Our souls they are dear,
For our bodyes have sume ceare.
Before we arise
Less will safise.
The birth of Prince Charles, afterwards Charles II, 29 May, 1630.
In the midst of the general gloom one bright spot appeared, namely, the birth of an heir to the crown (29 May, 1630), an event which the king lost no time[pg 110] in communicating to the mayor and Common Council of the city—his "principal city and chamber."[353] On the occasion of the christening of the infant prince the bells of the city churches were set ringing,[354] and he was presented with a fair large standing cup of gold with cover, weighing nearly 300 ounces, and enclosed in a case of crimson velvet, the cost of the whole exceeding £1,000.[355] Two years later, when the prince was carried into the city to witness the pageants on lord mayor's day, the Court of Aldermen were so gratified with this unexpected mark of royal favour that they forthwith voted the babe a gift of £500.[356]
Loss of the queen's plate and jewels, 1631.
The year following the birth of Prince Charles the queen was robbed of a great part of her plate and jewels. As the thieves were likely to dispose of their booty among the goldsmiths of the city, a precept was issued to the master and wardens of the Goldsmiths' Company to try and recover it.[357] The goldsmiths had long ago begun to leave Goldsmiths' Row in Cheapside, and to set up shops in different parts of the city, and in 1623 they had been ordered to resume their old quarters, which in the meantime had been given up to poor petty trades.[358] It was easier to trace lost property when all the goldsmiths were congregated together in one spot. This order, however, was so ineffectually carried out that another order was issued[pg 111] by the lords of the council ten years later directing all goldsmiths to find shops for themselves either in Cheapside or Lombard Street within the next six months, inasmuch as the practice of setting up their shops in obscure places in different parts of the city offered facilities for abuses, and more especially "in passing away of stolen plate."[359]
City gifts to king and queen, May-June, 1633.
On the occasion of the king's departure for Scotland in May, 1633, the Court of Aldermen voted him a present of £2,000 "in two severall purses of velvett or sattin," as a pledge of the City's true loyalty, love and obedience to his majesty.[360] After he had gone the mayor and aldermen proceeded in State to Richmond to pay their respects to the queen and to offer her a bason and ewer of gold of the value of £800, with her arms engraved thereon.[361]