o came in his state
coach, and with grand solemnity, attended by seven or eight bishops, and
great numbers of gentlemen of that society."
The Lord Mayor (Humphry Parsons) died on the evening of March the 21st,
1741; on the 23rd, Daniel Lambert, Esq. was elected to succeed him, and
the same evening he was presented to the Lord Chancellor, and approved
of in the usual manner.
"Wednesday, March 15th. This day the new Lord Mayor went in grand state
and procession by land to the Tower-gate, on Tower-hill, to be there
presented to and sworn in before the Constable of the Tower, according
to the charter and ancient custom and usage when a Lord Mayor happened,
as in this case, to be chosen out of term time; and, consequently,
cannot be presented to the Barons of the Exchequer sitting at
Westminster. Just at the entrance of the Tower-gate, a large booth was
built up, with seats and benches at the upper end, in the middle of
which the right honourable Lord Cornwallis, Constable of the Tower, was
seated, attended by the officers and servants belonging to him; to whom
the Lord Mayor was conducted and presented, and sworn in the same manner
as before the Barons of the Exchequer."
On the 28th of March, being Easter Eve, the sheriff's attended the Lord
Mayor "through the streets, to collect charity for the prisoners in the
city prisons, according to annual custom;" and on the Monday following,
they accompanied his lordship, in procession, with the rest of the court
of aldermen to St. Bride's church to hear the '_Spital_ or _Hospital
Sermon_ preached before the governors of the several hospitals and
charity schools of the city; and to which "all the charity children
of the several schools, as also those of Christ's hospital, go in
procession, and are seated in the galleries." This sermon is "generally
preached by a bishop," and that on the following day, in the same church
(which is likewise attended by the corporation,) by a dean. On the third
day in Easter week, the 'Spital sermon is preached by a doctor in
divinity.
Speaking of the _Easter Entertainments_, our journalist states the
following particulars as the cause of their origin:--
"The original institution of those entertainments was occasioned by the
Lord Mayor and the two sheriffs being accustomed to, separately, ask
such of their friends who were aldermen or governors of the hospitals,
whom they saw at church, to dine with them at their own houses. But in
process o
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