f that
brave and chivalrous king, the hero of Agincourt, Henry V., was borne to
its rest at Westminster Abbey by the chief citizens and nobles, and
every doorway from Southwark to Temple Bar had its mournful
torch-bearer. In 1502-3 the hearse of Elizabeth of York, queen of Henry
VII., halted at Temple Bar, on its way from the Tower to Westminster,
and at the Bar the Abbots of Westminster and Bermondsey blessed the
corpse, and the Earl of Derby and a large company of nobles joined the
sable funeral throng. After sorrow came joy, and after joy sorrow--_Ita
vita_. In the next reign poor Anne Boleyn, radiant with happiness and
triumph, came through the Bar (May 31, 1534), on her way to the Tower,
to be welcomed by the clamorous citizens, the day before her ill-starred
coronation. Temple Bar on that occasion was new painted and repaired,
and near it stood singing men and children--the Fleet Street conduit all
the time running claret. The old gate figures more conspicuously the day
before the coronation of that wondrous child, Edward VI. Two hogsheads
of wine were then ladled out to the thirsty mob, and the gate at Temple
Bar was painted with battlements and buttresses, richly hung with cloth
of Arras, and all in a flutter with "fourteen standard flags." There
were eight French trumpeters blowing their best, besides "a pair of
regals," with children singing to the same. In September, 1553, when
Edward's cold-hearted half-sister, Mary Tudor, came through the City,
according to ancient English custom, the day before her coronation,
she did not ride on horseback, as Edward had done, but sat in a chariot
covered with cloth of tissue and drawn by six horses draped with the
same. Minstrels piped and trumpeted at Ludgate, and Temple Bar was newly
painted and hung.

[Illustration: PENANCE OF THE DUCHESS OF GLOUCESTER (_see page 32_).]

Old Temple Bar, the background to many historical scenes, figures in the
rash rebellion of Sir Thomas Wyatt. When he had fought his way down
Piccadilly to the Strand, Temple Bar was thrown open to him, or forced
open by him; but when he had been repulsed at Ludgate he was hemmed in
by cavalry at Temple Bar, where he surrendered. This foolish revolt led
to the death of innocent Lady Jane Grey, and brought sixty brave
gentlemen to the scaffold and the gallows.

On Elizabeth's procession from the Tower before her coronation, January,
1559, Gogmagog the Albion, and Corineus the Briton, the two Guildhall