil, a peaceful 
 and just prince, founded Kaerleil, or Carlisle. 
 Gloucester owes its foundation to Claudius Cesar, 
 who gave his beautiful daughter, Genuissa, to the 
 British prince Arviragus for a wife. The beauti- 
 ful damsel gained so great an ascendency over his 
 affections, that he valued nothing but her alone; 
 insomuch that he was desirous to have the place 
 honoured where the nuptials were solemnised, and 
 moved Claudius to build a city there for a monu- 
 ment to posterity of so great and happy a marriage. 
 Claudius acceded to his request, and commanded 
 a city to be built, which after his name is called 
 Kaerglon, that is, Gloucester. Although this 
 account of the beautiful Genuissa and Arviragus 
 is purely imaginative, it is quite possible that 
 Gloucester was founded by Claudius and called 
 D 
 
bo OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 Claudii castrum, or Caer Glau. ‘Tradition tells 
 of strong-limbed hardy natives, who lived in 
 the woods where Birmingham now stands, and 
 made nails with their fingers’ from the iron which 
 they found, and could drive them into a plank 
 with their knuckles. These nails were probably 
 as fabulous as the spear-staves, javelins, and heavy 
 blades which these mythical workmen supplied 
 to the native kings of Britain before the advent 
 of Julius Cesar and ‘his victorious legions. 
 
 The Britons were a very patriotic race, and it 
 delighted them to describe the past glories of 
 their country, even though those glories existed 
 only in their own vivid imaginations. Geoffrey 
 of Monmouth, who wrote in the twelfth century, 
 founded his early ‘British History” upon the 
 traditions of the Welsh people. It is supposed 
 that he had some early Welsh manuscripts to 
 guide him, and the stories which these con- 
 tained he probably improved. ‘There still exist 
 some Welsh manuscripts which contain these 
 legends; but whether they were copied from 
 earlier ones, or translated from Geoffrey’s chro- 
 nicle, it has not been satisfactorily determined. 
 At any rate they show that the Celtic race were 
 not unskilled in the invention of romantic myths. 
 
 We may dismiss then all ideas of the magni- 
 
BRITISH AND ROMAN TOWNS 51 
 
 ficence of ancient British towns. Strabo states 
 that ‘‘the forests of the Britons are their cities; 
 for when they have enclosed a very large circuit 
 with felled trees, they build within it houses for 
 themselves and hovels for their cattle. These 
 buildings are very slight, and not designed for 
 long duration.” Diodorus Siculus calls them 
 wretched cottages, constructed of wood and 
 covered with straw. Most of them, like the pit- 
 dwellings, were, according to Strabo, of circular 
 form. Cesar tells us that they resembled the 
 houses of the Gauls; of these we have some 
 representations on the Antonine column, the 
 roofs of which are in the form of a dome. In 
 the west of England there still remain some stone 
 foundations and walls of these circular houses. 
 Chun Castle, in Cornwall, is a fine specimen of 
 a British town. It has two circular walls, divided 
 by a terrace thirty feet wide, and composed of 
 rough masses of granite, piled up _ without 
 cement. A wide ditch surrounds the outer wall. 
 This wall is about twelve feet thick, and must 
 have been about fifteen feet high. There is only 
 one entrance, which is arranged and guarded with 
 wonderful military skill. Within the enclosure 
 adjoining the wall there are the remains of circular 
 stone dwellings. The Herefordshire Beacon is 
 
52 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 a fine specimen of a British town or fortress 
 protected by a triple rampart, and the famous 
 Tynwald Mound, in the Isle of Man, on which 
 the Manx laws are proclaimed every year, is an 
 interesting relic of ancient British earthworks. 
 
 We may therefore conclude that the only towns 
 in this country prior to the Roman conquests were 
 these strongly fortified camps, containing rude 
 collections of huts and pit-dwellings surrounded 
 by ramparts constructed of earth or stone or 
 felled trees. 
 
 It was not until the Romans established them- 
 selves in this island that real towns sprang into 
 existence. Sometimes the conquerors built their 
 walled towns on the site of these early British. 
 encampments, and their fortifications were con- 
 structed on the line of the old bulwarks. As 
 each powerful tribe was subdued, the victorious 
 Romans fortified the old British stronghold, or 
 built a fortress near it, and connected all these 
 towns and camps by military ways. The new 
 towns were all regular in shape, bounded by lines 
 as straight as the nature of the ground would 
 permit, usually square or oblong; whereas the 
 old strongholds which they occupied and adapted 
 to their uses retained their original irregular form. 
 We have a record of these Roman towns in the 
 
BRITISH AND ROMAN TOWNS 53 
 
 celebrated Itinerary of Antoninus, 2 Roman officer, 
 who travelled along the old roads, probably in 
 the suite of the Emperor Adrian, and recorded 
 the places which he visited. We have also the 
 valuable Itinerary of Richard of Cirencester, a 
 monk of Westminster in the fourteenth century, 
 which he collected from certain fragments left 
 by a Roman general, and which differs somewhat 
 from the Itinerary of Antoninus. 
 
 Very magnificent were many of these towns 
 which the conquerors built in imitation of mighty 
 Rome itself, and adorned with temples, courts 
 of justice, theatres, statues, and other public 
 buildings and monuments. Sir Francis Palgrave 
 says: ‘‘ The country was replete with the monu- 
 ments of Roman magnificence. Malmesbury 
 appeals to these stately ruins as testimonies of 
 the favour which Britain had enjoyed; the towers, 
 the temples, the theatres, and the baths, which 
 yet remained undestroyed, excited the wonder 
 and the admiration of the chronicler and the 
 traveller; and even in the fourteenth century, the 
 edifices raised by the Romans were so numerous 
 and costly, as almost to excel any others on this 
 side the Alps. Nor were these structures among 
 the least influential means of establishing the 
 Roman power. Architecture, as cultivated by 
 
54 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 the ancients, was not merely presented to the 
 eye; the art also spoke to the mind. The walls, 
 covered with the decrees of the legislature, en- 
 graved on bronze or sculptured in the marble; 
 the triumphal arches, crowned with the statues 
 of the princes who governed the province from 
 the distant Quirinal; the tessellated floor, pictured 
 with the mythology of the state, whose sovereign 
 was its pontiff—all contributed to act upon the 
 feelings of the people, and to impress them with 
 respect and submission. The conquered shared 
 in the fame, and were exalted by the splendour 
 of the victors.” 
 
 These Roman towns were of various degrees 
 of rank and importance. Some were called - 
 colonies, which claimed the first rank. Roman 
 soldiers were rewarded for their services by 
 receiving a grant of land from the territory of 
 the nations they helped to conquer. This was 
 called a colony, which was a Rome in miniature, 
 enjoying the same privileges, governed by the 
 same laws as the great city of the empire. When 
 St. Paul claimed the privileges of Roman citizen- 
 ship, which prevented him from being imprisoned 
 and beaten uncondemned, he signified that he 
 was born a citizen of Tarsus, which was a Roman 
 colony, just as some of our English towns were. 
 
BRITISH AND ROMAN TOWNS 55 
 
 The names of these towns were Richborough, 
 London, Colchester, Bath, Gloucester, Caerleon, 
 Chester, Lincoln, and Chesterfield. At these 
 places the remains of Roman buildings are 
 constantly being found, and inscriptions to the 
 memory of worthy citizens of the period. Here 
 is an interesting one, which was discovered re- 
 cently at Chester:—‘‘To the memory of. . .” 
 (the name is wanting) “‘a centurion’s adjutant 
 who was expecting to become a centurion, at- 
 tached to the century of Lucilius Ingenuus, when 
 he was shipwrecked and drowned.” This stone 
 memorial tells a mournful story of disappointed 
 hopes, and a beautiful romance might be woven 
 around this tragic end of a brave Roman soldier 
 of Chester City. 
 
 Another class of Roman cities consisted of 
 those possessing municipal rank and privileges, 
 which were only conferred as a reward for 
 especial services to the empire. The citizens 
 could choose their own magistrates, make their 
 own laws, and enjoyed the same privileges as the 
 inhabitants of a colony. There were only two 
 of this class in Britain, York, and Verulam, now 
 called St. Albans. Ten other towns had the 
 Latian right conferred upon them, viz., Inverness, 
 Perth, Dunbarton, Carlisle, Catterwick, Blackrod, 
 
56 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 Cirencester, Salisbury, Caister, in Lincolnshire, 
 and Slack, in Longwood. The remaining towns 
 were stipendiary; that is to say, they were com- 
 pelled to pay tribute, and were governed by 
 Roman officers. It is well known that all places 
 whose names are compounded of castor, cester, or 
 chester (Latin castva, a camp) usually were Roman 
 military stations, ¢.g., Worcester, Manchester, 
 Doncaster, although this rule is not universally 
 true. An old chronicler mentions twenty-eight 
 of these ancient Roman cities, and to those 
 already mentioned we may add Canterbury, Car- 
 narvon, Norwich, Caermarthen, Grantchester (now 
 Cambridge), Bristol, London, and Leicester. 
 
 We see now the country of Britain studded - 
 with camps and towns held by sturdy Romans, 
 and connected by great roads. Outside their 
 walls wild bands of Britons roamed; some became 
 civilised and adopted Roman manners, others 
 were enslaved; but the life of towns had begun, 
 and we will try to realise what kind of places 
 these Roman towns were. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 ONAN CTT Y. 
 
 Silchester—Results of recent excavations—Description of 
 the old city—* Calleva Attrebatum’’—Roads—Villas— 
 Hypocausts —Pavements—Villa at Brading—Forum at 
 Silchester and the Basilica—Discovery of Christian church 
 —Baths—Amphitheatre—Decay of Roman cities—Roman 
 London. 
 
 Ir we desire to know the fashion of an old Roman 
 town in Britain, it would be advisable for us to 
 discover one that had not been much disturbed 
 by subsequent building operations. Upon the 
 sites of most of these old-world places new towns 
 have been constructed; so that it is difficult to 
 find out many relics of Roman times. But 
 happily we have at least one very important city 
 which has been left undisturbed since the Roman 
 legions sailed away, and abandoned the poor 
 Britons an easy prey to their enemies. It is true 
 that the Saxons overran the place, and time has 
 long since levelled the walls of the houses; but 
 the city walls are still proudly standing, and 
 57 
 
58 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 the earth has kept safely for us during many 
 centuries the treasures and memories of a bygone 
 age. 
 
 Silchester was once a large, important, and 
 flourishing place. It contained a forum, or 
 market-place, having on one side a large structure 
 called a basilica, which was a kind of municipal 
 building or town-hall, in which prisoners were 
 tried, business transactions executed, and the 
 general affairs of the city carried on. On the 
 other side of the square were the shops, where 
 the butchers, shoemakers, or fishmongers plied 
 their trade. You can find plenty of oyster shells, 
 the contents of which furnished many a feast to 
 the Romans who lived there 1700 years ago.’ 
 The objects which have been found tell us 
 how the dwellers in the old city used to employ 
 themselves, and how skilful the Romans were in 
 craftsmanship. Amongst other things have been 
 discovered axes, chisels, files for setting saws, 
 hammers, a large plane, and other carpenters’ 
 tools; an anvil, a pair of tongs, and blacksmiths’ 
 implements; shoemakers’ anvils, very similar to 
 
 1 The vast quantities of oyster shells at Silchester and the 
 position of the beds have led antiquaries to believe that the 
 shells were brought there for making lime, and that they are 
 not entirely the remains of Roman feastings. 
 
A ROMAN CITY 59 
 
 those used in our own day, a large gridiron, a 
 standing lamp, safety-pins, such as ladies use 
 now, and many other things. 
 
 In order to protect the city it was surrounded 
 by high walls, which seem to defy all the attacks 
 of time. ‘These massive walls are nine feet in 
 thickness, and are still in many places twenty feet 
 high. Outside the wall a wide ditch added to 
 the strength of the fortifications. Watch-towers 
 were placed at intervals along the walls, in which 
 the Roman soldiers stood to mark the approach 
 of an enemy who might dare to attack their strong- 
 hold. On the north, south, east, and west sides 
 of the city there were strongly fortified gates, 
 with guard chambers on each side, and arched 
 entrances through which the Roman chariots were 
 driven. 
 
 These walls enclosed a space of irregular shape, 
 and were built on the site of old British fortifica- 
 tions. Silchester was originally a British strong- 
 hold, and was called by them Calleva. The 
 Celtic tribe which inhabited the northern part of 
 Hampshire was the Attrebates, who after a great 
 many hard fights were subdued by the Romans, 
 about a.p. 78. The conqueror, Agricola, tried 
 to civilise the half-savage tribes of Britain, and 
 taught them to have a taste for the arts and for 
 
60 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 refined pleasures. He encouraged them to build 
 temples and forums and houses, and the Britons 
 soon began to imitate Roman manners and to 
 adopt the Roman dress. And so within the rude 
 fortifications of ancient Calleva arose the city of 
 Silchester with its fine houses, temples, and baths, 
 its strong walls, and gates, and streets, the great 
 centre of civilisation and the chief city of that 
 part of the country. 
 
 When Rome was considered the very centre of 
 the world it was said that ‘‘ all roads led to Rome,” 
 but in this part of England it might be said with 
 truth that all roads led to Silchester. There was 
 the great street which led from the east gate to 
 Staines and London. From the south gate issued 
 the street which led to Winchester, straight as a 
 dart, as all the Roman roads were made. From 
 the western gate issued the main road to Salisbury 
 and the West of England, and a branch road to 
 Speen, near Newbury. This is marked by an old 
 Roman milestone, commonly called the Imp stone, 
 probably from the first three letters of the Latin 
 word Imperator, or Emperor, carved upon it. 
 Curious legends often cluster round these relics 
 of ancient times. Just as the superstitious Saxons, 
 when they saw the great Roman roads, made by 
 a people who had quite vanished from the land, 
 
A ROMAN CITY 61 
 
 often attributed these great works to evil spirits, 
 and called parts of these well-made streets the 
 Devil’s Highway; so they invented a strange 
 legend to account for the position of the Imp 
 stone, and said that some giant had thrown it 
 from the city and left on it the marks of his 
 finger and thumb. It is also said to turn round 
 when the clock strikes twelve, but nobody has ever 
 seen it perform this feat. From the north gate 
 a road went towards the Thames to Dorchester. 
 These streets ran through the city, which was 
 divided into rectangles by the roads. These 
 rectangular spaces were called zxsu/e@. When 
 the corn is growing, you may see where the roads 
 ran, for on the surface of the old roads where 
 the ground is thin the corn is scanty. This 
 was noticed by Leland in the year 1586, who 
 says: ‘The inhabitants told me that it had been 
 proved by long observation that, although this 
 is a fertile and fruitful enough spot, yet in cer- 
 tain places, like little lines which intersect one 
 another, the corn does not grow so equally 
 abundantly, but much thinner than elsewhere, 
 and along these lines they think the streets of 
 the city formerly led.” This, of course, was 
 more observable three hundred years ago than it 
 is now, as the soil has become thicker; but even 
 
62 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 now when the corn is young the course of the 
 streets is perceptible. One is inclined to wonder 
 where all the earth comes from which buries old 
 buildings and hides them away so carefully, 
 but any one who has read Darwin’s book on 
 ‘“Worms’” will cease to be astonished. It is 
 chiefly through the action of these useful insects 
 that soil accumulates so greatly on the sites of old 
 buildings. 
 
 Within the walls of Silchester were gardens 
 and villas replete with all the contrivances of 
 Roman luxury, and filled with rich and costly 
 things. The pit-dwelling Britons must have 
 been very much surprised to see the kind of 
 houses which the Romans built for themselves. 
 These houses were built on three sides of a 
 square court. A cloister ran round the court 
 supported by pillars. The open space was used 
 as a garden. At the back of the house were 
 the kitchens and apartments for the slaves and 
 domestics of the owner. The Romans adapted 
 their dwellings to the climate in which they lived. 
 In the sunny south at Pompeii the houses were 
 more open, and would be little suited for our 
 more rigorous climate. ‘They knew how to make 
 themselves comfortable, so they built rooms well 
 protected from the weather, and heated them 
 
A ROMAN CITY 63 
 
 with what are called hypocausts. These were 
 furnaces made beneath the house, which generated 
 hot air; and this was admitted into the rooms 
 by earthenware flue-tiles. The dwellers had both 
 summer and winter apartments; the former on 
 one side of the house, the latter on the other; 
 and when the weather became cold the hypocaust 
 furnaces were lighted and the family adjourned 
 to their winter quarters. The floors were made 
 of fesser@, or small cubes of different materials 
 and various colours, which were arranged in 
 beautiful patterns. Some of these pavements 
 were of most elegant and elaborate designs, 
 having figures in them representing often the 
 seasons, or some mythological characters. 
 
 The pavements at Silchester which have been 
 discovered are of simple design, but the explorers 
 hope to find some more elaborate ones later on. 
 The Roman builders used mortar, which is very 
 hard and tenacious: they also used small and 
 thin bricks, varying from eight inches square to 
 eighteen inches by twelve, and about two inches 
 thick. Large quantities of these bricks are found 
 at Silchester, and flue-tiles which were made for 
 the hypocausts. Sometimes we find the impress 
 of an animal’s foot on these bricks and tiles, 
 formed when they were in a soft state before they 
 
64 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 were baked, and one tile recently found bore 
 the impression of a Roman baby’s foot, which 
 has thus been preserved for so many centuries. 
 Another brick had the word puellam (a girl) 
 scratched upon it, evidently by some youth 
 attached to some Roman or perhaps fair British 
 maiden. 
 
 The Roman villa at Brading is perhaps the 
 most perfect type of a Roman gentleman’s resi- 
 dence. There we find magnificent suites of 
 rooms, colonnades, halls, and splendid mosaic 
 pavements. The subjects represented on these 
 pavements are very interesting and remarkable. 
 We see two gladiators fighting, one armed with 
 a trident, and the other with anet. A fox under 
 a tree is probably contemplating the sourness of 
 the grapes. What a man with the head and legs 
 of a cock is doing, standing in front of a small 
 house, with a ladder leading up to it guarded by 
 two griffins, can only be guessed. In the centre 
 of this group is a Bacchante with a staff. In 
 another room we see Orpheus wearing a Phrygian 
 cap and playing a lyre, by which he is attracting 
 a monkey, a fox, a peacock, and other animals. 
 Again we see ‘“‘ Winter,” a female figure closely 
 wrapped, holding a leafless bough and a dead bird, 
 
 and the other seasons; Perseus and Andromeda; 
 
A ROMAN CITY 6s 
 
 an early astronomer; the head of Medusa, and 
 many others which need not now be mentioned. 
 There is here also a splendid example of a 
 hypocaust. The floor of the room, called a 
 suspensura, or suspended floor, is supported by 
 fifty-four pillars. Flue-tiles admitted the hot air 
 into the chamber, and on the outer side of the 
 wall is the prefurnium, or furnace. A remark- 
 able example of a suspensura was discovered at 
 Cirencester. 
 
 Returning to Silchester, we enter the ancient 
 forum, the great centre of the city, the common 
 resort and lounging place of the citizens who met 
 together to discuss the latest news from Rome, 
 to transact their business or to talk about the 
 weather, as Englishmen do to-day. On the 
 west side of the forum, or market-place, stood 
 the noble basilica, or hall of justice, a splendid 
 building, its entrance being adorned with fine 
 Corinthian columns, and slabs of polished Purbeck 
 marble, and even green and white marble from 
 the Pyrenees, covered the walls. It was a long 
 rectangular hall, 233 feet in length by 58 in 
 width, and at each end was a semi-circular 
 apse, which was called the Tribune. Here the 
 magistrate sat to administer justice, or an orator 
 
 stood to address the citizens of ancient Silchester. 
 E 
 
66 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 In the centre of the western wall was another 
 apse where the cuvza met for the government of 
 the city. Two rows of columns ran down the 
 hall, dividing it into a nave with two aisles, like 
 many of our churches. Indeed the form of 
 construction of our churches was taken from 
 these old Roman basilica. On the west of the 
 hall were several chambers, one of which was 
 another fine hall, used probably as a corn exchange 
 or market. In another the records of the city 
 were kept, indicated by the discovery of a Roman 
 seal. At the south corner stood the treasury, 
 among the ruins of which was found a bronze 
 eagle, the proud standard of the Romans borne 
 in front of the legions. Possibly it was hidden 
 away when the city was captured, lest it should 
 fall into the hands of the enemy. How the 
 Romans came to leave their eagle behind, or 
 whether it was of British manufacture in imita- 
 tion of the Roman ensign, has never been clearly 
 ascertained. Another interesting discovery has 
 been made, a small stone statue of a female 
 wearing a mural crown. This was probably the 
 figure of the Genius of the city over whose 
 destinies it was expected to guard. 
 
 By far the most important of the discoveries 
 in this country is the interesting little church, 
 
A ROMAN CITY 67 
 
 which stood just outside the forum at Silchester. 
 It is very similar in form to the early church in 
 Italy, and resembles the basilica in construction. 
 At the west end, where the altar stood on a 
 mosaic square, is an apse. There is a nave and 
 two narrow aisles, on the east side a porch, or 
 narthex, into which the catechumens were allowed 
 to enter. In the open space in front stood the 
 laver, or dabrum, in which the faithful used to 
 wash their hands and faces before entering the 
 church. This interesting memorial of early 
 Christianity was probably erected soon after the 
 I“mperor Constantine’s Edict of Toleration, a.p. 
 313. The size of the church is very small, only 
 forty-two feet long by twenty feet wide, and 
 could scarcely accommodate all the Christians in 
 Silchester ; so possibly we may unearth another 
 Christian church before the completion of the 
 excavations. 
 
 The Romans were very fond of baths, and no 
 country house of any size was without its bath, 
 constructed in a very complete manner. But in 
 a large city like Silchester there were large public 
 baths whither the Romans resorted daily. The 
 excavations show these arrangements with various 
 chambers connected with a quadrangle of build- 
 ings near the south gate, but possibly the great 
 
68 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 public baths of the city remain still to be dis- 
 covered. The Romans used to spend a great 
 part of the day in the bath-house, which was a 
 favourite meeting-place for gossip and discussion. 
 Amongst other things found at Silchester was a 
 bronze implement which was used for scraping 
 off the drops from the skin after bathing, thus 
 answering the purpose of a rough towel. It is 
 interesting also to notice the ingenious manner 
 in which the waste water from the different 
 chambers was utilised to flush the drains and 
 sewers. 
 
 Theatrical displays were also a great delight 
 to the Romans. No theatre has yet been found 
 within the city walls, but outside there is an 
 amphitheatre where the contests between gladia- 
 tors, or between men and wild beasts, took place. 
 The existence of a church shows that Christianity 
 was preached at an early date at Silchester, long 
 before the church was built. The Christians would 
 often be persecuted here as in other places, and 
 one of the common ways of treating Christians 
 was to cause them to be killed in an amphitheatre 
 by wild beasts, while the Roman ladies and men 
 thronged to see them die. Most probably at 
 Silchester Christians were— 
 
 “ Butchered to make a Roman holiday,” 
 
A ROMAN CITY 69 
 
 as in Other parts of the great Empire. The 
 amphitheatre consisted of a large open space 
 called the arena, called so from the sand with 
 which it was strewn, surrounded by mounds 
 gradually sloping upwards, with five tiers of 
 seats capable of holding several thousand persons. 
 It is difficult to imagine this grass-covered slope 
 occupied by a gay crowd of Romans and wonder- 
 ing Britons, all eagerly witnessing some fierce 
 fight of men with men, or beast with beast, and 
 taking pleasure in the sanguinary sport. 
 
 Of course, there was a temple dedicated to 
 some heathen god whom the Romans worshipped, 
 and a second has recently been discovered. 
 
 The Britons soon acquired the manners of the 
 Romans, and loved their ways, their baths, and 
 more luxurious manner of living. But the time 
 came when Rome was threatened with invasion, 
 when the Empire had grown so vast, and the 
 race so weakened by luxury, that the legions were 
 unable to guard such wide possessions. Then 
 the soldiers were withdrawn from Britain, and 
 most of their countrymen followed in the wake 
 of the army. The Britons were left to defend 
 themselves, and a poor business they made of it. 
 The old fierce, war-loving heart had ceased to 
 beat; Roman luxury and corruption had under- 
 
70 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 mined the manhood of the race, and the sons of 
 those who had more than once turned the arms 
 of Cesar were an easy prey to any enemy who 
 might invade our shores. The prosperity of 
 Silchester rapidly declined. In order to make 
 the place more secure they walled up one of 
 the arches of the west gate, and the buildings 
 of the city had evidently fallen into ruins, for 
 they used one of the beautiful capitals of the 
 pillars to make their wall. The temples were 
 deserted, the forum empty, the houses beginning 
 to fall into decay, and a few listless, enervated 
 Britons were left to mourn the ruined greatness 
 of their once prosperous city. 
 
 At last the evil day arrived. Ella, the South 
 Saxon chief, with a band of strong, brave Saxons, 
 broke up their camp at Basingstoke, and marched 
 on Silchester. This was in the year A.D. 490. 
 It is said that the stout Roman walls for some 
 time prevented his entrance into the city, and 
 that he accomplished its destruction by attaching 
 burning tow to the tails of swallows, which 
 flew to their nests in the thatched roofs of the 
 Silchester houses and set fire to the place. If 
 there is any truth in the story, the conqueror 
 probably fixed his burning tow to reeds or spears, 
 and the legend of the swallows arose from the 
 
A ROMAN CITY 71 
 
 confusion between the two Latin words, avundo 
 (a reed) and Azrundo (a swallow). The Saxon 
 conquerors sacked the place, and reduced the 
 buildings to ruins, the city walls alone remaining 
 as a memorial of its former greatness. The soil 
 soon began to accumulate over the foundations of 
 the houses, which alone were left. For centuries 
 this has been increasing, and the memory of 
 Silchester was almost buried with its buildings. 
 It has been left to the men of this generation 
 to uncover the waste places, and to restore in 
 imagination the forgotten glories of this old 
 Roman city in Hampshire. 
 
 The story of Silchester is similar to that of 
 many other towns. York, Lincoln, Colchester, 
 and other once great, flourishing centres of Roman 
 life, tell the same tale of mournful decline when 
 the power that once held them was withdrawn. 
 
 Roman London, the proud Augusta, was the 
 great port of the country. Near the British 
 stronghold of Llyndin (hence we derive the 
 modern name of our famous metropolis) they 
 built a strong citadel, and surrounded the city 
 with a wall. This wall has marked the course 
 of the city boundaries ever since; it has been 
 renewed, strengthened, and repaired, but its course 
 has never changed. Numerous were the ships 
 
72 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 which came up the Thames and landed their 
 cargoes at the quays of Roman London. Silks 
 and spices, wines and pottery, weapons and 
 trinkets, were brought by the merchants, whose 
 ships returned to foreign ports laden with slaves 
 and iron and hides, which Britain supplied in 
 plenty. Its population has been estimated at not 
 less than 70,000. Nothing remains of Roman 
 London but the famous London stone, near 
 Cannon Street Station, a few fragments of the 
 wall, a few mosaic pavements, a bath, and the 
 amphore, fibulz, cists, altars, and a few bronze 
 statues, which the earth has preserved 
 The prosperity of the Roman towns in Britain 
 
 declined after the departure of the legions. ‘Trade | 
 and commerce practically vanished. Despair 
 reigned in the ruined forums; black clouds 
 boding troubles were gathering in all directions, 
 and at length the storm burst, and Roman 
 civilisation was swept away by the fierce Saxon 
 sword. 
 
CHABEERELV 
 SAXON TOWNS 
 
 Saxon ravages—Saxon setilements—A thane’s household— 
 Their daily life—Merchants and craftsmen—Danish wars 
 and their effects—Saxon civilisation—Their churches—St. 
 Andrew's, Hexham — Brixham Church — “ Domesday 
 Book”? —York—Northern England—Lincoln—Chester— 
 Colchester—Death of Saxon freedom. 
 
 ‘““MAN made the towns, but God made the 
 country.” So evidently thought the Saxons, 
 although they did not know about God when 
 they sailed in their ships to the shores of Britain. 
 At any rate, they preferred to live in the country, 
 to establish their village settlements in the forest 
 clearings, to tend their flocks, and till the land, 
 rather than to shut themselves up in walled 
 strongholds. However, from the Saxons we 
 derive the word “town.” They called a lonely 
 farmstead surrounded by a hedge or palisade a 
 ‘tun’’; the lonely farmstead developed into a 
 village, and these villages afterwards grew into 
 towns with their teeming populations, and of 
 73 
 
74 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 far-reaching extent. All places whose names 
 end in “ton,” such as Bolton, were once Saxon 
 settlements, very primitive in character, consist- 
 ing of a few rude cottages, and very different 
 from the towns or “tons” of to-day. 
 
 From the same people we derive our séokes, 
 or stockaded places, such as Basingstoke; our 
 worths, and hams, and zug, all denoting Saxon 
 foundations. Borough and burgh owe their 
 names to the same source, and signify places of 
 shelter, being derived from Anglo-Saxon deorgan, 
 and the German dergen, to shelter. 
 
 Terrible was the destruction which these fierce 
 warriors wrought in the old towns and centres 
 of civilisation. When they captured a city they 
 burned it to the ground and massacred the 1n- 
 habitants. The fierce Pagan Saxon, when he 
 first came to our shores, knew no pity, and the 
 land was strewn with the wrecks of cities, deserted 
 walls, pillaged churches, and desecrated shrines. 
 According to the British historians these ‘‘ wolves,” 
 these miserable ‘‘ dogs and whelps from the kennel 
 of barbarism,” were the emissaries of Satan and 
 hateful both to God and man. But however 
 savage and relentless they were in time of war, 
 they possessed the makings of a great and 
 powerful nation. Indeed the Saxon character is 
 
SAXON TOWNS 75 
 
 impressed upon all our institutions, laws, and 
 customs. We Englishmen are a mixed race, as 
 the late Poet Laureate sang— 
 
 Saxon and Norman and Dane are we ;” 
 
 but we are chiefly of Saxon origin; and most of 
 the sturdy characteristics of the English people 
 are derived from our Saxon forefathers. 
 
 The Saxons usually shunned the old walled 
 cities, and considered them ‘“‘as graves of freedom 
 surrounded by nets.” They imagined them as 
 peopled with goblins and evil spirits, and loved 
 to establish their colonies and farmsteads in the 
 open country and forest clearings. Hence when 
 an English town at length grew up, it partook 
 entirely of the nature and constitution of the 
 village communities around it. The original 
 settlement consisted of a number of families 
 holding a district, and the land was regularly 
 divided into three portions. There was the 
 village itself, in which the people lived in houses 
 built of wood or rude stone-work; around the 
 village were a few small inclosures, or grass-yards, 
 for rearing calves and baiting farm-stock; this 
 was the common farmstead. Then came the 
 second division, the cultivated portion, or arable 
 land, and around this the common meadows, or 
 
76 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 pasture land. Beyond this lay the uncultivated 
 forest, which was left in its wild state, for timber, 
 fuel, and rough pasturage for pigs. The names 
 of places sometimes record these old divisions 
 of land; for example, there are three villages 
 in the suburbs of Reading, Earley, Grazely, and 
 Woodley. /avley marks the ground where the 
 Saxon farmers cultivated their corn, Gvazeley 
 the grazing land, and Woodley the wild un- 
 cultivated land where their swine pastured. ‘The 
 pasture land was held by the whole community 
 in common, so that each family could turn their 
 cattle into it; but there was always a special 
 officer elected by the people, whose duty it was 
 to see that no man trespassed on the rights of 
 his neighbour, or turned too many cattle into 
 the common pasture. 
 
 The cultivated land was divided into three 
 large fields, in which the rotation of crops was 
 strictly enforced, each field lying fallow once in 
 three years. To each householder was assigned 
 his own lot, which was cultivated by the members 
 of his family and his servants. 
 
 This was the kind of village which existed in 
 early Saxon times, and the laws which governed 
 its inhabitants were based on the grand principle 
 of common sense, which still remains as a strong 
 
SAXON TOWNS 77 
 
 characteristic of the English people. How long 
 these Saxon communities remained independent 
 we cannot tell. In times of war it was necessary 
 to have a leader. Chieftains were chosen to lead 
 the forces of the hundred or the shire; they 
 were the ealdermen, thanes, or lords: they became 
 gradually powerful, and began to exercise rights 
 over the communities, undertaking to defend them 
 from hostile attacks, and in return demanding 
 certain services. [he classes who composed the 
 community were the socmen, or yeomen, the 
 geburs or villans, the cottzers or bordariz, and 
 the serfs. All except the serfs enjoyed a certain 
 measure of freedom, although according to their 
 rank they were obliged to render certain services 
 to the lord of the land, or to their lawful master. 
 After discharging their dues they were entirely 
 free. They managed the affairs of their own 
 community in their meetings of freemen; they 
 sent their representatives to the hundred court 
 and to the shire-mote, where criminals were 
 tried, disputes settled, and bargains of sale con- 
 cluded. 
 
 The towns or burghs of Saxon times resembled 
 these village communities in all respects. They 
 were sometimes formed around the fortified houses 
 of the nobles and chieftains, and were rather more 
 
78 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 strongly defended than the fenced homesteads 
 of the villagers. The inhabitants were freemen ; 
 they tilled their own lands which girt the walls, 
 and they had a popular assembly called the “ tun- 
 mote,” over which an elected grieve, or reeve, 
 presided. Attached to an old oak-tree in some 
 accessible spot, was a bell; and when its harsh 
 notes were heard each freeman left his plough 
 or his axe, and seizing his sword hurried to the 
 place of meeting. A clerk from the neighbouring 
 monastery would record the proceedings; the 
 reeve would settle all disputes, and arrangements 
 be made for the ploughing and cultivation of the 
 common fields belonging to the freemen of the 
 town. 
 
 We will try to picture to ourselves the house 
 of a Saxon gentleman of the period. ‘The style 
 of these buildings was very poor and unpretend- 
 ing, very unlike the stately Norman castles which 
 were erected in later times. They consisted of 
 an irregular group of low buildings, almost all 
 of one story, constructed of stone or mud founda- 
 tions, the upper part of the walls being made of 
 wood. Inthe centre of the group was the hall, 
 with doors opening into the court. On one side 
 stood the chapel; on the other side a kitchen, 
 and numerous other rooms with lean-to roofs; 
 
SAXON TOWNS 79 
 
 a tower for purposes of defence in case of an 
 attack; stables and barns were scattered about 
 outside the house, and with the cattle and horses 
 lived the grooms and herdsmen, while villans 
 and cottiers dwelt in the humble, low, shed-like 
 buildings which clustered round the Saxon noble’s 
 dwelling-place. An illustration of such a house 
 appears in an ancient illumination preserved in 
 the Harleian MS., No. 603. The lord and lady 
 of the house are represented as engaged in alms- 
 giving; the lady is thus earning her true title, 
 that of “‘loaf-giver,” from which her name 
 jMacyeis detived.- Lhe interior of the hall 
 was the common living-room for both men and 
 women, who slept on the reed-strewn floor. 
 There, too, the women talked and worked at 
 their embroidery; and when the hours for a 
 meal approached, rude tables were laid on trestles, 
 and the banquetters sat on benches. A peat or 
 log fire burned in the centre of the hall, and the 
 smoke hid the ceiling and finally found its way 
 out through a hole in the roof. Subsequently 
 the builders devised a solar or withdrawing room 
 for the women of the household, where they 
 could sit and spin and weave; then separate 
 sleeping apartments were made for them, while 
 the men still slept on the hall floor. ‘hither 
 
80 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 the bards and gleemen used to come and delight 
 the company with their songs and stories of the 
 gallant deeds of their ancestors, the weird legends 
 of their gods Woden and Thor, and acrobats 
 and dancers astonished them with their strange 
 postures. 
 
 These gleemen did not confine themselves to 
 singing or harping or reciting poetry ; they were 
 tumblers, and mimics, and dancers, and conjurers. 
 Throwing up three balls and three knives alter- 
 nately into the air and catching them in their fall 
 was a very favourite trick. Sometimes two men 
 dressed as warriors would perform a mock combat, 
 while the musicians piped, and a female danced 
 around the fighters. We have seen a curious 
 wall painting in a village church representing the 
 daughter of Herodias dancing before Herod, in 
 which she is depicted as tumbling or trying to 
 touch her heels with her head. ‘This was one of 
 their favourite styles of dancing. And if there 
 were no gleemen in the hall there were always 
 games to be played, such as dice-throwing, and 
 even chess and backgammon were not unknown. 
 
 In course of time the Saxons furnished their 
 houses with some degree of luxury. The walls 
 were hung with beautiful tapestry woven by the 
 deft fingers of their ladies. We find pictures of 
 
SAXON TOWNS Si 
 
 their bedsteads, very elaborate structures, with 
 roofs like those of a house, and hung with 
 curtains. Sacks of straw and bolsters laid on 
 the hall floor were considered quite good enough 
 for the retainers. The ladies too were not regard- 
 less of finery. They used curling-irons for their 
 beautifully twisted locks; they adorned themselves 
 with rich jewels, earrings, and bracelets, and even 
 in some cases rouged their dainty cheeks. 
 
 The Saxons also enjoyed many outdoor sports, 
 principally hunting wild boars, deer, and hares, 
 and even goats. There were no cruel game laws 
 to prevent them, as in later times; and hawking 
 was also a favourite pastime. 
 
 Such was the inner life of a Saxon thane’s 
 household. ‘The prosperous merchant in the 
 town had a similar abode, and lived very much 
 after the same fashion. ‘The craftsmen lived in 
 narrow streets, in small tenements built of wood. 
 They were a hardy, happy, contented race; they 
 enjoyed great freedom, and had food and work 
 in plenty. 
 
