rogress" in October,
he was met by the mayor and aldermen and 500 members of the several livery
companies, well and substantially horsed and apparelled in velvet coats
and chains of gold according to custom.(1268)

(M650)

On the 29th October the new lord mayor, Sir Anthony Bateman, entered upon
his mayoralty,(1269) with the customary procession and pageant, followed
by a banquet at the Guildhall. The banquet was made the occasion of what
appears on the face of it to have been a studied insult offered--not by the
municipal authorities, but by the lord chancellor, the bishops and lords
of the council--to the French ambassador. Whether the lord chancellor and
other high officers of state arrived at the Guildhall before their time,
or the French ambassador came late, one cannot say. But, however that may
have been, it appears that on the latter's arrival the others had already
commenced dinner, with the exception of the mayor himself and the
municipal authorities, who had not yet taken their places. On the
ambassador approaching the table where the lords sat at dinner, intending,
as he informed the French king by letter,(1270) to rally them on their
good appetite, he met with such a cold reception that he left the hall to
go home and dine by himself, in spite of every endeavour on the part of
the civic officials to smooth matters over. Two hours later the sheriffs
presented themselves at the ambassador's house, accompanied by a
deputation from the Common Council, for the purpose of offering excuses
for the recent _contretemps_. The excuses they had to offer were, however,
of the lamest character, as the ambassador took care to show. Firstly,
they said they had been taken by surprise. This was manifestly false, as
the ambassador attended at the Guildhall upon invitation. They next
pleaded ignorance and incapacity in receiving one of so high degree, when
the ambassador reminded them that they had recently done honour to the
Spanish ambassador; and lastly they endeavoured to throw the whole of the
blame upon the master of the ceremonies. This excuse, however, like the
others, was easily shown to be false, inasmuch as that official was
personally engaged in escorting the ambassador to the Guildhall and had
nothing to do with the banquet. The deputation thereupon withdrew, being
all the more discomforted by the excess of courtesy shown to them by the
ambassador, who himself insisted on escorting them to the door (_je leur
dis