belonged unto George, Earle of Cumberland, who all the while the King was in Yorke, bare the sworde, for so the King willed, and for that purpose sent Syr Thomas Challenor agayne to the Lord Mayor, and the Lord Mayor bare the great mace of the cittie, going always on the left hand of the Earle.

"And when the King came to the cittie, which was well prepared to give his Highness and his royal traine entertaynment, then the Lord Mayor, with the twelve Aldermen in their scarlet robes, and the foure-and-twentye in crimson gownes, accompanied with many others of the gravest menne, met the King at Micklegate Bar, his Majestie going betweene the Duke of Lennox and Lord Hume; and when the King came near to the scaffold where the Lord Mayor, with the Recorder, the twelve Aldermen, and the foure-and-twentye, were all kneeling, the Lord Mayor said, 'Most high and mightie Prince, I and my brethren do most heartilie wellcome your Majestie to your Highness' cittie, and, in token of our duties, I deliver unto your Majestie all my authoritie of this your Highness' cittie,' and then rose uppe and kissed the sworde, and delivered it into the King's hand, and the King gave it to the Duke of Lennox, who, according to the King's appointment, delivered it unto the Earle of Cumberland, to bear before his Majestie.

"The Lord Mayor also delivered up the keyes of the cittie, which the Lord Hume received and carried them to the manor. And when the Recorder had ended his grave oration on behalfe of the cittie, then the Lord Mayor, as the King commanded, took horse, and bare the cittie mace, ryding on the left hande of the Earle of Cumberland, who bore the sword of the cittie, and so attended his Majestie to St. Peter's church, and was there royally received by the Deans, Prebends, and the whole quyer of singing menne of that Cathedral church in their richest copes. At the entrance into the church, the Dean made a learned oration in Latin, which ended, the King ascended the quyer. The canapa was supported by six Lordes, and was placed in a throne prepared for his Majestie, and during divine service there came three sergeants at armes with their maces, pressing to stand by the throne, but the Earle of Cumberland put them down, saying, that place, for that tyme, belonged to hym and the Lord Mayor, and not to them.

"Divine service being ended, the King returned in the same royal manner he came; the canapa being carried over him into the manor of St. Maryes, where the Lord Burleigh and council gave their attendance, and received his Majestie, where Dr. Bennet having ended his eloquent oration, the King went into his chamber, the sworde and mace being there borne by the Earle and Lord Mayor, who left the sworde and mace there that night; and when the Lord Mayor was to depart, the Lord Hume delivered him agayne the keyes of the cittie.

"The next day, being Sundai, the 17th of April, the Lord Mayor, with the Recorder, the Aldermen and Sheriffes, and the twentye-foure, with all their chief officers, and the Preacher of the cittie, and Town Clerk, in very comely order, went unto the manor, of whome, as soone as the King had knowledge of their comming, willed that so many of them as the roome would permit should come into the privy chamber, where the Lord Mayor presented his Majestie with a fayre cuppe, with a cover of silver and gilt, weighing seventie and three ounces, and in the same two hundred anjels of gold; and the Lord Mayor sayde, 'Most high and mightie Prince, I and my brethren, and all the whole commonaltie of this your Highnesse cittie, present unto your most excellent Majestie this cuppe and golde, in token of the dutifull affection wee bear your Highnesse in our hearts, most humbly beseeching your Highnesse favourable acceptance thereof, and your most gracious favour to this your Highnesse cittie of York;' the which his Majestie graciously accepted, and sayde unto them, 'God will bless you the better for your good will towards your King.' The Lord Mayor humbly besought the King to dine with him the next Tuesdai; the King answered, he should ride thence before that time, but he would break his fast with him in the next morning.