 The Danish wars had a disastrous effect on the 
 condition of our towns. Many of them were 
 burnt to the ground by these fierce invaders, who 
 plundered and ravaged the country just as the 
 
 Saxons themselves had done a few centuries 
 F 
 
82 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 before. In addition these wars struck a heavy 
 blow at the freedom of the citizens. ‘The inse- 
 curity of property caused by them, the levying 
 of the Danegelt and other enactments, made it 
 legally binding that every man, whether town- 
 bred or country-born, should have a lord over 
 him. Hence many of the towns passed into the 
 hands of the great thanes or under the dominion 
 of the king. Mr. Green says: “‘ A new officer, 
 the lord’s or the king’s reeve, was a sign of this 
 revolution. It was the reeve who now summoned 
 the borough-moot and administered justice in it ; 
 it was he who collected the lord’s dues or annual 
 rent of the town, and who exacted the services it 
 owed to its lord. When Leicester, for instance, 
 passed from the hands of the conqueror into 
 those of the earls, its townsmen were bound to 
 reap their lord’s corn-crops, to grind at his mill, 
 to redeem their strayed cattle from his pound. 
 The great forest round was the earl’s, and it 
 was only out of his grace that the little borough 
 _ could drive its swine into the woods or pasture 
 its cattle in the glades. The justice and the 
 government of the town lay wholly in its master’s 
 hands; he appointed its bailiffs, received the 
 fines and forfeitures of his tenants, and the fees 
 and tolls of their markets and fairs. But when 
 
SAXON TOWNS 83 
 
 once their dues were paid and their services 
 rendered, the English townsman was practically 
 free. His rights were as rigidly defined by cus- 
 tom as those of his lord. Property and person 
 were alike secured against arbitrary seizure. He 
 could demand a fair trial on any charge, and 
 even if justice was administered by his master’s 
 reeve, it was administered in the presence and 
 with the assent of his fellow-townsmen.”’ 
 
 We see therefore that the Saxons had made 
 great progress since they landed on our shores. 
 They had become civilised; many of them lived 
 in towns, and were skilled craftsmen; above all 
 they had become Christians. After their con- 
 version they began to build churches in the towns 
 and villages of England. Beside the thane’s 
 palace and adjoining the city market-place these 
 little wooden structures arose, wherein the prayers 
 of the faithful were uttered, and the sacred rites 
 of the church solemnised. Very few of the old 
 Roman churches remained, but Bede tells us that 
 there were two at Canterbury, one of which was 
 repaired by King Ethelbert and assigned to St. 
 Augustine, who made it the seat of a bishopric. 
 In 627 King Edwin of Northumberland built a 
 chapel at York of timber, and the first cathedral 
 of Lindisfarne was made in 652 of sawn oak, and 
 
84 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 covered with thatch. One of these old wooden 
 churches still remains at Greenstead, in Essex, 
 the nave of which is composed of the half-trunks 
 of chestnut trees fastened by wooden pegs. 
 
 But the genius of Wilfrid, Benedict, Biscop, 
 and others, introduced more permanent and beau- 
 tiful structures than these rude timber churches, 
 and they summoned to their aid builders from 
 Normandy. Here is a description of the church 
 of St. Andrew, at Hexham, taken from the 
 writings of Richard, Prior of the monastery at 
 Hexham, who bears witness to the skill of its 
 saintly architect :— 
 
 “The foundations of this church St. Wilfrid 
 laid deep in the earth for the crypts and oratories, 
 and the passages leading to them, which were then 
 with great exactness contrived and built under- 
 ground. The walls, which were of great length, 
 and raised to an immense height, and divided into 
 three several stories or tiers, he supported by 
 square and other kinds of well-polished columns. 
 Also, the walls, the capitals of the columns which 
 supported them, and the arch of the sanctuary, he 
 decorated with historical representations, imagery, 
 and various figures in relief, carved in stone, and 
 painted with a most agreeable variety of colour. 
 
 The body of the church he compassed about 
 
SAXON TOWNS 8s 
 
 with pentices and porticoes, which, both above 
 and below, he divided with great and inexpressible 
 art, by partition walls and winding stairs. Within 
 the staircases, and above them, he caused flights of 
 steps and galleries of stone, and several passages 
 leading from them both ascending and descend- 
 ing, to be so artfully disposed, that multitudes of 
 people might be there, and go quite round the 
 church, without being seen by any one below in 
 the nave. Moreover, in the several divisions of 
 the porticoes or aisles, he erected many most 
 beautiful and private oratories of exquisite work- 
 manship, and in them he caused to be placed 
 altars in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 
 St. Michael, St. John the Baptist, and the holy 
 Apostles, martyrs, confessors, and virgins, with all 
 decent and proper furniture to each of them; 
 some of which, remaining at this day, appear like 
 so many turrets and fortified places.” 
 
 From this description we gather that some of 
 the edifices of Saxon construction were noble and 
 magnificent, but little of Saxon work remains. 
 There is a good specimen of a Saxon parish 
 church at Brixham, near Northampton, also at 
 Bradford-on-Avon, in Wilts. We have noticed 
 that the Saxon towns enjoyed great freedom; 
 they managed their own concerns, and, beyond 
 
86 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 paying to the king an annual sum for the 
 Danegelt, and a few fines for criminals, they 
 were not interfered with by any external authority. 
 But the time came when William of Normandy 
 conquered England, and he soon began to rivet 
 fetters about the limbs of the Saxons. He 
 claimed to be the lord of all common lands, 
 and the lord of every man who had no other © 
 lord. The towns soon began to feel the weight 
 of hisarm. From his famous survey of England 
 called ‘‘Domesday Book” we may gather some 
 details concerning the old Saxon towns. Many 
 of them were little better than villages. Norwich 
 contained 738 houses, Exeter 315, Ipswich 538, 
 Northampton 60, Hertford 146, Canterbury 262, 
 Bath 64, Southampton 84, Warwick 226. 
 
 Let us try to picture to ourselves the con- 
 dition of some of these chief towns of England 
 before the Conqueror came with his hungry 
 followers to seize the lands of our English fore~ 
 fathers and destroy their freedom. Amongst the 
 most important ranked the ancient city of York, 
 the dwelling-place of the Czsars, a city renowned 
 not only in Britain, but throughout the whole 
 Roman Empire. London soon became a great 
 centre of commerce; but York was the seat of 
 empire, where Severus, Constantine, and Con- 
 
SAXON TOWNS 87 
 
 stantius, Roman Emperors, ruled. It was truly 
 a great and mighty city, stretching far and wide, 
 rich in the costly treasures, the culture, and the 
 splendour which characterised the old Romans. 
 And when they left our shores, and the Saxons 
 came with fire and sword, doubtless York did not 
 fall an easy prey to the conquerors. How or when 
 it became English we know not; but in the course 
 of a few years we find that it was the centre of 
 the Northern Saxon kingdom of Deira. 
 
 To the lover of history, to the true English- 
 man who loves his country, who cares not to 
 trace his ancestry to any of William’s band of 
 low-bred robbers—to those ‘‘ who came over with 
 the Conqueror ””—but rather to those true Eng- 
 lishmen ‘“‘who were here when the Conqueror 
 came”’—to him the northern part of England 
 is especially full of interest. A great historian 
 declares it to be “the brightest part of the whole 
 island, the home of learning and holiness, the 
 cradle of the history of our people.” Whitby, 
 on the Yorkshire coast, which, as its termination 
 by proclaims, was a Danish settlement, was the 
 home of Czedmon, the first of England’s sacred 
 poets, who sang of “Abraham returning from 
 the slaughter of the kings;” and Jarrow was 
 the home of Bede, the first of English historians, 
 
88 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 whose chronicles are so priceless to the student. 
 The men of the north have ever been foremost in 
 brave deeds. The barons of Northumbria were 
 the leaders of those who extracted from the 
 reluctant John the famous Charter of English 
 liberties; and history tells us that the men of 
 the north were ever ready to support a failing 
 cause, and remained faithful to a dynasty aban- 
 doned by more fickle subjects. 
 
 We will now journey to Lincoln, a Roman 
 colony. There we may see the massive arch of 
 the gate which the Romans made, and which has 
 stood for so many centuries. Briton, Roman, 
 Englishman, Dane, Norman, have all inhabited 
 this famous city and made it their own. In 
 Roman times, if we entered the city, we should 
 have seen a forum, or market-place; a basilica, 
 or court of justice, possibly converted into a 
 Christian church; several temples built in honour 
 of Roman gods, as Jupiter or Mercury, but all 
 deserted, or consecrated to the worship of the 
 one true God. Then there were the shops and 
 the houses of the inhabitants, built on three sides 
 of a quadrangle, very well-planned structures, 
 rich with the art of bygone times. Such was 
 Lincoln in the days of the Romans. ‘Then the 
 Saxons came, and here the good Paulinus preached 
 
SAXON TOWNS 89 
 
 to them, and converted the chieftains to Christi- 
 anity. Then the Danes came, as they did in 
 goodly numbers and in many ships, and built 
 their towns in all parts of Lincoln and Norfolk. 
 All places ending in éy were Danish towns; they 
 left behind also the names of their chiefs and 
 warriors, and the places, Grimsby, Ormsby, Os- 
 bernby, Asgarby, tell of the valiant deeds of 
 Grim, Orm, Osbern, and Asgar. When the 
 Danes settled in Lincoln they formed a league 
 or confederation of towns. Five boroughs, 
 Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham, Stamford, Derby, 
 united together for purposes of defence. In the 
 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle we read :-— 
 
 “Five towns 
 Leicester 
 and Lincoln 
 and Nottingham 
 so Stamford eke 
 and Derby 
 to Danes were erewhile, 
 under North-men, 
 by need constrained, 
 of heathen men 
 in captive chains, 
 a long time ; 
 until again redeemed them 
 for his worthiness 
 the bulwark of warriors, 
 offspring of Edward, 
 Edmund King.” 
 
go OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 Lincoln was almost a complete commonwealth ; 
 it governed itself and made its own laws, indepen- 
 dent of any external power. When the Normans 
 came it held out for a long time, preserving its 
 own laws and customs, but at length it had to 
 bow before the stern Conqueror. William, how- 
 ever, did not unduly oppress the brave citizens ; 
 but he built a castle, as was his wont, to prevent 
 any subsequent rebellion against his authority. 
 Lincoln became the centre of a vast diocese, 
 which stretched from the Thames to the Humber, 
 Remigius, Bishop of Dorchester, in Oxfordshire, 
 having decided to fix his episcopal seat in the 
 famous city of the fenlands. 
 
 Two other Roman cities which, after many 
 changes, passed under Norman sway were Chester 
 and Colchester. The city, on the banks of the 
 Dee, the great ‘city of legions,” has preserved its 
 walls. It was the last to yield to the Normans’ 
 might. The capital of Essex has also a complete 
 circuit of walls, which are, in fact, Roman work, 
 repaired where time and war have made breaches 
 in them. ‘The city suffered from many attacks 
 and owned several masters. “The Romans cap- 
 tured the British stronghold, and built the city, 
 which was again taken by the Britons under the 
 brave heroine Boadicea, who captured London, 
 
SAXON TOWNS gI 
 
 Verulam, and this Roman station. But the 
 poorly armed Britons, though led by such a 
 noble leader, could not long resist the well- 
 drilled legions. Colchester again became Roman. 
 The Danes held it tor a time, but were dispos- 
 sessed by the Saxons. The city fared well at the 
 hands of the Conqueror, many of the townsfolk 
 being allowed to retain their houses. We have 
 noticed the process which went on in several cities 
 and towns of England which converted them 
 from Roman to English places, and marked the 
 footsteps of the Norman William as he trod 
 upon the rights of his Saxon subjects, and reduced 
 many of their towns to ruined heaps. There is 
 a clear description of a Saxon stronghold in a 
 curious poetical fragment, entitled “‘ The Ruin,’ 
 taken from the Codex FExontensis :— 
 
 “Wondrous is this wall-stone, 
 The fates have broken it, 
 have burst the burgh-place. 
 Perishes the work of giants. 
 The roofs have fallen in 
 the towers tottering 
 the hoar gateways despoiled 
 Rime on the lime 
 Shattered the battlements.” 
 
 The old order changes, giving place to new. 
 
92 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 Norman cooks and adventurers seize the lands 
 and houses of the old English gentry. Strong 
 castles overawe the citizens, and Saxon free- 
 dom perishes beneath the stern tread of the 
 conquerors. 
 
GEA Rav 
 Crate C Hy OWNS 
 
 Monastic towns—Peterborough—Orders of monks—The 
 Benedictine order—Reading Abbey in olden days—Piers 
 Ploughman’s description of a monastery—Dissolution of 
 monasteries —Bishops towns—Wells—Bishops? castles— 
 Selby and its hermitage—AInfluence of the Church—Chaucer’ s 
 
 «© Poor Parson of a Town.”’ 
 
 SoME of our towns owe their origin to the 
 Church. ‘There are several monastic cities which 
 were formed by the settlement of various people 
 in the neighbourhood of some monastery. Thus 
 Peterborough was founded; the settlement which 
 grew up round the great fen-land monastery of 
 St. Peter, then called Medeshampstead, gradually 
 grew into a borough, and then intoa city. The 
 monastery was founded in a wilderness; but a 
 number of artisans were constantly employed 
 about it, constructing new buildings and repair- 
 ing the old. These monastic houses, too, were 
 the chief resting-places for travellers, who were 
 
 entertained in a separate building, called the 
 93 
 
94 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 hospitium, and waited upon by the monks. 
 Many of them were places of pilgrimage, whither 
 the pilgrims flocked in order to fulfil their vows. 
 This, too, would constantly bring an influx of 
 visitors. The monastic house had large estates 
 attached to it; and the Lord Abbot was a very 
 important person, having a large retinue of 
 servants, and a large amount of business to 
 transact ; consequently, many persons would con- 
 stantly be brought thither, and by degrees a 
 town would spring up, as at St. Albans, Reading, 
 St. Edmundsbury, or Bury St. Edmunds, the 
 name meaning the fownz of St. Edmund’s—z.e., 
 attached to the Abbey of St. Edmund’s. 
 
 There were various orders of monks, who had 
 different rules of life, different dress, manners, 
 and customs. ‘The Cistercian monks, who arose 
 in the twelfth century, shunned the haunts of 
 men. They built their houses amid woods and 
 wastes, by the banks of rivers, and covered the 
 vales of England with their beautiful dwelling- 
 places. Fountains Abbey, in Yorkshire, is a 
 grand specimen of their architectural skill; but 
 with the Cistercians we have little to do, as they 
 shunned all cities and towns, and loved the sweet 
 solitude of hills and streams. But another order 
 of monks, the Benedictines, loved to build their 
 
CHURCH TOWNS 95 
 
 monastic houses in towns, or towns soon arose 
 around their majestic abbeys. Many people have 
 strange and hazy notions about abbeys. ‘They 
 have seen the ruins of these once mighty dwelling- 
 places, and have come to believe that all abbeys 
 must be ruins. What they were before they were 
 ruins, these people do not stop to inquire. It 1s 
 important for us to consider what they really 
 were, and what kind of life was lived by the 
 inhabitants of these old English abbeys. 
 
 The Benedictine order was founded by St. 
 Benedict, an Italian, in the year 529, and his rule 
 was adopted by most of the monasteries in the 
 Western Church. The monks took the vows of 
 obedience, poverty, and chastity, and also of seven 
 hours’ manual labour a day. Labour was re- 
 garded as a sacred duty, not only as a means of 
 support. They wore a black gown and hood 
 over a white woollen cassock. By degrees, the 
 rule of seven hours’ manual labour was relaxed, 
 and learned studies, the writing and illuminating 
 of books, were substituted for the humbler form 
 of toil. ‘The monasteries became very wealthy, 
 having large estates and rich possessions, and all 
 the literature, art, and science of the period were 
 to be found within their walls. The monks paid 
 great attention to architecture, as their buildings 
 
96 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 testify, to sculpture, and painting; they taught 
 the children of the townsfolk and neighbouring 
 gentry in the monastic schools; they built hospi- 
 tals, and nursed the sick, entertained strangers, 
 and at regular hours each day they attended 
 service in their abbey church. 
 
 The abbot exercised great power over the 
 townsfolk who lived in the town which grew up 
 beneath the shadow of the monastery over which 
 he ruled. 
 
 The monks of the Abbey of Reading exercised 
 complete control over the good townsfolk. ‘They 
 enjoyed freedom from all customs, tolls, and 
 contributions throughout England and the sea- 
 ports, and the privilege of trying thieves and 
 other criminals within the territory of the abbey. 
 The abbot was allowed to coin money, and 
 even to confer the honour of knighthood. All 
 judicial authority was in his hands; the mayor 
 and corporation were merely dependents on the 
 abbey. Even the right of selecting the mayor 
 and burgesses of the town rested with the abbot, 
 . and it was not until the reign of Henry VIL, 
 after years of bitter fighting, that the burgesses 
 were allowed to elect three persons, one of whom 
 the abbot appointed to the office of mayor. 
 No person could be admitted to the freedom 
 
CHURCH TOWNS 97 
 
 of the borough without the abbot’s consent, 
 who duly received some share of the fine paid 
 by the new freeman. His officers collected the 
 fees from the stall-holders at the markets and 
 fairs, were very careful to uphold the dignity 
 and authority of their master, and continu- 
 ally came in conflict with the officials of the 
 town. So supreme was the authority of a lordly 
 abbot in ancient times. Very magnificent were 
 the entertainments which sometimes took place 
 here. When John of Gaunt married the rich 
 heiress Blanche of Lancaster in the grand abbey 
 church, the festivities lasted a whole fortnight, 
 and feastings and tournaments with grand dis- 
 plays of pomp and chivalry were held daily. 
 The parliaments of England often assembled 
 here, and all the great barons of the kingdom 
 flocked to meet their sovereign in the abbey 
 precincts. Such were some of the scenes which 
 constantly were witnessed in an ancient abbey. 
 
 An old writer, the author of ‘‘ Piers Plough- 
 man,” gives a description of the appearance of 
 a monastery in the fourteenth century. As he 
 approached the monastic buildings, he was so 
 bewildered by their greatness and beauty, that 
 for a long time he could distinguish nothing 
 
 certainly but stately buildings of stone, pillars 
 G 
 
98 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 carved and painted, and great windows well 
 wrought. In the central quadrangle he notices 
 the stone cross in the middle of the grass sward ; 
 he enters the minster, or church of the monastery, 
 and describes the arches, carved and gilded, the 
 wide windows, full of shields of arms and 
 merchants’ marks on stained glass, the high 
 tombs under canopies, with armed effigies in 
 alabaster, and lovely ladies lying by their sides 
 in many gay garments. He passes into the 
 cloister, where the monks used to read and study, 
 and sees it pillared and painted, and covered 
 with lead, and conduits of white metal pouring 
 their water into bronze lavatories, beautifully 
 wrought. The chapter-house, in which the 
 monks assembled for monastic business, was, he 
 says, like a great church, carved and painted like 
 a parliament-house. Then he went into the 
 refectory, where the monks had their meals, 
 and found it a hall fit for a knight and his 
 household, with broad tables and clean benches, 
 and windows wrought as in a church. ‘The head 
 of the monastery was the abbot, who had a 
 ‘grand house adjoining the monastic buildings, 
 besides two or three country houses, whither he 
 used occasionally to retire. Under him were 
 several officers—the prior; the precentor, who 
 
CHURCH TOWNS 99 
 
 attended to the singing in the minster; the 
 cellarer; the sacrist or sacristan (whence we 
 derive our word ‘‘sexton”’), who looked after 
 the fabric and furniture of the church; and the 
 hospitaller, who attended to the comforts of the 
 travellers who came to the 4ospztium of the 
 abbey. Besides these, there was the infirmarer, 
 who presided over the infirmary attached to every 
 abbey; the almoner, who distributed the alms 
 to poor people; the master of the novices, who 
 taught in the schools of the abbey; the porter, 
 kitchener, seneschal, &c. In addition, there were 
 the workmen and the servants of the monastery, 
 a host of millers, bakers, tailors, smiths, grooms, 
 gardeners, and others, who were all obliged to 
 conform to the rules of the institution which fur- 
 nished them with bread and employment. This 
 large number of persons attached to a medieval 
 monastery will give some idea of its vastness and 
 importance. 
 
 Within the monastic walls all was quietude 
 and peace; without, the townsfolk plied their 
 respective callings, while a goodly company were 
 entertained in the osfztium, whither flocked a 
 mixed and noisy crowd of knights and dames, 
 monks and clerks, palmers, friars, traders with 
 their wares, minstrels with their songs, and 
 
100 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 beggars, enjoying to the full the hospitality of 
 the monks, who recognised it as one of their 
 duties “‘to entertain strangers.” 
 
 The arrangement of the buildings of a Norman 
 abbey may be better understood by referring to 
 the published plan of the remains of the Abbey 
 of Kirkstall, in Yorkshire. The principal features 
 are the same in all abbeys, although the details 
 of the arrangements of the chambers differ. 
 On the north of the abbey always stands the 
 abbey church, a magnificent edifice with its 
 grand massive pillars, immense central tower, 
 semicircular arches, its monuments and tombs 
 of departed abbots and great men. On the east 
 side of the quadrangle always stood the chapter- 
 house, wherein the monks used to assemble 
 daily to hear a lecture on some portion of the 
 Bilbe, or to transact the affairs of the abbey. 
 The stone seats on which the monks sat may still 
 be seen, ranged in two tiers; on the higher sat 
 the monks, and at their feet the novices. The 
 abbot sat in a raised chair at the east end of 
 the chamber, and when he raised his hand, the 
 monks would fall on their knees in token of 
 their obedience. The refectory usually stood on 
 the south side of the cloister court, and the 
 dormitories on the east. A grand and noble 
 
CHURCH TOWNS IOI 
 
 place was an ancient abbey in the days of its 
 glory. How we should like to see one now 
 in its former beauty and grandeur! But even 
 musing amidst its crumbling ruins in imagination 
 we may picture its past magnificence, and restore 
 the beauties of the ancient pile. 
 
 Sometimes we find traces of the monks and 
 nuns in the old monastic gardens. Under the 
 wall of a nunnery may be seen a curious plant 
 with heart-shaped leaves and a yellow trumpet 
 flower. It is not a native plant. It is called 
 Artstolochia, or birthwort, and was grown by 
 the nuns, who used to nurse the sick for miles 
 around, and found this plant useful as a medicine 
 in certain cases. 
 
 The ancient abbeys have passed away. They 
 had done their work and conferred great benefits 
 on the country. They preserved the love of 
 learning, literature, art, and science during the 
 dark ages of ignorance and lawlessness. The 
 monks were the architects, the artists, and 
 scientists of their age; they nursed the sick and 
 fed the poor; and their homes were sanctuaries 
 of peace in the midst of a turbulent and war- 
 loving age. Some few had become corrupt; 
 but nothing can excuse the covetousness and 
 
 rapacity of King Henry VIII. and his ministers, 
 
102 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 who destroyed these beautiful houses, murdered 
 the abbots, and seizing upon the property of the 
 Church, converted it to secular and private uses. 
 It was then that large estates and tithes which 
 belonged to the monasteries were granted to the 
 king’s favourites, and the lay tithe-owner began 
 to exist. 
 
 When the monasteries were dissolved, the 
 buildings soon began to crumble; they were 
 used as quarries for stone. . Many a church, 
 bridge, town-hall, and private house in the 
 neighbourhood of an old abbey has been built 
 with its stones. Some of the churches of the 
 monastic houses have been converted into cathe- 
 drals or parish churches, but many of them have 
 completely disappeared, save only a few massive 
 foundations, which mark the site and tell the - 
 glories of the magnificent pile that once stood 
 there. 
 
 When the abbey was destroyed, the town, 
 which owed its existence to the monastic founda- 
 tion, was quite strong enough to stand alone, and 
 the mayor and burgesses were doubtless pleased 
 to be freed from the dominion of a powerful 
 master who was very careful to maintain his 
 authority over them. But many classes suffered 
 much by the dissolution of abbeys; and especially 
 
CHURCH TOWNS 103 
 
 the poor missed their good friends, the monks, 
 who gave them food and drink, the surplus of 
 the meals in the refectory. The widows, orphans, 
 and poor clerks had no one to provide cloth and 
 shoes for them at Christmas, and when they were 
 ill they missed their constant visitors and com- 
 forters. But good often comes out of evil; and 
 it was for the ultimate advantage of this country 
 that the monasteries ceased to exist. 
 
 Some other towns also owe their origin to the 
 Church besides those which grew up under the 
 shadow of some great abbey. As we have an 
 abbot’s town, like Peterborough, so we have a 
 bishop’s town, like Wells, which grew up at the 
 gate of the bishop’s palace and cathedral. In 
 other countries, we find that the bishop often 
 selected some city as his episcopal residence on 
 account of the greatness, the importance, or the 
 security of that city; but in England he fixed 
 his seat in some church, as at Wells, within his 
 lordship of Wells, and the little city arose 
 around the bishop’s house, and received its 
 privileges and municipal rights from the grant 
 of the bishop himself. Thus we have a bishop’s 
 town, or city. A city differs from a town in 
 that it is, or has been, the seat of a bishop. 
 
 Bishops, too, built castles for themselves on 
 
104 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 their estates. The Conqueror William appointed 
 Norman prelates to the English Sees, who were 
 strangers to the people, and were by no means 
 loved by them. In order to protect themselves 
 these bishops built their castles, and lived like 
 barons, ever ready to make war upon a neigh- 
 bouring baron, or to subdue with armed hand 
 any revolt amongst their Saxon subjects. ‘These 
 strongholds were often necessary in those troublous 
 times, as Bishop Walcher found, when he was ap- 
 pointed by the Conqueror Bishop of Durham, as 
 the temporal and spiritual ruler of a fierce and 
 unconquered people, who had slain two former 
 earls, and wished to kill the bishop himself. At 
 Durham, Llandaff, and Wolvesey, the bishop’s 
 palace was itself fortified on account of the 
 opposition of the people; but generally the palace 
 was without any fortification, and the bishop’s 
 castle was on his rural estate away from the city. 
 For example, Bishop Roger of Salisbury, who 
 built the cathedral, raised the castle of Devizes, 
 where he could live as a lord, fly hawks, and 
 make war like his neighbours; and around his 
 castle the town began to grow, although there 
 were probably some houses there before the 
 Norman bishop began to build his stone walls. 
 Selby town began life as the cell of a hermit, 
 
CHURCH TOWNS 108 
 
 such as Lydgate describes in his Lite: of St 
 Edmund— 
 
 ‘A litel hermitage 
 Be side a ryver with al his besy peyne, 
 He and his fellawis that were in nombre tweyne,” 
 
 or such as Spenser tells us of — 
 
 “A little lowly hermitage it was, 
 Down in a dale, hard by a forest’s side, 
 Far from the view of people that did pass 
 In travel to and fro; a little wide 
 There was an holy chapel edified 
 Wherein the hermit duly wont to say 
 His holy things each morn and eventide ; 
 Hereby a crystal stream did gently play, 
 Which from a sacred fountain welled forth alway.” 
 
 Selby’s hermitage became afterwards a monas- 
 tery, and then a town quickly sprang up around 
 the hallowed walls. 
 
 It would not be too much to say that in late 
 Norman and Plantagenet times every town was 
 a church town, so great was the authority and 
 wealth of the Church, so numerous were her 
 buildings. It has been estimated by a recent 
 writer, that at this period one fourth of the area 
 of the City of London was occupied by ecclesi- 
 astical buildings, their courts and gardens. In 
 other towns the case was similar. Wallingford in 
 Berks, which now is well served by three parish 
 
106 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 churches, had then fourteen; Norwich had sixty ; 
 York had forty-five; London, one hundred and 
 twenty. In addition to these there were the 
 monastic houses belonging to the various orders, 
 the nunneries, and friars’ houses. Outside the 
 walls of the town these churches and monasteries 
 held vast estates and manors, and were as rich as 
 a devoted and Church-loving people could make 
 them. The power and authority of the Church 
 was very real and very visible. English Church- 
 men used often to begrudge the wealth which 
 alien potentates, who sat on the papal throne, 
 drew from this country, complained angrily, 
 and refused supplies; but they never dreamed of 
 refusing to give largely to the Church at home. 
 We remark also how closely the ministrations 
 of the Church were associated with the daily lives 
 of the people. The craftsmen and merchants all 
 belonged to guilds (of these we shall have much 
 to say presently) which were religious fraternities, 
 dedicated to some saint, and possessing a chantry 
 or chapel in the parish church. The holy days of 
 the Church were the holidays of the people. Each 
 day they attended an early service in their church. 
 All day long the bells of the churches and monas- 
 teries were ringing for some service. The parish 
 priests were beloved and revered by their people, 
 
CHURCH TOWNS 107 
 
 and certainly they were worthy of all honour and 
 respect if Chaucer’s description of the poor parson 
 of a town, who was one of the Canterbury Pilgrims, 
 be a true one. 
 
 ‘““A good man there was of religioun, 
 That was a poure parsone of a toun ; 
 But riche he was of holy thought and werk, 
 He was also a lerned man, a clerk, 
 That Criste’s gospel trewely wolde preche, 
 His parishens devoutly wolde he teche. 
 
 A better priest I trow that nowhere none is, 
 He waited after no pomp in reverence, 
 
 He maked him no spiced conscience, 
 
 But Christe’s love, and his apostles twelve 
 He taught, but first he followed it himselve.” 
 
 Such men as these gained the confidence and 
 love of their people. In all departments of their 
 social life the presence and influence of the Church 
 was seen and felt. Abbots’ officers collected 
 their market dues. Monks and nuns nursed them 
 in their hospitals when they were sick. Monks 
 housed them when they travelled abroad on a 
 pilgrimage or to some distant fair. Monks 
 taught their children; the clergy acted plays 
 for them in the churches; the Church supplied 
 thousands with work, and was a liberal mistress. 
 From the dawn of life to its closing day the 
 Church was the very centre and soul of the social 
 
108 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 life of the people of England; and in spite of 
 many errors and shortcomings she continued for 
 centuries to carry on her beneficent work in 
 moulding and developing the national character, 
 and in making the English race a noble and God- 
 fearing people. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 CASTLE TOWNS 
 
 Castles, the mothers of cities—Norman tyranny—Effects of 
 the Conquest on the towns—English merchants—<A Norman 
 keep and fortress—Dungeons and their story —The burghers 
 of castle towns—Their services to the lord—Corfe Castle— 
 Social life in the twelfth century—Fitz-Stephen’s London 
 —FHforse-racing at Smithfield—Tilting and tournaments. 
 
 In wild and turbulent times, when every man’s 
 hand was against every man, places of security 
 were naturally eagerly sought after. Hence 
 when the Norman conquerors built their castles 
 and strongholds, groups of houses quickly arose 
 nigh the strong walls of the keep, silently solicit- 
 ing the protection of its high towering battle- 
 ments. ‘Therefore castles became the mothers 
 of cities, just as we have noticed the monasteries 
 begat children; and very cruel stepmothers some 
 proved themselves to be, at least as far as the 
 English portion of the inhabitants were con- 
 cerned, 
 
 109 
 
IIo OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 Saxon writers lament over the sadness of the 
 times when English lands were bestowed upon 
 the followers and favourites of the Conqueror, 
 who reared their mighty strongholds everywhere 
 “filled with devils and evil men,’ who plun- 
 dered the English, confined them in dungeons, 
 and were guilty of every kind of act of cruelty 
 and crime. The English were forced to work in 
 building these castles, which must have seemed 
 so strange to them, accustomed chiefly to wooden 
 walls and humbler dwelling-places. 
 
 A glance at the famous Domesday Book reveals 
 the disastrous effect which the Conquest had on 
 the condition of our towns. Many of the in- 
 habitants fled to the woods or were killed in the 
 wars, and their houses were destroyed in the 
 sieges, or fell into decay. Thus at York there 
 were 1607 houses before the Conquest ; afterwards 
 only 967, of which 400 were much decayed; and 
 one of the six scyre, or wards, was entirely laid 
 waste for the building of a castle to overawe the 
 city. In Lincoln, where there were 1150 houses, 
 166 were destroyed for castle-building and 74 
 were in ruins. In Dorchester, which formerly 
 contained 188 houses, 100 were totally destroyed. 
 Oxford had 721 houses before the Conquest, 478 
 of these were afterwards inruins. The records of 
 
CASTLE TOWNS - III 
 
 Shrewsbury, Ipswich, Northampton, Cambridge, 
 all tell the same sad tale of devastation and ruin. 
 Moreover many of the houses were occupied now 
 by Normans, who were free from the burdens 
 of taxation; some were given to the abbeys and 
 were also free; and yet the few remaining English 
 burgesses were required to contribute to the 
 king’s exchequer as much as the town had con- 
 tributed before in the time of King Edward the 
 Confessor, when there were double the number 
 of householders, and all paid tribute. 
 
 The merchants of England before the Conquest 
 had become rich and prosperous. William of 
 Poictiers, the Conqueror’s chaplain, tells us: ‘‘’The 
 English merchants to the opulence of their country, 
 rich in its own fertility, added still greater riches 
 and more valuable treasures. The articles 1m- 
 ported by them, notable both for their quantity 
 and their quality, were to have been hoarded up 
 for the gratification of. their avarice, or to have 
 been dissipated in the indulgence of their luxurious 
 inclinations. But William seized them, and be- 
 stowed part on his victorious army, and part on 
 the churches and monasteries, while to the Pope 
 and the Church of Rome he sent an incredible 
 mass of money in gold and silver, and many 
 ornaments that would have been admired even 
 
112 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 in Constantinople.” Ve vietzs! Englishmen 
 might well groan as they struggled in vain beneath 
 the mailed foot of the Conqueror. 
 
 The gaunt rectangular or circular Norman keep, 
 or donjons, stern in their passive strength, and 
 mightily convincing of the power of the con- 
 querors, were very similar in their construction. 
 They were built for strength and not for beauty, 
 and possessed little of the palatial character of 
 the castles of later periods, such as Kenilworth. 
 Sometimes a solitary keep frowned down upon 
 the town, and reminded it of its chains; but a 
 full-fledged Norman castle covered a considerable 
 area of ground. ‘ 
 
 When we approach one of these old fortresses 
 we see massive high walls with an embattled 
 parapet surrounding the lower court, or ballium. 
 A moat encircles the castle. We enter the fortress 
 by a gate defended by strong towers. ‘There is 
 a barbican which protects the bridge. A port- 
 cullis has to be raised and the heavy door thrown 
 back before we can enter, while above in the 
 stone roof of the archway there are holes through 
 which melted lead and pitch could be poured 
 upon our heads, if we had attempted to enter 
 the castle as assailants. On one side of the court 
 we notice the stables; in the centre is a mound 
 
CASTLE TOWNS 113 
 
 where the lord dispenses justice, and where 
 traitors and criminals are executed. Another 
 strong gateway flanked with towers protects the 
 entrance to the inner court, or bailey, and straight 
 before us frowns the donjon, or keep, of the castle, 
 ‘‘four-square to every wind that blew,” a mighty 
 place, 150 feet in height. It contains several 
 rooms, one above the other. The basement is 
 used chiefly for stores. Here is a deep well to 
 supply the garrison with water, in case they are 
 surrounded by their foes. We ascend the spiral 
 stone steps laid in the thickness of the wall, and 
 reach the first floor, where the soldiers of the 
 garrison reside. Above this as we ascend we 
 arrive at the state apartments; there is a hall, as 
 large as the walls will allow, with a chimney, 
 where the lord of the castle and his guests had 
 their meals, and in the thickness of the walls 
 there are numerous chambers used as sleeping 
 rooms, garderobes, &c., and the piscina outside 
 one of the doors shows that the apartment is a 
 small chapel or oratory. The upper story is 
 divided by wooden partitions into small sleeping 
 apartments. Unlike our modern houses, the 
 kitchen is at the top of the keep, and opens 
 on to the roof. In the hall or in the ladies’ 
 
 bower, or boudoir, the wife of the baron and her 
 H 
 
114 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 handmaidens live, and weave beautiful tapestry 
 and hangings whilst her lord is away from home, 
 crusading in the Holy Land, or fighting for his 
 king in France. And sometimes a neighbouring 
 baron bethinks him that this would be a favourable 
 opportunity of possessing himself of his absent 
 friend’s property. Summoning his vassals and 
 men-at-arms, he marches suddenly at nightfall, 
 and tries to surprise the castle; but often he 
 meets with a warm reception, and many a noble 
 and brave lady, during her husband’s absence, 
 has refused to surrender, and courageously held 
 the fortress until succour arrived. 
 
 Before the end of the reign of Stephen it is 
 said that 1115 of these castles were built; and 
 some of them were held by tyrannical and evil 
 men, who placed their sentinels on the watch- 
 towers, and when some convoy of merchandise 
 was seen passing along the road, or some rich- 
 looking travellers, a company of reckless soldiers 
 would issue from the gates, seize the strangers, 
 and drag them to their dungeons, and keep them 
 there until a sufficient ransom had been paid. 
 Dreadful places were these dungeons. Let us 
 descend the staircase in the north tower of our 
 castle, which seems to go down into the bowels 
 of the earth, down the cold grey stone steps, and 
 
CASTLE TOWNS 115 
 
 enter a long corridor, dark*and gloomy, where 
 the silence is broken by many a groan from 
 despairing captives in the cells on either side. In 
 the cell of one were toads and adders; another 
 had to repose on a bed of sharp flints, while the 
 torture-chamber echoed with the groans of the 
 victims of medizeval cruelty, who were hanged by 
 their feet and smoked with foul smoke, or hung 
 up by their thumbs, while burning rings were put 
 on their feet. Knotted strings were drawn about 
 a man’s head and writhed till they went into the 
 brain. Then there was the horrible rack, where- 
 on a man was stretched, and drawn out until 
 every bone in his body seemed on the point of 
 breaking ; the heated pincers, for tearing the flesh 
 . . . but we will draw a veil over the horrors 
 of those loathsome haunts. But why were men 
 so tortured? It was almost always for money— 
 to extract a heavy ransom, to obtain lands and 
 estates, to know the secrets of buried treasure, 
 and the like; it was this that made men such 
 horrible wretches and devils in human form; and 
 when men have stooped from their high estate as 
 children of the Almighty, and given themselves 
 over to sin and lust, their nature seems to become 
 changed, and they learn to take a savage pleasure 
 in terrible acts of shameless cruelty. 
 
116 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 But there were certain persons for whom the 
 baron had some regard, and those were the 
 burghers of the town which had grown up around 
 his castle walls. They were well able to protect 
 themselves, having obtained charters and _ privi- 
 leges from their sovereign, which were ratified by 
 the lord, who feared to use any acts of violence 
 against them. Commerce soon began to gain its 
 peaceful victories, and to have interfered with the 
 trade of the burghers would have been as foolish 
 as the conduct of the old woman who killed the 
 goose that laid the golden eggs. When their lord 
 was in financial difficulties, as was not infrequent, 
 the thrifty burghers were quite willing to advance 
 money to him on condition that he would grant 
 them privileges and immunities, and enable them to 
 ply their trade and live at peace under the pro- 
 tection of his castle walls and armed hosts. The 
 strength which comes from uniting together for 
 common purposes, the establishment of merchant- 
 guilds of which we shall have more to say presently, 
 enabled our townsfolk of former times to hold 
 their own even against the rapacity and injustice 
 of a hard and cruel lord; and this united action 
 of the burghers laid the foundations of English 
 freedom. 
 
