ay.

In 1671 Sir George Waterman (mayor, son of a Southwark vintner)
entertained Charles II. at his inaugural dinner. In the pageant on this
occasion, there was a forest, with animals, wood nymphs, &c., and in
front two negroes riding on panthers. Near Milk Street end was a
platform, on which Jacob Hall, the great rope-dancer of the day, and his
company danced and tumbled. There is a mention of Hall, perhaps on this
occasion, in the "State Poems:"--

"When Jacob Hall on his high rope shows tricks,
The dragon flutters, the Lord Mayor's horse kicks;
The Cheapside crowds and pageants scarcely know
Which most t'admire--Hall, hobby-horse, or Bow."

In 1674 Sir Robert Vyner (Goldsmith) was mayor, and Charles II., who was
frequently entertained by the City, dined with him. "The wine passed too
freely, the guests growing noisy, and the mayor too familiar, the king,"
says a correspondent of Steele's (_Spectator_, 462), "with a hint to the
company to disregard ceremonial, stole off to his coach, which was
waiting in Guildhall Yard. But the mayor, grown bold with wine, pursued
the 'merry monarch,' and, catching him by the hand, cried out, with a
vehement oath, 'Sir, you shall stay and take t'other bottle.' The 'merry
monarch' looked kindly at him over his shoulder, and with a smile and
graceful air (for I saw him at the time, and do now) repeated the line
of the old song, 'He that is drunk is as great as a king,' and
immediately turned back and complied with his host's request."

Sir Robert Clayton (Draper), mayor in 1679, was one of the most eminent
citizens in Charles II.'s reign. The friend of Algernon Sidney and Lord
William Russell, he sat in seven Parliaments as representative of the
City; was more than thirty years alderman of Cheap Ward, and ultimately
father of the City; the mover of the celebrated Exclusion Bill (seconded
by Lord William Russell); and eminent alike as a patriot, a statesman,
and a citizen. He projected the Mathematical School at Christ's
Hospital, built additions there, helped to rebuild the house, and left
the sum of L2,300 towards its funds. He was a director of the Bank of
England, and governor of the Irish Society. He was mayor during the
pretended Popish Plot, and was afterwards marked out for death by King
James, but saved by the intercession (of all men in the world!) of
Jeffries. This "prince of citizens," as Evelyn calls him, had been
apprenticed to a scrivener. He lived in g