The king and parliament entertained in the city, 5 July.
In the meantime (5 July) the king and parliament had been entertained at dinner by the City with great magnificence. The day was unfortunately rainy, and Pepys, who seems never to have quite forgotten that he was the son of a tailor, and never put on a new suit of clothes without recording the fact in his diary, remarks that the rain that day "spoiled many a fine suit of clothes." The entertainment on this occasion took place at the Guildhall instead of at the hall of one of the great city companies. The mayor took the opportunity in the course of the dinner to present[pg 385] the king with a "welcome cupp according to the usuall custome," as a token of loyalty and duty. On the following day the members of the Common Council and the masters and wardens of those companies which had advanced money to defray the cost of the entertainment dined together in the hall, when there was "the same musicke as was the day before at the entertainment of his majesty."[1193]
Sir Richard Browne major-general of the city's forces, vice Monk resigned, 6 July, 1660.
When the Entertainment Committee waited on his majesty to thank him for his condescension in accepting the City's entertainment and to crave his pardon for whatever had gone amiss, they took the opportunity of satisfying him on certain matters—viz., the repair of St. Paul's and the building a drawbridge on London bridge—about which his majesty desired to be informed. They at the same time reported the City's choice of Sir Richard Browne to be major-general of the City's forces in the place of Monk, recently created Duke of Albemarle, who had been obliged to resign his commission "by reason of the multiplicity of affairs in his majesty's service."[1194]
Demand of a loan of £100,000, 14 Aug.
On the 14th August a deputation from the Lords and Commons attended a court of Common Council and desired a loan of £100,000 on the security of the poll tax. The court declined to commit itself to any promise. It was much dissatisfied, and more especially with the inequality of the poll tax; it therefore preferred submitting the matter to a committee for investigation before giving an answer.[1195] A committee was then and there nominated to consider the question.
By October matters were so pressing that Charles himself wrote to the City, insisting upon the money being advanced within ten days upon the security of the Act for two months' assessment about to be levied on the whole kingdom, and out of which he solemnly promised, "on the word of a king," that the loan, both principal and interest, should be repaid before any other disbursements were made. The money was wanted for the purpose, he said, of disbanding the army.[1196]
The city companies' petition touching their Irish estates, Sept.
The king's gracious reply, Oct., 1660.
Notwithstanding this pecuniary difficulty and the existence of certain grievances of which the City complained, more especially the abolition of the Court of Wards,[1197] for which the king was to receive another £100,000 by way of compensation, the good relationship between Charles and the City still continued; so that when a deputation waited on him with a petition from the livery companies relative to their Irish estates, the following gracious reply was given:—"That his majesty would perform what his father had promised and more, and that his majesty would deny the city nothing; that his majesty found they dealt honestly with him, and his majesty would deny them nothing."[1198]