 The tenants of the lord had to render certain 
 
CASTLE TOWNS Wy 
 
 services for the land which they held of him. 
 At Nottingham, in the time of Henry IV., 
 all who held a bovate of land were obliged 
 to plough and harrow one day in the year 
 for their lord, receiving as their recompense 
 three pennyworth of wheaten bread and pease, 
 z.€., about 3s. of our money. At other times 
 they had to sow and weed, make hay and reap 
 corn, for which they received, with other things, 
 4d. to drink, and a pair of white pigeons. On 
 one estate in the same county, a right royal 
 feast was spread each night for the tenants who 
 mowed their lord’s hay, consisting of beef, pork, 
 lamb, pigs, ducks, and veal, and various flagons of 
 beer. It is probable that the tenants prolonged 
 their labours for as many days as possible. 
 
 What strange sad tales of war and cruelty the 
 stones of these proud castles could tell, if only they 
 could speak! Every one has heard of Corfe Castle, 
 where Edward, commonly called the Martyr, was 
 stabbed by his step-mother Elfreda at the castle 
 gate, when he was quenching his thirst after a 
 long ride. Here King John starved to death 
 twenty-two foreign supporters of his rival Arthur. 
 Here Peter of Pontefract was drawn and hanged, 
 his head being placed on a spike at the entrance 
 gate as a warning to others. If all the terrible 
 
118 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 scenes which were once enacted within its walls 
 could be brought before the eyes, Corfe Castle 
 would become a very Chamber of Horrors. 
 
 It is pleasant to turn from these scenes of 
 shameful cruelty, and see the citizens and towns- 
 folk at work and at play in the streets and houses. 
 When the country emerged from the disastrous 
 deluge of civil war which raged so wildly during 
 the turbulent reign of Stephen, the citizens soon 
 recovered their prosperity; there was plenty of 
 food and work for all, and much happiness and 
 contentment in English homes. William of 
 Malmesbury tells us about Exeter that it was a 
 magnificent city, filled with opulent citizens, and 
 Henry of Huntingdon assures us that we might 
 buy there in abundance everything that could 
 possibly be desired. Bristol and Gloucester had 
 a great trade, and Winchester was celebrated for 
 its home-made wine. Mighty ships brought 
 foreign wines to Chester from Gascony, Spain, 
 and Germany, as a worthy monk who evidently 
 loved his cups tells us, adding that ‘being 
 comforted by the favour of God in all things, we 
 drink wine very plentifully; for those countries 
 have abundance of vineyards.” Prosperous sea- 
 ports dotted the eastern coast. At Lynn many 
 wealthy Jews built their houses, and Lincoln was 
 
CASTLE TOWNS 119 
 
 a most prosperous and populous city, which owed 
 the greatness of its commerce to the canal con- 
 structed by Henry I. from the Trent to the 
 Witham. 
 
 Of London we have happily more complete 
 knowledge, derived from William Fitz-Stephen’s 
 «Life of Becket,” which was written about 1174. 
 This monk of Canterbury tells us that no city in 
 the world sent out its wealth and merchandise to 
 so great a distance, and foreign merchants brought 
 gold, spices, and frankincense from Arabia; 
 purple cloths from China; precious stones from 
 Egypt; palm-oil from Bagdad; furs and ermines 
 from Norway and Russia; arms from Scythia, and 
 wines from France. The citizens excelled all 
 others in England “‘in handsomeness of manners 
 and of dress, at table, and in the way of speak- 
 ing.” Winchester, the ancient capital of England, 
 was dethroned; London now became the veguz 
 Anglorum sedes. In describing its splendour, 
 he says :— 
 
 “The city, like Rome, is divided into wards, . 
 has annual sheriffs for its consuls, has senatorial 
 and lower magistrates, sewers and aqueducts in 
 its streets—its proper places and separate courts 
 for cases of each kind, deliberate, demonstrative, 
 judicial; and has assemblies on appointed days. 
 
120 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 I do not think there is a city with more com- 
 mendable customs of church attendance, honour » 
 to God’s ordinances, keeping sacred festivals, 
 almsgiving, hospitality, confirming betrothals, 
 contracting marriages, celebration of nuptials, 
 preparing feasts, cheering the guests, and also 
 in care for funerals and the interment of the 
 dead. The only pests of London are the im- 
 moderate drinking of fools and the frequency 
 of fires. ‘To this may be added that nearly all 
 the Bishops, Abbots, and magnates of England 
 are, as it were, citizens and freemen of London, 
 having their own splendid houses to which they 
 resort, where they spend largely when summoned 
 to great Councils by the King or by their Metro- 
 politan, or drawn thither by their own private. 
 affairs.” 
 
 Such is’ the picture which Fitz-Stephen draws 
 of ancient London. He tells us also of the 
 tradesmen and craftsmen plying their respective 
 callings in their own particular localities, of the 
 famous Chepe (hence our Cheapside), a large 
 open space surrounded by sheds or stalls where 
 all manner of fine things could be bought. The 
 mercers, the grocers, the armourers, the leather 
 sellers, and many others, have all their own 
 quarters in the city, which we will examine 
 
CASTLE TOWNS 121 
 
 more carefully at a later period of their exis- 
 tence. He tells us too of the weekly market 
 at Smithfield, held every Friday, where horses 
 and cows and hogs were sold, and how the 
 young men raced their horses when the fair 
 was over. The worthy monk becomes quite 
 enthusiastic in describing the sport. He says: 
 ‘When a race is to be run by this sort of 
 horses (hackneys and war-steeds), and perhaps by 
 others which also, in their kind, are strong and 
 fleet, a shout is immediately raised, and the 
 common horses are ordered to withdraw im- 
 mediately out of the way. Three jockeys, some- 
 times only two, according as the match is made 
 (for such as being used to ride, know how to 
 manage the horses with judgement): the grand 
 point is to prevent a competitor from getting 
 before them.” This surely is obvious, Master 
 William, even to a monk! ‘The horses on 
 their part are not without emulation—they 
 tremble, are impatient, and continually in 
 motion; and at last, the signal once given, they 
 strike, devour the course, hurrying along with un- 
 remitting velocity. The jockeys, inspired with the 
 thoughts of applause and the hopes of victory, 
 clap spurs to the willing horses, and brandish 
 their whips, and cheer them with their cries.” 
 
122 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 The sturdy young citizens had many other 
 sports; they shot their arrows at the butts; they 
 wrestled; they played hockey, baited bulls and 
 bears, and even horses; they skated in winter on 
 the shallow water in Moorfields. ‘The Norman 
 knights introduced tournaments with all the 
 pomp and gallant display of ancient chivalry, 
 although for many years they were prohibited on 
 account of the supposed danger to public safety 
 which a large concourse of armed men and ex- 
 cited spectators might entail. But the young 
 townsfolk went mad over tournaments. They 
 tilted at each other on the ice, their feet being 
 shod with bones in lieu of skates. They tilted 
 at each other in boats on the river, which sport 
 Stow describes as follows :—‘‘T have seen also in 
 the summer season upon the river Thames, some 
 rowed in wherries, with staves in their hands, flat 
 at the fore-end, running one against the other; 
 and for the most part, one or both of them were 
 overthrown and well ducked.” They tilted at 
 shields stuck on posts at Kaster—as an old writer 
 says :—‘‘ They fight battles on the water. A 
 shield is hanged upon a pole fixed in the midst 
 of the stream. A boat is prepared without oars, 
 to be carried by the violence of the water, and in 
 the forepart thereof standeth a young man ready 
 
CASTLE TOWNS 123 
 
 to give charge upon the shield with his lance. 
 If so be he break his lance upon the shield, and 
 do not fall, he is thought to have performed a 
 worthy deed. If so be that, without breaking 
 his lance, he runneth strongly against the shield, 
 down he falleth into the water, for the boat is 
 violently tossed with the tide; but on each side 
 of the shield ride two boats furnished with young 
 men, which recover him that falleth as soon as 
 they may. Upon the bridge, wharves, and houses, 
 by the river side, stand great numbers to see 
 and laugh thereat.” This was called the water 
 quintain. ‘They tilted on land, and riding on 
 horseback charged a shield, or wooden figure, 
 attached to a beam of wood which easily turned 
 round upon the top of a post. At the other end 
 of the beam was a heavy bag of sand, which, when 
 the rider struck the shield with his lance, swung 
 round and struck him with great force on the 
 back if he did not ride fast and so escape his 
 ponderous foe. Queen Elizabeth was much 
 amused at Kenilworth Castle by the hard knocks 
 which the inexpert riders received from the 
 rotating sand-bag, when they charged ‘“‘a comely 
 quintane” in her royal presence in 1575. And 
 well might the tournament itself inspire our 
 young English townsfolk to imitate the knights 
 
124 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 and barons in their martial sports, in which 
 commoners were not allowed to take part. Some- 
 times they would see a tournament, the lists 
 superbly decorated and surrounded by the pavilions 
 belonging to the champions, ornamented with 
 their arms, banners, and bannerols; the scaffolds 
 for the spectators hung with tapestry and em- 
 broideries of gold and silver; the splendid ap- 
 pearance of the knights, their horses gorgeously 
 arrayed, and their esquires and pages, together 
 with minstrels and heralds all clothed in costly 
 and glittering apparel; the gay throng of sumptu- 
 ously dressed women and brave men who watched 
 the fight ; a show of pomp and splendour which 
 never could be forgotten; while the cries of the 
 heralds, the clangour of the trumpets, the clashing 
 of arms, the rushing together of the combatants, 
 and the shouts of the beholders, impressed the 
 mind, and kindled an enthusiastic love for knightly 
 deeds and martial ardour. 
 
 It is unnecessary here to describe the details of 
 a tournament, and we have many other games 
 and amusements of the people to record, which 
 added brightness to the lives of our forefathers, 
 and relieved the burdens of their daily toil. 
 When our towns have grown a little, we shall 
 see these sports and pastimes more fully deve- 
 
CASTLE TOWNS 126 
 
 loped. But even at this early period of their 
 existence, English youths appear ready for any- 
 thing from fighting and footballing, wrestling 
 and bowling, to bob-apple and _ bird-catching ; 
 while their sisters and sweethearts scorned not 
 the dance, and herein resembled the young women 
 
 of to-day. 
 
Cr A ia Raye 
 THE GUILDS 
 
 Numerous kinds of guilds and their objects—Their origin— 
 Ordinance of guild at Abbotsbury—Guilds and their plays 
 —London—Cambridge—Exeter—The guild-merchant — 
 Royal Winchester and its guilds—Guildhalls. 
 
 Few institutions have contributed more to the 
 “making of England,” to the improvement of 
 the condition of the craftsmen and merchants, 
 and to the development of our commercial in- 
 dustries, than the ancient guilds. If we would 
 understand the social conditions of the townsfolk 
 of this country, and the origins of our municipal 
 government, we must study the history of our 
 guilds. 
 
 There was a time when almost every inhabitant 
 of the country belonged to some guild. In towns, 
 membership of a guild was necessary to the 
 carrying on of any trade, business, or handicraft, 
 and woe betide the luckless man who dared to 
 try to sell cloth or make boots, and who did not 
 
 126 
 
THE GUILDS 127 
 
 belong to the honourable company of clothiers 
 or shoemakers! Instances will be quoted to 
 show the severe punishment and ruin which would 
 overtake so adventurous a tradesman. But in 
 country villages, also, every one belonged to 
 some guild which was of a religious nature, and 
 had part of the church assigned to it. Men, 
 women, and children, each had their own guild. 
 Just as our churches are dedicated to some patron 
 saint—St. James, St. Paul, &c.—so each guild 
 had a patron saint, with a separate altar, over 
 which stood an image of the saint, and before it 
 a light was kept continually burning. The object 
 of this light was to drive away evil spirits. The 
 candles which shed the light were made of wax 
 provided by the members of the guild, and fines 
 for a breach of the rules were very often levied 
 in wax; for example, in the Guild of St. John 
 the Baptist at York, every member bound him- 
 self, that if he was wrath with another member 
 without reasonable cause, he would pay the 
 first time a pound of wax, the second time 
 two pounds of wax, and the third time he 
 would do whatever the warden of the guild 
 should direct. Sometimes members left money 
 in their wills to support the lights, as Robert 
 Mylwarde did, a.p. 1530, who bequeathed “to 
 
128 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 the lads’ light 2d., and to the maidens’ light 
 2d.” The festivities of Plough Monday, when 
 Old Bess rattled her money-box whilst the plough- 
 men drew their plough along from village to 
 village, owe their origin to the same source. 
 The money collected on this occasion was devoted 
 in pre-Reformation times to the support of the 
 ploughmen’s light, which burned before the 
 altar of the ploughmen’s guild. The Reforma- 
 tion put out the light, but could not extinguish 
 the custom. 
 
 We will now enumerate at greater length the 
 object for which these institutions were founded, 
 and the various kinds of guilds which have existed 
 in England. The word is derived from an 
 Anglo-Saxon word which means “to pay,’ and 
 signified that each member subscribed something 
 towards the common fund of the association, 
 which in return conferred certain advantages on 
 each member. In the early times of our country’s 
 history they took the place of friendly or benefit 
 societies; only they paid much more attention 
 to the claims of religion and morality than our 
 modern societies do. Each member was a 
 ‘‘brother”’ or a “sister,” and was treated as one 
 of a large family. If he became ill, or poor, or 
 infirm, he was supported by the guild. If his 
 
LHE GUILDS 129 
 
 cattle were stolen, or his house blown down, or 
 in case of any loss by fire, flood, shipwreck, or 
 violence, his brethren of the guild would come 
 to his rescue, and supply his needs and replace 
 the loss. When “‘any good girl of the guild” 
 wanted to be married, the guild provided a dowry 
 for her; and when any brother or sister died, the 
 guild paid the funeral expenses. In the times 
 before the Reformation, special merit was attached 
 to pilgrimages to Rome or to the shrine of some 
 saint, such as St. Joseph at Glastonbury Abbey, 
 or St. Thomas-a-Becket at Canterbury: if any 
 member wished to go on a pilgrimage, his brethren 
 helped him on the way, and some guilds provided 
 lodgings for pilgrims when they passed through 
 the town. 
 
 From all this it will be seen how many benefits 
 these old guilds conferred upon their members, 
 and how much good they accomplished. But the 
 list is not yet exhausted. They took in hand 
 the repair of the parish churches and the expense 
 of public worship. The Guild of Swaffham, in 
 Norfolk, undertook ‘‘the repair of the church, 
 and the renovation of vestments, books, and other 
 ornaments in the said church.” Each guild had 
 a chaplain, who was paid for taking the services 
 
 and for praying for the souls of the members. 
 I 
 
130 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 The warden of the guild received the offerings 
 from the members, paid the expenses of the special 
 services, and handed over the remainder to the 
 churchwardens for the general expenses and repairs 
 of the church. In those days every parishioner 
 contributed something to the cost of the main- 
 tenance of Divine worship; no one was left out, 
 and if any one omitted to send his yearly offering 
 his name was recorded on the black list in the 
 churchwardens’ account-books. Thus the people 
 looked upon their church as their own, and gladly 
 contributed their Easter offerings; hence there 
 was always money to keep the fabric in good 
 order, and in this matter the guilds were the 
 chief supporters and helpers. 
 
 Again, the repair of bridges and. roads, of 
 walls and gates of fortified towns, was often 
 undertaken by the guilds; and they exercised 
 their benevolence in many works of charity, 
 feeding poor people, providing lodgings for poor 
 strangers, and almshouses for their poor towns- 
 folk. 
 
 Thus we see the extreme usefulness of these 
 grand institutions, and how great is the debt 
 which England owes to them. ‘They were based 
 on the principle of co-operation, and the mutual 
 respect, honour, and faith which each brother 
 
THE GUILDS 131 
 
 felt for another. It was not simply a matter 
 of money with fixed contributions and fixed 
 rates of disbursements, like our modern friendly 
 societies; but each brother gave what he could 
 afford, and in case of distress received what he 
 required. 
 
 Not the least advantage which the guilds 
 procured for their members was that of pro- 
 tection. By uniting together the townsfolk 
 became strong, and could resist the tyranny of 
 unjust kings or powerful earls and _ barons, 
 securing their property and goods from robbery 
 and confiscation. In the days when the law of 
 right was the law of might, and when the barons 
 in their strongly fortified castles ruled as little 
 kings, recognising no laws which were not agree- 
 able to their wishes, it was a great thing for the 
 liberties and rights of the people of England 
 that a power should spring up which by the 
 force of unity could cope with the lawless robbers, 
 and protect and preserve the freedom of the 
 English race. This and many other advantages 
 and privileges did the old guilds gain for our 
 country. 
 
 The guilds of England are of such ancient 
 origin that it is impossible to state when they 
 were first formed. Even in the old Roman 
 
132 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 towns and cities there were institutions of a 
 nature somewhat similar to the guilds of Saxon 
 and Norman times. They were called collegza 
 opificum, or colleges of workmen; they had their 
 own property, their meeting-house, their president 
 -and governing body; the richer members helped 
 their poorer brethren; and on certain days the 
 whole company visited the common sepulchre 
 in which the brethren were buried, and decked 
 with violets or roses the tombs of their departed 
 friends. It is impossible to say whether the 
 Saxons, when they came to England, founded 
 their guilds on the model of these Roman 
 colleges, as some writers have supposed; there 
 is a resemblance between the Roman and early 
 Saxon institutions, but in all probability the 
 origin of guilds is not to be sought in pagan 
 institutions. They were doubtless first formed 
 by Christians, for mutual support in things 
 temporal and spiritual, and for the mutual pro- 
 motion of well-being in this world and the 
 next.’ It has been already stated that the re- 
 ligious guilds were the earliest in England, and 
 we are fortunate in possessing a copy of the rules 
 by which the members were governed. Orcy, a 
 friend of King Canute, founded a famous guild 
 
 1 Gross, Gilde Mercatoria, vol. i. p. 170, 
 
THE GUILDS 133 
 
 at Abbotsbury, in Dorsetshire, of which the 
 following is the Guild Ordinance :— 
 
 “This writing witnesseth that Orcy hath 
 granted the Guildhall at Abbotsbury, and the 
 site thereof, to the honour of God and St. Peter, 
 and for a property to the Guild, both during his 
 life and after his life, for a lasting commemora- 
 tion of himself and his consort. Let him that 
 would set it aside answer it to God in the Great 
 Day of Judgment! Now these are the covenants 
 which Orcy and the Guildsmen of Abbotsbury 
 have ordained to the honour of God, the worship 
 of St. Peter, and the hele of their own souls. 
 Firstly, three days before St. Peter’s mass, from 
 each Guild-brother one penny or one pennyworth 
 of wax—look which the minister most needeth; 
 and on the mass eve, from every two Guild- 
 brothers one bread-loaf, well sifted and well 
 raisid, towards our common alms; and five weeks 
 before Peter’s mass, let each Guild-brother con- 
 tribute one Guild-sester full of clean wheat, and 
 let this be paid within three days, or forfeit of 
 the entrance, which is three sesters of wheat. If 
 one brother misgreet another within the Guild 
 in hostile temper, let him atone for it to all the 
 fellowship with the amount of his entrance, and 
 after that to him whom he misgreeted as they 
 
134 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 two may arrange; and if he will not bend to 
 compensation, let him lose our fellowship and 
 every other advantage of the Guild.” 
 
 If a brother died contributions were levied for 
 the soul’s hele, and if any one was sick and felt 
 that he was about to die, he was conducted to 
 the place where he desired to go while he lived. 
 The steward was directed to collect as many of 
 the brethren as possible to attend the funeral, to 
 bear the corpse to the minister, and to pray for 
 the soul. ‘It is rightly ordained a Guildship if 
 we do thus, and well fitting it is both towards 
 God and man; for we know not which of us 
 shall first depart.” 
 
 “Now, we have faith through God’s assistance 
 that the aforesaid ordinance, if we rightly main- 
 tain it, shall be to the benefit of us all. Let us 
 earnestly from the bottom of our hearts beseech 
 Almighty God to have mercy upon us, and also 
 His holy Apostle to make intercession for us, 
 and take our way unto eternal rest, because for 
 His sake we gathered this Guild together; He 
 hath the power in Heaven to admit into Heaven 
 whomso he will, and to exclude whomso he will 
 not, even as Christ Himself spake unto him in 
 the Gospel, ‘Peter, I give unto thee the keys of 
 Heaven, and whatsoever thou wilt have bound 
 
THE GUILDS 135 
 
 on earth, the same shall be bound in Heaven.’ Let 
 us hope and trust in Him that He will guide us 
 here in this world, and after death be a help to our 
 souls. May He bring us to eternal rest? Amen!” 
 
 This ordinance clearly sets forth that religion 
 and charity were the chief objects for which the 
 guild was founded, and the rule for preventing 
 quarrelling, or ‘‘ misgreeting,”’ was admirably con- 
 ceived. In later times the religious guilds used 
 to act a miracle play, z.¢., a play based on some 
 Scriptural subject, such as ‘‘ The Creation of the 
 World,” “Noah and the Deluge.” These were per- 
 formed on the annual festival, which was celebrated 
 on the feast of the patron saint of the guild. 
 
 In later times the trades guilds, composed of 
 persons engaged in particular industries, performed 
 various plays, and one of the objects of building 
 a new guildhall at York in the fifteenth century 
 was to provide a convenient place for the plays 
 to be performed in. The Chester plays were very 
 famous, composed by a monk and acted by the 
 trade guilds. Here is part of their programme, 
 which was arranged for a whole week :— 
 
 “t, The Bakers and Tanners bring forth the ‘Falling of 
 Lucifer.’ 
 
 2. Drapers and Hosiers—‘ The Creation of the World.’ 
 
 3. Drawers of Dee and Waterleaders—‘ Noah and his Ship. 
 
136 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 4. Barbers, Waxchandlers, and Leeches —‘ Abraham and ~ 
 Isaac.’ 
 
 5. Coppers, Wiredrawers, and Pinners—‘ King Balak, Balaam, 
 and Moses.’ 
 
 6. Wrights, Slaters, Tylers, Daubers, and Thatchers—‘ The 
 Nativity of our Lord.’ ; 
 
 7. Painters, Brotherers, and Glaziers—‘The Shepherds’ 
 Offering,’ 
 
 8. Vintners and Merchants—‘ King Herod and the Mount 
 Victorial.’ 
 
 9. Mercers and Spicers—‘ The Three Kings of Colin.’”?} 
 
 Many of these pieces were childish representa- 
 tions of the sacred narratives, mingled with much 
 that to our eyes would seem irreverent and 
 profane, but doubtless they did not seem so to 
 our forefathers. At Hull the miracle plays were 
 usually performed on Plough Monday by the 
 members of the trade guilds. The representatives 
 of each guild had their peculiar dresses, badges, 
 and banners, and as they marched through the 
 streets to the sound of music and the pealing 
 of church bells, they must have presented an 
 imposing and brilliant sight. 
 
 But these miracle plays have carried us away 
 from the history of the early guilds. One of the 
 earliest in the country was one in London, which 
 
 1 “The Three Kings of Colin” represented the wise men 
 from the East, who came to worship the Infant Saviour. 
 
 “Colin” was in reality Cologne, on the Rhine, whence they 
 supposed the wise men came. 
 
THE GUILDS 137 
 
 was a kind of insurance association against theft 
 and for the maintenance of peace. If a member 
 lost any of his stock or slaves (for slavery was in 
 existence in those times, 7.¢., A.D. 900) the guild 
 endeavoured to recover the same, or to recompense 
 the loser from the common fund. If a horse was 
 stolen and could not be found the owner received 
 half a pound, for a cow he received twenty pence, 
 for a hog tenpence, for a sheep one shilling. A 
 slave was valued at the same rate as a horse, but 
 if the slave have ‘stolen himself,” z.¢., run away 
 from his master, he shall be stoned, and his 
 master receive compensation from the brethren 
 of the guild. 
 
 A very ancient guild existed at Cambridge, in 
 which it was ordained that all the members should 
 swear to be faithful to each other as well in 
 religious as in worldly matters; and that in all 
 disputes they should always take part with him 
 that had justice on his side. There were also 
 sundry regulations for the funeral of brethren of 
 the guild, for their relief in times of distress, and 
 for preventing quarrels. 
 
 In the city of Exeter we find a very ancient 
 guild of the religious type, which was held ‘“‘ for 
 the sake of God and our souls, that we may 
 make such ordinances as tend to our welfare and 
 
138 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 security, as well in this life as in that future state 
 which we wish to enjoy in the presence of God, 
 our judge.” At the meetings the priest was 
 ordered to sing two masses, one for the living 
 and one for the dead. If any member went 
 abroad, his brethren contributed fivepence towards 
 the expenses of his journey, and one penny if any 
 man’s house was burnt. Here we have the 
 earliest notion of a fire insurance association, 
 which must have been most useful in the days 
 when wooden houses with thatched roofs were 
 the usual habitations. From the study of these 
 rules and regulations, it is evident that our Saxon 
 forefathers were very civilised, shrewd, and pro- 
 vident people. 
 
 Most of our towns have a mayor and corpora- 
 tion, who look after the welfare of the town, 
 manage its concerns, make its by-laws, &c. 
 This body is a descendant of the old guilds 
 which existed in early Norman, or Saxon, times. 
 The inhabitants of a town, who formed the 
 communitas, were all members of the Frith or 
 Peace Guild, and were bound to each other for 
 the maintenance of the public peace. Thus a 
 corporation was formed. In those days all the 
 men who were engaged in any particular in- 
 dustry, such as weaving or shoemaking, united 
 
THE GUILDS 139 
 
 themselves into a company or guild for the 
 purpose of protecting their industry and ob- 
 taining a monopoly for themselves. They would 
 not allow any one who was not a freeman of 
 their guild to practise their trade; they were 
 most severe ‘‘protectionists.” Thus in most 
 towns there would be several companies, each 
 watching over the interests of special industries. 
 In course of time these companies united in one 
 body, “‘conviveum conjguratum,” which called 
 itself the Guild-merchant of the town, and dis- 
 charged all the duties which we now expect our 
 town councils and corporations to perform for 
 us, the old guild-law becoming the law of the 
 borough. In London, this union took place as 
 early as the time of Athelstan; in the town of 
 Berwick-on-T weed, in 1283. This body often 
 became a very powerful one, which could possess 
 property, enjoy privileges, make laws, and was as 
 mighty in the town as the lordly baron in his 
 castle. They won from the kings of England 
 charters of privileges which were the great bonds 
 of society, conferring liberty and security, and 
 which were the means of raising the arts and 
 sciences in this country to a degree of perfection 
 almost unequalled on the face of the earth. 
 Generally the good burghers had to pay for 
 
140 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 their privileges. The king often needed money 
 for foreign wars, to support his army, and to 
 furnish his ships; he would apply to the “ loyal 
 merchants” of Winchester or Bristol for a large 
 sum of money, which the thriving citizens were 
 delighted to pay to the royal exchequer on 
 condition that they might have some long-coveted 
 privilege granted, and be allowed to ply their 
 trade unfettered by adverse restrictions. In most 
 cases the charter and privileges were granted to 
 the guild-merchant of the town, which thus be- 
 came so powerful a body that it could at length 
 defy the threats of any lordly abbot or turbulent 
 baron who attempted to levy toll on the mer- 
 chants’ goods or to deprive them of their hardly- 
 won privileges. 
 As an example, the free charter granted by 
 Henry J. to the royal city of Winchester, where 
 his son Henry was born, may be quoted. The 
 king was so thankful to have a son that, in 
 1112 a.D., he granted this charter to the city 
 which gave his child birth. Here are the 
 words :— 
 « Henry, king of England, duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, 
 earl of Andalusia, to all archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, 
 viscounts, and all our faithful subjects, both French and English, 
 
 greeting ; know ye that we have granted unto our citizens of 
 Winchester, zzcorporated by the name of Guild-merchants, full 
 
TAL GUILDS 141 
 
 license and liberty to buy and sell all wares and merchandise 
 in fairs or markets, and to export or import the same free from 
 payment of any gift, tax, or custom usually levied on these oc- 
 casions ; and that they may have free passage of all such wares 
 and merchandise throughout these my dominions from custom 
 of carriage and passage over bridges toll free, and that they 
 be not molested hereafter on this account.” 
 
 In 1207 the privilege of coining money was 
 granted to the merchant guild of the same city, 
 and the rent of certain mills was assigned to the 
 same body for building and keeping in repair the 
 city walls. In the days of compulsory service no 
 citizen of Winchester was obliged to go to war, 
 nor could he be sued or impleaded in any action 
 outside the walls of his own city. He could buy 
 or sell without paying any toll, nor could he be 
 fined or punished except according to the laws 
 and customs of his own city. 
 
 Very much the same privileges were gradually 
 obtained by favour or purchase by the merchant 
 guilds of other cities and towns of England; 
 so these places gradually became like little in- 
 dependent states in the heart of the realm, each 
 managing its own concerns and looking after the 
 interests of its people. 
 
 It seems to have been the policy of the Plan- 
 tagenet kings to build up the powers of the 
 towns, and great privileges were granted to them 
 
142 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 by Henry I. and his successors. Wallingford 
 was especially favoured by Henry IH. on account 
 of the important services rendered by the towns- 
 folk during the late war. It may be noticed 
 that the charters refer to the towns as Free 
 Burghs. Szt Liberum Burgum, Liber Burgus, 
 are frequent expressions. In what did this 
 freedom consist? It was a freedom to buy and 
 sell without disturbance, a liberty from paying 
 toll, pontage, passage- money, lastage, stallage, 
 &c. Personal freedom could also be obtained 
 by residence in a free burgh; for it was enacted 
 that if a bondman remained in a burgh a year 
 and a day as a burgess or member of it, he gained 
 his freedom. 
 
 The chief officer in the town was the reeve 
 or bailiff, who collected the tolls for the over- 
 lord. London had its port-reeve, whose duty 
 was to look after the customs and tolls of the 
 port of London for the king. Tradesmen and 
 merchants were said to be 2% domtnio, and 
 carried on their business under the protection of 
 the over-lord. In course of time these tolls and 
 customs were let out in fee-farm to the com- 
 munities of cities or burghs, and the lord’s reeve 
 became the chief officer of the burgh as well as 
 the representative of the lord, who received an 
 
THE GUILDS 143 
 
 annual compensation, always less than the true 
 value, in lieu of the tolls and customs. The 
 reeve was the ancestor of the mayor of more 
 recent times, and was sometimes designated the 
 alderman; while at Ripon he was known as the 
 wakeman, who was elected annually from among 
 the twenty-four aldermen of the city. Haus duty 
 was to walk throughout the whole city, and give 
 a supper, and cause a horn to be blown by night 
 during the year of office, at nine o’clock, at the 
 four corners of the cross in the market-place. 
 One of the unpleasant duties of the Ripon 
 wakeman was to make good any property stolen 
 during his year of office, a duty which would 
 make him very careful lest his city should 
 harbour any thieves or vagabonds. 
 
 If we lived at Winchester when William the 
 Conqueror came to England, we should have 
 found that besides the merchant guild, which 
 was becoming gradually a powerful body, there 
 existed also two other guilds. There was the 
 knights’ guild, which was composed of youths 
 of good family, pages, nobles, or young freemen, 
 who were allowed to wear swords. To this body 
 was committed the charge of the city defences, 
 the ordering of the watch, &c. There was also 
 the palmers’ or pilgrims’ guild, which possessed a 
 
144 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 house where pilgrims were entertained when they 
 passed through the town on their way to some 
 holy shrine. The room in which they slept still 
 remains, and their rude carvings may yet be seen 
 upon the beams that support the roof. 
 
 When any business of importance had to be 
 transacted, and the rights and liberties of the 
 people were in danger, the great bell swung in 
 the town tower and summoned the burgesses 
 together to a common meeting, where they dis- 
 cussed the various questions that arose freely 
 and openly. Sometimes loud and angry were 
 their deliberations when the neighbouring lord or 
 powerful abbot had presumed to trespass upon 
 the rights of the good townsfolk. 
 
 If we went to old Winchester at the time of 
 a fair we should have found that the Bishop of 
 Winchester’s authority was greater than many of 
 the citizens cared for. During the sixteen days 
 of the fair the officers of the guild were entirely 
 displaced by the officers of the bishop. All civic 
 authority came to an end; all the shops were 
 closed; and no one might trade within the city 
 . or the neighbourhood while the fair lasted. ‘To 
 the fair flocked merchants from all parts of 
 England, and the proceeds of the fair went to the 
 bishop’s exchequer, 
 
PHE- GUILDS 145 
 
 How useful the guilds were in opposing the 
 wills of unscrupulous monarchs and preserving 
 the lives of its members may be seen from another 
 incident in the history of the same royal city of 
 Winchester. Queen Isabella, the wife of Edward 
 IJ., being enraged against the king’s favourite, 
 Hugh le Despencer, pursued him and hanged 
 him. She then proceeded to take vengeance on 
 all who had espoused his cause, and several rich 
 citizens of Winchester, known friends of the Earl, 
 were apprehended, and some were cruelly put to 
 death for harbouring and entertaining him; but 
 the mayor pleaded the privilege of a statute 
 passed in the reign of Henry II., whereby it was 
 enacted that no inhabitant of Winchester free of 
 the guild of merchants (z.¢., a member of the 
 same) should be sentenced for any capital offence 
 whatever except for treason, nor then, unless con- 
 victed by lawful trial before his peers. The 
 mayor, therefore, insisted upon the lives of his 
 brethren being spared, and at length prevailed 
 upon the queen to cease her cruel vengeance, 
 and to set the captive citizens at liberty. This 
 is only one instance out of many where the 
 privileges of guild membership saved the lives 
 of citizens and restrained the fury of despotic 
 
 authority. 
 K 
 
146 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 Where we now have town-halls our ancestors 
 used to have guildhalls, which were used for 
 a variety of purposes. There the members met 
 to transact their common business. It was the 
 centre of the trade of the town, and, in addition 
 to its other uses, it was a kind of a club-house 
 where the members used to meet and ‘‘ drink 
 their guild,” and, perhaps, gossip and talk scandal 
 like the members of more modern clubs. In 
 Reading the guildhall was close to a brook in 
 which the women washed their clothes, and made 
 so much noise by ‘“‘beating their battledores”’ 
 (which was the usual style of washing clothes in 
 those days) that the worthy brethren were often 
 disturbed in their deliberations; so they petitioned 
 the king to grant them the use of an old church, 
 which was placed at their disposal. In some 
 towns the old guildhall still stands, quaint- 
 looking buildings, often supported on pillars and 
 open beneath. In many places the time-honoured 
 building has been swept away to make room for 
 a more convenient but less interesting edifice. 
 The guildhall of London still stands, although 
 much altered externally; the actual hall is the 
 same in which Buckingham pleaded so earnestly 
 with the reluctant citizens of London to espouse 
 the cause of the wretched Richard III., where 
 
THE GUILDS 147 
 
 Garnet the Jesuit was condemned for his con- 
 nection with the Gunpowder Plot, where Anne 
 Askew was doomed to be burned at the stake 
 for her religious belief, and many other exciting 
 scenes took place. Although the Great Fire 
 wrought much damage to the guildhall and 
 destroyed the roof, the old walls still form part 
 of the present building. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE TYRANNY OF GUILDS—MODERN 
 SURVIVALS 
 
 Some disadvantages of guild-life—Irksome restrictions— 
 Heavy fines— Foreigners’? and “ Evil May-day”— 
 Aristocratic tendencies—Basingstoke Guild—Guilds of the 
 Kalendars and other forms of guild-life—Henry VIII. 
 and the City Companies—Destruction of guilds—Preston 
 Guild—Newcastle—Trinity House— Benefits conferred 
 by the guilds. 
 
 A SPEAKER at a recent Labour Congress attri- 
 buted the poverty of the working people of 
 England to the suppression of the trades guilds. 
 Of course, there were other reasons assigned also, 
 but this was one of the causes given for the 
 increase of the number of poor people in the 
 last and present century. But I question very 
 much whether our tradesfolk and craftsmen 
 would care to live under the severe restrictions 
 which the old trades guilds imposed. They 
 were like the old-fashioned stage coaches, which 
 were very nice for those who rode upon them, 
 
 but they cast a great deal of mud upon those 
 148 
 
THE TYRANNY OF GUILDS 149 
 
 who had to trudge behind them, and if one of 
 these unfortunate people tried to get on the 
 coach he received little mercy from the occu- 
 pants, who used all their force to cast him 
 back again into the mud. The case was similar 
 with the old guilds. “The members were obliged 
 by their rules to be kind and brotherly to their 
 fellow-members, but no one outside the select 
 brotherhood was entitled to any consideration. 
 Any one who came to ply his trade in a town 
 was a ‘“‘foreigner,”’ who must be banished at 
 once, so as not to interfere with the privileges of 
 the guild. Here is an example taken from the 
 annals of an ancient town:—‘“‘In July, 1545, 
 one, Robert Hooper, a barber, being a foreigner, 
 was this day ordered to be gone out of the 
 town at his peril, with his wife ‘and children,” 
 and the town sergeants were ordered to shut 
 up his shop and see poor Robert Hooper and 
 his wife beyond the borough boundaries. 
 
 It seems strange to us to think of the time 
 when a man could not sell what he liked, or 
 live where he liked, or work at any trade he 
 pleased ; but such freedom was impossible under 
 the old guilds. No one was allowed to go and 
 work where he pleased, but he must do his 
 work only in that part of the town which was 
 
150 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 assigned to the members of his craft. The shoe- 
 makers must make shoes in Shoemakers’ Row, 
 and in no other part of the town. The shoe- 
 makers must not mend shoes, for that was the 
 special work of the cobblers, and their privileges 
 must not be interfered with. 
 