"This Sundai the King went to the Minster, and heard a sermon, made by the Dean, who was Bishop of Limerick, in Ireland. The Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Sheriffes, and foure and twentye attended upon the King, the Earle still bearing the sworde, the Lord Mayor the mace, and the Sheriffes bearing up their roddes, as well within the church as in the streets, marching before the King unto the manor. The next day being Mondai, at nine o'clock, the Lord Mayor came to the manor, being accompanied and attended by the Recorder, Aldermen, and foure and twentye, and others, and attended there; and at ten of the clock, the King, with his royal traine, went to the Lord Mayor's house, and there dined; after dinner the King walked to the Dean's house, and was there entertayned with a banquette, at the deanerie; the King took horse, and passed through the cittie forth at Micklegate towards Grimstone, the house of Sir Edward Stanhope, the Earle of Cumberland and the Lord Mayor bearing the sworde and mace before the King, until they came to the house of St. Kathren, at which place the Earle said, 'Is it your Majestie's pleasure that I deliver the sworde agayne unto my Lord Mayor, for he is now at the utmost partes of the liberties of this cittie?' Then the King willed the Earle to deliver the Mayor his sworde agayne. Then the Mayor alighted from his horse, and kneeling, took his leave of the King, and

* Dr. Thornborough.

the King pulling off his glove, took the Mayor by the hande, and gave him thankes, and so rode towards Grimstone, being attended by the Sheriffes to the middle of Tadcaster bridge, being the utmost bounds of their liberties. The next day the Lord Mayor, according as he was commanded by a nobleman, came the next morning unto the court at Grimstone, accompanied by the Recorder, and foure of his brethren, viz.-William Robinson, James Birkbie, William Greenburie, and Robert Askwith, and certain chief officers of the cittie; and when his Majestie understood of their coming, he willed that the Mayor, and Master Robinson, and Master Birkbie should be brought up into his bed-chamber; and the King saide, 'My Lord Mayor, our meaning was to have bestowed upon you a knighthood in your own house, but the companie being so great, we rather thought it good to have you here;' and then his Majestie knighted the Lord Mayor, for which honour the Lord Mayor gave his Majestie most humble and heartie thankes, and returned."

Hildyard, in his Antiquities of York, tells us that the King was much pleased with the loyalty and affection paid him by the Lord Mayor and citizens, and that at dinner with them, he expressed himself much in favour of the city, and promised that he, himself, would come and be a burgess among them; and that their river, which was in a bad condition, should be made navigable. From another source we learn that before the King left York, he ordered all prisoners in the city to be set at liberty, "wilful murderers, traitors, and papists being excepted."

In the June following, his Queen, and their two eldest children, Prince Henry, and Lady Elizabeth, visited York on their road from Edinburgh to London, and met with a reception equally cordial. The royal party arrived in York on the Whitsun Eve, and on the following Wednesday departed for Grimston, &c. On this occasion the Lord Mayor and citizens presented to the Queen a large silver cup, with a cover double gilt, weighing forty-eight ounces, with eighty gold angels in it; to the Prince, a silver cup, with a cover double gilt, weighing twenty ounces, and £20. in gold; and to the Princess, a purse of twenty angels of gold. The King visited Pontefract in the same year, when he granted that honour and castle to the Queen, as part of her jointure.

In the second year of this reign (1604), the plague, which the preceding year had carried off 30,578 persons in London, raged to an alarming extent at York, no less than 3,512 of the inhabitants falling victims to it, though by the precautions used, it was not of long duration. To prevent the conta

Sir Robert Watter.

gion from spreading into the country, stone crosses were erected in various parts of the vicinity of York, where the country people, without coming into the city, met the citizens, and sold them their commodities. Several of these crosses are yet remaining. The infected were sent to Hob Moor, and Horse Fair, where wooden booths were erected for them; and the Minster and Minster-yard were close shut up. The Lord President's courts were adjourned to Ripon and Durham, and many of the inhabitants removed from the city.

