re he
lingered for seven years till he died, rather than pay a fine of L5,000,
for refusing to publish an Act for the abolition of royalty. He was
president of Christ's Hospital. His successor, Sir Isaac Pennington
(Fishmonger), was one of the king's judges, who died in the Tower; Sir
Thomas Atkins (Mercer), mayor in 1645, sat on the trial of Charles I.;
Sir Thomas Adams (Draper), mayor in 1646, was also sent to the Tower for
refusing to publish the Abolition of Royalty Act. He founded an Arabic
lecture at Cambridge, and a grammar-school at Wem, in Shropshire. Sir
John Gayer (Fishmonger), mayor in 1647, was committed to the Tower in
1648 as a Royalist, as also was Sir Abraham Reynardson, mayor in 1649.
Sir Thomas Foot (Grocer), mayor in 1650, was knighted by Cromwell; two
of his daughters married knights, and two baronets. Earl Onslow is one
of his descendants. Sir Christopher Packe (Draper), mayor in 1654,
became a member of Cromwell's House of Lords as Lord Packe, and from him
Sir Dennis Packe, the Peninsula general, was descended.

Sir Robert Tichborne (Skinner), mayor in 1656, sat on the trial of
Charles I., and signed the death warrant. Sir Richard Chiverton
(Skinner), mayor in 1657, was the first Cornish mayor of London. He was
knighted both by Cromwell and by Charles II., which says something for
his political dexterity. Sir John Ireton (Clothworker), mayor in 1658,
was brother of General Ireton, Cromwell's son-in-law.

The period of the Commonwealth did not furnish many mayors worth
recording here. In 1644, the year of Marston Moor, the City gave a
splendid entertainment to both Houses of Parliament, the Earls of Essex,
Warwick, and Manchester, the Scotch Commissioners, Cromwell, and the
principal officers of the army. They heard a sermon at Christ Church,
Newgate Street, and went on foot to Guildhall. The Lord Mayor and
aldermen led the procession, and as they passed through Cheapside, some
Popish pictures, crucifixes, and relics were burnt on a scaffold. The
object of the banquet was to prevent a letter of the king's being read
in the Common Hall. On January 7th the Lord Mayor gave a banquet to the
House of Commons, Cromwell, and the chief officers, to commemorate the
rout of the dangerous Levellers. In 1653, the year Cromwell was chosen
Lord Protector, he dined at the Guildhall, and knighted the mayor, John
Fowke (Haberdasher).

The reign of Charles II. and the Royalist reaction brought more tyranny
and mo