 A clothier was not allowed to make as much 
 cloth as he wished, but might only have two 
 looms, or, perhaps, if he were a favoured person, 
 who had done good service to the town, he 
 might have four. The old guild-rules would 
 .not have countenanced our modern co-operative 
 stores, where everything is sold from a shoe- 
 lace to a ship-load of furniture, for under their 
 despotic government a tailor might not sel] cloth, 
 for that would be against the interests of the 
 clothmakers; nor might he sell woven hose, 
 for that would trespass upon the privileges of 
 the haberdashers. A stranger at Southampton. 
 might not even bargain for or buy any goods 
 brought into the town if a guildsman were 
 present and wished to purchase the goods. If 
 the stranger persisted, the goods were forfeited 
 to the king. The ‘‘ middleman” could not exist 
 under the old guild-rules of Southampton, for 
 it was provided by common consent of the 
 guild that “no one shall sell any fresh fish, 
 
THE TYRANNY OF GUILDS ISI 
 
 either in the market or street, but the person 
 who had caught it in the water. And those 
 who bring fresh fish in or about shall bring it 
 all into the market at once. If the fisherman 
 deliver any part of the fish for sale by another 
 than himself he shall lose all, and if any huxter 
 woman buy fish to sell it again she shall lose 
 all.” The old guildsmen did not approve of 
 “sweating ’’ the labourer, and allowing a middle- 
 man to make all the profit, nor did they see 
 why they should pay for their goods a price 
 higher than was fair and just. 
 
 Heavy fines were inflicted on those who dared 
 to disobey the rules of the guild. At Reading 
 no barber was allowed to shave any one after 
 nine o'clock in winter, or ten o’clock in summer. 
 This curious law was passed in 1443, at the 
 commencement of the dispute between the rival 
 houses of York and Lancaster, and was probably 
 intended to prevent unlawful meetings being held 
 in places so frequented as a barber’s shop. The 
 fine exacted for a breach of this rule was 300 
 tiles to the guildhall of Reading. The peculiar 
 form of this fine may be accounted for by the 
 fact that thatch was beginning to be superseded 
 by tile roofs, and the barbers had to supply the 
 materials. One John Bristol was fined 2100 tiles 
 
162 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 for shaving seven persons contrary to the order, 
 but the number of tiles was reduced to 1200 on 
 account of his poverty. 
 
 The price of commodities was fixed by the 
 guild in many cases, and not left to the regulation 
 of the law of supply and demand, as it is now. 
 Beer, bread, &c., were sold at a regular charge, 
 which was fixed by the guild. 
 
 In course of time, when the claims of feudal 
 service were relaxed, the ‘‘foreigners,” or ‘“ out- 
 siders,”” who were not members of any guild, gave 
 a great deal of trouble to the brethren. They 
 settled outside the walls of a town, and, being 
 unfettered by any restrictions, were able to under- 
 sell the tradesfolk in the town, and interfered 
 greatly with their business. In the reign of 
 Henry VIII. we find that an instance of this 
 occurred in the City of London. ‘“‘ Foreigners” 
 had injured the trade of the citizens, who were 
 enraged, and thirsted for revenge. They took 
 advantage of the May-day games and _festi- 
 vities in the year 1517, and turned the usual 
 joyous pastimes into a violent insurrection 
 against ‘‘foreigners.” They secured the help of 
 a preacher named Dr. Bell, who preached a Spital 
 sermon in Easter week, and inflamed the minds 
 of the people by his representation of the evils 
 
THE TYRANNY OF GUILDS 153 
 
 wrought by the “‘strangers,” who ate their bread 
 and devoured their commerce. The result of this 
 was continued rioting and tumults, which term1- 
 nated in a ferocious attack on the shops of the 
 “foreigners” on May-day. Crowds had assembled 
 to take part in the usual games, but the appren- 
 tices, watermen, and servants of the merchants 
 began to insult the obnoxious ‘“‘strangers” who 
 did not belong to the guild, and plundered and 
 destroyed their houses and warehouses. About 
 300 of the rioters were seized and sent to prison, 
 but it does not appear that the poor foreigners 
 received any compensation for their losses. 
 
 The old merchant guilds gradually became 
 rather aristocratic in their tendency, and looked 
 down upon the humbler working men, who 
 formed amongst themselves craft guilds. In 
 earlier times the craftsmen often belonged to the 
 merchant guilds, for there was little difference 
 between the two classes, the craftsmen being 
 merchants and large traders as well as workers. 
 But in course of time the full citizens became 
 rich, and began to look down upon the poorer 
 handicraft men, who were excluded from guild 
 membership on the ground that they had not 
 sufficient property. An ordinance appears in 
 many a guild statute which states that no one 
 
 ll 
 
154 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 with dirty hands, or with blue nails, or who 
 hawked his wares in the streets, should become 
 a member of the guild. The haughty burghers 
 tried also to rule over the craftsmen, to tyrannise 
 and oppress them; and this conduct led to many 
 a conflict and bitter strife. If the workers had 
 not united, they must have been brought into 
 complete subjection; but they formed craft 
 guilds, and by combination, firmness, and per- 
 severance, preserved their rights, and in the 
 fifteenth century won the day against their 
 haughty rivals. The victory of the crafts was 
 perfected in England in the time of Henry VI., 
 and subsequent charters were usually granted to 
 the men of a town, not to the old guild-merchant. 
 
 The rules of these guilds are very similar, and 
 show much forethought and wisdom. They were 
 very careful to secure the good quality of the 
 work, and paid attention to the temporal and 
 spiritual welfare of the members. No one was 
 allowed to work longer than from the beginning 
 of the day until curfew, nor “at night by candle 
 light.” ‘This was intended to prevent bad work- 
 manship, and to give opportunities of leisure for 
 other duties. ‘The working-men of those days had 
 regular holidays from Christmas to the Feast of 
 the Purification (February 2nd), and no work was 
 
THE TYRANNY OF GUILDS 155 
 
 allowed to be done on Saturdays after noon, nor 
 on the eve of great festivals. Working-men were 
 able in those days to find time for their social 
 and religious duties. There was no “sweating,” 
 no incessant, grinding toil which often turns men 
 into slaves; and the artificers of the Middle Ages 
 owed their liberty and their privileges to self-help 
 and co-operation. Men combine now in trades 
 unions, but these lack the old religious spirit 
 which animated the ancient guilds of England, 
 and often establish a tyranny, well-nigh unbear- 
 able, and ruinous to the best interests of both 
 employers and employed. 
 
 Besides those which have been already enumer- 
 ated, there were other guilds which were formed 
 for special purposes. At Basingstoke, near the 
 railway station, there is an old ruined chapel, 
 which was formerly the chapel of the Guild of 
 the Holy Ghost. This association was established 
 for educational purposes ; the accounts have been 
 published, and from this book we find that the 
 guild existed in the thirteenth century, and was 
 confirmed by a charter from Henry VIII. It 
 shared the fate of many other similar institutions 
 in the time of Edward VI., and was suppressed ; 
 but the inhabitants loved their guild and asked 
 Queen Mary to restore it again. When Cromwell 
 
156 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 and the royal forces were fighting around Basing- 
 stoke, the buildings were laid in ruins and the 
 estates lost; but later this vigorous guild, which 
 no one could quite kill, revived again, and now 
 supports a flourishing grammar school, formerly 
 called the ‘“‘ Holy Ghost School.” 
 
 Some of the entries in the accounts, which 
 were kept most carefully and accurately, are 
 curious. Evidently the annual dinner was not 
 forgotten, for we find sundry items such as 
 the following :— 
 
 It’m payde for iij quarters of a pound of pepper xxiij4 
 
 It’m payde for vj IDS of prunis (prunes) . <a te 
 It’m payde for ii oz of cloves. : ; xd 
 It’m payde for iiii 1” of currans (currants). 3 ae 
 
 It’m payde xij !»* of great reasons (raisins) i 
 There are other items for sugar, spoons, salts, 
 four dozen trenchers, butter, eggs, and loins of 
 mutton, also for tending of the fire and the 
 dinner. Evidently the feast was a great occa- 
 sion, and the brethren fared sumptuously on that 
 day at least. In Queen Mary’s time, we find 
 items paid for making the image, for painting 
 the rood, making the ‘‘ Holy Water Pot,” &c.; 
 but these cease when with Elizabeth reformed 
 principles revived. 
 
 The clergy had their ouild, called the Guild 
 
THE TYRANNY OF GUILDS 157 
 
 of the Kalendars, which arose out of the monthly 
 meetings of the clergy who assembled to de- 
 liberate about Church matters. There was a 
 famous guild of this nature at Bristol, which 
 was not confined to the clergy, but laymen and 
 their wives were also admitted. The ladies were 
 only allowed to become members and be present 
 at the feasts on one condition—that the wife 
 of the lay brother whose turn it was should 
 provide the meal and wait at table. The 
 brethren were evidently very careful and prudent 
 men! This guild recorded all the public events 
 which occurred, and had the charge of a library 
 to which the citizens were admitted. They 
 kept their books “fin the roodloft or chamber 
 next unto the street on the north side of All 
 Saints’ Church,” and in 1318 a disastrous fire 
 occurred during which many of the charters, 
 writings, and records were “‘lost and embezeled 
 away. ‘The library was afterwards enriched, 
 but another fire occurred in 1466, “through the 
 carelessness of a drunken point-maker,” which 
 again destroyed the valuable collection of books. 
 These guilds, which were numerous, had their 
 own guildhall, which was a kind of club-house 
 where the members, both ecclesiastical and lay, 
 used to meet daily and “drink their guild.” 
 
158 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 There was also a class called Social Guilds, 
 which were devoted to good fellowship and the 
 encouragement of benevolence, and did not con- 
 cern themselves with trade or religion. Some- 
 times guilds were founded for some special 
 purpose, such as the support of a church, the 
 maintenance of an altar, the performance of a 
 play. The order of the Knight Templars, 
 which was a very famous society in the Middle 
 Ages, and played a conspicuous part in the 
 Crusades, was originally a guild. The order 
 of the Freemasons was based upon the old 
 guild form; at one time each branch was sepa- 
 rate and distinct, and it is comparatively recently, 
 within the present century, that the lodges in 
 England were brought into subjection to one 
 chief lodge, which holds its court in London. 
 
 Having glanced at the various forms of guild- 
 life in old England, we will now consider the 
 effect which time had upon these venerable insti- 
 tutions. The merchant guilds became very rich 
 and powerful, the possessors of large property ; 
 .the craft guilds had likewise won their way, and 
 gained wealth, honour, and privileges. Then 
 came the Reformation in the sixteenth century, 
 which very considerably disturbed the peaceful 
 existence of all the guilds in this country as 
 
THE TYRANNY OF GUILDS 159 
 
 well as on the Continent. The city guilds of 
 London were especially wealthy, and therefore 
 attracted the covetous eyes of Henry VIII. He 
 was not content with plundering the Church of 
 her property, and enriching his favourites with 
 the spoils, bestowing upon his courtiers wealth, 
 lands, and plate which had been left to the 
 Church, but he must needs deprive the guilds, 
 too, of wealth which he deemed superfluous. In 
 1544 the king “ borrowed” from the city guilds 
 of London the large sum of 421,263 6s. 8d. for 
 his wars in Scotland. It was very unwise of the 
 members to lend so large a sum, but probably 
 they were compelled, and this was the beginning 
 of a system of extortion which both the Tudor 
 and Stuart kings very successfully practised upon 
 the old companies and guilds of London and 
 other large towns. 
 
 In 1545 a severe blow was aimed at all institu- 
 tions which were likely to yield booty for the 
 royal spoiler. This was an Act for the dissolu- 
 tion of colleges. It stated that diverse colleges, 
 chauntries, free chapels, hospitals, fraternities, 
 brotherhoods, guilds, and stipendiary priests, 
 having perpetuity for ever, had misapplied the 
 possessions thereof in various ways; and enjoined 
 that all the same should be dissolved, and the 
 
160 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 proceeds applied for supporting the king’s ex- 
 penses in wars, for the maintenance of the 
 crown, &c. 
 
 In the following reign the evil ministers of 
 Edward VI. proceeded at once to take advantage 
 of this Act, and to begin the work of spoliation. 
 Special commissioners were appointed, who pro- 
 ceeded to send to each town very minute inquiries 
 concerning the guilds, brotherhoods, fraternities, 
 and especially concerning the property, goods, 
 ornaments, chattels, &c., which they possessed. 
 
 Perhaps the good people loved their guilds too 
 well to return a full account of all their posses- 
 sions; but although a great number of these 
 ancient institutions were swept away by the unjust 
 and scandalous measures of the king’s advisers, 
 some managed to weather the storm and to main- 
 tain their existence. 
 
 In one town in England the old guild has 
 lived on through so many centuries, and although 
 the objects for which it was first founded have 
 long passed away, it is still celebrated with much 
 of its ancient glory and magnificence. I refer 
 to the town of Preston, where every twenty 
 years the guild is held with much festivity, 
 and the whole town is ex /féte for a fortnight. 
 This is the proclamation which is issued by 
 
THE TYRANNY OF GUILDS 161 
 
 the mayor when the year of the guild comes 
 round :—‘* The Guild Merchant for the Borough 
 of Preston will be opened with the usual solem- 
 nities in the Town Hall on the first Monday 
 after the feast of the decollation of St. John 
 the Baptist, when all persons claiming to have 
 any right to freedom or other franchise of the 
 same borough, whether by ancestry, prescrip- 
 tion, or purchase, are to appear by themselves 
 or their proxies to claim and make out their 
 several rights thereto, otherwise they will accord- 
 ing to ancient and immemorial usage forfeit the 
 same. 
 
 A court is formed consisting of the mayor, the 
 three senior aldermen, who are called seneschals or 
 stewards, four other aldermen, called aldermen of 
 the guild, and the clerk of the guild. Before 
 this court all who desire to be enrolled as 
 freemen of the guild have to appear and make 
 good their claim. In olden days we have seen 
 how important it was for a man to become a 
 freeman of the guild mercatory; otherwise he 
 would not be able to carry on his calling, and 
 was liable to a heavy fine every time he sold a 
 piece of cloth or made a pair of boots. But in 
 these days to become a freeman of a borough is 
 
 little more than an honourable distinction; we 
 L 
 
162 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 have long ago swept away the absurd restrictions 
 which hampered and hindered trade in the Middle 
 Ages; and although Trade Unionists would like 
 to revive some of these obsolete ideas, and prevent 
 men from doing an honest day’s work who did 
 not belong to their union, I do not think such 
 notions commend themselves to the common 
 sense of English people. But it was a great 
 thing to be a freeman of the Guild of Preston 
 in former times, and now it is an honourable 
 distinction. 
 
 The first Preston Guild of which we have 
 any record was celebrated in the reign of 
 Edward Ill., although there was probably a 
 guild existing there long before. It is supposed 
 to be of Saxon origin, as many guild merchants 
 were established in seaports in Saxon times for 
 the purpose of carrying on commercial enter- 
 prises with Hanse privileges, and Preston was 
 one of the early ports selected for this purpose. 
 These are some of the laws of the Preston 
 Guild (temp. Henry II.) :— 
 
 “1. So that they shall have a guild merchant 
 ‘with Hlanse, and other customs belonging to 
 such guild; so that no one who is not of that 
 guild shall make any merchandise in the said 
 town, unless with the will of the burgesses. 
 
THE TYRANNY OF GUILDS 163 
 
 2. If any bondman hold any land, and be 
 of the guild, and pay scot and lot with the 
 burgesses for one year and a day, then he shall 
 not be reclaimed by his lord, but shall remain 
 free in the town.” 
 
 Every twenty years since the year 1329 the 
 festival has been held, except on two occasions 
 —during the Wars of the Roses, and during 
 the troubles of the Reformation—and the com- 
 memoration is of a most gorgeous descripton. 
 The companies of the trading fraternities assemble 
 early in the morning, and, accompanied by the 
 noblemen and gentry of the county, they wend 
 their way, as in the good old days, to the 
 parish church. After the service a grand pro- 
 cession is formed, and the companies, decorated 
 with the insignia of their trades, parade the 
 town. First march the tanners, skinners, curriers, 
 and glovers; then follow the weavers and 
 spinners, the cordwainers, carpenters, butchers, 
 vintners, tailors, plasterers, smiths, gardeners, 
 printers and bookbinders, freemasons, &c. The 
 ladies, too, take a prominent part in the func- 
 tions, and march in procession, headed by the 
 mayoress, accompanied by the ladies of the best 
 families in the county. Banquets, balls, plays, 
 concerts, follow each other in rapid succession, 
 
164 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 and for a whole fortnight the town keeps high 
 festival. 
 
 At the conclusion of the guild the masters and 
 wardens of the companies attend upon the guild 
 mayor in the guildhall. The companies have 
 their guild orders sealed and regularly entered 
 in the books. Proclamation is next made, and 
 the name of each inhabitant burgess called over, 
 when the grand seneschal, or town-clerk, affixes 
 the corporation seal upon the guild-book, which 
 afterwards holding up, he says, “‘ Here is your 
 law.” ‘The sergeants then make proclamation: 
 ‘This grand guild merchants’ court is adjourned 
 for twenty years, until a new guild merchants’ 
 court be held and duly proclaimed.” ~ 
 
 Such is the relic of olden times which has 
 come down to us. A few years ago the festival 
 was held, and_if we live until the year 1902 we 
 shall probably witness another Preston Guild, if 
 all good old institutions have not quite passed 
 away before that distant date. 
 
 Pope Julian II. offered some strong induce- 
 ments to the good people of Boston, in Lincoln- 
 shire, to join the Guild of the Blessed Mary 
 in that town. He granted a pardon, which 
 provided that any Christian person who should 
 aid and support the chamberlain of the guild 
 
THE TYRANNY OF GUILDS 165 
 
 should have five hundred years of pardon! 
 He allowed the brothers and sisters of the same 
 guild to eat during Lent, or on fast days, 
 eggs, milk, butter, and flesh, by the advice 
 of their spiritual pastor, without any scruple 
 of conscience, and accounted the “merit” of 
 membership equal to a pilgrimage to Rome. 
 Evidently the guild had subscribed liberally to 
 Peter’s Pence, and enjoyed the high favour of 
 the Pontiff. The guildhall still remains. 
 
 The records of the guilds of Newcastle are full 
 of interest. They show the hostile feelings which 
 the northerners entertained to their neighbours 
 over the Border, and no Scotchman was allowed 
 to become an apprentice to any trade in the town. 
 The members were very careful also to keep the 
 guild-light burning before the altar of their 
 patron saint, and to provide for the performance 
 of the annual play. For instance, a tailor, when 
 he set up his shop, paid £40, with a pound of 
 wax and a pot of oil, 13d. for our Lady-light, and 
 8d. to the play, ““ The Descent into Hell.” All 
 the brethren of all the guilds were required to 
 come in their guild liveries and join in the grand 
 procession on Corpus Christi Day, and to set 
 forth their plays and pageants, otherwise they 
 were fined a pound of wax. 
 
166 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 The observance of Sunday was also strictly 
 enjoined by all the guild rules. On that day 
 no one was allowed to ply his trade, nor on 
 Saturday after eight o’clock in the evening; but 
 should keep holy the Sunday vigils and festival 
 days on pain of six pounds of wax for every 
 default. The rule for abstaining from all work 
 on Sunday is a notable feature in nearly every 
 guild ordinance. 
 
 Not only landsmen were benefited by the 
 action of our ancient guilds, but it is to one of 
 these most useful institutions that the seamen 
 of olden times owed the erection of lighthouses 
 and beacons to direct their course when approach- 
 ing our coasts. The Trinity House Guild of 
 Deptford, on the Thames, founded in 1512 on 
 some ancient mariners’ fraternity, and composed 
 of ‘‘the chiefest and most expert masters and 
 governors incorporate within themselves,” was 
 empowered to erect sea-marks on the shores and 
 forelands ‘‘to save and keep seafaring men and 
 the ships in their charge from sundry dangers.” 
 This guild has risen into one of vast importance. 
 The greater number of our lighthouses belong 
 to, and are managed by, this corporation; all 
 ships pay toll to the guild for the maintenance 
 of the lighthouses; pilots are appointed and’ 
 
THE TYRANNY OF GUILDS 167 
 
 licensed by it; poor and aged seamen are sup- 
 ported; and England owes the protection of 
 navigation and commerce to this most useful 
 and venerable institution. At Newcastle there 
 was a similar association, also dedicated to the 
 Holy Trinity, which was empowered by Henry 
 VIII. to build two towers at the entrance to 
 the Tyne haven, in which a light was burned 
 for the guidance of ships entering the port. 
 Every foreign ship paid 4d., and every English 
 ship 2d., to the guild for the support of the 
 light. To this fraternity were assigned the ap- 
 pointment of pilots, the maintenance of beacons 
 and buoys, &c., and the care of aged seamen 
 and widows. At Hull there existed a similar 
 institution. 
 
 From this brief description of the ancient guilds 
 of England it is evident how important a part 
 they played in “the making of England,” in the 
 foundation of so many of the institutions which 
 we value so much at the present day. To them 
 we owe our municipal system of government, 
 our borough laws, our trade, commerce, our 
 light-houses, &c. To them our forefathers 
 were indebted for the protection of their rights 
 and liberties in lawless times, for prosperity and 
 peace and settled government in the days of 
 
168 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 oppression and tyranny. To them they owed 
 many social pleasures and happy days of harm- 
 less mirth which diversified their lives and made 
 our forefathers a light-hearted and contented 
 people. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 MEDIZVAL TOWNS 
 
 Towns built by special decree of the king—Hull—Merchants 
 and their houses—Cannynge of Bristol—Richard Whitting- 
 ton and his cat—Sir John Crosby—John Taverner of Hull 
 and his * Grace Dieu”’—Ecclesiastical traders—An old 
 town in medieval times—Town houses—St. Mary’s Hall, 
 Coventry — Craftsmen’s hovels — State of the streets— 
 Plagues—* Black Death’? —Fires— Foreign traders— 
 Expansion of commerce. 
 
 We have already spoken of the towns which 
 arose around the abbeys, and castles, and bishop’s 
 seat, of those which date their origin to Roman 
 times; but there are others which owe their 
 foundation to the foresight and enterprise of 
 Wise monarchs, which were built for special pur- 
 poses, and did not spring into existence by 
 accident, or trace their descent from ancient times. 
 In the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries, 
 kings and feudal lords found it a wise policy to 
 encourage trade, and grant protection and privi- 
 
 leges to traders. They founded commercial towns 
 169 
 
170 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 and gave them charters, and did their utmost to 
 increase the power of the burghers in order to 
 check the power of the nobles. Such towns are 
 not so numerous in England as in other countries, 
 but we have a notable instance of the creation 
 of a great commercial city in the history of the 
 foundation of Hull. 
 
 When Edward I. was returning from Scotland, 
 after the battle of Dunbar, he visited Barnard 
 Castle, and when hunting one day he chanced 
 to ride to the village of Wyke-upon- Hull, 
 which belonged to the abbey of Meaux, and 
 appeared suitable for the erection of a fortress 
 and port. Having gained possession of the site, 
 he offered freedom and great commercial privileges 
 to all merchants who would build houses and 
 inhabit them. The king erected a manor-house 
 for himself, and in 1299 the borough was in- 
 corporated. The merchants quickly availed them- 
 selves of the king’s offer and proceeded to build 
 houses, and Hull soon became a flourishing town. 
 It was fortified with walls and towers; a great 
 church was built in 1312, and the powerful 
 family of the De la Poles were foremost in 
 carrying out the king’s wishes, and rose rapidly 
 in wealth and power. One, Michael de la Pole, 
 “builded a goodly house of brick, against St. 
 
MEDIAZVAL TOWNS 171 
 
 Mary’s Church, like a palace, with a goodly 
 orchard and garden at large, enclosed in brick. 
 He builded also three houses in the town 
 besides, whereof every one had a tower of 
 brick.” These bricks were brought over from 
 Holland. 
 
 Very fine and stately buildings were these 
 town houses of medizval merchants, and very 
 important persons were their owners, often the 
 younger sons of old county families, who were 
 not of opinion that work and trade were deroga- 
 tory to their dignity. Kings honoured them 
 with their confidence, stayed with them in their 
 houses, and often conferred upon them titles, 
 honours, and estates. Such a great merchant 
 was William Cannynge, of Bristol, who founded 
 the noble church of St. Mary, Redcliffe, a grand 
 memorial of his greatness and piety. His king, 
 Henry VI., delighted to honour him, and styled 
 him “his beloved and honourable merchant.” 
 Vast was his fleet—his shipping, amounting to 
 2470 tons, was seized by the victorious Yorkist 
 monarch—and vast were his commercial enter- 
 prises, whereby he made Bristol a large and 
 flourishing port. Another was the famous 
 Richard Whittington, “thrice Lord Mayor of 
 London.” The story about his wonderful cat 
 
172 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 probably arose from the fact that he had a ship 
 which bore that name, and which enriched its 
 owner by its numerous and successful voyages. 
 But it is quite possible that there was some 
 truth in the old story; and does not his portrait 
 hang on the walls of Mercers’ Hall, to which 
 honourable company he belonged, with the figure 
 of a cat in the corner? At any rate the other 
 part of the famous story is quite untrue; he was 
 not a poor man’s son who sought his fortune 
 in London, but the son of the good knight 
 Sir William Whittington, or Whytington, of 
 Pauntley 1n Gloucestershire, a worthy gentle- 
 man, and he was apprenticed to his cousin 
 Sir John Fitzwarren, a rich mercer, whose 
 daughter he married. This famous Richard 
 amassed great wealth as a trader, was Lord 
 Mayor three times, and proved himself to be 
 “‘a worthy and notable merchant, the which 
 while he lived had right liberal and large hands 
 to the needy and poor people.” He built and 
 endowed a college which was suppressed, and an 
 almshouse which remains, and moreover enter- 
 tained his sovereign Henry V. right royally, 
 bestowing upon him as a parting gift as much 
 as £60,000. It was during his tenure of office 
 as Lord Mayor of London that the famous 
 
MEDIEVAL TOWNS 173 
 Liber Albus, or “white book,” of the City of 
 
 London was drawn up, which contains a very 
 full account of the laws and rules regulating 
 commerce and social life in the City of London. 
 
 Near Liverpool Street Station, in Bishopsgate, 
 still stands the house of Sir John Crosby, alder- 
 man of London in the reign of Edward IV., 
 the last of the residences of the old London 
 merchant princes. A notable house it was in 
 ancient days. Here Richard III. lived, before 
 he became king, and plotted his deep designs 
 for the usurpation of the crown. Here he 
 feasted and gathered round him his adherents. 
 Here too lived several Lord Mayors of London, 
 and at one time the French ambassador with 
 four hundred knights and nobles feasted royally 
 in Crosby Hall. 
 
 Hull too can boast of its merchant princes, 
 and one John Taverner of that town is said to 
 have “by the help of God and some of the 
 king’s subjects, built a ship as large as a great 
 carrack (the largest ships of the Venetian traders), 
 or even longer, which the king directed should 
 be called the carrack Grace Dzeu, moreover 
 granting him to carry wool, tin, lambskins, and 
 other hides to Italy, and to bring back bow- 
 staves, wax, and other foreign produce necessary 
 
174 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 to the country, to the great benefit of the revenue 
 and of the nation.” 
 
 In the Middle Ages every one traded who could, 
 ecclesiastics not excepted. The Cistercian monks 
 were the greatest wool-merchants in the king- 
 dom, until in 1344 Parliament docked them of 
 the privilege. One worthy abbot of St. Albans 
 traded in herrings, having agents and a storehouse 
 at Yarmouth, ‘‘to the inestimable advantage as 
 well as honour of his abbey.” 
 
 These old merchants were very liberal with 
 their wealth. They built and endowed numerous 
 beautiful churches, and many of those in Lincoln- 
 shire and Norfolk, which are remarkable for 
 their vastness and grandeur, owe their existence 
 to the munificence of the merchants of olden 
 days. 
 
 The houses of these medieval traders were 
 very unlike the homes of modern citizens. The 
 numerous apprentices and workmen lived under 
 their master’s roof, and partook of their meals 
 in the large hall together with the family. The 
 merchant and his family sat at the high table, 
 which stood on the dais, or low platform, at one 
 end of the hall, while his servants were seated 
 at a long table, which was placed in the lower 
 part of the building. 
 
MEDIASVAL TOWNS 175 
 
 Outside the strong walls of a medieval town 
 was a tract of land, both pasture and arable, 
 which was the common land of the townsfolk. 
 Massive towers stand at intervals along the walls, 
 which bear the names of old heroes, or preserve 
 the memory of their founders. Each gate 1s 
 guarded by a strong tower; a moat surrounds 
 it, which is crossed by a drawbridge, and before 
 we cross the bridge there is the barbican, or 
 watch-tower, to protect it. 
 
 On entering the town, we see wide streets and 
 beautiful houses with picturesque gables, a great 
 many churches with graceful spires and towers, 
 several guildhalls, where the members of the 
 guilds meet, transact their business, and ‘‘ drink 
 their guild” each day; and as we go along the 
 streets we hear the town bell calling the burghers 
 to their “mote,” or meeting, or summoning 
 them to protect the walls against a foe; and an 
 army of sturdy citizens is called into being, each 
 bearing his pike and bow, ready for the fray, 
 resolved to protect their hearths and homes, no 
 matter who their foe might be. 
 
 And the houses of these great merchants, 
 which could accommodate a number of appren- 
 tices and workmen, all living under their master’s 
 roof, were large, important, and well-constructed 
 
176 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 buildings. Domestic architecture was at its height 
 about the year 1520, and some specimens of the 
 art of that period still exist. There was a large 
 quadrangular court, like that of an Oxford or 
 Cambridge college; at the entrance there was a 
 gatehouse, with a strong iron-bound door. The 
 principal room was the grand hall, with windows 
 filled with stained glass, the walls supported by 
 buttresses, and at one end of the hall was a large 
 oriel; at the other end there were screens, and 
 over them a gallery in which the musicians played 
 on state occasions. It was a very stately building, 
 with its high timber roof and mullioned windows 
 and tapestry-covered walls. The fireplace was 
 either in the centre of the room, and the smoke 
 arose from the burning logs and found its way 
 out through a hole in the roof, or a fireplace was 
 built into the wall, and a wide open chimney 
 conveyed the smoke upwards. Then there were 
 solars, and withdrawing-rooms (hence our word 
 ‘“‘drawing-room”’), whither the ladies used to 
 retire after dinner, and a chapel generally formed 
 part of a merchant’s house. Behind the kitchen 
 ‘there was a tower, which could be defended in 
 case of assault. An example of this may be seen 
 at St. Mary’s Hall, Coventry. 
 
 But all the town houses in medizval times 
 
MEDIAVAL TOWNS 177 
 
 were not so great as those which I have just 
 described, and we will picture to ourselves the 
 home of an ordinary citizen. The house had a 
 narrow front, its gable-end facing the street. On 
 the ground floor was the shop, about three feet 
 above the street, the basement being the cellar. 
 The shop was open to the street, a board, or 
 counter, being placed across the opening, behind 
 which the tradesman sat and sold his wares. A 
 stone outside staircase led into the house. Above 
 the shop was the hall, in which the citizen, his 
 family, and apprentices lived, the kitchen being at 
 the back of the hall; but many houses had no 
 kitchen. On the second floor was the dormitory, 
 a long undivided sleeping-room, and the space in 
 the roof above was utilised as a store-room. The 
 lower part of the house was built of stone or 
 brick, the upper of wood, the timber being ar- 
 ranged in patterns and sometimes painted; a whole 
 street formed of such houses presented a very 
 picturesque appearance. 
 
 Coventry still preserves a large afin of such 
 old houses, with the beautifully carved woodwork 
 of their gable-ends, their upper floors projecting ; 
 and one or two of the narrow streets remain 
 in which it would be possible to shake hands 
 
 across the road. St. Mary’s Hall, in the same 
 M 
 
178 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 town, is one of the most interesting buildings 
 in England. Coventry was very rich in its number 
 of religious and trading guilds, and St. Mary’s 
 Hall belonged to three of the most important 
 ones. On entering the quadrangle, down some 
 steps on the right, we see the crypt where the 
 merchants deposited their goods. ‘There are also 
 holes in the wall where they could place their 
 strong chests. Then there are the kitchens, with 
 several fireplaces, and on an arch 1s carved an angel 
 holding a shield charged with a merchant’s mark, 
 and dated 1440. These marks are very numerous 
 and various, and some examples are given in the 
 accompanying illustrations. The large hall is a 
 very imposing building, with its minstrels’ gallery, 
 and a dais, and several suits of armour, a very 
 small portion of the great store of offensive and 
 defensive weapons which once belonged to the 
 burghers of Coventry. 
 
 The craftsmen lived together in narrow filthy 
 streets and dark courts; their houses were 
 humble dwellings built of wattle-and-daub, of 
 _ one or two storeys. A fire burned in the centre 
 of the room wherein the craftsmen worked and 
 lived, and often slept. All kinds of refuse were 
 thrown into the street, from which arose most 
 pestilential odours. No wonder that plagues 
 
MEDIA, VAL TOWNS 179 
 
 raged wildly in these wretched hovels, and fevers 
 and sweating sickness carried off their victims. 
 When the Black Death found a congenial soil 
 in these filthy lanes of our towns, historians 
 tell us that one-third of the whole population 
 of England died. Great pits were dug outside 
 the town walls, and the bodies of the victims 
 of the plague were buried to the number of 
 one or two hundred a day. labourers and 
 artisans, who were the chief sufferers, became so 
 scarce that wages rose enormously. Fires also 
 frequently arose in the poor men’s hovels, and 
 swept through the towns and destroyed their 
 fair buildings, their merchants’ palaces, guild- 
 halls, and stately churches. Famine, too, often 
 raised its hideous head, when during the civil 
 wars the land lay desolate, and the poor folk 
 were reduced to make their bread from fern 
 roots. However, these three dread visitors, Fire, 
 Famine, and Pestilence, only came at intervals, 
 and in their absence there was much happiness 
 and growing prosperity in our towns in medizval 
 times. 
 
 There was a strong foreign element in our 
 trade and commerce. The armorial bearings 
 of the Lombard merchants, the Medicis of 
 Florence, consisting of three gilded pills (hence 
 
180 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 the three balls of the modern pawnbroker), might 
 be seen over the doorways of their agents in 
 some of our chief towns, and the great Hanse 
 merchants had established themselves in London, 
 Boston, and Lynn. Leland tells us that ‘‘ mer- 
 chants of the stiliard cumming by all partes by 
 est were wont greatly to haunt St. Botolph’s town, 
 or Boston.” The Stiliard, or Steelyard, was their 
 London house, which was assigned to these 
 German merchants by Edward IV., and stood 
 upon the site of Cannon Street Station. 
 English traders objected to the privileges 
 bestowed upon these foreign merchants; hence 
 we find a quaintly worded ‘Act touching the 
 merchants of Italy” which states that they were 
 resident in great numbers both in London and 
 in other cities of England, and were in the habit 
 of taking warehouses and cellars in which to 
 store the wares and merchandises they imported, 
 and ‘‘them in their said warehouses and cellars 
 deceitfully pack, meddle, and keep unto the time 
 the prices thereof been greatly enhanced, for their 
 ‘most lucre, and did then sell to all manner of 
 people within the ports as in other divers places 
 as well by retail as otherwise.” ‘‘ Moreover, 
 they will not take upon them any laborious 
 occupation, as carting and ploughing, and other 
 
MEDIZ:VAL TOWNS 181 
 
 like business, but use making of cloth and other 
 handicrafts and easy occupations, and bring and 
 convey from the parts of beyond the sea great 
 substance of wares and merchandises unto fairs 
 and markets, and all other places of your realm, 
 at their pleasure, and there sell the same, to the 
 great hurt and impoverishing of your subjects, 
 whereby your said subjects for lack of occupation 
 fall to idleness, and been thieves, beggars, vaga- 
 bonds, and people of vicious living to the great 
 trouble of your highness and of all your said 
 realm.” Many restrictions were imposed upon 
 the foreigners, but most of them were happily 
 inoperative; and our trade, whether carried on 
 by Englishmen or by these strangers from beyond 
 seas, advanced by leaps and bounds, and laid the 
 foundations of England’s greatness among the 
 nations of Europe. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 IN THE STREETS 
 
 Street scenes—The London Livery Companies—The Mer- 
 cers and their pageant—Triumphal return of Henry V. 
 from Agincourt: a City welcome—Pageant for Henry VI. 
 —River pageants—Chester’s “ setting of the watch”? — 
 Coventry plays and pageants—Kenilworth—Corpus Christi 
 Day—Chester plays—Reading—Pillories and punishments 
 —Master Lickpenny’s adventures. 
 
 WE have entered a medieval town and marked 
 its walls and bulwarks. We have seen the citizens 
 at work, the merchants in their palatial halls, the 
 tradesmen in their shops, and the craftsfolk in 
 their hovels. Now let us walk through the 
 streets and notice the crowds that throng them. 
 We will see the pageants and “‘ridings” as they 
 pass, the excitement of the spectators, the gorgeous 
 dresses of the ladies, and the no less splendid 
 robes of the Livery Companies, the open-air plays, 
 the sports and pastimes, and all the varied scenes 
 of English out-door life in the Middle Ages. 
 
 The Lord Mayor’s Show, shorn of much of 
 
 182 
 
IN THE STREETS 183 
 
 its former magnificence, the procession of trades 
 guilds which occurs once in twenty years at 
 Preston, the Coventry pageant of Lady Godiva, 
 are the few worn-out relics of the ancient pageants 
 which delighted our forefathers. The Livery 
 Companies of the City of London were foremost 
 in these displays, and very gorgeous the brethren 
 looked, resplendent sometimes in “one livery of 
 red and white with the connuzances of their 
 mysteries embroidered on their sleeves,” and 
 sometimes in “‘scarlet and green,” or “scarlet 
 and black,” or ‘‘ murrey and plunket,” ‘‘a darkly- 
 red,” or “a kind of blue.’’ But these were only 
 for ordinary occasions; at special festivals, on 
 the coronation of a sovereign, or at some state 
 function, the companies shone in _ splendour 
 with ‘‘blew gowns and red hoods,” or ‘ brown- 
 blew with broderyed sleevys,” or “red, with 
 hoods red and white.” The effect of such vivid 
 colours must have been very striking, and brilliant 
 must have been the scene when the brethren, 
 clad in their new liveries, marched in procession 
 through the streets to attend the services of the 
 Church, or when, in their festal halls, they enter- 
 tained nobles and princes, and the mighty ‘‘ baron ” 
 made the table groan, and “‘ frumertie with veny- 
 son, brawn, fat swans, boar, conger, sea-hog,” and 
 
184 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 other delicacies crowned the feast, while the merry 
 music of the minstrels or the performance of the 
 players delighted the gay throng. We might 
 linger long in contemplating the ancient glories 
 and civic state of the Livery Companies, their 
 magnificent shows and gorgeous ceremonies. 
 
