Thirty-seven dozen of pigeons, at 10d. a dozen.
Three hundred and forty dozen of larks, at 5d. a dozen.
In the year 1532, a general muster of the citizens was held at Mile-End, when the names of all capable of bearing arms were taken down, from the age of sixteen to that of sixty; as were also an account of the weapons, armour, and other military accoutrements belonging to the city.
Upon this occasion the principal citizens were dressed in white, with caps and feathers of the same colour; the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, Recorder, and Sheriffs, wore white armour, and coats of black velvet, embroidered with the city arms; they had velvet caps on their heads, and rode on fine horses adorned with magnificent trappings, with gold chains about their necks, and battle-axes in their hands. Each of the Aldermen and the Recorder, was attended with four halberdiers in white silk or buff coats, with gilt halberts; and the Lord Mayor, by sixteen men in white sattin jackets, with gold chains, caps and feathers, and long gilt halberts; he had also four footmen in white sattin, and two pages in crimson velvet, with gold brocade waistcoats; these pages were mounted on fine horses, adorned with rich furniture, one of them carrying the Lord Mayor’s helmet, and the other his pole-ax, both richly gilt, Most of the citizens of distinction were, on this occasion, dressed in white silk, and wore gold chains with a variety of rich jewels.
The citizens rendezvoused and were mustered early in the morning at Mile End, and before nine in the forenoon began their march, when entering Aldgate, they proceeded through the city, in admirable order, to Westminster; where they passed in review before the King and most of the nobility, who were highly delighted at their splendid appearance. From thence they marched round St. James’s Park, and down Holborn to Leadenhall, where they separated at five o’clock in the evening. So far our author.
But if we add to this splendid cavalcade, that every man wore his beard and hair, which were probably neatly curled and powdered, we must be sensible that the citizens, in this procession, had a strange mixture of gravity and foppery, and that, fond as we are of dress, we were greatly outdone in this particular by our ancestors. King Henry however loved shew, and the citizens took great pains to please him, of which the following is another remarkable instance, which, tho’ very long, we shall insert, in order to give our readers an idea of the taste of the citizens of that age, in regard to elegance and grandeur: and we chuse to select this instance, as the city appears to have been decorated with greater pomp than at any time before or since.
The King having divorced Queen Catharine, and married Anne Boleyn, or Boloine, who was descended from Godfrey Boloine, Mayor of this city, and intending her coronation, sent to order the Lord Mayor, not only to make all the preparations necessary for conducting his royal consort from Greenwich, by water, to the Tower of London; but to adorn the city after the most magnificent manner, for her passage through it to Westminster.
In obedience to the royal precept, Mr. Stow observes, that the Mayor and Common Council not only ordered the company of Haberdashers, of which the Lord Mayor was a member, to prepare a magnificent state barge; but enjoined all the city corporations to provide themselves with barges, and to adorn them in the most superb manner, and especially to have them supplied with good bands of music.
On the 29th of May, the time prefixed for this pompous procession by water, the Mayor, Aldermen and Commons assembled at St. Mary Hill; the Mayor and Aldermen in scarlet, with gold chains, and those who were knights, with the collars of SS. At one they went on board the city barge at Billingsgate, which was most magnificently decorated; and attended by fifty noble barges, belonging to the several companies of the city, with each its own corporation on board; and, for the better regulation of this procession, it was ordered, that each barge should keep twice their lengths asunder.
Thus regulated, the city barge was preceded by another mounted with ordnance, and the figures of dragons and other monsters, incessantly emitting fire and smoke, with much noise. Then the city barge, attended on the right by the Haberdashers state barge, called the Bachelors, which was covered with gold brocade, and adorned with sails of silk, with two rich standards of the King’s and Queen’s arms at her head and stern, besides a variety of flags and streamers, containing the arms of that company, and those of the Merchant Adventurers; besides which the shrouds and ratlines were hung with a number of small bells: on the left was a barge that contained a very beautiful mount, on which stood a white falcon crowned, perching upon a golden stump encircled with roses, being the Queen’s emblem; and round the mount sat several beautiful virgins, singing, and playing upon instruments. The other barges followed in regular order, till they came below Greenwich. On their return the procession began with that barge which was before the last, in which were the Mayor’s and Sheriff’s officers, and this was followed by those of the inferior companies, ascending to the Lord Mayor’s, which immediately preceded that of the Queen, who was attended by the Bachelors or state barge, with the magnificence of which her Majesty was much delighted; and being arrived at the Tower, she returned the Lord Mayor and Aldermen thanks, for the pomp with which she had been conducted thither.