e it denotes an inferior
judicature, much as it does among ourselves at the present day."

"The courts for the City" in Stow's time were:--"1. The Court of Common
Council. 2. The Court of the Lord Maior, and his brethren the Aldermen.
3. The Court of Hustings. 4. The Court of Orphans. 5. The Court of the
Sheriffs. 6. The Court of the Wardmote. 7. The Court of Hallmote. 8. The
Court of Requests, commonly called the Court of Conscience. 9. The
Chamberlain's Court for Apprentices, and making them free."

In the Court of Exchequer, formerly the Court of King's Bench (where the
Mayor's Court is still held), Stow describes one of the windows put up
by Whittington's executors, as containing a blazon of the mayor, seated,
in parti-coloured habit, and with his hood on. At the back of the
judge's seat there used to be paintings of Prudence, Justice, Religion,
and Fortitude. Here there is a large picture, by Alaux, of Paris,
presented by Louis Philippe, representing his reception of an address
from the City, on his visit to England, in 1844. This part of the
Guildhall treasures also contains several portraits of George III. and
Queen Charlotte, by Reynolds' rival, Ramsay (son of Allan Ramsay the
poet), and William III. and Queen Mary, by Van der Vaart. There is a
pair of classical subjects--Minerva, by Westall, and Apollo washing his
locks in the Castalian Fountains, by Gavin Hamilton.

"The greater portion of the judicial business of the Corporation is
carried on here; that business, as a whole, comprising in its civil
jurisdiction, first, the Court of Hustings, the Supreme Court of Record
in London, and which is frequently resorted to in outlawry, and other
cases where an expeditious judgment is desired; secondly, the Lord
Mayor's Court, which has cognisance of all personal and mixed actions at
common law, which is a court of equity, and also a criminal court in
matters pertaining to the customs of London; and, thirdly, the Sheriffs'
Court, which has a common law jurisdiction only. We may add that the
jurisdiction of both courts is confined to the City and liberties, or,
in other words, to those portions of incorporated London known
respectively, in corporate language, as Within the walls and Without.
The criminal jurisdiction includes the London Sessions, held generally
eight times a year, with the Recorder as the acting judge, for the trial
of felonies, &c.; the Southwark Sessions, held in Southwark four times a
year; and th