 See the Mercers pass along the streets, their 
 livery robes faced with satin, the gentlemen ushers 
 with velvet coats and chains of gold. Gowns 
 and scarlet satin hoods distinguish the bachelors ; 
 others wear plush coats; while trumpeters, 
 drummers, fifemen, and pensioners in red gowns 
 complete the procession. ‘Then is drawn along 
 a huge pageant representing a rock of coral with 
 seaweeds; at the summit sits Neptune mounted 
 on a dolphin, accompanied by tritons, mermaids, 
 and other marine attendants. Then follows 
 another pageant, a triumphal chariot, adorned 
 with a variety of paintings, enriched with gold 
 and silver and rare jewels, and figures bearing 
 the banners of kings and mayors and the com- 
 panies, with the arms of their founder, Richard I. 
 A virgin, representing the arms of the Mercers, 
 sits upon a high throne, dressed in a robe of white 
 satin, decked with gold and jewels; her long, 
 dishevelled, flaxen hair is adorned with pearls and 
 gems, and crowned with a rich coronet of gold 
 
IN THE STREETS 185 
 
 and jewels. Her buskins are of gold, laced with 
 scarlet ribbons, and she bears a sceptre and a 
 shield, with the arms of the Mercers. She has 
 a goodly company of attendants, Fame blowing 
 her trumpet, Vigilance, Wisdom, and other per- 
 sonified virtues, and the Nine Muses, while eight 
 pages of honour walk on foot, and Triumph acts 
 as charioteer. Nine white Flanders horses draw 
 the huge machine, each horse being mounted by 
 some emblematical figure, such as Asia, America, 
 Victory, and the like. Grooms and Roman lictors 
 in crimson garb, and twenty savages, or “‘green 
 men,” throwing squibs and fireworks, complete the 
 pageant. 
 
 Never did London show its loyalty with greater 
 splendour than on the occasion of the triumph of 
 Henry V. after his victory at Agincourt. Twenty 
 thousand citizens marched with the Lord Mayor 
 to Blackheath to welcome the conquering mon- 
 arch, the brethren of the Livery Companies 
 wearing red gowns, with hoods of red and white, 
 ‘well mounted and gorgeously horsed, with rich 
 colours and great chains, rejoicing at his victorious 
 returne.” A huge giant was stationed at the 
 entrance of London Bridge, who recited an ode 
 of welcome and congratulation. On the top of 
 one of the temporary towers stood a lion and an 
 
186 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 antelope, on the other a choir of angels who sang 
 ‘“‘ Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the 
 Lord.” Glad hurrahs greeted the king as he 
 rode through the crowded streets which were 
 canopied with rich cloths, and silks and tapestries 
 adorned each window. On a tower at Cornhill 
 were stationed the patriarchs, who chanted “Sing 
 unto the Lord a new song,” and threw down live 
 birds that flew thick about the king. At Cheap- 
 side the conduits ran wine, instead of water, and 
 the twelve apostles sang psalms, while twelve kings 
 knelt before him. Angels on towers sang his 
 praises and showered down gold pieces, or imita- 
 tions of the same. Mitred bishops received him at 
 St. Paul’s Cathedral with all the pomp of medieval 
 ceremonial; the bells clanged joyously, while the 
 choirmen poured fortha glad Ze Deum Laudamus. 
 Such scenes delighted well our forefathers. 
 
 When the young king Henry VI. was welcomed 
 to London by the citizens, they devised many 
 surprises for the boy monarch. ‘Three ladies clad 
 in gold and silk, representing Grace, Nature, and 
 Fortune, endowed him with various gifts of 
 wisdom, strength, beauty, and prosperity. Then 
 came the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit, and 
 Seven Gifts of Grace, all represented by richly 
 attired ladies, who with sundry rhymes and divers 
 
IN THE STREETS 187 
 
 chantings imparted their virtues to the king. 
 Nor were Truth, Wisdom and her seven sciences, 
 Mercy, and Cleanness backward in bestowing their 
 royal gifts. The garden of Paradise bloomed 
 afresh behind the conduits in Cheapside; Mercy, 
 Grace, and Pity drew wine, not water, from the 
 fountains for all who wished to drink ; and Enoch 
 and Elias greeted the monarch. 
 
 The river, too, was often a scene of surpassing 
 splendour, as when Elizabeth, the wife of Henry 
 VII., was crowned, and all the worthy citizens 
 united to do her honour. ‘“ At her coming 
 forth from Greenwich by water there was attend- 
 ing upon her there the maior, shrifes, and 
 aldermen of the citie, and divers and many 
 worshipfull comoners, chosen out of every crafte, 
 in their liveries, in barges freshly furnished with 
 banners and streamers of silke, richly blason with 
 the arms and bagges of their craftes; and in 
 especiall a barge, called the bachelor’s barge, 
 garnished and apparelud, passing all other, wherein 
 was ordeyned a great redd dragon, spowting 
 flames of fyer into the Thames; and many other 
 gentlemanlie pagiants, well and curiously devised, 
 to do Her Highness sport and pleasure with.” 
 
 Nor was this love of pageants confined to the 
 metropolis. In many other towns we see the 
 
188 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 people assembling in gay crowds to see the page- 
 ants pass and to revel in such innocent pastimes 
 and diversions. At Chester, on the eve of the 
 festival of St. John the Baptist, the citizens used 
 to delight in a famous pageant called ‘the 
 setting of the watch,” in which the following 
 company took an active part: four giants, one 
 unicorn, one dragon, one dromedary, one luce, 
 one camel, one ass, six hobby-horses, and sixteen 
 naked boys representing cupids. The spectators 
 lined the old Rows of Chester, to witness the 
 spectacle; but a Puritan mayor arose who liked 
 not these diversions, and slew the dragon with 
 the skill of a St. George, broke the pasteboard 
 giants, and whipped away the cupids. However, 
 the Chester folk did not approve of these pro- 
 ceedings, and a few years later the giants were 
 restored, and moreover two shillings’ worth of 
 arsenic was mixed with the paste for the making 
 of the giants, to prevent them from being de- 
 voured by rats. 
 
 Coventry also was famous for its pageants and 
 plays. On Hock Tuesday the people had a 
 merry diversion representing the fight between 
 the Saxons and Danes. The players divided 
 themselves into two companies to represent the 
 Saxons and Danes; a great battle ensued, and by 
 
INDE STREETS 189 
 
 the help of the Saxon women the former were vic- 
 torious, and led their foes captive. This play was 
 performed before Queen Elizabeth, who laughed 
 much at the pageant, and bestowed upon the per- 
 formers two bucks and five marks in money. 
 Sir Walter Scott has made every one familiar with 
 the splendid pageants which were performed in 
 honour of the same queen at Kenilworth Castle— 
 the mighty, gigantic porter at the gate who recited 
 sonorous verses to greet her majesty, the gods and 
 goddesses who offered gifts and compliments on 
 bended knee, the Lady of the Lake surrounded 
 by tritons and nereids, who approached the 
 queen on a floating island, and the strange con- 
 duct of Orion and his dolphin—for an account of 
 all these wonders we refer to ‘‘ Kenilworth,” and 
 Gascoigne’s ‘‘ Princely Progress” will furnish the 
 lover of pageants with much to interest him. 
 
 But see—a more serious procession approaches. 
 It is the festival of Corpus Christi, instituted in 
 honour of the Holy Sacrament, and observed on 
 the Thursday following Trinity Sunday. The 
 priests, clad in splendid vestments, bear the 
 Host through the streets; censors swing and the 
 monks chant, and the people prostrate themselves 
 as the silver pix containing the hallowed bread is 
 borne along—a very solemn spectacle, which is 
 
190 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 thus described very faithfully by Master Googe, 
 a stern Reformer who did not regard it with 
 favourable eyes :— 
 
 Then doth ensue the solemne feast 
 of Corpus Christi Dav, 
 
 Aho then can shetwe their Wicked use 
 and fond and foolish plav. 
 
 The Hallowed breay foith worship great 
 in Silber Pix they beare 
 
 About the churche ov in the citte 
 passing here and theare. 
 
 His armesg that beares the same, tho of 
 the tocalthiest men do holde: 
 
 And ober Him a cangpey 
 of silke and clothe of golde, 
 
 Christe’s passton here derided ts 
 with sundrie maskes and plaves, 
 
 Fair Grslev with Her mavdens all 
 Doth pass anid the waves. 
 
 And Saliant Creorge with speare thou killest 
 the dreadful dragon here, 
 
 Che vebil’s house ts Yratone about 
 foherein there doth appere 
 
 A wondrous gort of Damned spirites 
 with foule and fearfull look, 
 
 Great Christopher doth mate and passe 
 with Christ amid the brooke. 
 
IN THE STREETS 
 
 Sebastian full of feathered shattes 
 the dint of Dart Doth feele. 
 
 There walketh Hathren ith her sworde 
 in hand, and cruel tohecle. 
 
 The Challis and the singing Cake 
 with Warbara fs lev, 
 
 And sundrie other pageants plapve 
 in foorship of this bred... . 
 
 The common favs with botwes are stratoye 
 and ebery streete beside, 
 
 Any to the foalles and twindotwes all 
 are boughes and braunches tide, 
 
 Che monkes in eberv place do roame, 
 the nonnes abroad are gent, 
 
 Che priestes and schoolmen lofoy do rore, 
 some use the instrument, 
 
 Che stranger passing through the streete 
 uppon his knees doth fall, 
 
 And earnestly upon this brede 
 as to his God doth calle. . 
 
 A number grete of armed men 
 Here all this while do stand, 
 
 Co look than no disorder be 
 nor anv filching hand. 
 
 For all the church goodes out are brought 
 fobich certainly would be 
 
 A bootie good if ebery man 
 might babe his libertic, 
 
 19! 
 
192 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 Master Googe’s fingers evidently itched to seize 
 the goodly booty and to rob the Church of her 
 rich chalices, while he scowled at the roaring 
 priests and at the bowed worshippers. 
 
 The streets of our towns were the theatres of 
 the people in medieval times. The stage was 
 constructed on wheels, in order that it might be 
 ‘“‘drawn to all the eminent parts of the city for 
 the better advantage of spectators.” It con- 
 sisted of three platforms; the highest represented 
 Heaven, where God and His angels dwelt; 
 glorified saints played their parts on the second 
 platform, and below them acted the living men 
 and women. In one corner was “ hell’s mouth,” 
 a huge, dark cavern, resounding with yells and 
 shrieks, sending forth fire and smoke. Strange 
 to say, this was the centre of the comic element 
 of the performance; troops of merry demons 
 constantly issued forth from this cave of horrors, 
 and made the spectators roar with laughter by 
 their buffoonery and strange jests. In course of 
 time the upper platforms were removed, and 
 only living characters represented. 
 
 They played in every street, we are told with 
 regard to the Chester Mysteries. They began first 
 at the Abbey Gates, and then “the stage was 
 wheeled to the High Cross before the mayor, and 
 
IN THE STREETS 193 
 
 so to every street; and so every street had a 
 pagiant playing before them till all the pagiants 
 for the day appointed were played; and when 
 one pagiant was near ended, word was brought 
 from street to street, that so they might come 
 in place thereof exceeding orderly, and all the 
 streets had their pageants afore them all at one 
 time playing together, to see which plays was 
 great resort, and also scaffolds, and stages made 
 in the streets in those places where they de- 
 termined to play their pageants.” York, Chester, 
 Hull, Coventry, were all famous for such per- 
 formances; but it must not be supposed that 
 these mysteries were confined to them. When 
 we examine the records of any old town, we 
 find traces of the players. The churchwardens’ 
 books of St. Lawrence’s Church, Reading, will 
 furnish us with an example :— 
 
 1507. It. Paid to the Labourers in the Forbury for 
 
 setting up of the polls for the scaffold : ixd 
 It. Paid to the Beerman for beer for the play in 
 the Forbury : xd 
 
 It. Paid for 1 ell quarter of ereeeioth for Adam 
 to make 1 pair of hosen and 1 ell fora 
 doublett  . : xd 
 It. Paid for coarse canvass to make xii Capps 
 with the making, and with the hers (ears) 
 
 thereto belonging. . it” iid 
 It. Paid for ii ells of crescloth ar to Rnaie Eve 
 a coat. 5 i : 4 , : , xd 
 
 N 
 
194 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 There are sundry other entries referring to 
 “dyed flax for wigs, a quior of paper, a doublett 
 of leather,” and many other items, which tell us 
 the story of the performance of Adam and Eve 
 and the expulsion from Paradise. 
 
 We go all the way to Ober-Ammergau to 
 witness the Passion Play, but here in England 
 were passion plays performed in most of our 
 town churches. These took place usually on 
 Palm Sunday, and were enacted for the most 
 part in the rood-loft. The Passion Play was 
 followed by the Resurrection Play; we read of 
 one Sybil Darling of Reading, who received “ for 
 nails and for the sepulchre and for resin to the 
 resurrection play ii°,” the resin being used for the 
 illumination at the moment of the Resurrection. 
 
 We have lingered long over this important 
 feature of ancient town life. It has many attrac- 
 tions, and there is still much more to say about 
 it. But as we walk through the streets there 
 are many other sights to be witnessed, and the 
 players must retire to enjoy their “bred, ale, 
 and bere,” which seems to flow freely after the 
 play is over. Now we see a noisy crowd drag- 
 ging a poor man upon a hurdle. He is evidently 
 a fraudulent baker, as the faulty loaf, the cause 
 of his punishment, is hanging from his neck, 
 
IN THE STREETS 195 
 
 Cheating bakers were always rather severely 
 handled, and officers of the City of London were 
 ordered by the Lzder Albus to drag such an one 
 “through the great streets where there may be 
 most people assembled, and through the great 
 streets that are most dirty, to the pillory in the 
 Chepe, there to remain at least one hour in the 
 day.” This was the favourite punishment. In 
 after days we read of the terrible burnings, the 
 mutilations, brandings, and ruinous fines, but as 
 yet these tender mercies of the wicked were 
 unknown. The pillory was considered the best 
 doctor for social sores, and cured “‘ Lies, Slanders, 
 Falsehoods, and Deceits.” Sellers of putrid meat, 
 the forestallers of poultry, and many other fraud- 
 ulent tradesfolk, suffered from his treatment. 
 For practising the ‘‘art magic,” for soothsaying, 
 for having false dice, for taking away a child to 
 go begging, cheating vagabonds were condemned 
 to the pillory. To be forced to stand for an 
 hour or more ina bent and cramped position is 
 the reverse of comfortable; but to be made also 
 a target for a copious shower of rotten eggs and 
 market refuse, rendered the punishment of the 
 pillory no light penalty. 
 
 We will follow the fortunes of Master Lick- 
 penny, as described by John Lydgate in a famous 
 
196 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 ballad, called the ‘London Lickpenny.” This 
 
 worthy man came to London town to consult 
 some one learned in the law, and encountered 
 many pleasing adventures. We first see the 
 poor countryman at Westminster. He does not 
 progress far on his way before some street thieves 
 snatch his hood from his head, and run away 
 laughing. The Flemish merchants stroll to and 
 fro, like pedlars, offering us hats and spectacles, 
 and shouting lustily, ‘‘ What will ye buy? What 
 will ye buy?” It is now noon, and at West- 
 minster gate there is plenty of bread, ale, wine, 
 ribs of beef, and tables fairly set for such as 
 had wherewith to pay. Making our way along 
 the Strand, a country road, we are astonished 
 to see the palaces of the nobles on either side, 
 and the groups of armed men who stand about 
 the gates and laugh at poor Lickpenny’s hood- 
 less state and rustic appearance. After passing 
 under Ludgate Arch we hear the cries of the 
 hawkers shouting peascods, strawberries, cherries, 
 ‘pepper, saffron, and spices; and at the Chepe there 
 is an immense crowd of busy folk, and shop- 
 keepers standing at the doors of their booths, 
 offering all kinds of beautiful things,—velvets, 
 silks, lawn, and Paris thread; nor do they cease 
 from pestering us to buy, and even seize Master 
 
IN THE STREETS 197 
 
 Lickpenny by the hand to drag him into their 
 shops, although he did not seem to have a well- 
 lined purse. At London-stone the linen-drapers 
 are equally clamorous and urgent; while certain 
 noisy sellers of food cry out ‘‘ Hot sheep’s feet!” 
 ‘‘Mackerel!”’ and the like. In East Cheap we 
 see companies of minstrels who harp, and pipe, 
 and sing the old street carols of Julian and 
 Jenkin; there too we find a good supply of 
 ribs of beef, pies, and pewter pots. At Cornhill 
 there are several noted tradesfolk, who buy 
 stolen goods, and lo! while we are examining 
 some of the articles, Lickpenny beholds his own 
 hood which was snatched from his head that 
 very morning at Westminster. He is so over- 
 come by this discovery that he must needs drink 
 a pint of wine, for which he pays one penny to 
 the taverner. And then we hurry down to the 
 river at Billingsgate, where the watermen cry 
 out to us “Foo! go we hence!”” And nothing 
 loath, our friend Lickpenny gladly hies him over 
 into Kent, and protests that he will never come 
 to London again, or have anything to do with 
 lawyers. 
 
 In our peregrinations through the streets we 
 have noticed much of the gay splendour of the 
 times,—the pageants, the plays, the gorgeous 
 
198 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 dresses and liveries, the pomp and external 
 magnificence of the metropolis, and the com- 
 parative grandeur of the ecclesiastical and civic 
 displays in other great towns. It was all very 
 fine, very imposing. [here was misery enough 
 now and then, when wars raged and there was 
 little food, and the plague stalked with relentless 
 foot through the land, and men died by thou- 
 sands, and cattle rotted in the fields, and the air 
 was filled with the dread infection. But that 
 was only occasionally, and men were light-hearted 
 and forgot their troubles in the enjoyment of the 
 present. 
 
 And if to us who live in the serious and solemn 
 nineteenth century their shows and pageantry seem 
 somewhat childish and useless, let us remember 
 that these out-door festivities added greatly to 
 the pleasures of the people. Although the 
 English race no longer revels in the pomps and 
 pageants which delighted our forefathers, never- 
 theless we have little changed in our love of 
 active forms of amusement. Sports and games, 
 hunting, racing, rowing, are dear to the hearts 
 of our English people, and foreigners who come 
 to our shores, and go away without witnessing 
 a football match in the North of England, Epsom 
 Downs on a Derby Day, the University boat-race, 
 
IN THE STREETS 199 
 
 or Kennington Oval on the day of a great cricket 
 match, cannot pretend that they know the Eng- 
 lish people. Melancholy philosophers may assert 
 that we have lost our light-heartedness and that 
 Englishmen take their pleasures sadly, but actual 
 observations of our mannners and customs would 
 lead us to doubt the truth of the assertion. We 
 probably prefer open-air amusements of a more 
 or less violent kind to watching processions, 
 although the crowds that assemble to witness 
 the Lord Mayor’s Show declare that the love 
 of pageantry is not quite defunct amongst us. 
 Forms of expression may change, but the old 
 characteristics of the race remain; and to those. 
 who live in our crowded, overgrown, smoky 
 towns, it is pleasant to recall in imagination the 
 scenes which once took place in the streets we 
 know so well, to watch the pageant pass, and to 
 witness the amusements of a contented and happy 
 people in the days when England’s life was 
 
 young. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 IN FAIR AND MARKET 
 
 Fairs and their origin—The royal right—Toll and tribute 
 — Description of a fair—Stafford custom— Stourbridge 
 Fair—Fairs in churches and churchyards—Boston Fair 
 and the robber knights — Markets and market-places — 
 Canterbury monks and citizens—The fight for freedaom— 
 A burgher’s difficulties —Causes of his prosperity—The 
 growth of manufacture—The coming of the Flemings— 
 Henry VIII. and the destruction of municipal freedom. 
 
 ToiLinc along the narrow streets on a certain day 
 in the year we see a vast company of wains and 
 pack-horses, merchants and traders, monks and 
 packmen, keen-eyed foreigners from Antwerp and 
 Bruges, dark-eyed Italians and hook-nosed Jews, 
 a very miscellaneous company, all struggling 
 through the deep mire of the streets to the 
 market-place. It is the day of the great fair. No 
 man knoweth at what date this mighty concourse 
 of traders was first inaugurated. From time out 
 of mind the merchants had always flocked to the 
 fair on this day, and men were too busy bargain- 
 
 200 
 
IN FAIR AND MARKET 201 
 
 ing to stop and inquire about the origin of 
 things, or whence their customs arose. The 
 monks could have told them that the word 
 “ fair’? was derived from the Latin word /evza, 
 meaning a festival; and the fact that it usually 
 took place on the feast of the patron saint of 
 the Church shows its ecclesiastical origin. In 
 early times it was the custom for the inhabitants 
 of the town to keep open house, and to entertain 
 all their relations and friends who came to them 
 from a distance. ‘They used to make booths and 
 tents with the boughs of trees near the church, 
 and celebrated the festival with much thanks- 
 giving and prayer. By degrees they began to 
 forget the prayers, and remembered only the 
 feasting ; country people flocked from far and 
 near; the pedlars and hawkers came to find a 
 market for their wares. Their stalls began to 
 multiply, and this germ of that vast concourse of 
 traders, called a Fair, was formed. 
 
 In such primitive fairs the traders paid no 
 toll or rent for their stalls, but by degrees the 
 right of granting permission to hold a fair was 
 vested in the king, who for various considera- 
 tions bestowed this favour on nobles, merchant 
 guilds, bishops, or monasteries. Great profits 
 arose from such gatherings. The traders had 
 
202 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 to pay toll on all the goods which they brought 
 to the fair, in addition to the payment of stallage, 
 or rent for the ground on which they displayed 
 their merchandise, and also a charge on all the 
 goods they sold. Moreover the town tradesfolk 
 were obliged to close their shops during the 
 fortnight, or such time as the gathering lasted, 
 and compelled to bring their goods to the fair, 
 so that the toll-owner might gain good profit 
 withal. 
 
 The roads and streets leading to the market- 
 place were thronged with traders and chapmen, 
 the sellers of ribbons and cakes, minstrels and 
 morrice-dancers, smock-frocked peasants, and 
 sombre-clad monks. How they all contrived to 
 convey themselves and their merchandise to the 
 general rendezvous, it is difficult to conjecture. 
 The streets were often well-nigh impassable on ac- 
 count of the masses of refuse therein accumulated. 
 The builders worked in the streets, and made 
 there the framework of new houses; dealers in 
 wood threw down planks and blocks of timber 
 in the public highway; butchers cast the refuse 
 of their shambles into this common receptacle 
 for all the manure, waste, and dirty water of 
 the town. The Nottingham records tell us that 
 the bell-founders cast hot cinders into the streets, 
 
IN FAIR AND MARKET 203 
 
 so that none could walk therein; and moreover 
 before each house lay great heaps of corn which 
 had been winnowed by being thrown out of an 
 upper window, the wind blowing away the chaff. 
 Such was the condition of the narrow roads 
 through which the crowd wended their way to 
 the fair. Then a horn or trumpet sounded, and 
 the lord of the manor, or the bishop’s bailiff, 
 or the mayor of the town proclaimed the fair; 
 and then the cries of the traders, the music of the 
 minstrels, the jingling of the bells of the morrice- 
 dancers, filled the air, and added animation to the 
 spectacle. 
 
 Curious local customs were observed on these 
 occasions. In Stafford there was a procession 
 of twelve men, having stag’s antlers on their 
 heads, who danced along in a wild procession. 
 Many of these fairs have lingered on, the ghosts 
 of their former greatness; the trade of the 
 country has drifted into other channels; but 
 shorn of their former dignity the fairs remain, 
 wherein shows and round-abouts have superseded 
 the minstrels and morrice-dancers, and only the 
 traders are absent. However, on the Berkshire 
 Downs, at a little village of West IIsley, the great 
 sheep fair is still held; once a year herds of Welsh 
 
 ponies congregate at Blackwater, in Hampshire, 
 
204 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 driven hither by inveterate custom. Every year, 
 in an open field near Cambridge, the once great 
 Stourbridge fair is held, first granted by King 
 John to the Hospital of Lepers, and formerly 
 proclaimed with great state by the Vice-Chan- 
 cellor of the University and the Mayor of Cam- 
 bridge. This was once one of the largest fairs 
 in Europe. Merchants of all nations attended 
 it. The booths were planted in a cornfield, and 
 the circuit of the fair, which was like a well- 
 governed city, was about three miles. All 
 offences committed therein were tried before a 
 special court of pze-foudre. The shops were 
 built in rows, having each a name, as Garlick 
 Row, Booksellers’ Row, Cook Row, &c.; there 
 were the cheese-fair, hop-fair, wool-fair; every 
 trade was represented, and there were taverns, 
 eating-houses, and in later years play-houses of 
 various descriptions. As late as the last century 
 it is said that one hundred thousand pounds’ 
 worth of woollen goods was sold in a week in one 
 row alone. ‘This enables us to form some con- 
 ception of the vast extent of these old fairs, 
 without which the trade of the country could 
 scarcely have been carried on. 
 The churchyard of the parish church was 
 
 often used as a fair-ground, and even into the 
 
IN FAIR AND MARKET 205 
 
 church the throng of traders surged, and there 
 bought and sold their merchandise and displayed 
 their wares. It is true that Edward I. prohibited 
 such dealings, and declared that “henceforth no 
 fairs or markets be kept in churchyards,” but 
 several hundreds of years elapsed before such 
 trading in consecrated places was deemed sacri- 
 legious. As we have already stated, the church 
 was considered the home of the people. Its bell 
 summoned them to an assembly of citizens, or 
 bid them arm for the defence of their liberties. 
 Thither they brought their goods when danger 
 threatened, a place “‘where thieves could not 
 break through nor steal,’’ unless they wished 
 to undergo the terrors of excommunication; 
 there too were the weapons of defence, stored 
 in the steeple, a goodly supply of harness, 
 bows, helmets, and shields, all ready for use. 
 The guild lights burned before their respective 
 altars. Not for worship only did the crowds of 
 burghers assemble on Sundays, but to hear the 
 news, to discuss intricate matters of public busi- 
 ness, and to devise new schemes for the develop- 
 ment of the greatness of their town. Intensely 
 loyal and patriotic were these old burghers as 
 regards the interests of their own town or city. 
 They cared little for the rest of the country; 
 
206 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 kings and nobles might fight in France or against 
 each other; it mattered not to them, so long as 
 they could sell their goods, and make their town 
 great, beautiful, and prosperous. Some strange 
 scenes took place occasionally at fairs, and Boston 
 had good cause to remember one such gathering 
 of merchants in the reign of Edward I. One 
 Chamberlain, and a number of knights, rode to 
 the mayor and informed him that they intended 
 to hold a grand tournament during the fair-time, 
 which would attract large companies to the town, 
 and add greatly to the glories of the fair. They 
 would show the foreign traders how well brave 
 English knights could tilt, and ride, and fight, 
 and how dangerous it would be for any foreign 
 foes to invade these shores. Nothing loath, the 
 mayor gladly permitted the holding of the 
 tournament. Then followed a strange scene. 
 The fair of staples was at its height, when a 
 company of monks entered the market-place. 
 Suddenly cloaks and cowls are cast aside; the 
 worthy knights stand revealed ; and without delay 
 set fire to the merchants’ booths and plunder 
 their goods. Silver and gold pieces ran in 
 streams down the market square, and much booty 
 was seized by the knights. It is satisfactory to 
 know that their leader was captured and executed. 
 
IN FAIR AND MARKET 207 
 
 In the fairs the great wholesale trade of the 
 country was carried on; in the weekly markets 
 the principal retail business was transacted, and 
 these began to supersede the more magnificent 
 fairs and monopolise the general trade of the 
 merchants. The holding of markets was also 
 a right which appertained only to the king, 
 and this right for various considerations was 
 gradually conferred on nobles, or ecclesiastics, 
 or town corporations. On market-day all the 
 neighbouring farmers flocked to the town, with 
 their wives and daughters, bearing their butter, 
 eggs, and poultry, which they deposited in stalls in 
 the market-place, and paid toll for the privilege. 
 There too were gathered the principal tradesfolk 
 of the town, the goldsmiths, mercers, saddlers, and 
 all the other numerous dealers. Every town was 
 in the Middle Ages an independent community, 
 providing all things needful for the life and 
 comfort of its inhabitants; and therefore it was 
 necessary to have tradesmen of all descriptions. 
 The usual shops were closed on market-day, 
 and all men flocked to the market to buy or 
 sell their goods. Very wroth were the good 
 citizens of Canterbury with the monks of Christ 
 Church monastery, whose tenants had houses 
 with windows looking on the market, who did 
 
208 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 not scruple to open these windows and sell goods 
 without paying toll. The quarrel lasted many 
 years. The monks refused to buy their fish 
 in the market, and sent for a supply to the 
 sea-coast. The mayor was very wroth at such 
 conduct, and waylaid the messengers who brought 
 the fish; so the monks were deprived of their 
 dinner, and in revenge advised their tenants to 
 keep open their shops and defy the mayor. At 
 last the mayor removed the market to another 
 part of the town, and there the ecclesiastics and 
 their tenants refused to trade. So the miserable 
 quarrel went on in spite of lawsuits, turmoils, and 
 attempted arbitrations, and probably was never 
 ended until the monastery was swept away in the 
 wild torrent of the Reformation. 
 
 Very fierce and bitter were these disputes be- 
 tween the burghers and monasteries established 
 within their town walls. The monks were exempt 
 from all taxation; they contributed nothing to 
 the wealth of the town; they enjoyed many 
 rights and privileges; their precincts were exempt 
 from all the regulations and laws ordained by the 
 citizens for the welfare of the town, and were 
 moreover the refuge for all the disorderly persons 
 who merited punishment for their crimes. Hence 
 there was continual bitterness, and many angry 
 
IN FAIR AND MARKET 209 
 
 disputings between the two rival authorities, 
 neither of whom would give way. 
 
 The constant tolls and fees required from 
 traders were another source of trouble and heart- 
 burnings, and long and continued was their fight 
 to obtain free passage of their goods from fair to 
 fair, and market to seaport. In towns wherein 
 the king was the over-lord the road to freedom 
 lay easy. The right of trying prisoners, holding 
 free meetings, and enjoying immunity from irri- 
 tating tolls, was soon obtained in return for 
 money advanced or other consideration. When 
 an earl was the lord of the town, liberty was not 
 quite so easily obtained. But during the Wars of 
 the Roses the power of the nobles was broken, 
 their fortunes gone, their purses empty, and they 
 were quite willing to grant to the thrifty burghers 
 the rights craved by them, in return for the 
 money which they so sorely needed. But when 
 a bishop or abbot was lord of the town, the 
 struggle was fierce and prolonged. We have 
 seen something of the continued contest which 
 the men of Reading waged with their abbot; 
 the same took place in many other places—always 
 the same stern, dogged, determined fight for 
 freedom. 
 
 When we look back upon the struggles of 
 
 O 
 
210 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 those times we can but admire and wonder at 
 the amazing perseverance and grand determina- 
 tion of these brave burghers. Nothing seemed 
 to daunt them in the pursuit of the objects they 
 had in view. They forgot, doubtless, the im- 
 portant fact that they owed their prosperity to 
 the over-lord, whether abbot or earl, and that, 
 but for the existence of the abbey or castle, their 
 town would never have become so great and pros- 
 perous. No feelings of gratitude checked their 
 strivings for power. For hundreds of years the 
 fight lasted, one generation taking up the quarrel 
 where their fathers had relinquished it; on and 
 on the tide of progress and freedom flowed, 
 bearing all before it—now driven back for a 
 moment, and then mounting higher and higher 
 till it swept away the stone walls and bars of 
 privilege, and all that withstood the prosperity 
 and freedom of the burghers. 
 
 And besides the battle of privilege, the burgher 
 had to fight other battles too. He had to pro- 
 -vide a company of soldiers, fully armed and 
 victualled, for the king’s service. He had to 
 be always on the alert at home, lest an enemy 
 should attack the town, or a company of lawless 
 soldiers, the retinue of some warlike lord, should 
 take it into their heads to try to pillage the town 
 
1N FAIR AND MARKET 211 
 
 and slay its citizens. With his own hands he 
 and all his fellows laboured to repair the town 
 walls and to dig the protecting moat. On the 
 sea-coasts heaps of brushwood were always ready 
 to be fired in case of an invasion of piratical 
 French folk or other unwelcome visitors. So 
 the burgher was always on the alert, always ready, 
 and might have adopted as the motto on his 
 escutcheon Semper paratus. But he cared little 
 for mottoes; he loved better the goodly treasures 
 of his own town, and all that concerned its 
 welfare. These he guarded with ever watchful 
 eye. He loved too to see the town plays, 
 meacanmeeand’ Eve, or the) “Three Kings’ ‘of 
 Colin,” and the minstrels and players, and the 
 passion plays, and the setting of the watch on 
 St. John’s Eve, and the pageants and the ales, 
 and all the endless variety of social festivity and 
 pomp which a medizval town provided for its 
 worthy citizens. 
 
 Moreover he took a great pride in his town. 
 There was no place like it in the world. Al- 
 though he liked not the monks who defrauded 
 him of his rightful dues, and never paid taxes, he 
 loved his church, and with his own hands helped 
 to build and repair its walls, and strove to make 
 it as fair and beautiful as any other church in the 
 
212 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 world. He had traded with other towns, or 
 been on a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Thomas, 
 or to that of Our Lady at Walsingham, and had 
 noticed some better buildings, wider and cleaner 
 streets, a guildhall with an open space beneath 
 for the stalls on market-days; he had seen a 
 market-cross made of stone, towering high, 
 sculptured with many devices, with a covered 
 penthouse for the shelter of market-folks, such 
 as at Chichester or Salisbury. He had seen all 
 these changes, and resolved with his fellow-towns- 
 men to improve the condition of his own beloved 
 town. ‘The streets were paved, every man being 
 ordered to pave the street before his door as far 
 as the middle of the road; the market-cross 
 erected, the church beautified; and gradually the 
 appearance of the old town changed, and shared 
 in the fortunes and prosperity of the burghers. 
 Moreover they did not see why their town 
 should not have arms, and as early as the end 
 of the thirteenth century began to devise for 
 ‘themselves these marks of dignity. Chester 
 and the Cinque Ports led the way. The latter 
 fashioned some curious monsters for their es- 
 cutcheon, half lion, half ship, while the fishing 
 folk of Great Yarmouth cut in half the lions 
 of England, and made up the other half with 
 
IN FAIR AND MARKET 213 
 
 three herrings. The arms of the lord were 
 often adopted, with some alteration, as those of 
 the burgh over which he ruled. Sometimes the 
 townsfolk exercised their wit by making a canting 
 allusion to the name of their town. Thus those 
 of Kingston-on-Hull placed three crowns on their 
 shield, showing that they knew that the name was 
 derived from the King’s-town. The citizens of 
 Oxford chose for their bearings an ox passing 
 through a river. The dagger in the arms of 
 the City of London is popularly supposed to 
 represent the weapon with which Sir William 
 Walworth slew Wat Tyler, and some rhymes 
 in the Hall of the Fishmongers support the 
 notion. It is really the sword of St. Paul com- 
 bined with the cross of St. George, and the arms 
 had been in use before the rebellion of Tyler. 
 Southampton was incorporated by Henry VI.; 
 hence the red roses of the House of Lancaster 
 appear on the arms of the town, while the 
 white roses on the shield of Ludlow, incorporated 
 by Edward IV., denote the adherence of the 
 burghers to the House of York. The principal 
 trade of the town is sometimes denoted, as at 
 Gloucester, where the nail-makers abounded, and 
 
 + “English Municipal Heraldry,” by W. H. St. John Hope 
 (Archeological Journal). 
 
214 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 where horse-shoes and nails appear on the arms; 
 and at Leeds, where the shield bearing the golden 
 fleece alludes to the famous wool trade which 
 there found a home. Thus the burghers sought 
 to enhance the importance of their town, and 
 showed their patriotism. 
 
 Moreover the burgher might aspire to be a 
 member of Parliament and to meet the king 
 at Westminster; but this privilege he was never 
 very eager to enjoy. The increasing wealth of 
 the towns made them important in the eyes of 
 the king as a means for increasing his revenues. 
 The rich townsfolk could pay taxes as well as 
 other royal subjects; hence in the Parliament 
 of 1265, two burgesses for each town were 
 summoned to attend. Only few obeyed, but in 
 1295 Edward I. gathered together two burgesses 
 from each city, borough, and leading town to sit 
 in the great council of the nation, and to take 
 their places with the nobles, knights, and great 
 men of his kingdom. The result was pleasing 
 to the sovereign, inasmuch as he was able to 
 increase largely his exchequer by the liberal 
 grants of the borough representatives. How- 
 ever, the thrifty burghers were not eager to 
 send a member to Parliament, as they had to 
 pay his expenses, amounting to two shillings a 
 
IN FAIR AND MARKET 215 
 
 day, and the member was loath to abandon his 
 trading for so long a period as the sitting of 
 Parliament, even for the sake of the honour of 
 consorting with princes and nobles in the nation’s 
 council chamber. Hence many boroughs peti- 
 tioned that they might be exempted from sending 
 a representative, and writs and fines had to be 
 issued to compel reluctant members to attend. 
 The ambition of the burgher did not extend 
 beyond the walls of his own guildhall. 
 
 The story of the growth of the prosperity of 
 the burghers is a long and complicated one. 
 How did we English folk learn to become manu- 
 facturers? We were a farming folk, and our 
 rich fleeces were sent to the Netherlands, the 
 centre of the industry of the world, there to be 
 made into cloth. The citizens of Ghent, and 
 Bruges, and Antwerp, in the Middle Ages, were 
 the richest and most prosperous people in Europe. 
 They were very turbulent also, and riots and wars 
 did not improve their trade. 
 
