Ha! that was a notable good Pageant! Far better than mine own, many Years after, which I need not tell thee, Lad, I did not devise myself. The Toy was pretty, too, and appropriate—the Story of Jason, whom I believe to have been nothing more nor less than a Merchant-adventurer that equipped his Ship the Argonaut, and by his Traffic and Commerce carried off the Golden Fleece; that is to say, the Trade of the World.

Scarce were the Pageants over, and Master Hewet, that is to say Sir William, set to his daily and hard Work—(for a Lord Mayor, Hew, hath no lazy Time on't! He presides at the Sittings of the Court of Aldermen, Common Council, and Common Hall, is Judge of the London Sessions at Guildhall, Justice of the Peace for Southwark, Escheator in London and Southwark, Conservator of the Thames, signs notarial Documents, presides at Public Meetings, founds Charities, is Trustee for Hospitals, attends the Privy Council on the Accession of Sovereigns, and—not to weary thee with the hearing of what I've had the doing,—sits daily in his own Justice Room by the Space of four or five Hours). Well, but, to begin a new Parenthesis, have we not had some fine Fellows among us? Look at Fitz-Alwin resisting one Sovereign, Walworth defending another, Picard feasting four Kings at his Table, Philpot raising a thousand Men at his private Charges to put down Pirates, Bamne relieving a great Dearth by importing foreign Corn, Falconer supplying Henry the Fifth with the Wherewithal for his French Wars, Whittington founding Divinity Lectures and building Newgate, Wells supplying the City with fresh Water, Eyre building Leadenhall for a Public Garner, and bestowing five thousand Marks on the Poor, Stockton knighted on the Field by his King for good Service in Battle, Fabian compiling Chronicles, White founding a College, and defending our Bridge; and, not to be farther tedious unto thee, Sir William Hewet, the Benefactor of every Hospital, and of the Poor of every Parish, besides bequeathing a Dowry to every poor Maid in the Parish of Wales or Hartshill in Yorkshire that should marry within a Year of his Decease. These Men, Hew, were Worthies in their Generation! And if Master Hewet had a hard Shrievalty, he had a joyous Mayoralty, under the early Rays of that fostering Sun, our glorious Sovereign Lady Elizabeth!

There is great Peace in the Land. I say not we are better than we were, but we are happier and more prosperous. Sometimes I think those Days of Trial did us good: they tried us even as Silver is tried; the baser Metal perished. Let us not settle on the Lees, lest a worse Thing come upon us.

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Works by the Author of
"Mary Powell"

In crown 8vo, cloth, gilt top, illustrated by
John Jellicoe and Herbert Railton,
price 6s. each.

  1. The Household of Sir Thos. More.
  2. Cherry & Violet: A Tale of the Great Plague.
  3. The Maiden and Married Life of Mary Powell, afterwards Mrs. Milton; with the Sequel thereto, Deborah's Diary.
  4. The Old Chelsea Bun-Shop: A Tale of the Last Century.
  5. The Colloquies of Edward Osborne, Citizen and Clothworker of London.

The many other interesting works of this author will be published from time to time uniformly with the above.

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

In crown 8vo, with Illustrations by John Jellicoe and Herbert Railton, price 6s., cloth elegant, gilt top.