To wear little breeches of the same stuffs as the doublets, without being stitched, laced, or bordered.
To wear a plain upper coat of cloth or leather, without pinking, stitching, guarding, lace, or silk about it.
To wear no other surtout than a cloth gown or cloak, lined or faced with cloth, cotton, or bays, with a fixed round collar, without stitching, guarding, lace, or silk.
To wear no pumps, slippers, nor shoes, but of English leather, without being pinked, edged, or stitched; nor girdles nor garters except of crewel, woollen, thread, or leather, without being garnished.
And to wear no sword, dagger, or other weapon, but a knife; nor neither a ring, nor a jewel, gold, silver, nor silk in any part of his apparel.
Rigorous as these laws were, and unsufferable as they would be now thought, yet any apprentice offending against any of the above particulars, was, for the first offence, to be punished at the discretion of his master; for the second he was to be publickly whipped at the hall of his company; and for the third, to serve six months longer than specified in his indentures. And every master conniving at his apprentice’s violating the above severe decree, was to forfeit 6s. 8d. to the poor of the parish in which he dwelt.
The plague, which had broke out many times in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, appeared afresh in 1603, on the accession of King James I. to the throne, and made such dreadful devastation, that, within the space of a year, it swept away 30,578 persons: but it having at length happily ceased, the King, Queen, and Prince Henry, made their public entry from the Tower on the 15th of March 1604, on which occasion the city was embellished with seven magnificent triumphal arches, numerous pageants, and other pompous decorations. The streets were adorned with the richest silks and carpets, and lined with the stands of the several corporations, with their flags and bands of music.
In the year 1608, King James I. granted the city a charter, by which he not only confirmed all the ancient rights, liberties, and immunities of the citizens, but added to the bounds and jurisdiction of the city the precincts of Duke’s Place, St. Bartholomew’s the Great and Less, Black and White Friars, and Cold Harbour. That King also granted the city two other charters.
In 1613, the water of the New River, brought from Ware by the great Sir Hugh Middleton, was let into the lower reservoir at Islington, with great ceremony: the next year Smithfield was first paved, and in 1615, the sides of the streets of this city being paved with pebble stones, which had hitherto rendered walking very troublesome, the inhabitants of the principal streets first began to pave their doors with broad free stone and flags.
In the year 1625, when King Charles I. ascended the throne, a most dreadful pestilence raged in London; the fatal effects of this distemper had been frequently felt; but it now carried off, within the space of a year, in the city and suburbs, 35,417 persons, besides those who died of other distempers, which, in the whole, amounted to 54,265, said to be one third of the inhabitants.