 The wise king, Edward III., seeing how pros- 
 perous the Flemings were on account of their 
 skill in manufacturing cloth from English wool, 
 bethought him that perhaps it would be well 
 to make the wool into cloth before sending it 
 abroad. So he prohibited the export of all 
 
216 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 wool, and invited a number of cloth-weavers 
 from Flanders to settle in England, and instruct 
 his subjects in the art. Many of these weavers 
 settled in Bristol, in Temple Street, and com- 
 menced a manufacture which made the town 
 long famous. The looms were also set up in 
 the pleasant vales of Gloucestershire, and English 
 folk learned to work them. 
 
 Grievous troubles dawned upon the ill-fated 
 Netherlands. The Inquisition, the Duke of 
 Alva and his Spanish soldiers, brought ruin on 
 the fair provinces, and the Dutch weavers, 
 finding the flames of persecution too fierce, 
 fled to England, and brought with them the 
 secrets of their craft, and that skill and ingenuity 
 which had made them so successful. Then 
 Dutchmen, Flemings, and Walloons settled in 
 several of our towns. Norwich was made pros- 
 perous by them, and East Anglian dames de- 
 lighted in the silk dresses which their new 
 visitors made for them. ‘They fixed their looms 
 also in the West Riding of Yorkshire, in Roch- 
 dale and Saddleworth, and laid the foundation 
 of the thriving industries of Lancashire. There 
 are some cottages attached to the walls of the 
 refectory of the Abbey of Reading, which were 
 built by Queen Elizabeth for some Dutch weavers 
 
IN FAIR AND MARKET 217 
 
 driven from their country by the fiercest and most 
 cruel persecution that ever man has seen. English 
 manufacturers and merchants owe a great debt 
 of gratitude to these industrious refugees. 
 
 We have witnessed the growth and develop- 
 ment of our towns, their struggle for liberty 
 and their conquests. We have noticed the rise 
 of a powerful burgher, or middle class, in which 
 the main government of the town was vested. 
 Brave, rich, determined, the product of centuries 
 of stern and unflinching struggling, the burgher 
 was a mighty man who with his fellows in the 
 guildhall ruled the town, its craftsmen and 
 small traders, with a firm and severe discipline. 
 But still a mightier man arose, one before whom 
 even the haughty burgher had to bow his head 
 and make obeisance, even the imperious Henry 
 VIII., who by his statecraft and determined will 
 overthrew the power of the towns as separate 
 organisations, and made the sovereignty of the 
 crown felt in every council chamber in the land. 
 It was a mighty change, perhaps beneficial for the 
 country as a whole—this welding together of the 
 shreds of sovereignty—but it destroyed much for 
 which the dwellers in our towns and cities had long 
 contended, and liberty died to rise again in less 
 troublous times. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 THE GREAT METROPOLIS 
 
 Royal Winchester — Mercantile supremacy of London — 
 Medieval London—A tour of the walls of the city—A 
 city of palaces—The Strand and the houses of nobles— 
 Bishops’ palaces—Riots—The “Intelligencer’”’ of 1648 
 —The “ Newes” of 1665—The Plague—The Great 
 Fire—Memorable buildings. 
 
 OF all great towns and cities in England, London, 
 of course, reigns supreme. In fact, it is be- 
 coming so much the centre of all our commercial 
 and social life, that all places seem destined 
 to be mere suburbs of London, that mighty 
 city which grows ever larger and larger, and 
 absorbs everything within its pale. There was 
 a time when London had a great struggle for 
 the sovereignty amongst the other towns and 
 cities of England. In Saxon and early Norman 
 times Winchester was the home of English kings. 
 Under Cnut, it was the capital of a kingdom 
 stretching across the seas to Scandinavia; and 
 
 218 
 
THE GREAT METROPOLIS 219 
 
 under the Normans, a large part of France was 
 in subjection to it. Here kings were born, and 
 royal weddings were celebrated with great pomp 
 in its grand cathedral, where at last their bones 
 were laid. If royal patronage could have preserved 
 the glories of ancient Winchester, it would have 
 remained the capital of England; but another 
 force arose, the power of commerce. London 
 was the centre of the commercial activity of the 
 country, and, in the end, Winchester was forced 
 to yield supremacy to its more powerful rival. 
 The two cities quarrelled as to which of them 
 should have the honour of providing a cup- 
 bearer to Henry III.; but, alas, Winchester was 
 only grasping at the shadow, when the reality 
 of her power had passed away. 
 
 London in the Middle Ages was of course 
 very different from that great, over-crowded, 
 noisy, and far-extending metropolis which we see 
 to-day. It is difficult for us in these days to 
 realise the small extent of ancient London, or, 
 indeed, to go back in imagination even a century 
 or two ago, when the good citizens could go a- 
 nutting on Notting Hill, and when it was possible 
 to see Temple Bar from Leicester Square—then 
 called Leicester Fields—and, with a telescope, 
 observe the heads of the Scotch rebels which 
 
220 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 adorned its spikes. When we fly along in a 
 hansom from Paddington to the City, we can 
 scarcely believe that it ever required three hours 
 to traverse the distance, as in the early coaching 
 days, on account of the impassable roads; but 
 Kensington, Islington, Brompton, and Paddington 
 were simply country villages, separated from 
 London by fields and pastures; and the names of 
 such districts as Spitalfields, Bethnal Green, Smith- 
 field, Moorfields, and many others now crowded 
 with houses, indicate the once rural character of 
 the neighbourhood. 
 
 We will walk round the walls of old London, 
 and begin with the Tower, which was built by 
 the Conqueror, not, as may be imagined, to secure 
 the capital against foreign foes, but simply to 
 keep in order the citizens and check any revolts. 
 The wall extended thence to Aldgate—the “old 
 gate”—and thence to Bishopsgate—near the 
 Bishop of London’s palace, I suppose; at any 
 rate, his lordship was accustomed to use this gate 
 as-he passed out of the city to hunt in his woods 
 at Stepney. A wide ditch protected the wall at 
 this point; hence the name Houndsditch, which 
 took its title from this old moat. London Wall 
 preserves the course of the rampart, until we 
 arrive at the northern gate, called Aldersgate. 
 
THE GREAT METROPOLIS 221 
 
 Along Carth Street remains of the wall may still 
 be seen, and at Cripplegate, in the churchyard 
 of St. Giles, there are also some remains of 
 the old fortification. ‘Thence we go to Newgate 
 and the Old Bailey, and then southwards to 
 Ludgate, where the wall was protected by the 
 Fleet, a small river, whence the name Fleet Street 
 is derived. On the south of the Ludgate, on the 
 bank of the Thames, stood another strong castle 
 erected by the Conqueror, called Baynard Castle, 
 which has entirely disappeared ; and then the wall 
 was continued along the north bank of the river 
 back to the Tower, Dowgate and Billingsgate 
 being two entrances on that side of the old city. 
 The walk along the top of the walls would not 
 have been a very exhausting one, as the whole 
 city did not cover a wider area than that of Hyde 
 Park: 
 
 Westminster Abbey was founded by Edward 
 the Confessor, and around it a number of houses 
 sprang up; but Charing was a village in the 
 time of Edward I., and lay between the two 
 cities of London and Westminster. The Strand 
 was a country lane when Edward III. reigned. 
 St. Giles’-in-the-Fields was literally in the fields, 
 and Long Acre was a meadow. The palace of 
 the kings of England stood where the Houses of 
 
222 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 Parliament now stand, and Henry VIII. built his 
 ‘““mews” at Charing Cross for his hawks. 
 
 The walls of old London for a long time 
 embraced the whole of the city; no “‘ foreigner,” 
 or stranger from another town, was allowed to 
 trade within the city boundaries unless he became 
 a freeman of some guild; and by degrees houses 
 sprang up outside the walls, in which many of 
 these foreigners lived, and plied their trade with- 
 out complying with the rules and regulations of 
 the guild merchants. Grievous heart-burnings 
 and jealousies ensued, and so enraged were the 
 citizens at this interference with their trade, that 
 on May-day 1517, when Cardinal Wolsey was 
 the king’s minister, a formidable riot ensued, 
 and an angry crowd of servants and apprentices 
 of the citizens plundered and destroyed the 
 houses and warehouses of these “‘ foreigners,” the 
 tumult continuing until daybreak. 
 
 In our review of the towns and cities of 
 England we have frequently referred to London, 
 and described the past glories of its civic life 
 and the habits and customs of the citizens. We 
 have seen that they were a very religious people, 
 and that one-fourth of the area of the city was 
 occupied by monastic buildings and churches. 
 The beautiful church of St. Bartholomew, 
 
THE GREAT METROPOLIS 223 
 
 Smithfield, is a splendid relic of early Norman 
 London, and we have still the Charterhouse to 
 admire and to remind us of pre-Reformation 
 days. 
 
 London was also a city of palaces. All the 
 great nobles of England had their town houses 
 or inns, as they were called. These noblemen 
 had vast retinues of armed men. In 1457, at a 
 meeting of the great estates of the realm, Richard 
 Duke of York came with four hundred followers, 
 who lodged in Baynard’s Castle. The Earl of 
 Salisbury lodged in the Herber at Dowgate with 
 five hundred horsemen. The Earl of Warwick 
 stayed at his inn in Warwick Lane, with six 
 hundred men, “where,” says Stow, ‘there were 
 oftentimes six oxen eaten at a breakfast.” The 
 Dukes of Exeter and Somerset, the Earl of 
 Northumberland, and many others had their town 
 houses, every vestige of which has passed away, 
 though their names are preserved by the streets 
 and sites on which they stood. The Strand, for 
 example, is full of the memories of these old 
 mansions. Northumberland Avenue tells us of 
 the house of the Earls of Northumberland, which 
 stood there till 1875; Burleigh Street and Exeter 
 Street recall the famous Sir William Cecil, Lord 
 Burleigh, whose son was created Earl of Essex. 
 
224 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 The Savoy Hotel and Theatre mark the spot 
 where Peter de Savoy, a relation of the queen 
 of Henry III., built the old Savoy Palace, which 
 afterwards became a nunnery and then a hospital. 
 Lord Craven’s house stood near Craven Buildings 
 in Drury Lane. Clare House, the mansion of the 
 Earls of Clare, survives in Clare Market. Arundel 
 Street, Howard Street, and Norfolk Street tell us 
 of the Howards, Earls of Norfolk, and Essex 
 Street of the ill-fated favourite of Queen Eliza- 
 beth. Leicester Square points us to the residence 
 of another favourite of the Virgin Queen, and 
 Villiers Street and Buckingham Street are the 
 memorial of yet another court favourite, the 
 infamous Duke of Buckingham. The bishops 
 also had their town houses, and the sites are 
 recorded by such names as Ely Place, Salisbury 
 Square, Bangor Court, and Durham Street. 
 
 Many scenes of riot and bloodshed have the 
 old City walls witnessed, and very turbulent and 
 rebellious were the citizens of olden days, ever 
 ‘ready to rush to arms, and more eager to sup- 
 port the cause of the people than that of the 
 sovereign. After the coronation of Richard L., 
 they plundered, robbed, and murdered the poor 
 Jews who lived in Old Jewry. Led by a base 
 Mayor, Fitz-Richard, they rose in favour of the 
 
THE GREAT METROPOLIS 225 
 
 barons against Henry III., and the pleasure of 
 committing havoc and destruction prompted 
 them again to plunder the Jews, and to attack 
 the houses of rich merchants, and fire and sword 
 raged horribly throughout the city. They pelted 
 the poor queen with rotten eggs and dirt as she 
 tried to escape from the Tower to Windsor. 
 They sided with the shameless Queen Isabella 
 against her unfortunate husband, Edward IL, 
 and murdered the Chancellor, a priest, in the 
 Newgate Prison; but the ‘‘ Black Death”’ checked 
 their turbulent spirits in the following reign, 
 and, it is said, carried off 50,000 souls. Again, 
 in the troubles of the sixteenth century, they 
 espoused the cause of the parliament against the 
 king; and who has not read with sorrow the 
 description of that sad and solemn scene at 
 Whitehall, when, after a mock trial, Charles I. 
 was beheaded by his own subjects? I have 
 before me a copy of the /nxtelligencer of 1648, 
 the newspaper of the period, which describes the 
 mournful spectacle-—the king protesting his 
 innocence of the charges brought against him, 
 praying, in the words of St. Stephen, that his 
 death might not be laid to their charge, showing 
 consideration to all, and exclaiming with his last 
 words, “I go froma corruptible to an incorruptible 
 P 
 
226 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 crown, where no disturbance can be.” ‘That scene 
 will not be forgotten while history remains. 
 
 Another old newspaper, called the /Vewes, 
 ‘published for the satisfaction and information 
 of the people,” July 6, 1665, tells of the alarm 
 of the citizens when the plague broke out, and 
 the infallible remedies which were suggested for 
 its removal. The /utelligencer of August 28, 
 1665, announces, ‘‘an excellent electuary against 
 the plague, to be drunk at the Green Dragon, 
 Cheapside, at sixpence a pint,” and various 
 “Lozenges or Pectorals approved as sovoraign 
 Antidote against the Plague,” manufactured by 
 one Theophilus Buckworth at his house on 
 Mile-end Green, and sealed up with his coat of 
 arms on the papers, are strongly recommended 
 for the cure of the malady. 
 
 Sad were the scenes in London streets at that 
 disastrous period, when 90,000 inhabitants died ; 
 when there was wailing in every street, and 
 scarcely a house which did not bear the ominous 
 ~ red cross, with the words “Lord have Mercp 
 upon Us” written over it, to mark the presence 
 of the plague. The streets became deserted and 
 moss-grown, and the rumble of the death-cart 
 was alone heard, bearing the bodies to the pits, 
 where all the dead were buried together. 
 
THE GREAT METROPOLIS 227 
 
 The story of the Great Plague is a thrice-told 
 tale, and need not be here repeated. Those who 
 desire to study the sad records of its ravages 
 should read Daniel Defoe’s narrative, and Pepys’ 
 diary, and also Harrison Ainsworth’s powerful 
 novel, which is based upon the diary of a worthy 
 and pious citizen, who during five long months 
 shut up his house, and though the plague raged 
 all around him, he and his family were merci- 
 fully spared until the scourge had passed away. 
 London did not suffer alone by the presence of 
 plagues. All the chief towns in England were 
 periodically visited by pestilence. The entire 
 absence of all sanitation, the abundance of pig- 
 sties, manure heaps, and other nuisances, the 
 shameful neglect of common decency, provided 
 a fruitful soil for the seeds of disease to grow. 
 Indeed the wonder is that the periodical plagues 
 were not more frequent and virulent. Outside 
 the city of Winchester, near the west gate, there 
 is an obelisk which 1s a standing memorial of the 
 plague and its ravages, which carried off so many 
 of the good citizens in the years 1665 and 1666. 
 In its foundations is preserved the ‘‘ Broad Stone” 
 on which, in a pan of vinegar or water, coins 
 were placed in exchange for provisions which the 
 country-folk brought to the gates of the city, 
 
228 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 and by this means escaped the contagion. ‘There 
 exists also a still vigorous Society of Natives, a 
 charitable institution, the primary object of which 
 was to aid those who lost their parents in the 
 times of the plague. 
 
 Another thrice-told tale is that of the Great 
 Fire which broke out in the following year, 
 and consumed 13,000 houses and about 400 
 streets. [he wooden houses of the artisans in 
 the narrow streets furnished fuel for the flames, 
 and many stately palaces, and almost all the 
 original halls of the city companies were swept 
 away by this mighty conflagration. Its course 
 was only stayed by the destruction of some 
 houses by gunpowder; thus a gap was formed 
 which the flames could not leap, and the fire 
 burnt itself out. 3 
 
 The fire was really a blessing in disguise, as 
 it purified the city of London and destroyed 
 the germs of the plague, which used to break 
 out two or three times every century. It also 
 made it possible to build wide streets and more 
 substantial houses; it enabled Sir Christopher 
 Wren to erect the -grand pile, St. Paulie 
 Cathedral, upon the site of the old, desecrated, 
 and half-ruined house of God, which the flames 
 of the Great Fire had removed, 
 
THE GREAT METROPOLIS 229 
 
 But the history of London is the history of 
 England, and it is beyond the scope of this work 
 to describe the many scenes and spectacles its old 
 walls have witnessed. That task has already been 
 accomplished by several writers whose works 
 are known to all who love the old records of 
 famous London town. We visit again with ever 
 renewed interest the numerous places about which 
 old associations cling—the Tower with its tradi- 
 tions of Norman supremacy and the sad stories 
 of its dungeons and its block; the Temple 
 Church and its courts, which once echoed the 
 tread of mailed warrior monks; Westminster 
 Abbey, the burying-place of our national heroes ; 
 the Charterhouse; the Inns of Court, the haunts 
 of the famous literary men of the last century. 
 We turn aside from the busy City streets and 
 find ourselves in the calm seclusion of an ancient 
 Livery Company’s Hall, and are at once trans- 
 ported from this noisy nineteenth century to a 
 less hurried period of our nation’s life, and meet 
 again the worthy merchants of three or four 
 centuries ago, who regard us from their gilded 
 frames while we read their names on the silver 
 cups which they presented to their beloved most 
 worshipful company. 
 
 In spite of modern 
 
 CCP 
 
 improvements”’ and the 
 
230 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 destruction of many of its ancient features, 
 London still remains one of the most interesting 
 cities in the world, the centre of its commerce, 
 the metropolis of an empire upon which, as yet, 
 the sun never sets. 
 
CHAPTER XIll 
 IN THE DAYS OF GOOD QUEEN BESS 
 
 “© Merrie England’? — Ruins and desolation — Scene in 
 Reading Abbey—Destruction of monasteries and disfigure- 
 ment of churches—The Church and the people—Church- 
 ales— Morrice-dancers and minstrels—Elizabethan houses 
 —A merchant’s household—Costumes of women—May- 
 day—Pageants at Norwich—Rogues and vagabonds— 
 Cruel laws. 
 
 WE are accustomed to associate ‘‘ Merrie Eng- 
 land” with the brilliant days of the Virgin 
 Queen, and to picture to ourselves the bright 
 sunny scenes of splendour which delighted the 
 hearts of a joyous people during the glorious 
 reign of that powerful and imperious sovereign. 
 Then surely was England “merrie’’ when the 
 heart of the nation was young, and laughter 
 reigned in every street; when old fetters had 
 been thrown off, and prosperity smiled, and her 
 marts were laden with the spoils of distant 
 climes, and her land was filled with song, while 
 her children danced, and all was merry as a 
 
 231 
 
232 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 matriage-bell. Certainly many details of the 
 picture are true, but the study of the social con- 
 dition of the towns of England at this period 
 reveals many dark corners; many dreary scenes 
 of misery present themselves when the whole 
 canvas is spread before our eyes. We love to 
 revel in the sunshine, to watch the pageants as 
 they pass, to see the ships enter the harbours 
 bearing the ‘elephants’ teeth” and the spoils 
 of the Indies, to hear the wild talk of the 
 sailors who had scoured the Spanish main and 
 singed the beard of the Spanish monarch. But 
 side by side with the great expansion of com- 
 merce, and the prosperity of the middle classes, 
 there was great want, privation, and misery 
 among the labouring population of England. 
 To this fact the Acts of Parliament and the 
 records of our towns bear abundant witness, and 
 to these we shall presently refer. 
 
 The appearance of our towns, too, had greatly 
 changed. Where were all the stately monasteries, 
 with their magnificent minsters, once so gorgeous 
 with painted walls and windows, and gilded 
 canopies? Where were the abbots and monks, 
 black friars and grey friars, veiled nuns and 
 chantry priests? And what had become of all 
 the stores of Church plate, silver-gilt chalices, 
 
IN THE DAYS OF GOOD QUEEN BESS — 233 
 
 and numberless patens, and all the gold orna- 
 _ ments and rich vestments which the piety of 
 generations had collected for the worship of 
 God in our parish churches? All were gone 
 to swell that hideous heap of spoil which a 
 rapacious monarch and his myrmidons had 
 amassed. The monks and nuns had been turned 
 out into the world to starve or beg; the abbots 
 had ended their miseries on the scaffold; and 
 their houses were all ruins. It was a sad 
 spectacle. 
 
 When the abbot’s head had fallen and the 
 monks expelled from the cloister shade, a whisper 
 was heard among the townsfolk of Reading that 
 the body of Henry I. lay before the high altar 
 in the minster in a coffin of gold. The rumour 
 was wrong, as rumours often are; for did not 
 Matthew of Paris, or some other chronicler, 
 record at monotonous length a not very edifying 
 account of the embalming of the king’s body, 
 specially stating that it was wrapped in bulls’ 
 hides and placed in a stone coffin? But perhaps 
 no one in the crowd had read Matthew of Paris, 
 or any other work—the days of free education 
 and board schools as yet were not—at any rate 
 they heeded not. ‘Gold, gold!” was their cry, 
 as they rushed into the deserted aisles of the 
 
234 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 grand minster. Soon picks and spades were 
 busy on the beautifully tiled pavement; but they 
 only found a skeleton in stone cist, which they cast 
 away in disgust. Imitating their betters in ap- 
 propriating anything they could find, they then 
 hurried away to the Greyfriars’ monastery, where 
 there was a goodly booty of precious metal for 
 industrious pilferers. And then the masons and 
 labourers came to quarry the ruins for stone 
 and timber. 
 
 Thus we read in the churchwardens’ accounts of 
 St. Mary’s, Reading :— 
 
 Payede for the taking downe of the Quyer in the Abbye 
 and the carraige home of the same . xxj. Lodes x* vit 
 Payed for the Rowfeinthe Abbye .  . . vjli x* viij4 
 
 Some of the minsters became cathedrals; some 
 monastic buildings were pulled down and the 
 materials sold; some were handed over to baser 
 uses; and others remain to this day, melancholy 
 memorials of a past age and of their ancient 
 magnificence. 
 
 See also the sad condition of our town 
 churches. They too have been despoiled by 
 ruthless, avaricious hands. The beautiful chalices 
 are all gone, the altars stripped of their orna- 
 ments, the ancient rood-screen pulled down 
 
IN THE DAYS OF GOOD QUEEN BESS 235 
 
 (we notice in the account-books a scornful ztem 
 relating to the charge for ‘“‘carting away of the 
 rubbish’), the carved front broken, and all the 
 curious mural paintings have disappeared. In the 
 account-books we read the following ztems, which 
 explain the disappearance of the pictures :— 
 Paid for iiij boketts for the werkmen to whytelyme the 
 
 SUS se DE Ii eee ee a er xiit 
 Paid to Alexander Lake a mason for xxiij dayes for 
 
 hym and his assistant in white lymymg of the 
 churche at ix? the day . ; : ; : . XVij’ 11} 
 
 As it was in one church, so in all; everywhere 
 destruction, spoliation, desecration. 
 
 Happily the Church herself survived this rude 
 treatment of her ancient fabrics. The same 
 rectors and vicars lived on, many of them, 
 through all the changes of that changeful time. 
 The churchwardens continued their work. There 
 was no violent disruption. The Church continued 
 to be the centre of the social, as well as of the 
 religious, life of the people. The vestry was 
 the council chamber of the parish; the church 
 was the home of the inhabitants, associated with 
 all their joys and sorrows, their business and 
 their festivals. One curious ztem in the old 
 account-books shows the identity of post-Reforma- 
 tion and pre-Reformation arrangements, and that 
 
236 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 is ‘Smoke farthings.” This was a hearth tax, 
 and was formerly known as Peter’s Pence, which 
 was paid by each householder to the Pope. 
 After the Reformation the money was still paid, 
 but it did not go to the support of papal dignity, 
 but to the bishop of the diocese, for the welfare 
 of the Church at home. One curious Church 
 custom we must not omit to describe, as it 
 formed a notable feature in the social life of 
 each town and country parish, and that was the 
 “Church Ale.” Easter and Whitsuntide were 
 the two seasons at which church-ales were usually 
 held, but they were not confined to those times, 
 and if the church needed a new roof, or some 
 poor people were in sad straits, the parishioners 
 would decide to have a church-ale, and the 
 funds required would soon be forthcoming. ‘The 
 churchwardens bought, and received as presents, a 
 large quantity of provisions, which they employed 
 in brewing and baking, and on the appointed day 
 ‘the neighbours met at the Church House, and 
 there fed merrily on their own victuals, contribut- 
 ing some petty portion to the stock, which by 
 many smalls groweth to a meetly greatness: for 
 there is entertained a kind of emulation between 
 these wardens, who by his graciousness in gather- 
 ing, and good husbandry in expending, can best 
 
IN THE DAYS OF GOOD QUEEN BESS — 237 
 
 advance the Church’s profit. Besides, the neigh- 
 bour parishes at those times lovingly visit one 
 another, and this way frankly spend their money 
 together. The afternoons are consumed in such 
 exercises as old and young folk (having leisure) 
 do accustomly wear out the time withal. When 
 the feast is ended the wardens yield in their 
 account to the parishioners, and such money as 
 exceedeth the disbursements is laid up in store 
 to defray any extraordinary charges arising in 
 the parish or imposed on them for the good 
 of the country, or the Prince’s Service, neither 
 of which commonly gripe so much, but that 
 somewhat still remaineth to cover the purse’s 
 bottom.” 
 
 Aubrey thus describes the Church House, the 
 scene of these entertainments :—‘‘In every parish 
 was a church-house, to which belonged spits, 
 crocks, and other utensils for dressing provisions. 
 Here the housekeepers met. The young people 
 were there, too, and had dancing, bowling, 
 shooting at butts, &c., the ancients (z.e., the old 
 folk) sitting gravely by and looking on. All 
 things were civil and without scandal. The 
 Church Ale is, doubtless, derived from the 
 Agapai, or Love Feasts, mentioned in the New 
 Testament.” 
 
238 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 Here is an account of a goodly feast preserved 
 in an old churchwardens’ book :— 
 
 Imprimig for fleshhe . . . . xij 
 
 im for beare 1; «a. | ee ce 
 
 itn forale <9 ysis in xv 
 LV ititor bread: 2. eee 
 
 ct'm for spices and:frute | 9) eee xx 
 It’m for ButterandSewet . . . xij 
 It’ for flower: wh, sea wioetene i1ij4 
 It’m for wood Societe wins te tpaul aan i1ij? 
 Rt’ nttor Sawite a... 10s, ye ee iiij 
 at itor Hayle a ee, ee xij 
 
 The maidens too were busily engaged on these 
 occasions; they erected an arbour of boughs in 
 the churchyard, called Robin Hood’s Bower, 
 and collected money for the ales by “‘ Hocking.” 
 The process was simple; they waylaid the men, 
 and held them with a rope wound round them, 
 until their prisoners redeemed themselves by the 
 payment of money. Here is a record of the 
 old custom :— 
 
 -1505 A.D. Jem, Received of the maidens’ gathering 
 at Whitsuntide by the tree at the church 
 door . a gate : ; : , . 1° vid 
 
 The morrice-dancers and minstrels, the ballad- 
 singers and players, were in great force at these 
 
IN THE DAYS OF GOOD QUEEN BESS 239 
 
 feasts, and were entertained at the cost of the 
 parish, as the following z¢em shows :— 
 
 Paid to morris-dancers and the minstrels, meat and 
 drink at Whitsuntide  . : ‘ : . 1j® mjd 
 
 When we turn from the contemplation of 
 these social gatherings, we see a great trans- 
 formation in the appearance of our town-houses 
 and of the princely mansions of the nobles. 
 Increased prosperity and security produced an 
 era of building. Palaces rose as if by the power 
 of a magician’s wand. There was the royal 
 palace of Nonsuch, near Cheam, Surrey, extolled 
 by all beholders as a marvel of architectural 
 design. ‘There was the splendid Wollaton, in 
 Nottinghamshire ; Somerset House, in the Strand ; 
 Buckhurst House, Surrey; Longleat, Burleigh, 
 Hatfield, Audley, Hardwick, Bolsover, and a 
 host of other lordly mansions, while the country 
 gentry rebuilt their manor-houses and studded 
 the land with fair edifices. The town-houses 
 still retained their ancient form, but they were 
 more beautifully ornamented. Rich carvings 
 adorned the windows, and within rich hangings, 
 a goodly store of plate, and many evidences of 
 increased luxury meet the eye. The servants 
 and apprentices still lived in their master’s house, 
 
240 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 and were up betimes, at six o’clock in the 
 morning. They dined at eleven and supped 
 at six. After evening prayers companies of the 
 apprentices might be seen practising with ‘“ buck- 
 lers and wasters” before their master’s door. 
 Very ready these London youths were with their 
 weapons, and the cry, ‘‘’Prentices! ’Prentices! 
 Clubs! Clubs!” was the signal for many a 
 savage onslaught, which often ended fatally. 
 
 At the door, too, sat the ladies decked out in 
 fine array, with monstrous ruffs and enormous 
 fardingales, wilhe their faces were not ignorant 
 of cosmetics. Very fine were these city dames; 
 nor were their country cousins less gorgeous in 
 their attire. The wife of the famous Jack of 
 Newbury is described as being attired in a fair 
 train gown stuck full of silver pins, having a 
 white cap on her head with cuts of curious 
 needlework under the same, and an apron before 
 her as white as driven snow. Her maidens, too, 
 were dressed in stamel red petticoats, with milk- 
 white kerchers on their heads, and their smock- 
 _ sleeves like the winter’s snow, tied with silken 
 bands at the waist. | 
 
 Many were the sports and games in which the 
 lads and lasses revelled during these ‘ golden 
 
 days of good Queen Bess,” especially when 
 
IN THE DAYS OF GOOD QUEEN BESS 241 
 
 May-time crowned the year, and there were 
 many shouts and horn-blowings and the twining 
 of garlands, and all the delights of a May-Day 
 Festival. Troops of young men and maidens 
 are returning from the woods bearing branches 
 of birch and spring flowers, and here comes the 
 May-pole drawn by thirty yoke of oxen, their 
 horns decorated with the trophies of spring. It 
 is covered with flowers and gay ribbons, hand- 
 kerchiefs and flags streaming in the wind. And 
 then, with shouts of laughter and glad songs, the 
 strong arms of the young men raise the mighty 
 shaft, and then (as the Puritanical Stubbes 
 observes) “‘they straw the ground round about 
 it; they bind green boughs about it; they set 
 up summer-halls, bowers, and arbours hard by 
 it; and then they fall to banqueting and feasting, 
 to leaping and dancing about it, as the heathen 
 people did at the dedication of their idols.” 
 
 A company of morris-dancers approach, and a 
 circle is made round the May-pole in which they 
 can perform their merry diversions. First comes 
 a man dressed in a green tunic, with a bow, 
 arrows, and bugle-horn. It is our old friend 
 Robin Hood, and by his side, attended by her 
 maidens, walks Maid Marian, the May Queen. 
 Will Stukeley, Little John, and other companions 
 
 Q 
 
242 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 of the famous outlaw follow; and then comes 
 the hobby-horse, which careers about, prances, 
 and curvets, now rushing among the crowd, and 
 now kicking and rearing frantically at the sight 
 of a formidable-looking dragon, which hisses and 
 flaps his wings. And then the maidens dance 
 again, and the archers set up their targets in the 
 butts, where a close contest ensues, and the victor 
 is crowned with a laurel wreath. Such were 
 some of the sights and sounds of May-Day in 
 olden times. 
 
 Volumes could be filled with descriptions of 
 the amusements of this period; we have tried 
 to draw the outlines of that bright picture of 
 light - hearted gaiety which characterised the 
 reign of good Queen Bess. The monarch con- 
 tributed much to the happiness of her subjects 
 by her ceaseless wanderings through the kingdom. 
 Wherever she went there were pageants and 
 processions and displays of courtly grandeur 
 which must have entailed a vast amount of 
 elaborate preparation and rehearsing, and afforded 
 - much amusement both to the performers and 
 spectators. For example, at Norwich, which the 
 Queen visited in 1578, there was displayed before 
 her Majesty “‘a choice assemblage of rare and 
 splendid scenery and _ personifications, among 
 
IN THE DAYS OF GOOD QUEEN BESS 243 
 
 which Mercury paraded before her in a coach, 
 the whole whereof was covered with birds, and 
 naked spirits hanging by the heels in the air, 
 and clouds cunningly painted out, as though by 
 some thunder-crack they had been shaken and 
 tormented.” And besides the usual goodly com- 
 pany of gods and goddesses, knights and heroes, 
 there was a pageant representing the trade of 
 the country, little girls spinning and knitting, 
 while a youth addressed the Queen in laudatory 
 verse. This show pleased her Majesty greatly, 
 we are told. Wherever the Queen went she 
 was welcomed and entertained by these curious 
 exhibitions, which afforded the townsfolk much 
 innocent enjoyment. The nobles did not so 
 much covet the honour of a royal visit, as the 
 enormous expense of her entertainment crippled 
 and well-nigh ruined many rich estates. 
 
 We have seen something of the outside splen- 
 dour of Elizabeth’s reign, the growing prosperity, 
 increased luxury, merriment, and song, which 
 echoed through the land and cheered the hearts 
 of young and old; but there was plenty of 
 misery too, terrible pictures of beggary and 
 pauperism, while crowds of sturdy vagabonds 
 scoured the country, living by theft and rapine, 
 utterly regardless of all law or order. The dis- 
 
244 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 solution of the monasteries was a fruitful 
 source of mendicancy. Not only were the occu- 
 pants of the monastic houses driven from their 
 homes and forced to support themselves by the 
 donations of the charitable, but the crowds of 
 domestics and tradesfolk who had clustered around 
 an ancient abbey and had derived their liveli- 
 hood from it were suddenly deprived of their 
 employment and had no means of subsistence. 
 Then the monks and nuns had been the chief 
 friends of the poor, who could always find food 
 and lodgings in the abbey precincts: whither could 
 they go now that the ospztzwm was in ruins 
 and the monks expelled? In addition to these 
 classes of poverty-stricken folk, there were crowds 
 of sturdy rogues and vagabonds using subtle 
 craft and unlawful games or plays, feigning 
 themselves to have knowledge in physiognomy, 
 palmistry, or other abused sciences; fencers, bear- 
 wards, common players in interludes, minstrels, 
 jugglers, pedlars, tinkers, and petty chapmen, 
 who wandered about without due license from 
 two justices of the peace. 
 
 How did the sapient authorities deal ae 
 this appalling mass of vagrancy and mendicancy ? 
 The Acts of Parliament tell us. All vagrants 
 ‘being whole and mighty in body and able to 
 
IN THE DAYS OF GOOD QUEEN BESS 245 
 
 labour” were condemned to be tied to the end 
 of a cart naked, and beaten with whips through 
 the nearest market-town, till their bodies be 
 bloody by reason of such whipping; then sent 
 back to their native town with a certificate of 
 their whipping; and then put to labour as a 
 true man oweth to do. Even this severe Act 
 did not seem to stem the tide of vagrancy, and 
 it was followed by one of the most barbarous de- 
 crees ever invented by English law-makers. Any 
 one found loitering without any visible means of 
 support might be*seized and set to work by any 
 one who would give him meat and drink; if he 
 ran away, he was to be branded on the breast with 
 the letter V, and made the slave of his employer 
 for two years. Bread and water and the refuse 
 of meat were given him for food, and he could 
 be forced to work by beating, chaining, or other 
 forcible methods. If he attempted to escape, he 
 was branded on the cheek with the letter S, and 
 became the slave of his master for ever. After 
 any subsequent attempts to break away from his 
 fetters, he was adjudged a felon and merited the 
 punishment of death. Such was the hideous law 
 enacted by the counsellors of Good Queen Bess. 
 At length a system of Poor Law administration 
 was evolved, and people were assessed for the 
 
246 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 relief of the poor on the same principle which has 
 since guided our Legislature. But even under this 
 Act vagabonds were ordered to be whipped and 
 burnt through the gristle of the right ear with 
 a hot iron of the compass of an inch about, while 
 death awaited the runaway. 
 
 In spite of all these devices for the cure of the 
 evil, vagrancy still flourished. On the confines 
 of the Metropolis, on Maidenhead thicket, in 
 the wilds of Somersetshire, and elsewhere bands 
 of sturdy rufhans openly defied all law, plundered 
 as they pleased, waylaid the packmen and the 
 wains of the clothiers and merchants, rifled the 
 farmsteads, threatened the magistrates, who were 
 afraid to proceed against them, and carried ruin 
 and devastation whithersoever they went. They 
 were the ancestors of the Knights of the Road, 
 of Claude Duval, Dick Turpin, the Golden 
 Farmer, and many others, who gained renown 
 in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and 
 plundered travellers, until at length the tall 
 gibbets thinned their ranks, wild heaths were 
 reclaimed, and travelling lost its danger and 
 excitement. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 MEMORABLE SIEGES OF GREAT TOWNS 
 
 In time of war—Exeter sieges—Alfred and the Danes— 
 Exeter and the Conqueror—A siege in medieval times— 
 Perkin Warbeck —*‘ Semper fidelis”? —The siege of 
 Gloucester—Colchester—The death of heroes. 
 
 In our peaceful country, where for so many years 
 war has been unknown, it is difficult to go back 
 in imagination to the days when our towns had 
 walls and ramparts, which had to be kept in con- 
 stant repair, and when at any time the citizens 
 might be summoned to the battlements to pro- 
 tect their hearths and homes from ruin and 
 desolation. Fearful was the fate of a conquered 
 town, when, according to the usage of medizval 
 warfare, it was handed over to the soldiers for 
 a two or three days’ pillage, when life, honour, 
 and property were entirely at the mercy of a band 
 of lawless men. 
 
 In Saxon times, when the Danes were ravaging 
 
 the country, sailing up the rivers, and burning 
 247 
 
248 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 and destroying as they pleased, there was hardly 
 a town which was not taken and retaken by 
 the opposing armies. Well might the English 
 chroniclers lament over the evils of those days 
 when corn was scarce and the land barren, and 
 ruined homesteads marked the course of the 
 invaders. 
 
