proceeding to this inquiry it may not
be amiss to advert briefly to another aspect of the subject. We have
said above that, in England, the monarch inclined to favour certain
towns for his own purposes, and such towns were naturally of the highest
precedence. If we turn to Liverpool, we shall find that in 1206 it
received a visit from King John, who the following year issued letters
patent of which the following is a translation:

"John, by the grace of God King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of
Normandy and Aquitaine, and Count of Anjou, to all his liegemen who
would desire to have burgages at the town of Liverpool, greeting. Know
ye that we have granted to all who may take burgages at Liverpool that
they may have all the liberties and free customs in the town of
Liverpool which any free borough on the sea has in our land; and
therefore we command that securely, and in our peace, you may come to
receive and occupy our burgages. And in testimony thereof we transmit to
you these our letters patent. Witness, Simon de Pateshill, at
Winchester, the 28th day of August in the ninth year of our reign."

At a later period the people of Liverpool might not have thanked the
Crown for facilitating the settlement of a large body of strangers in
their midst. Everywhere burgesses were strongly opposed to the
colonization of their towns by "upland men," less on sentimental grounds
than from the fact that these "foreigners" frequently did not take steps
to become naturalized and pay scot and lot towards communal expenses.
Clearly this objection did not apply to Liverpool in this instance, and
at that relatively early stage of its history the incorporation of a
number of well-to-do and industrious immigrants might naturally have
been hailed as a gain. It must have been so regarded by the King.

Liverpool was the port of embarkation for troops sailing to Ireland, and
is said to have owed its foundation to this circumstance in the days of
Strongbow. The advantage of a numerous, loyal, and able-bodied
population was seen in 1573, when the Earl of Essex passed through the
place on his way to Ireland. It happened that he left behind him a
detachment of soldiers, and the "motley coats" and "blue coats," having
quarrelled, used their weapons on each other. With admirable
promptitude, the Mayor summoned the trained bands, and the rest of the
story may be told in the vivacious language of a contemporary:

"Mr. Mayor and all the town sudde