orials of London._ H. T. Riley.

[148] _Inq. ad quod dam. Chan._, f. 451, No. 36.

[149] _Add. MS._ 25,590.

[150] _Pat. Rolls_, 3 Ed. II., mm. 19, 8.

[151] _Ibid._, 19 Ed. III., part iii., mm. 3, 11; 20 Ed. III., part i.,
m. 25.

[152] _Ibid._, 8 Ed. IV., part i., m. 12.

[153] _Lords' Journals_, viii., p. 50.

THE GUILDHALL

BY CHARLES WELCH, F.S.A.

Guildhall, the home of civic government and the battle-ground of many a
hard-won fight for civil and religious liberty, was built anew by the
self-denying efforts of a generation of London citizens just five
hundred years ago. This great work took ten years and more in building,
and, like its sister edifices of still earlier days, the Tower of
London, London Bridge, and Westminster Hall, tested to the utmost the
energy and resources of the Londoners of those times. We learn from
Fabyan, the alderman chronicler, that the building was begun in the year
1411 by Thomas Knowles, then mayor, and his brethren the aldermen. He
tells us:--

"The same was made of a little cottage a large and great house
as now it standeth, towards the charges whereof the companies
gave large benevolences; also offences of men were pardoned for
sums of money church for the maintenance of a chaplain to
celebrate fines, amercements, and other things employed."

[Illustration: THE GUILDHALL.]

King Henry V., in 1415--the year of his famous victory at
Agincourt--granted the City free passage for four boats by water, and as
many carts by land, to bring lime, ragstone, and freestone for the work
at Guildhall. Private citizens also came forward with contributions. The
executors of Sir Richard Whittington, in 1422-3, gave two sums of L60
and L15 for paving the hall with Purbeck stone, and glazed some of the
windows, placing in each the arms of Whittington. The rest of the
windows in the hall and many of those in its various courts were glazed
by various aldermen. So much of this ancient glass as survived the
iconoclasm of the Commonwealth period was swept away by the Great Fire.
The two handsome louvres which formed such conspicuous objects on the
roof of the building were given by Alderman Sir William Hariot during
his mayoralty in 1481. The mayor's chamber, council chamber, and several
rooms above were built in 1425-6. An important part of the building was
still wanting, for the mayors could not keep their feasts at the
Guildhall until the time of Sir John