 Of all English towns, Exeter seems to 
 have been most often exposed to a siege. It 
 was originally a British hill fort protected by 
 earthworks, and was probably stubbornly de- 
 fended by the brave Britons when the Saxon 
 hosts bore down upon it. The city walls fol- 
 lowed the course of the earthworks, and ran 
 round the crest of the hill, one point going down 
 to the river to admit commerce into the city, 
 which was one of the richest in England. In 
 the days of Alfred, during the war with the 
 Danes, Exeter was often taken and retaken by 
 the King and his foes. Here is an account of 
 the earliest siege of Exeter, taken from Asser’s 
 “Life of Alfred” :—‘‘ The King went to Exeter, 
 where the pagans were wintering, and, having 
 shut them up within the walls, laid siege to the 
 town. He also gave orders to his sailors to pre- 
 vent them from obtaining any supplies by sea; 
 and his sailors were encountered by a fleet of 
 
MEMORABLE SIEGES OF GREAT TOWNS 249 
 
 a hundred and twenty ships full of armed soldiers 
 who were come to help their countrymen. As 
 soon as the King’s men knew that they were fitted 
 with pagan soldiers they leaped to their arms 
 and bravely attacked those barbaric tribes. But 
 the pagans, who had now for almost a month 
 been tossed and almost wrecked among the waves 
 of the sea, fought vainly against them; their 
 bands were discomfited in a moment, and all 
 were sunk and drowned in the sea at a place 
 called Suanewic (Swanwick).” In the days of 
 Ethelred, Exeter was taken by storm through 
 the cowardice or treachery of the ‘“‘ French churl 
 Hugh,” who had been appointed steward by 
 Emma Elfgive, daughter of Richard of Nor- 
 mandy. But the greatest interest is attached 
 to the siege of Exeter by the Conqueror William. 
 For a long time the Western capital held its 
 own, and refused to acknowledge a Frenchman 
 as King of England. William marched with 
 an army to subdue the bold citizens, but he 
 found Exeter a harder nut to crack than he ex- 
 pected. With consummate bravery, for eighteen 
 days they defied the full power of the Conqueror. 
 When we read of the exploits of Hereward the 
 Wake and the gallantry of these brave men of 
 Devon, who fought so determinedly for their 
 
250 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 liberty, we Englishmen cannot help feeling pro- 
 found sympathy with them, although perhaps it 
 was better for England that Exeter, York, Ely, 
 and Durham, which were all gallantly defended, 
 should have been subdued, in order that the king- 
 dom might be a united one, and not made up of 
 independent cities and states. In the time of 
 Stephen, also, when ‘‘there was all discord, and 
 evil-doing, and robbery,” many powerful men 
 rose up against the King, amongst whom the 
 first was Baldwin de Redvers, “‘ who held Exeter 
 against the King, and Stephen besieged him, and 
 afterwards Baldwin made terms with him.” 
 
 How was it possible, before the days of 
 gunpowder, for men to capture a strongly 
 fortified town or castle, defended by huge walls 
 eighteen feet thick, by moats and portcullises, 
 and by brave and well-armed burghers? The 
 mode of direct attack was first to discharge a 
 flight of arrows at the besieged, so as to compel 
 them to seek shelter behind the battlements, then 
 to throw planks across the moat, along which 
 the besiegers ran and placed scaling -ladders 
 against the walls. Instantly the soldiers begin 
 to ascend, holding above their heads their shields 
 against arrows and stones. In this manner a 
 band of men would try to reach the summit 
 
MEMORABLE SIEGES OF GREAT TOWNS 251 
 
 of the walls, and guard the way for others, 
 until a sufficient number of men were assembled 
 to overcome the besieged. But sometimes the 
 ladders were thrown down, or the assailants over- 
 powered. There is generally a space between 
 the battlements and the wall, through which 
 missiles and darts can be hurled on those who 
 attempt this method of attack. Then other 
 devices have to be adopted, such as that of 
 the ‘‘ cat,” which is a covered shed wherein the 
 soldiers can work and dig under the foundations 
 of the walls. They make a mine, and support 
 the roof of it with wooden props, and when the 
 mine is well under the wall, they burn the props, 
 and the wall falls in, forming a breach through 
 which the soldiers can fight their way. Then 
 there were several military engines, such as the 
 trebuchet, the mangonel, and the catapult, dif- 
 ferent names for the same kind of machine for 
 casting stones; large movable shields, behind 
 which the soldiers could shelter themselves when 
 within range of the bowmen on the walls; and 
 often a large movable tower was brought into 
 use, which placed the besiegers on a level with 
 the besieged, and from which a drawbridge was 
 let down upon the town walls, so that the 
 attacking force could rush across it and gain the 
 
252 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 ramparts. Then a hand-to-hand fight ensued ; 
 swords flashed, and shields rattled with blows, 
 while from every loophole showers of arrows 
 flew, until the fortune of war decided the issues 
 of the fight. Such was the way in which these 
 apparently impregnable places were captured 
 before villainous saltpetre was invented. 
 
 In the time of Henry VII. the impostor Perkin 
 Warbeck besieged Exeter, and there is a very 
 spirited account of his attack upon the ancient 
 city by an old chronicler :—‘“‘ Lacking ordnance 
 to make a battery to raze and deface the walls, 
 he studied all the ways possible how to break 
 and infringe the gates; and what with casting 
 of stones, heaving with iron bars, and kindling 
 of fire under the gates, he omitted nothing which 
 could be devised for the furtherance of his un- 
 gracious purpose. The citizens taking to them- 
 selves lusty hearts and manly courage, determined 
 to repulse fire by fire, and caused faggots to be 
 brought to the inward part of the posts and 
 posterns, and set them all on fire, to the intent 
 that the fire being inflamed on both sides of 
 the gates, might as well exclude their enemies 
 from entering, as include the citizens from 
 running or flying out; and that they in the 
 mean season might make trenches and rampires 
 
MEMORABLE SIEGES OF GREAT TOWNS 243 
 
 to defend their enemies instead of gates and 
 bulwarks. And when Perkin assaulted the town 
 in divers weak places, and set up ladders to climb 
 over the walls, the citizens like valiant champions, 
 defended them, and slew two hundred of his 
 seditious soldiers.” Thus Exeter was defended, 
 and Perkin was forced to retire. The King 
 entered the city in triumph, and praised the 
 worthy citizens for their gallant defence. Queen 
 Elizabeth gave the city its motto—Semper 
 Fidelis (always faithful)—on account of the 
 bravery of the burghers in resisting the insurrec- 
 tion of 1549, called ‘‘the Devonshire commo- 
 tion,” which was created by those who objected 
 to the changes in religious worship produced 
 by the Reformation. One more siege did the 
 “faithful” city endure during the Great Re- 
 bellion, when it did not sustain fully its loyal 
 character, and then its military annals were ended. 
 The siege of Gloucester during the Rebellion 
 is remarkable; for the stubborn resistance of the 
 citizens seems to have turned the fate of the 
 war, and proved a severe blow to the Royalists. 
 The women and maids of the city wrought with 
 the men in repairing the walls, and for three 
 long months the siege continued, until the 
 London train-bands, composed of the burghers 
 
254 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 of that city (still existing as the London Militia), 
 marched to their relief. 
 
 Another memorable siege of the same period 
 was that of Colchester, which, from the time 
 when brave Boadicea took the town, has fre- 
 quently been an object of attack. At the com- 
 mencement of the war Colchester had espoused 
 the cause of the Parliament against the King, 
 but the inhabitants afterwards repented of their 
 disloyalty, made a treaty with the Royalists, and 
 received them into the town. The Great Parlia- 
 mentarian, General Fairfax, besieged it, and a 
 close blockade for eleven weeks ensued, during 
 which the people bravely endured great want 
 and suffering. But when the Scottish army 
 had been defeated, and the royal cause seemed 
 hopelessly lost, the townspeople yielded, and 
 the memory of Fairfax is stained by his cruelty 
 to two of the officers, Sir Charles Lucas and 
 Sir George Lisle, who were shot under the walls 
 of the castle. The former tore open his doublet, 
 and exclaimed to the soldiers, ‘Fire, rebels!” 
 and instantly fell. Lisle ran to him, kissed his 
 dead body, and told the soldiers to come nearer. 
 
 One replied, “‘ Fear not, sir; we shall hit you.” 
 
 ‘“My friends,” he answered, “I have been 
 nearer when you have missed me.” 
 
MEMORABLE SIEGES OF GREAT TOWNS. 258 
 
 But the rebel bullets did not miss their mark, 
 and the gallant Lisle was slain. Happily for 
 England, wars have not been so incessant as on 
 the Continent, and our towns have known little of 
 the horrors of a protracted siege, when the stores 
 began to run short, and all the cattle were killed, 
 and when plague followed in the footsteps of 
 famine, and daily diminished the strength of the 
 defenders. Death by starvation, or pestilence, or 
 at the hands of the victorious pillagers, was in 
 most cases inevitable; and the canvas of a well- 
 known painter (M. de Vertz) depicts a scene 
 which has occasionally occurred, when madness 
 has destroyed all maternal instinct and affection, 
 and mothers have killed their own children in 
 order to appease the pangs of hunger. Happily 
 such horrors have never been enacted on English 
 
 land. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 UNIVERSITY TOWNS 
 
 Oxford v. Cambridge—Mythical founders—The History 
 of Oxford— Massacre of the Danes — Saxon palace— 
 Norman castle—The flight of the Empress Maud—Old 
 college life—First colleges at Oxford and Cambridge—The 
 battles of scholars—Effect of the dissolution of monasteries 
 — Begging scholars — Destruction of college libraries — 
 Oxford in the Civil War—The homes of learning. 
 
 WITHOUT exception, the most interesting towns 
 in England are those which are the homes of 
 our ancient Universities, the centres of “light 
 and leading,” Oxford and Cambridge. Here have 
 lived many of England’s most illustrious sons; 
 here they have laid the foundation of their great- 
 ness and acquired that learning, knowledge, and 
 culture which have raised them above their 
 fellows, and the shades of the great scholars which 
 seem to haunt the old college buildings put to 
 shame all modern pretensions. ‘The recollection, 
 too, of the part which our Universities have 
 
 played in the nation’s history, the architectural 
 256 
 
UNIVERSITY TOWNS 257 
 
 beauty and venerable appearance of the old 
 colleges, the old associations which cling to those 
 time-worn walls, all increase our veneration for 
 these ancient abodes of learning, and make us 
 love them exceedingly. 
 
 There has always been a certain rivalry between 
 the two Universities as to which can claim the 
 greater antiquity. When Queen Elizabeth visited 
 Cambridge, she was greeted by the public orator 
 with a Latin speech, in which the superior dignity 
 and antiquity of that University were set forth, 
 and the statement made that Oxford and Paris 
 owed their origin to the famous University on 
 the banks of the Cam. When the Oxford 
 scholars heard of this bold assertion, they natu- 
 rally were greatly surprised and enraged, and a 
 learned controversy ensued, the champions of 
 each University vying with each other in their 
 endeavours to maintain the greater antiquity and 
 dignity for their respective scholastic abodes. I 
 am not sure that their imaginations did not fly 
 back as far as the Trojan war and Noah’s flood. 
 
 The mythical history of Oxford, which was 
 first propounded by a certain John Rous, states 
 that it was founded by a king named Mempric, 
 who lived when Samuel was judge in Israel, B.c. 
 
 1009, and was torn to death by a pack of wolves. 
 R 
 
258 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 He established a colony of philosophers learned 
 in Greek at Greeklade, or Cricklade, which was 
 soon removed to the banks of the Isis. Such is 
 the legend, which is quite as true as that of 
 Cantaber, the Spanish prince, who was driven 
 from his country and hospitably received by 
 King Gurguntius, married the Princess Gueno- 
 lena, imported a company of Greek scholars from 
 Athens, and founded Cambridge. Disregarding 
 all other myths, and even venturing to assert that 
 the legend of Alfred being the founder of Uni- 
 versity College at Oxford is as mythological as 
 Mempric or Gurguntius, we may say that the 
 University at Oxford first attained fame at the 
 close of the twelfth century. 
 
 Paris and Bologna were the mothers of Uni- 
 versities, after the models of which all others 
 seem to have been founded. The University 
 of Paris enjoyed a world-wide prestige; the 
 fame of its schools extended far and wide; it 
 was the centre of intellectual life, its teachers 
 wandered into other lands, and Oxford probably 
 owes its origin to a migration of students from 
 that seat of learning in the year 1167. John of 
 Salisbury says that in that year France expelled 
 her alien scholars, and although it is not known 
 whither they fled, the sudden large increase in 
 
UNIVERSITY TOWNS 259 
 
 the number of students at Oxford, and the im- 
 portance which the schools then attained, make 
 it probable that a large portion of these alien 
 students from Paris came to Oxford and laid 
 the foundation of her greatness. Before the 
 year 1167 there were schools and scholars at 
 Oxford, and some famous teachers, such as 
 Theobaldus Stampensis, Robert Pullein, and 
 possibly Vacarius, but it was not until the 
 close of the twelfth century that the University 
 commenced its real existence. Cambridge never 
 attained to high rank in medieval times, and 
 owes its origin to a migration from Oxford in 
 1209. Its glories begin with the days of the 
 New Learning, when Fisher, Erasmus, and Ascham 
 were its soczz, and made Cambridge a formidable 
 rival to the older University. 
 
 But both places have a history before any of 
 the colleges began to spring up, and that of 
 Oxford is the more remarkable. Every one is 
 familiar with the great mound which the visitor 
 passes on the road from the railway station. 
 This great earthwork was constructed in 912 a.D. 
 to prevent the inroads of the Danes, who sailed 
 up the Thames, burnt the towns, and ravaged 
 the country. Ninety years later, when the Danes 
 and Saxons were living side by side, Ethelred the 
 
260 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 Unready, the Saxon king, ordered that all the 
 Danes in England should be massacred. This 
 shameful edict was eagerly obeyed by the Saxons 
 in Oxford; their Danish neighbours fled for 
 refuge into the church of the monastery of St. 
 Frideswide, and claimed the right of sanctuary, 
 which forbade any one to slay a man who sought 
 shelter in a sacred building. But in vain their 
 flight. The Saxons set fire to the church, and 
 the Danes in Oxford were killed. In revenge 
 for this cruel deed, a body of Danes sacked and 
 burned the town seven years later. But it was 
 at Oxford that peace was established between 
 the two peoples; for at a Gemot, or council, 
 summoned by Canute 1018 a.D., it was resolved 
 by the unanimous vote of both parties that the 
 old laws of the country should be retained, and 
 ‘“‘Edgar’s law” should be binding on English 
 and Danes alike. In the old royal residence of 
 the Saxon kings, which stood upon the site of 
 the present jail, and which witnessed the murder 
 of King Edmund, the treacherous slaughter of 
 -Sigefrith and Mortcar, after a great banquet in 
 the hall—in that same palace was this peace re- 
 stored to the rival factions. Above the mound 
 arose the Norman castle built by William, to 
 keep in check his new subjects; moreover he 
 
UNIVERSITY TOWNS 261 
 
 could command the services of twenty burgesses 
 whenever he went on- an expedition. The 
 Domesday Survey shows that it was then a place 
 of importance, as it contained seven hundred 
 houses, but war had dealt so hardly with them 
 that four hundred and seventy-eight were in 
 ruins and could pay no dues. Here the Empress 
 Maud, driven from London, found a refuge; 
 here she was besieged for many a long day; 
 till, dressed in white, with three faithful knights, 
 she fled in the depth of winter across the frost- 
 bound river by night to Wallingford Castle, and 
 escaped her foes. 
 
 Before colleges were founded at either Univer- 
 sity, the students lived at their own expense in 
 halls, inns, or hostels, which were presided over 
 by a Principal; but by degrees, by the bene- 
 factions of pious founders, colleges were built 
 and endowed, and the old hostels gradually 
 disappeared. The colleges were originally homes 
 for graduates, where they lived a life in common, 
 studied and prayed, and found within the college 
 walls havens of rest for peaceful studies. By 
 degrees undergraduates were admitted, and thus 
 a great improvement was effected in University 
 discipline. Peterhouse was the first college in 
 
 Cambridge, founded by Hugh de Balsam, sub- 
 
262 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 prior of Ely, in 1284; and University College 
 at Oxford claims for its founder King Alfred, 
 but it has no documents to prove that it is older 
 than Merton, which was founded in 1264 by 
 Walter de Merton, Chancellor of England and 
 Bishop of Rochester. At both Universities the 
 students in olden times ever loved a riot, and 
 quarrels frequently arose between the townsfolk 
 and the gownsmen. At Oxford, in 1354, several 
 combatants on both sides were killed, and the 
 townsmen were compelled to pay a yearly fine 
 to the University for their offence. Frequently 
 the scholars fought among themselves, English 
 against Scotchmen, Irish against Welsh. On 
 one occasion they helped a mob to pillage the 
 monastery at Abingdon, and feared not the 
 wrath of the Pope’s legate, whose brother was 
 slain. The townsfolk of Cambridge, jealous of 
 the privileges conferred on the University, in 1381 
 mustered their men and made a great riot, broke 
 open college gates, burned charters in the market- 
 place, but were reduced to submission by Spencer, 
 the warlike Bishop of Norwich. University life 
 had its excitements in the fourteenth century ! 
 
 In the time of Edward III. Oxford was the 
 most famous seat of learning in Europe, and is 
 said to have possessed 300 halls and 30,000 
 
UNIVERSITY TOWNS 263 
 
 students, many of whom were foreigners. Wan- 
 dering scholars, knight-errants of learning, who 
 after the fashion of those times went about from 
 university to university, came hither from beyond 
 seas. The universal use of Latin in all centres 
 of learning enabled these roving scholars to enjoy 
 the privileges of any university whither they chose 
 to go, and the fame of Oxford attracted very 
 many. The number of the students probably 
 did not, however, exceed three or four thousand. 
 In spite of the disturbances wrought by Wiclif’s 
 teaching and by the Wars of the Roses, it con- 
 tinued to flourish until the dissolution of 
 monasteries, which was very injurious to both 
 Universities. Poor scholars were sent by the 
 monasteries to Oxford and Cambridge, and their 
 expenses provided for by them; but when the 
 religious houses ceased to exist, there was no one 
 to pay these college bills, the halls and hostels 
 became almost empty, poor scholars and monks 
 went a-begging with wallets on their shoulders, 
 and the cause of learning seemed ruined. 
 
 The men of modern Oxford will find some 
 difficulty in realising that their predecessors were 
 such importunate beggars that they were classed 
 with fortune-tellers and various other suspicious 
 characters; and unless they could prove by 
 
264 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 documentary evidence that they were licensed 
 to beg by the authorities of the University, they 
 were liable to be tied to the tail of a cart and 
 beaten with whips in the market-place until their 
 backs were bloody by reason of such whipping. 
 Here are the words of the Act: “Scholars of 
 the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge that 
 go about begging, not being authorised under 
 the seal of the said Universities by the com- 
 missary, chancellor, or vice-chancellor of the 
 same, as well as fortune-tellers and various other 
 suspicious characters, shall, on conviction before 
 two justices of the peace, be punished by whip- 
 ping after the manner before rehearsed.” 
 
 But then as now all classes were represented at 
 the University. Besides the importunate beggar 
 class, who were licensed to beg, and lived on bread 
 and porridge, there was the middle-class “clerk 
 
 of Oxenford” described by Chaucer :— 
 
 ‘As leané was his horse as is a rake, 
 And he was not right fat, I undertake ; 
 But looked hollow and thereto soberly. 
 Full threadbare was his overest courtessy, 
 For he had gotten him yet no benefice, 
 He was not worldly to have an office. 
 For him was lever have at his bed’s head 
 Twenty bookés, clothed in black or red, 
 Of Aristotle and his philosophy, 
 Than robés rich, or fiddle, or psalt’ry.” 
 
UNIVERSITY TOWNS 265 
 
 And there were also men of good family, who 
 lived at their own hostels and had many servants 
 withal. The life of the students in medieval 
 times would certainly seem curious to the men 
 of modern Oxford. The Latin tongue was heard 
 everywhere in hall and lecture-room, and a Zupus 
 was often employed to spy upon undergraduates 
 and discover the culprits who dared to converse 
 in the vulgar tongue. Lectures began at 6 a.M., 
 and often lasted three hours. The students dined 
 at IO A.M., and supped at five o’clock. Four or 
 five men shared a bed-room in which there was 
 no fire, and two usually occupied one bed. Such 
 “insolent pursuits” as bat and ball were things 
 forbidden, as also dancing in chapel or playing 
 dice on the Cathedral altar, or marbles on the 
 steps of St. Mary’s Church. In the long evenings 
 the student was admonished to read poems sit- 
 ting at the fire in the hall, and was not allowed 
 to go out of college, unless accompanied by a 
 Master of Arts. Moreover, if he broke the 
 rules of the college he was birched in the hall 
 with a birch composed of nine rods, one for each 
 of the muses. 
 
 The hardships of a college student were as 
 luxuries compared with the conditions of his 
 unattached neighbour in the hostels or lodgings. 
 
266 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 The latter certainly enjoyed greater freedom, of 
 which he made frequent use. He dearly loved a 
 riot; to bait a Jew, to stir up a brawl with the 
 townsmen, to fight his rival ‘‘ nation,” whether 
 Scotch or Irish, to quarrel with monks or insult 
 the proctors, to poach deer or rob a packman’s 
 wallet, these were the amusements which added 
 zest to his life, and consoled him for hard fare 
 and many discomforts. The street-life of Oxford 
 in medieval times was certainly extraordinary, 
 and yet amidst all this confusion and riot, how 
 many attained to learning and led pious and 
 devout lives, in spite of all discouragements ! 
 What burning questions and controversies raged 
 and disturbed the minds of the learned, when 
 Wiclif propounded his doctrines, when the New 
 Learning asserted its sway and Scholasticism died, 
 or when King and Pope were at deadly enmity, 
 and the stormy period of the Reformation dawned 
 on England ! 
 
 Terrible destruction was wrought also in the 
 college libraries, the chief glory of the Univer- 
 -sities. Commissioners were appointed to examine 
 and burn all superstitious and Romish books and 
 manuscripts. Ruthlessly did these ignorant and 
 intolerant men carry on biers to the market-place 
 and burn cartloads of valuable MSS., which con- 
 
UNIVERSITY TOWNS 267 
 
 tained nothing more iniquitous than red-lettered 
 titles or mathematical signs and figures. 
 
 Mary’s reign witnessed a still more disgraceful 
 burning, when the great leaders of the Protestant 
 party, Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer, suffered 
 martyrdom near St. Mary Magdalen’s Church, 
 where the Martyrs’ Memorial now stands. But 
 strange times dawned upon Oxford when the 
 civil war broke out, and Charles I. held his court 
 in the faithful city, making it the headquarters of 
 his army. College caps were thrown away, and 
 students and doctors donned helmets; the halls 
 were turned into barracks; the college autho- 
 rities, true to their King, melted down their 
 stores of silver plate to supply him with money. 
 All studies were abandoned; in Merton College 
 the Queen held her court; in St. John’s Hall 
 plays were acted for the amusement of the royal 
 guests; Rupert’s trumpet-call sounded in the 
 gardens of New College; gay cavaliers thronged 
 the streets, and the quiet existence of the 
 University was strangely disturbed. When the 
 Puritans gained the day, little mercy was shown 
 to the loyalists, who were ejected from their 
 colleges, and the destruction which had been 
 commenced by the commissioners was carried on 
 with renewed vigour. Beautiful windows, stone 
 
268 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 figures, pictures, altars, and crosses, were all sacri- 
 ficed as monuments of superstition, and scarcely 
 a building in Oxford does not bear traces of this 
 heedless and miserable fanaticism. 
 
 The history of these University towns is, in- 
 deed, the history of learning in England. To 
 trace this history, to describe its colleges, to tell 
 of the great men who lived and taught and 
 worked within their walls, to summon again the 
 shades of Erasmus or Milton at Cambridge, of 
 Raleigh, Butler, Ben Jonson, Johnson, and a host 
 of others, at Oxford—all this is beyond our 
 purpose. We have sketched rapidly the most 
 important eras in the history of our ancient 
 Universities, which have been the centres of 
 learning in England for nigh seven hundred 
 years, which have produced most of the greatest 
 scholars, divines, poets, and leaders of men in 
 every rank and profession; and it is satisfactory 
 to know that they have never played a more 
 vigorous part in the life of the nation than at the 
 present time. Carlyle asserted that the university 
 of the future would be the library of books, where 
 the scholar would roam and read at will; but his 
 prophecy is in no danger of being fulfilled. Ox- 
 ford and Cambridge, and the younger Universities, 
 which cannot boast of so high a lineage, have 
 
UNIVERSITY TOWNS 269 
 
 never attracted to themselves more students, and 
 their influence makes itself felt in all depart- 
 ments of education. They have adapted them- 
 selves to the needs of modern times, and, in spite 
 of their antiquity, have still a great future before 
 them. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 CINQUE PORTS AND HARBOURS 
 
 Special privileges of the Cinque Ports—The fickleness of 
 the sea—The navy in olden times—Old Sandwich—The 
 troubles of Hythe—Rye and Winchelsea—The Armada— 
 Drake and the “ Golden Hind’’—Feuds and piracies— 
 Smuggling days. 
 
 We will now journey to the sea, over whose 
 waves Britannia is said to rule, and visit some 
 of those old ports and harbours whence her 
 navies sailed to discover new worlds, and lay 
 the foundation of England’s colonial greatness. 
 The most important of these were the old Cinque 
 Ports upon the coast of Sussex and Kent, to 
 which William the Conqueror granted important 
 privileges and rights, freedom from tolls and 
 customs, the right of fishing along the coast of 
 Norfolk, on condition that they supplied the 
 King with fifty-seven ships, containing twenty- 
 one men and a boy in each ship, for fifteen days, 
 whenever he should require their service. The 
 
 270 
 
CINQUE PORTS AND HARBOURS 271 
 
 Cinque Ports were Sandwich, Romney, Hastings, 
 Hythe, and Dover, with which twelve neigh- 
 bouring ports were incorporated. They were 
 governed by a Warden, an office which still 
 remains, although the glory of the Cinque Ports 
 has passed away, and banks of sand fill the 
 harbours wherein the pride of England’s navy 
 used to congregate. The old Hythe 1s now one 
 mile inland; Romney is a mile from the sea, 
 without a single creek to connect her with it; 
 old Winchelsea lies beneath the waves, which 
 have engulfed her; Rye and Sandwich can only 
 receive small ships, and Hastings has no harbour. 
 Such disastrous changes has time wrought on 
 these once flourishing towns; the sea, wearied of 
 their supremacy, has cast them off, and conferred 
 her favours elsewhere. 
 
 Before the reign of Henry VII. the King had 
 no royal navy, and in time of war relied upon 
 the ships which were furnished by the Cinque 
 Ports, and, in case of need, could order mer- 
 chants in other towns on the sea-coast to supply 
 vessels for his use; but it was not until the 
 reign of Charles II. that the last service was 
 required of them. ‘The present state of Sand- 
 wich, with its ruined gate-house, its sand-bound 
 haven, its dilapidated houses and disfigured 
 
ap OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 churches, contrasts strangely with that prosper- 
 _ ous town in whose harbour the Cinque Ports’ 
 navy used to assemble, and from which the 
 armies of England passed on their way to fight 
 the French, or the Saracens in the Holy Land, 
 and where the Black Prince landed with his 
 royal captives, and doubtless returned thanks 
 for his victories in the church of St. Clement. 
 Decayed towns have always a mournful aspect, | 
 and inspire melancholy thoughts. When walking 
 through the moss-grown streets and deserted 
 market-places, it is sad to reflect upon the 
 glories of the past and recall the gorgeous 
 spectacles of pomp and magnificence which once 
 took place there. We see again the streets 
 thronged with knights, bearing the red cross 
 on their arms; we hear the cheers of the spec- 
 tators as they marched along; and when our 
 lion-hearted King Richard returned from the 
 Crusades, after being imprisoned so long on 
 his way, we see him landing here at Sandwich, 
 and hear the enthusiastic shouts of his subjects 
 as they welcomed him again. But departed is 
 all its glory now, and the streets are as silent 
 as those of the inland decayed towns through 
 which, in old coaching days, kings and queens, 
 statesmen and nobles, passed, or stayed the night, 
 
CINQUE PORTS AND HARBOURS 273 
 
 and which the railways left high and dry, and 
 their inns deserted. 
 
 The history of the decline and fall of most of 
 these south-country ports is very similar—the 
 fickleness of the sea and the plunder of foes. 
 Old Hythe suffered from a variety of mis- 
 fortunes: its fleet of five vessels was destroyed 
 at sea with all the sailors; two hundred of its 
 houses were burnt; a plague carried off nearly 
 all its inhabitants, and the sea receded in the 
 reign of Henry IV. But as the old or West 
 Hythe decayed, the new Hythe sprang up 
 nearer the sea, became a Cinque Port, and 
 contained a fair abbey and four parish churches. 
 The churches were destroyed even in Leland’s 
 time, and long ago it ceased to be a port. 
 
 Rye, although it has not fared quite so badly 
 as its fellows, was in the fourteenth century re- 
 peatedly taken by the French, and its Mayors 
 were indeed between the devil and the deep sea, 
 for their gentle sovereign caused them to be 
 hanged and quartered for not making a better 
 defence. Most of these ports have suffered from 
 having too little sea, but old Winchelsea had too 
 much, and was entirely submerged 1n 1287. Henry 
 III. planted the new town on higher ground; he 
 
 built strong walls and noble gatehouses, laid out 
 S 
 
274 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 the streets, and erected a magnificent church. But, 
 although it was fairly prosperous, and Elizabeth 
 deigned to call it ‘Little London,” it never 
 realised the expectations of its founder. The 
 sea deserted it, and it is now a small village, with 
 a few hundred inhabitants. 
 
 Dover, from its nearness to the French coast, 
 still maintains its importance as a great military 
 station, and its fortifications are as strong as the 
 modern arts of war can make them. It was an 
 important place in the days of the Conqueror. 
 Domesday states that 1t supplied the King with 
 twenty ships for fifteen days in the year, and each 
 ship was manned by twenty-one sailors. 
 
 Many are the services which these old towns 
 have rendered to the country, and very dignified 
 were the freemen of the Cinque Ports, who 
 were called barons, ranked with peers, and bore 
 canopies over the King at his coronation. 
 
 Animated was the scene at all these ports on 
 the south coast, from Plymouth to Dover, when 
 the news came that the Spaniards intended to pay 
 us a visit, and to reduce our country to a Spanish 
 dependency. The English fleet was assembled at 
 Plymouth when— 
 
 “About the lovely close of a warm summer day, 
 There came a gallant merchant-ship full sail to Plymouth Bay.” 
 
CINQUE PORTS AND HARBOURS 276 
 
 Her crew had seen the proud fleet of the Spaniards 
 sailing toward our shores, but our great Admiral, 
 Sir Francis Drake, calmly finished his game of 
 bowls before he proceeded to beat the Spaniards. 
 Every one knows the story of the Armada; 
 how the small, well-handled English barks hung 
 on the course of the stately galleys of the foe, 
 fired their broadsides into the great ships and 
 were off again before their formidable-looking 
 enemies could reply. Our sailors then showed 
 that contempt of danger and that “pluck” 
 which has long characterised the mariners 
 of England. Every one knows of the fire- 
 ships at Calais, the storm, the ignominious 
 retreat of the Spaniards round the coast of 
 Scotland, and the return of a few shattered 
 barks to Spain. All this is a thrice-told tale. 
 The skill which our sailors displayed had been 
 acquired by many a bold voyage in unknown 
 seas, by many wild expeditions in search of 
 plunder, when “‘to singe the beard of the King 
 of Spain,” to ransack his towns, and burn his 
 galleys laden with gold and treasure, was con- 
 sidered perfectly legitimate and right. Who has 
 not heard of the fame of Drake, who, with five 
 ships and one hundred and sixty men, crossed 
 the Atlantic to the shores of Brazil, fought and 
 
276 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 plundered, as was his wont, and then, when all 
 the Spanish fleet were watching for his return, 
 he boldly crossed the Pacific Ocean, and, after 
 dangers and adventures innumerable, he doubled 
 the Cape of Good Hope, and, after three years’ 
 absence, reached the shores of England, the first 
 man who had sailed round the world? Only 
 one ship survived the adventurous voyage, called 
 the Golden ffind, and it was well worthy of 
 its name, for it brought back treasure to the 
 amount of £800,000. At Deptford his famous 
 ship was moored after its adventures, the object 
 of the admiration of the crowds of visitors who 
 flocked to hear the stories of the strange lands 
 and the rich prizes which were in store for brave 
 England’s sons. To the same school of intrepid 
 mariners belonged Sir John Hawkins, Sir Walter 
 Raleigh, Frobisher, Cavendish, and many others 
 who made the name of England feared in every 
 sea; and there were scores of other men who, 
 animated by the same love of adventure, fitted 
 out ships and completed the discoveries which 
 ‘these heroes of the sea had begun. They laid the 
 foundations of that commerce which has made 
 our country so great and prosperous. 
 
 In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries there 
 were many feuds existing between the Cinque 
 
CINQUE PORTS AND HARBOURS 277 
 
 Ports and other ports along the coast. The men 
 of Southampton, Weymouth, Poole, Lyme, and 
 other towns often quarrelled with the men of 
 the Cinque Ports; hence arose a great deal of 
 depredation, ship-burning, bloodshed, and the 
 like, and Edward II. tried to put an end to 
 these disorders by issuing a proclamation. Some- 
 times, too, piracy was openly carried on; the 
 ships of other countries were regarded as legiti- 
 mate prey, in spite of treaties and laws to the 
 contrary. An outlawed nobleman in 1242 estab- 
 lished himself on Lundy Island, and plundered 
 all the merchant-vessels he could capture. The 
 mariners of St. Malo, in Brittany, a bold and 
 fearless race, carried on the same trade, and 
 frequently attacked our coasts and plundered 
 the towns. The rich merchants of London and 
 Bristol sometimes fitted out expeditions to punish 
 these marauders, and performed the duty of pro- 
 tecting the traffic on the seas, for in those days 
 there was no royal navy. 
 
 Very exciting scenes used to be seen in these 
 old coast towns in the old smuggling days. The 
 Isle of Wight and the coast near Lydd were 
 favourite landing-places for contraband goods, 
 and sometimes as many as two hundred men 
 would be engaged in landing the spirits. Every 
 
278 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS | 
 
 one in the place was more or less connected with 
 the traffic, and countless were the means adopted 
 for disposing of the barrels. Smugglers’ caves 
 abound, and the old houses at Douglas, in the 
 Isle of Man, were honeycombed with cellars, so 
 that when a cargo of barrels was landed, and 
 the barrels rolled up the streets, they would 
 
 disappear as in a moment down these endless - 
 
 cellars. When the Government took severer 
 measures to repress the traffic, the men of Lydd 
 had a band of men armed with heavy clubs called 
 ‘“ bats,” and woe to the Custom-House officers 
 who came in contact with these formidable 
 batsmen! Desperate fights occurred, and many 
 lives were lost; but happily smuggling and piracy 
 are things of te past. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 PALATINATE TOWNS AND CATHEDRAL 
 CITIES 
 
 Mighty Durham—Its days of splendour—Lancaster and 
 its Duke—Old county towns—Ely and its Palatinate— 
 Chester and its memories—Cathedral towns and their 
 associations — Wells and Salisbury — Her bishop and 
 
 canons. 
 
 ANOTHER class of towns possess features of 
 peculiar interest, and had special rights and 
 privileges bestowed upon them, viz., the chief 
 towns of Counties Palatine. Such were Durham, 
 Chester, Lancaster, and Ely. The word Palatine 
 is connected with Palace, and a County Palatine 
 is one possessing royal privileges. The powerful 
 Palatinate of Durham existed from time im- 
 memorial until the year 1836, and was presided 
 over by the Bishop of Durham. It comprised 
 within the limits of its jurisdiction the whole 
 county of Durham, and its possession made the 
 Bishop, next to the King, the most powerful 
 prince in England. He had his courts of 
 
 ie, 
 
280 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 Chancery, Common Pleas, and Exchequer. He 
 had the power to levy taxes for the defence and 
 service of his Palatinate; to make truce with 
 his enemies; to raise troops and impress ships 
 in time of war. He sat in judgment of life 
 and death, and could inflict capital punishment. 
 He could create barons of his Palatinate, and 
 summon them to his councils, and he could 
 confiscate their lands for treason against himself. 
 He possessed all manner of royal jurisdictions 
 and rights; could coin money, grant licences 
 to establish castles, churches, hospitals, or other 
 charities; could create corporations and grant 
 markets or fairs. In short, every source of 
 profit and every post of honour or service was 
 at his disposal. The sovereign could not in- 
 terfere with him, nor could the sovereign’s 
 officers enter the Palatinate without his sanction. 
 It was no wonder, then, that when an arbitrary 
 bishop had to deal with an arbitrary king, 
 quarrels frequently ensued, and the Pope was 
 often appealed to to settle differences. 
 
 ' Truly a mighty city was old Durham, ruled 
 over by mighty prelates who within the limits 
 of the Palatinate owned no earthly superior; 
 and splendid were the entertainments which 
 were given by these magnates to their royal 
 
PALATINATE TOWNS 281 
 
 and noble guests. Durham was often the head- 
 quarters of English troops when expeditions 
 were in progress against the patriotic Scotch, 
 and the place where negotiations were con- 
 cluded, or heads struck off from rebel shoulders. 
 After the rebellion under the Nevilles, in the 
 reign of Queen Elizabeth, sixty-six unfortunate 
 people were executed in the city. Edward III. 
 often stayed here and was splendidly entertained 
 by the Bishop, named Bury. In 1424, on the 
 liberation and marriage of James I. of Scotland, 
 the place was crowded with nobility, who, after 
 their wonted manner, amused themselves with 
 splendid tournaments, and the city was very gay 
 with the sights of medieval pageantry and 
 chivalry. Charles I. also, and his retinue, be- 
 fore his days of sorrow came, were royally 
 entertained by Bishop Morton for three days, 
 at the daily expense of £1500. Such were 
 some of the scenes, varied by dreadful plagues 
 and Scotch invasions, which this old city wit- 
 nessed. It owes its origin to the monks of 
 Lindisfarne, who, driven by ruthless Danes from 
 their quiet rest in Holy Island, chose this spot 
 for the resting-place of St. Cuthbert’s bones, 
 after their many wanderings. The castle of 
 Durham, built by the Conqueror, according to 
 
282 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 his usual custom, to overawe the English, was 
 the residence of the powerful Prince-Bishops of 
 Durham, and is now used as the University 
 buildings. Bishop Van Mu§ldert, the last of 
 the Palatine Bishops, was the founder of the 
 University. The sovereignty of the Bishops of 
 Durham was curtailed -by Henry VIII., but it 
 was not until 1836 that palatine jurisdiction was 
 transferred to the Crown. 
 
