ilt plates. These
latter are still preserved. He further removed certain houses and
offices which had been built close to the west and south doors. He also
destroyed a building which had been erected inside one of the transepts,
and ordered certain seats in the choir, which hid the stalls and
woodwork, to be taken away.

Charles also wrote to the Corporation in 1639, ordering them not to
bring the official sword and mace into the minster, and to receive the
Holy Communion there on certain fixed occasions. The Mayor and
Corporation evaded the order by entering the church with sword and mace
"abased." They have never yet officially attended Holy Communion. They
also had a quarrel with the dean and corporation owing to their practice
of using the north aisle of the nave, known as the Lord Mayor's Walk, as
a common promenade. The dean and chapter endeavoured to put a stop to
this in 1632, but it continued until the end of the century.

[Illustration: Walmgate Bar.]

During the Civil War York suffered less than many cathedral cities. In
1644 it was besieged by the Parliamentary troops and the Scots under
Fairfax and Leslie. During the siege the minster seems to have been
spared as far as possible, mainly, perhaps, through the influence of
Fairfax, but it did not escape entirely scatheless. Thomas Mace, the
author of "Musick's Monument," was in the city during the siege, and he
thus describes the way in which the minster suffered:--"The enemy was
very near and fierce upon them, especially on that side the city where
the church stood; and had planted their great guns mischievously against
the church; with which constantly in prayer's time, they would not fail
to make their hellish disturbance by shooting against and battering the
church; insomuch that sometimes a cannon bullet has come in at the
windows and bounced about from pillar to pillar (even like some furious
fiend or evil spirit) backwards and forwards and all manner of sideways,
as it has happened to meet with square or round opposition amongst the
pillars."

[Illustration: Micklegate Bar.]

During the siege the citizens suffered much from the presence of the
soldiery who were billeted upon them. Each citizen, in addition to
giving free quarters to as many soldiers as possible, had to pay L2 a
month for their support. The siege lasted for six weeks, and in the
course of it the Marygate Tower, which was used as a record office for
the whole of the north, was atta