The year 1607 was remarkable for a severe frost, by which the river Ouse became almost a solid body of ice. Various sports were practised on it; and Drake says that a horse race was run on it from the tower at Marygate end, under the great arch of the bridge, to the crane at Skeldergate postern. Seven years afterwards, there was so heavy a fall of snow in the month of January, during a frost of about eleven weeks, that when it was dissolved by a thaw, the Ouse overflowed its banks, and covered North Street and Skeldergate, so that the inhabitants were obliged to leave their houses. This inundation lasted ten days, and destroyed many bridges. It being the assize week, four boats were employed at the end of Ouse bridge to carry passengers across the river; and the same number were engaged in Walmgate to ferry over the Foss. A drought succeeded, which continued till August following, and caused a great scarcity of hay, beans, and barley.

In 1617 (August 10th), King James, with his nobles and Knights, both English and Scotch, visited York, on his progress to Scotland. The Sheriffs of the city, clad in their scarlet gowns, and attended by 100 young citizens on horseback, met his Majesty on Tadcaster bridge, and escorted him to Micklegate Bar, where he was received and welcomed by the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and commonalty, with the usual formalities; and a silver cup, value £36. 5s. 7d., was presented to him, and an elegant purse, of the value of £3., containing 100 double sovereigns. The Recorder delivered a long oration, and on Ouse bridge another speech was made to the King, by one Sands Percvine, a London poet, respecting the cutting of the river, and making it navigable. His Majesty then rode to the Minster, where he heard divine service, and thence retired to the Manor Palace, where he kept his

court.*

The next day he dined at Sir George Young's house, in the Minster-yard, with Lord Sheffield, the Lord President, and after dinner, he created eight Knights, and examined the Cathedral and Chapter House, which he much

Nichol's Progresses of James I., vol. iii., p. 271.

admired. The following day his Majesty rode through the city, with all his train, to the Archiepiscopal Palace at Bishopthorpe, where he dined with Tobias Matthew, the Archbishop. After attending divine service in the Cathedral on Sunday, which was the 13th, "this sagacious Prince, the Solomon of the North, touched about seventy persons afflicted with the King's Evil." That day he, and his whole court, dined with the Lord Mayor, and after dinner he knighted the Mayor,* and Serjeant Hutton, the Recorder. Next day the King rode to Sheriff Hutton Park, and there knighted several gentlemen. On Tuesday, the 15th of August, Dr. Hodgeson, Chancellor of the Church, and Chaplain to his Majesty, preached before him at the Manor Palace; and after sermon the King departed for Ripon, where he was presented with a gilt bowl, and a pair of Ripon spurs, which cost five pounds. On the 16th of April he slept at Aske Hall, the seat of T. Bower, Esq., whom he subsequently knighted at Durham. In March, 1625, James was seized with illness; his indisposition was at first considered a tertian ague; afterwards the gout in the stomach; but whatever was its real nature, under his obstinacy in refusing medicine, and the hesitation or ignorance of his physicians, it proved fatal, for he died on the 27th of the same month, in the 59th year of his age; after a reign of twenty-two years over England, and over Scotland almost the whole of his life. Of his seven children, two only survived him; Charles, his successor on the throne, and Elizabeth, the titular Queen of Bohemia.

"James," writes Dr. Lingard, "though an able man, was a weak monarch. His quickness of apprehension, and soundness of judgment, were marred by his credulity and partialities, his childish fears, and habit of vaccillation. Eminently qualified to advise as a counsellor, he wanted the spirit and resolution to act as a Sovereign. His discourse teemed with maxims of political wisdom, his conduct frequently bore the impress of political imbecility. If, in the language of his flatterers, he was the British Solomon; in the opinion of less interested observers, he merited the appellation given to him by the Duke of Sully, that of the wisest fool in Europe."†

Charles I. ascended the throne when he was in his 25th year, and his disastrous reign will, through all time, occupy a distinguished place in the annals of England. Every part of the kingdom was agitated by that mighty collision which arose between the monarchial and democratic branches of the legislature; but in the county of York the shock was felt with greater violence than in any other county in Great Britain. Yorkshire was indeed shook to

Sir Robert Askwith. + History of England, vol. ix., p. 232, Fcp. 8vo.