 The same sovereign power was held by the 
 House of Lancaster. In reward for his signal 
 services in the French wars, when the Duke of 
 Lancaster carried all before him and conquered 
 no less than fifty-six towns, Edward III. delighted 
 to heap honours upon him, and raised the county 
 of Lancaster to the rank of a Palatinate. He 
 was called the ‘‘good Duke of Lancaster”; he 
 lived in princely style, and when he married, as 
 his second wife, Constance, the daughter of the 
 King of Castile, and returned to Lancaster with 
 his wife’s dowry in 1389, he had forty-seven 
 mules laden with chests of gold. When the 
 King’s son, John of Gaunt, married Blanche, the 
 daughter of this duke, the wealthiest heiress in 
 England, a very brilliant period dawned upon 
 the famous town upon the Lune, where John 
 held his ducal court. But sad times were in 
 
PALATINATE TOWNS 283 
 
 store for the old town, when in 1322 and 1389 
 the Scots came and burnt and plundered it; and 
 true till death to the fortunes of the illustrious 
 House of Lancaster during the Wars of the 
 Roses, it suffered so severely that hardly a man 
 was left in the old town. Again, Cromwell’s 
 cannon battered down the walls, and his Round- 
 heads committed much mischief and wanton 
 destruction. Fire, too, at the end of the seven- 
 teenth century wrought havoc amongst the old 
 houses; and, ever true to the fortunes of the 
 rulers they loved, the inhabitants clung to the 
 fallen House of Stuart, and many of them fought 
 in the Jacobite rising of 1745. 
 
 In many of these old county towns like 
 Lancaster there are numerous noble mansions, 
 once the town residences of noblemen and county 
 gentry. To country manor-houses there were 
 often attached town residences, whither the owner 
 used to go to transact business connected with 
 the management of his estates, for county meet- 
 ings, and the like. Now people go to London 
 for the “season,” but a century or two ago each 
 county town used to have ‘‘its season,” whither 
 the great folk flocked, and the place was alive 
 with its fé¢es, and balls, and concerts. But rail- 
 roads have changed all this. Now every one 
 
284 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 flocks to London, and the old town-houses of 
 noblemen have lost their grandeur, and are in- 
 habited by doctors and tradespeople, and others 
 whose occupations compel them to be stationary. 
 All this has led to the decay of the prosperity of 
 our county towns. 
 
 The little city of Ely, with only a few thousand 
 inhabitants, was once the centre of a County 
 Palatine, and its Bishop possessed sovereign rights 
 like the Lord Bishop of Durham or the Duke 
 of Lancaster. The monastery founded amid the 
 fens by Ethelreda, enlarged by Ethelwold of 
 Winchester, and favoured by Canute and Edward 
 the Confessor, was the centre of the stirring 
 scenes in the life of Hereward, where the gallant 
 English made their last stand against the hated 
 Norman, and the pride of Norman chivalry was 
 engulfed in black mud of the Fens. But the 
 monks “‘ did after their kind,” as Kingsley writes, 
 and yielded themselves to William, who appointed 
 a French-speaking Norman abbot to rule over 
 them and bring them into subjection. The 
 bishopric was founded in 1107, and the first 
 bishop, Hervey, driven from the see of Bangor 
 by the Welsh, who did not love these Norman 
 prelates, was invested by Henry I. with sovereign 
 rights over the Isle of Ely, and these palatinate 
 
PALATINATE TOWNS 285 
 
 rights continued until Henry VIII. took the 
 power into his own hands. 
 
 Than Chester, the only English town which 
 retains its walls in a complete state, whose 
 palatinate rights were granted by the Conqueror 
 to his nephew Hugh, Earl of Chester, few cities 
 are more interesting. The Briton, Roman, Saxon, 
 Dane, and Norman successively held it, and the 
 place is full of memories of past heroes. Leaving 
 aside the mythical Leon Gaur, who made caves 
 and dungeons for unhappy wanderers, or the 
 equally legendary King Lear, who— 
 
 “A Briton stout and valiant, 
 Was founder of the city by pleasant dwellings,” 
 
 we recall the might of Saxon Edgar, who made 
 eight kings do homage, and, “forcing them on 
 board a vessel, he compelled them to row him 
 as he sat at the prow: thus displaying his regal 
 magnificence who held so many kings in sub- 
 jection.” The wild tribes of Welsh, in the 
 early Norman times, often made inroads and 
 incursions upon Chester, and so often fired the 
 suburbs of Hanbrid beyond the bridge that they 
 call it Treboeth, or Burnt Town. A long wall 
 of Welshmen’s skulls is said by Camden to have 
 been erected. From the Phoenix Tower, on the 
 
286 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 city wall, Charles I. watched the battle of 
 Rowton Heath. Chester is remarkable for its 
 fine, old-fashioned, quaint, half-timber houses, 
 enriched with carving. One of the most in- 
 teresting has, I fear, disappeared; it was called 
 ““God’s Providence House,” because, when a 
 terrible plague raged in the city, the inhabitants 
 of this house were spared the dread infection. 
 Of Chester ‘“‘Rows” we have already spoken, 
 and gay the city must have been in the old 
 days of pageants and spectacles, which the 
 Chester folk dearly loved, when old and young 
 crowded the ‘‘ Rows” to witness the pageant pass 
 along, ‘‘according to ancient custom,” with “the 
 four giants, and the unicorn, and the dromedary ; 
 the luce, the camel, the ass, snap-the-dragon, the 
 four hobby-horses, and sixteen cupids.” 
 
 The merry diversions which took place on the 
 Roodeye, the football match, which was attended 
 by the Mayor in state, the archery and athletic 
 contests, and races, which were substituted for 
 the old game on account of its roughness and 
 - violence—all these have had their chroniclers, and 
 formed interesting features in the life of this 
 ancient city. In bidding farewell to Chester, 
 we will conclude with the words of honest old 
 Fuller, who, in speaking of the city and its 
 
PALATINATE TOWNS 287 
 
 “Rows,’’’ observes: “It is worth their pains who 
 have money and leisure to make their own eyes 
 the expounders of it, the like being said not to 
 be seen in all England: no, nor in all Europe 
 again.” 
 
 Nowhere is the old-world life of England 
 more clearly reflected than in these ancient 
 cathedral cities. In the dim, mysterious aisles 
 of the grand church, beneath the shades of the 
 quiet cloister, we love to linger, to read the story 
 which the old walls tell us, to mark the varied 
 styles and periods of their architecture, and to 
 associate with them the names of the Church’s 
 heroes of bygone times who loved to dedicate 
 their riches, their labour, and their life to the 
 service of the sanctuary. The quietude of a 
 cathedral close, the unchanged aspect of the 
 tranquil scene, the silence of the streets, the. 
 old houses of the canons, all these have a charm 
 that is all their own. An American writer thus 
 expresses his reflections when first he experienced 
 the fascination of which we speak :— 
 
 “Wells is lovely in itself, and it stands on a 
 broad expanse of lawn surrounded by old ecclesi- 
 astical buildings which escaped the destroyer, and 
 
 1 These “ Rows” were probably built for purposes of defence 
 against the wild Welsh who frequently attacked the city. 
 
288 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 present a picture of old cathedral life. Wells 
 and Salisbury are perhaps the two best specimens 
 of the cathedral close, that haven of religious 
 calm amidst this bustling world, in which a man 
 tired of business and contentious life might 
 delight, especially if he has a taste for books, 
 to find tranquillity, with quiet companionship, 
 in his old age. Take your stand on the Close 
 of Salisbury or Wells on a summer afternoon 
 when the congregation is filing leisurely out from 
 the service and the sounds are still heard from 
 the cathedral, and you will experience a sensation 
 not to be experienced in the New World.” 
 
 In these centres of religious life for many 
 hundreds of years has been maintained age after 
 age a perpetual round of services, as models for 
 the worship of the diocese. The cathedral ever 
 was the seat of the bishop, from which he sent 
 forth his clergy to minister to the scattered con- 
 gregations in his diocese, and where he educated 
 young men for the ministry in his theological 
 _ school. The canons were the bishop’s agents, 
 
 his companions and advisers, whose duty it was 
 to meet in the chapter-house and consult with 
 the bishop with regard to important affairs con- 
 cerning the welfare of the diocese, to provide 
 for the continual round of services in the 
 
PALATINATE TOWNS 289 
 
 cathedral, and to go forth as missionaries to 
 the different parishes in the diocese, teaching 
 everywhere the principles of the faith. Besides 
 the canons there were other ecclesiastical officers, 
 such as the dean, the precentor, and the 
 chancellor. The canons were what were called 
 ‘secular canons”; z.¢., they were not monks, but 
 lived in their own houses, and were not bound 
 by the usual monastic vows. Such was the 
 community which presided over the affairs of an 
 ancient cathedral. 
 
 The history of the cathedrals of England is, 
 indeed, the history of the Church, oftentimes 
 persecuted and oppressed by rapacious kings and 
 godless Ministers of State, robbed of their wealth, 
 and defaced by sacrilegious hands, sometimes 
 neglected in sad times of spiritual lethargy and 
 irreligion, but always preserved by the good 
 _ providence of God, to whose service they are 
 devoted. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 MODERN CHANGES AND SURVIVALS 
 
 Contrasts — Changes in the appearance of manufacturing 
 towns—Changed industries —The old town-halls—The 
 market-cross—Scenes in the market-place—Burning witches 
 —Norwich riots—Birmingham riots —Nottingham and 
 the framework knitters —The parish church—Old windows 
 — Desecrations — Preservation of ancient features of the 
 
 church—Old inns —“ The Bull”? Inn at Coventry — 
 
 Ancient hostels—Curious signs—Conclusion. 
 
 A creat gulf yawns between the England of 
 to-day and that strange, vigorous, youthful Eng- 
 land which is so far removed from us, not so 
 much by the lapse of years, but by the mighty 
 changes, social and political, which time has 
 wrought. Old beliefs, old desires, old-world 
 notions and convictions have passed away never 
 to return; and in their place are seen a restless, 
 shifting mass of human thought and working, 
 
 o’er which wild 
 “Chaos umpire sits, 
 And by decision more embroils the fray 
 By which he reigns ; next him, high arbiter, 
 
 Chance governs all.” 
 290 
 
MODERN CHANGES AND SURVIVALS — 291 
 
 Milton’s grand description of Chaos and old 
 Night holding eternal anarchy, amidst the noise 
 of endless wars and by confusion standing, not 
 unfitly depicts the modern turmoil of conflicting 
 thought and the warring winds of agitation and 
 unrest. We cannot cross the gulf that separates 
 the old world and the new, and can only dimly 
 imagine what kind of men they were who laid 
 the foundations of our mighty empire, and ruled 
 and worked and strove where we strive now. 
 “Only among the aisles of the cathedrals, only 
 as we gaze upon their silent figures sleeping on 
 their tombs, some faint conceptions float before 
 us of what these men were when they were alive; 
 and perhaps in the sound of church bells, that 
 peculiar creation of medizval age, which falls 
 upon the ear like the echo of a vanished world” 
 (Froude). 
 
 Yes—rapid have been the changes in many 
 of our old towns. We see the vast commercial 
 towns and cities of the North, where trade and 
 manufacture have increased so enormously, and 
 steam has revolutionised everything. We see 
 the countless factories, with their tall chimneys 
 belching forth their clouds of smoke, the end- 
 less dull streets of cottages, the great coal-pits, 
 and all the vast developments of modern skill 
 
292 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 and industry. We see the port at Liverpool 
 crowded with the ships of all nations, when 150 
 years ago a few score of vessels alone belonged 
 to that famous harbour; and even the sea has 
 been conveyed inland and Manchester made a 
 seaport. Small villages have rapidly grown into 
 large and important places, and these Lancashire 
 and Yorkshire towns are indeed the ‘“‘ workshops 
 of England.” 
 
 Changes, too, there have been in the industry 
 of many of our old-fashioned towns. Many of 
 them have lost the trades for which they were 
 once famous; some have become decayed and 
 ruined; the Mayor survives, also a ruined town- 
 hall, with stocks and ducking-stool, and other 
 relics of departed greatness; but the town 
 perished with its industry, and nothing remains 
 but ruin and death. Other decayed towns have 
 wisely adopted new industries to supply the 
 place of the old; thus Coventry has lost its 
 silks and taken to bicycles; Reading has long 
 ceased to produce cloth, and has adopted biscuits 
 ‘and seeds. There, too, bell-founders flourished, 
 and also at Wokingham, but their works have 
 long since disappeared. Norwich has lost its 
 silks, once the pride of East Anglian dames; 
 and the trade in cloth, which the monks taught 
 
MODERN CHANGES AND SURVIVALS — 293 
 
 the people of Bath to weave, and made it in 
 the fourteenth century one of the chief centres 
 of that industry, has long since vanished from 
 the city of the hot springs. 
 
 But in spite of all the changes time has 
 wrought, there are still some old features left 
 of our ancient towns, and these it behoves us to 
 cherish and protect from injury and destruction. 
 The old town-hall, probably once the hall of 
 the Merchant Guild, still stands in many places, 
 an important building which has witnessed many 
 changes in its long career. Several of these 
 fifteenth and sixteenth century halls remain 
 at Salisbury, Guildford, Leicester, Lincoln, and 
 elsewhere. Sometimes they stand over one of 
 the town gates, as at Southampton and Lincoln. 
 The buildings usually consist of a long room 
 for the transaction of municipal business, trying 
 prisoners, and holding feasts. ‘There is in many 
 cases an open colonnade beneath the hall for the 
 accommodation of the market-folk. 
 
 In front of the town-hall is the market-place, 
 and in the centre stands the old market-cross, 
 unless fanatical Puritans have pulled it down on 
 account of the Holy Cross which adorned it. 
 Chichester and Salisbury still retain their crosses, 
 and a few towns still possess those erected in 
 
294 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 memory of Queen Eleanor. The beloved wife 
 of Edward I. died at Hardby, near Lincoln. 
 Holinshed wrote: ‘‘She was a Godlie and a 
 modest Princesse full of pitie, and one that 
 shewed much favour to the English nation, 
 readie to relieve everie man’s grief that sus- 
 tained wrong, and to make them friends that 
 were at discord so far as in her laie. In every 
 town and place where the corps rested by the 
 waie, the King caused a cross of cunning work- 
 manship to be erected in remembrance of her, 
 and in the same was a picture of her engraven. 
 Two of the like crosses were set up at London, 
 one at Charing, and the other in West Cheap.” 
 The other towns so honoured were Lincoln, 
 Grantham, Stamford, Geddington, Stony Strat- 
 ford, Woburn, Dunstable, St. Albans, Waltham, 
 and ‘Tottenham. There is a modern cross 
 opposite Charing Cross Station, erected in 1863 
 after the ancient pattern, near the spot where 
 the old cross once stood. 
 
 Many terrible sights have these old market-places 
 witnessed, such as the burning of old dames who 
 were supposed to be witches, the execution of 
 criminals or conspirators, or the savage conflicts 
 of townsfolk and soldiers in times of rioting and 
 unrest. The good citizens of Norwich used to 
 
MODERN CHANGES AND SURVIVALS 295 
 
 add considerably to the excitement of the place by 
 their turbulence and eagerness for fighting. In 
 1272 they burned the cathedral and monastery, for 
 which act the ringleaders were executed. Often 
 and often did they fight; in 1549 a great riot 
 took place, which was chiefly directed against the 
 religious reforms and change of worship intro- 
 duced by the first Prayer-Book of Edward VI. 
 Parker, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 addressed the rioters from a platform, under 
 which stood the spearmen of Kett, the leader of 
 the riot, who amused themselves by pricking the 
 feet of the orator with their spears as he poured 
 forth his impassioned eloquence. Notable, too, 
 were the Birmingham Riots of 1791, when the 
 people rose, and burnt, plundered, and destroyed 
 the houses of Dr. Priestley and his friends, who 
 were supposed to be in favour of the views of 
 the French Revolutionists. And at Nottingham, 
 too, in 1811, the half-starved framework knitters 
 wrought destruction, stormed factories, fought, 
 and destroyed wholesale the machines upon which 
 their livelihood depended. For five long years 
 this terrible strife continued, till Nottingham 
 was half ruined by their excesses. Indeed, in 
 not very remote times scarcely a parliamentary 
 election took place without a riot, and many 
 
296 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 of us can remember the old hustings days, and 
 the free fights which followed those tumultuous 
 meetings. 
 
 The parish church still stands, firm and sure 
 as in the olden days, a witness of the continuity 
 and strength of the Church of England. Sac- 
 rilegious hands have wrought havoc with the 
 fabric in past times, pulled down altars and 
 rood-screens, and wantonly defaced beautiful 
 brasses and broken the magnificent windows; 
 but, in times of disturbance, the Church’s faith- 
 ful sons have often rescued whatever they could 
 from the hands of the fanatical zealots, and buried 
 the beautiful stained glass, until the fury of the 
 storm was past and the windows could be re- 
 placed with safety. It is said that the splendid 
 windows in Fairford Church, Gloucestershire, 
 were so saved from destruction during the 
 troubled times of the great Civil War. 
 
 In spite of the rage of ignorant zealots, the 
 lawlessness of Cromwell’s soldiers, who pillaged 
 them and broke the carvings and ornaments; in 
 spite of the intemperate zeal of modern “re- 
 storers,’’ our churches remain the least changed 
 of any of our buildings. There is the old pulpit, 
 with richly carved canopies upheld by figures of 
 angels or holy men, and a cunningly wrought 
 
MODERN CHANGES AND SURVIVALS — 297 
 
 stand for the hour-glass; the monuments of 
 illustrious men, knights in armour with their 
 heraldic devices; the choir-stalls carved with 
 curious grotesque figures, the hagioscope, con- 
 secration crosses, altar and font, all much the 
 same as they were three hundred years ago. 
 Then there are the register books, and account 
 books, full of quaint scraps of personal and local 
 history, the church plate, and in the belfry hangs 
 the great “‘Thalebot’’ or the “Bretun,” as at 
 Rochester, and other noted bells bearing the 
 names of the Church’s heroes, St. Dunstan, 
 Paulinus, and others. In the churchyard stands 
 the old weather-beaten yew-tree, five or six 
 hundred years old, looking like a sentinel keeping 
 watch over the graves of our forefathers. In the 
 last century men thought fit to cover up the 
 beautiful old oaken roofs and make low, flat 
 ceilings. They put up hideous galleries and 
 “ three-deckers,”’ and high pews, and quite dis- 
 figured the old church. WHappily most of these 
 unsightly structures have been removed; and 
 although great harm has been done to the old 
 features of many churches by so-called “ restora- 
 tion,” carried out by men ignorant of architecture 
 and antiquity, the general appearance of our 
 churches is now usually made to approximate, as 
 
298 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 nearly as possible, to its original form. Most 
 towns which have not expanded in modern times 
 once had many more churches than at present. 
 Wallingford had twelve parish churches, where 
 now there are only three. Some of the dis- 
 used churches have had strange histories. At the 
 dissolution of monasteries the monastic churches 
 were sold to the authorities of the town or to 
 private individuals. The old Greyfriars’ Church 
 at Reading has been used for a guildhall, a prison, 
 and is now happily a church again. 
 
 Many of our old inns, too, remain to remind 
 us of the old coaching days, when kings and 
 queens, poets and generals, statesmen and high- 
 waymen, grooms, conspirators, and coachmen, 
 thronged their doors, rejoiced in the good fare, 
 and slept in the comfortable beds, hung with 
 silk and smelling of lavender. Now grass grows 
 in the courtyard, once so busy with the tread 
 of the hurrying feet of a strangely assorted 
 company; and where once the merry sound of 
 the post-horn was heard and all was life and 
 animation, now all is silence and desolation. 
 Great historical events have taken place in some 
 of these noted inns, such as ‘‘ The Bull” Inn at 
 Coventry. Here Henry VII. was entertained 
 on the night before he won the English crown 
 
MODERN CHANGES AND SURVIVALS 299 
 
 at the battle of Bosworth Field. Here Mary, 
 Queen of Scots, was detained by order of Queen 
 Elizabeth. Here the conspirators of the Gun- 
 powder Plot met to devise their scheme for 
 blowing up the Houses of Parliament. And 
 when the citizens refused to open their gates 
 to Charles I. and his soldiers, no doubt there 
 were great disputings among the frequenters of 
 “The Bull” as to the possible results of their 
 disloyal refusal. 
 
 Before the destruction of monasteries there 
 were few inns, as the entertainment of strangers 
 was regarded by the monks as part of their 
 duties, and guests always found accommodation 
 in the ospitium. However, in the fifteenth 
 century inns began to spring up, the burghers 
 being on not very good terms with the monks, 
 and caring not to depend upon them for hospi- 
 tality. Sometimes the worthy citizens used to 
 receive travellers into their houses and accept 
 payment for entertaining them; but there were 
 also regular inns, which were usually distinguished 
 by the sign of the landlord, with a bush attached 
 to it. The proverb “Good wine needs no bush” 
 was probably derived from this distinguishing 
 mark of an innkeeper’s trade. Many of these 
 signs are very curious, chiefly derived from the 
 
300 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 armorial bearings of some popular character or 
 great family in the neighbourhood. “The Blue 
 Boar”? was one of the badges of the House of 
 York; “The Bear with the Ragged Staff,” the 
 crest of the famous Earl of Warwick, called 
 “the King-maker.” ‘The Cross Keys’’ denoted 
 some connection with a monastic house, the 
 keeper being probably a tenant or old servant 
 of the abbot. Many other examples of curious 
 signs of inns might be given, and books have 
 been written concerning them; we must, how- 
 ever, content ourselves with the above allusions 
 to an interesting subject, and venture to suggest 
 that lists of strange signs should be collected 
 before they entirely disappear. 
 
 In our wanderings we have visited many typical 
 English towns, and read again the story writ in 
 stone of their rise and progress. We have watched 
 the everyday life of their citizens, and found 
 some sights and spectacles perhaps that may have 
 interested us, awakened our curiosity, and stimu- 
 lated research. We have witnessed mighty changes 
 which have convulsed society, shaken thrones, 
 dominions, principalities, and powers; but in spite 
 of all the wars and strifes, external attacks and 
 internal factions, we have seen the gradual evolvy- 
 ing of the principles of freedom and the steady 
 
MODERN CHANGES AND SURVIVALS 301 
 
 onward progress of successful enterprise. The 
 story of our towns, their origin, their development, 
 their struggles, their patriotism, their honours and 
 trophies, their gathered possessions of a thousand 
 years of steady persevering toil, proclaim to us the 
 indomitable energy and courage of the national 
 character of the Saxon race. England 1s an old 
 country; its towns are old; but it 1s still young 
 in heart, ever adapting herself to new ages, new 
 policies, and ever devising new schemes for the 
 expansion of her sovereignty and the extension of 
 her mighty Empire. 
 
 The secret of the success of her municipal 
 government was the grand unity of the citizens, 
 their loyal-hearted adhesion to each other, the 
 sense of brotherhood, fostered by the old guild 
 life and the friendship which existed between 
 man and man. Their unity made them strong ; 
 and if England is to retain her power, she must 
 weld all classes together in that same ‘godly 
 union and concord,” and not allow her children 
 to divide themselves into rival factions, each 
 party selfishly grasping after its own interests, 
 regardless of the welfare of the community. 
 Otherwise England, the mother of nations, the 
 mother of heroes, will hide her head beneath the 
 waves, slain by the unnatural conflict of her sons. 
 
302 OUR ENGLISH TOWNS 
 
 History tells us of the past glories of our race; 
 let us honour the brave deeds of our forefathers, 
 their courage, their energy, their perseverance, 
 and let us respect and venerate the institutions 
 which they have handed down to us. We are 
 the inheritors of all the conquests which they 
 achieved; and we are bound to hand down to 
 future generations, unsullied and intact, the 
 country and the Empire, and the national char- 
 acter committed to our keeping. Our land is 
 “‘the land of patriots, martyrs, sages, and bards, 
 and if the ocean out of which it emerged should 
 wash it away, it will be remembered as an island 
 famous for immortal laws, for the announcements 
 of original right which make the stone tables of 
 liberty.” * 
 
 1 Essays of R. W. Emerson, 
 
INDEX 
 
 ABBEY, description of, 97 &c. 
 
 »» plan of, 100 
 Abbeys, destruction of, 101, 232 
 Abbotsbury, guild at, 133 
 American towns, 35 
 Architecture, Elizabethan, 239 
 
 “4 medizeval, 174 
 ‘a Roman, 62 
 rd Saxon, 78 . 
 
 Armada, Spanish, 275 
 Armorial bearings of towns, 212 
 Aubrey on Church Houses, 237 
 
 BASINGSTOKE, guild at, 155 
 Bath, mythical origin of, 47 
 », Roman colony, 55 
 Bede on British towns, 44 
 Begging scholars at Oxford and 
 Cambridge, 263 
 “ Belford Regis,” or Reading, de- 
 scribed by Miss Mitford, 37 &c. 
 Benedictine order of monks, 94 &c. 
 Birmingham and its nail-makers, 
 50 
 +s riots at, 295 
 Bishops, Norman, 104 
 Bishops’ towns, ,103 
 * Black Death,” 179 
 Blackrod, Roman city, 55 
 Boston, guild at, 164 
 »» scene at fair at, 206 
 Bradford-on-Avon, Saxon church 
 at, 85 
 Brading, Roman villa at, 55 
 
 Brighthampton, Oxon, pit-dwell- 
 ings at, 45 
 
 Bristol, Cannynge of, 171 
 », Flemish weavers at, 216 
 9,» guild at, 157 
 
 British towns, 44 &c. 
 
 Brixham, Northants, Saxon church 
 at, 85 
 
 Burghers, 116, 118, 209 &c. 
 
 CDMON, English poet, 87 
 Caerleon, Roman colony, 55 
 Ceesar’s description of British 
 towns, 44 
 Caister, Roman city, 56 
 Cannynge of Bristol, 171 
 Canterbury, ancient feud at, 207 
 oy mythical origin of, 48 
 Roman church at, 83 
 Cambridge, guild at, 137 
 University of, 259 &c. 
 Carlisle, mythical origin of, 49 
 “- Roman city, 55 
 Castles, built by bishops, 104 
 »» description of, 112 
 »» mothers of cities, 109 
 Cathedral cities, 289 
 Charters granted, 140 &c. 
 Chaucer’s “Clerk of Oxenford,” 
 264 
 74 * Poor Parson,” 107 
 Chester, ‘‘ city of legions,” 90 
 »» County Palatine, 285 
 » pageants at, 188 
 
304 
 
 Chester, plays at, 135, 192 
 x Roman colony, 55 
 * Rows” at, 287 
 Chesterfield, Roman colony, 55 
 Chun Castle, Cornwall, 51 
 Church, ale, 236 
 rh influence of the, 106 
 9 towns, 93 
 Churches, numerous in early times, 
 105 
 as plays in, 194 
 7 spoliation of, 234, 296 
 Churchyards, fairs in, 204 
 Cinque Ports, 270 &c. 
 Cirencester, Roman city, 56 
 Colchester, early history of, 90 
 °; mythical origin of, 47 
 3 Roman colony, 55 
 ae siege of, 254 
 Confederation of Danish towns, 89 
 Conquest, effect of Norman, 86, 110 
 Contrast’ between ancient and 
 modern towns, 290 
 Corfe Castle, 117 
 Corpus Christi Day, 189 
 County towns, 283 
 Coventry, houses at, 177 
 3 pageants at, 188 
 Craft guilds, 152 
 Crosby Hall, London, 173 
 
 DANES at Oxford, 259 
 Danish towns, confederation of, 
 
 »» wars, effects of, 81 
 De la Poles at Hull, 170 
 Devizes, castle built at, 104 
 Diodorus Siculus on British 
 towns, 51 
 Dover, a cinque port, 274 
 Dunbarton, Roman city, 55 
 Durham, its former greatness, 279 
 
 EARTHWORKS, British, 45 
 Eleanor crosses, 294 
 
 Elizabeth, Queen, in the days of, 
 
 231 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Ely, County Palatine, 284 
 ‘* England, Merrie,” 231 
 English and Foreign towns com- 
 pared, 36 
 », towns, 31 
 ‘* Evil May-day,” 152 
 Exeter, guild at, 137 
 x» sieges of, 248 
 
 FAIR at Winchester, 144 
 Fairs, 200 &c. 
 Fire of London, 228 
 Fitz-Stephen’s London, 119 
 Flemings, great medizeval manu- 
 facturers, 215 
 Foreign and English towns com- 
 pared, 36 
 9 towns, 32 
 »» traders, 179 &c. 
 ‘¢ Foreigners,” 152 
 Freedom and progress due to 
 towns, 41 k 
 Ms of the townsman, 83, 
 
 RS 53. 
 Frith Guild, 138 
 
 GEOFFREY of Monmouth’s * Bri- 
 tish History,” 50 
 
 Ghent, 32, 215 
 
 Gloucester, mythical origin of, 49 
 
 Sy siege of, 253 
 Green, Professor, on effects of Dan- 
 ish war, 82 
 towns, 41 
 
 Greenstead, "Essex, wooden church 
 at, 84 
 
 Guildhalls, 146 
 
 Guilds, the, 126 &c. 
 & », tyranny of, 148 &c. 
 
 HausE merchants, 180 
 
 Herefordshire Beacon, 51 
 
 Hexham, description of early 
 church built by Wilfrid, 84 
 
 Highwaymen, 246 
 
 Hocking, 238 
 
 Houses of craftsmen, 178 
 
INDEX 
 
 Houses of merchants, 174 
 9 tradesmen, 177 
 Hull, foundation of, 170 
 »» merchant-princes of, 173 
 » plays at, 136 
 Hythe, a cinque port, 273 
 
 INDUSTRIES, changes in, 292 
 
 Inns, old, 298 
 
 Inverness, Roman city, 55 
 
 Itinerary of Antoninus and of 
 Richard of Cirencester, 53 
 
 Jack of Newbury, 240 
 Jews in London, 224 
 
 KENILWORTH Castle, pageant at, 
 189 
 
 LANCASTER, a County Palatine, 
 282 
 2 its troubles from fire 
 and sword, 283 
 Leicester, mythical origin of, 48 
 Libraries, destruction of, 266 
 Lickpenny in London, 195 
 Lincoln, decay of, 71 
 », its early history, 88 &c, 
 a Roman colony, 55 
 Lombard merchants, 179 
 London, Crosby Hall, 173 
 3 described by Fitz-Ste- 
 phen, 119 
 a description of Roman, 71 
 € Guildhall, 146 
 Be guilds at, 136, 159 
 bs: Great metropolis, 
 &c. 
 Ff Lickpenny, 195 
 : rey Companies, 183 
 c 
 
 218 
 
 s mythical origin of, 46 
 : palaces of old, 223 
 S Roman colony, 55 
 Pe walls of, 220 
 ae mythical founder of London, 
 4 
 
 305 
 
 MARINERS of England, 275 
 Markets, 207 
 Market-places, 293 
 May-day in the days of Queen 
 Elizabeth, 241 
 Medizval towns, 169 
 Mercers’ Company of London, 184 
 Merchant guilds, 140, I 58 
 », aristocracy of, 153 
 Merchants of England, III 
 Mitford, Miss, and ‘* Belford 
 Regis,” BT. 
 Miracle plays, 135 
 Modern changes and _ survivals, 
 290 
 »  disfigurements of towns, 
 40 
 Monastic towns, 93 &c. 
 Monks, disappearance of, 232 
 so Fe Oruers, E74 
 >) ordersor 94 
 Municipal history, attention to, 40 
 Mythical origin of towns, 44 &c. 
 
 NEWCASTLE, guild at, 165, 167 
 Norman castles, 112 
 Norman conquest, effects of, 86, 
 OT TIO). 
 
 Norwich, Flemish weavers at, 216 
 
 »» mythical origin of, 47 
 
 9 pageant at, 243 
 
 Ey riot at, 294 
 Northern England, its glories, 87 
 Nottingham, 117 
 
 on riot at, 295 
 
 ORIGIN of towns, 34 
 Origins, mythical, of towns, 44 
 &e. 
 
 Oxford, early history of, 259 
 », foundation of, 258 
 », mythical history of, 257 
 9) . scenes at, 261 
 »»  v Cambridge, 257 
 
 PAGEANTS, 184, 242 
 Palatinate towns, 279 &c. 
 
 U 
 
306 
 
 Palgrave, Sir Francis, on Roman 
 .towns, 53 
 Paris, University of, 258 
 Parliament, representation in, 214 
 Perth, Roman city, 55 
 Peterborough, 93 
 ** Piers Ploughman,” 
 of monastery, 97 
 Pit-dwellings, 45, 51 
 Plague in London, 226 
 Plays, in churches, 194 
 x» miracle, 192 
 », performed by guilds, 135 
 Poor Law established, 245 
 Poor parson of a town, Chaucer’s 
 description of a, 107 
 Preston, guild at, 160 
 Prosperity, growth of, 215 
 Punishments, ancient, 194, 244 
 
 description 
 
 QUEEN Bess, in the days of, 231 
 Quintain, 123 
 
 READING (“ Belford Regis”), Miss 
 Mitford’s account of, 37 &c. 
 Reading, abbey at, 96 
 5 barbers at, 151 
 x cuildhall at, 146 
 »» plays at, 193 
 Ee scene in abbey of, 233 
 Reeve, ancestor of mayor, 143 
 c =e and lord’s, origin of, 
 2 
 »» port, of London, 142 
 “‘ Restoration” of churches, 297 
 Rhine, 33 
 Richborough, 55 
 Riots at Oxford and Cambridge, 
 262 
 Ripon, wakeman of, 143 
 * Roland,” bell at Ghent, 32 
 Roman houses, 62 &c. 
 », towns, 52, 53, 57 &c. 
 Rye, a cinque port, 273 
 
 SANDWICH, a cinque port, 271 
 Saxon burghs, 78 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Saxon gleemen, 80 
 », houses, 78 
 + origin of * Town, 74 
 99 ravages, 74 
 », settlements, 75 
 towns, 73 &e, 
 Selby, hermitage at, 104 
 Shaftesbury, mythical origin of, 48 
 Sieges of great towns, 247 
 Signs of inns, 299 
 Silchester, amphitheatre, 68 
 - baths at 67 
 - church at, 66 
 “p decay of, 69 
 
 < description of the city, 
 8 &c. 
 
 By forum at, 65 
 
 :; results of recent ex- 
 
 cavations at, 57 
 
 Smoke farthings, 236 
 Smuggling days, 277 
 Social guilds, 158 
 Southampton, 150 
 Sports dear to English race, 198 
 
 », Of London citizens, 121 &c. 
 Stourbridge Fair, 204 
 Stow on water quintain, 123 
 Strabo on British towns, 51 
 Street scenes, 182 &c. 
 
 TAVERNER, John, of Hull, 173 
 Tournaments, 123 
 Town halls, 293 
 Towns, American, 35 
 Pn basics at) bearings of, 212 
 », Bishops’, 103 
 5) eDrilish as 
 >. castle 10g 
 5  churchy 97 
 3» Danish, 81 
 »» English, 31 
 ny) . 1OreloD eae 
 »  medizval, 169 
 »» Monastic, 94 
 », mythical origin of, 44 
 », Palatinate, 279 
 »» Roman, 52, 53, 57 &c. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Towns, Saxon, 73 &c. 
 
 »»  Sleges of great, 247 
 
 » University, 256 &c. 
 Trade of towns, 118 
 
 »» 93 monks, 174 
 Trinity House Guild, 166 
 Tynwald Mound, Isle of-Man, 52 
 Tyranny of guilds, 148 &c. 
 
 UNIVERSITY life, in Middle Ages, 
 
 261, 265 
 =A of Paris, 258 
 wa towns, 256 &c. 
 
 VAGRANTS, laws against, 244 
 Verulam, Roman city, 55 
 
 WAKEMAN, of Ripon, 143 
 Wallingford, charter granted_to, 
 142 
 
 3097 
 
 Wells, Bishop’s town, 103 
 
 », cathedral city, 287 
 Whittington, Sir Richard, 171 
 Wilfrid, builder of churches, 84 
 Winchelsea, a cinque port, 273 
 Winchester, charter granted to, 
 
 140 
 3 guilds at, 143, 145 
 ; mythical origin of, 48 
 e Plague at, 227 
 a Royal, 218 
 
 Wooden Saxon churches, 83, 84 
 Worlebury, British town at, 45 
 
 York, church built by Edwin, 83 
 ten cecay of, 71 
 » guild at, 127 
 » mythical origin of, 49 
 » Roman city, 55, 86 
 
 THE END 
 
 Printed by BALLANTYNE, Hanson & Co. 
 Edinburgh and London 
 

 
 LoNoon FrcHing Cc 
 
 
 
 [Photographs by 1 
 
 Moot Housr, ALDEBURGH, 
 
 The Moot House, however, is the real : 
 ornament of Aldeburgh, with its elabo-| 4 
 rate timbering, its quaint dial, and its el 
 small-paned windows, which, when lit up 
 at night, look like jewels. This Moot a 
 House is a fascinating relic of ancient = 
 English town-life. It fronts the sea 
 now alone, though once it formed the 
 centre of the town. Some curious old 
 
 Sess maps and _  docu- 
 ments may be found | 
 here, and the visitor 
 may also penetrate 
 into the dark dun- 
 geons, which, in. 
 Elizabethan days, 
 were the places of e 
 captivity for male- “uw 
 factors. The Moot 
 House is, happily, } 
 no useless relic of antiquity ; it sti 
 serves public purposes ; for in it meetings 
 are held to arrange courses of technical 
 instruction for the youth of Aldeburgh, 
 and, in other ways, the affairs of present- 
 day existence are transacted in the old 
 hall. as a eo ¥ 
 
 ~ 
 
 
 
 
 
A RELIC OF OLDEN TIMES AT TRING, 
 
 
 
 
 
 'DEMOLISHING THE CAGE.—A RELIC OF OLDEN 
 | TIMES AT TRING. 
 | ee QUAINT OLD STRUCTURH is about to disappear. 
 It stands in the centre of the High-street, opposite the 
 main entrance to Lord Rothschild’s residence, Tring Park, 
 ‘and is known as the Old Market House, and was once tne 
 centre of business at Tring. The write? can remember as a 
 boy seeing the crowd of villagers collected here on Friday 
 ‘mornings to dispose of their straw plait, in which at that 
 
 ABOUT TO BE DEMOLISHED. 
 

 

 

 
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