carriage and vigorous for the course-the people raise a shout, and order the common horses to be withdrawn to another part of the field. The jockeys-who are boys expert in the management of horses, which they regulate by means of curb bridles, sometimes by threes and sometimes by twos, according as the match is made-prepare themselves for the contest. Their chief aim is to prevent a competitor getting before them. The horses too, after their manner, are eager for the race; their limbs tremble, and impatient of delay, they cannot stand still, upon the signal being given, they stretch out their limbs, hurry over the course, and are borne along with unremitting speed. The riders, inspired with love of praise and the hope of victory, clap spurs to their flying horses, lashing them with their whips, and inciting them by their shouts. You would think with Heraclitus that all things were in motion, and that Zeno's opinion was altogether erroneous, when he said there was no such thing as motion, and that it was impossible to reach the goal."

"In another quarter, apart from the rest, stand the goods of the peasants, implements of husbandry, swine with their long sides, cows with distended udders,

'Oxen of bulk immense and woolly flocks.'

"There too stand the mares fitted for the plough, the dray, and the cart, of which some are big with foal, others have their frolicksome colts running close by their sides."

This market of seven hundred years, or probably much longer standing, is near its close, and the venerable nuisance claims a degree of interest from long usage, the more so from the many other associations with which its annals are invested. Among these are conspicuous the pageants and solemn joustings of the age of chivalry.

In 1362, Edward III. held here great and solemn jousts, which were graced by the presence of three monarchs-the kings of England, France, and Scotland.

In 1367, the king and queen, with a host of the chivalry of France and England, countenanced during the first five days of May, a solemn jousting,

"to which came Spaniards, Cyprians, and Armenians, knightly requesting aid of the king against the pagans that invaded their confines."

In the year 1374, Edward signalized the dotage which in his latter days eclipsed the glory of his previous heroic career. In this pageant the king was accompanied by the idol of his senility, Alice Perers, seated by his side in a magnificent car, as the Lady of the Sun. In this state they proceeded from the Tower, attended by a gallant band of lords and ladies,

"each lady leading a lord by his horse bridle, until they came into West Smithfield, and there began a great joust, which endure seven days after." Only three years after, when the king lay on his deathbed at Shene, forsaken by his queen and court, Alice Perers, after

drawing from his finger a valuable ring, likewise deserted him; and his servants leaving the chamber where he lay to plunder the house, he was left with a priest, who faithful to his duty, continued to hold before him a crucifix till he expired.

Another great pageant is described by Froissart:

"In the fourteenth year of Richard II.,” he says, "royal jousts and tournaments were proclaimed to be done in Smithfield, to begin on Sunday next, after the feast of St. Michael. Many strangers came forth of other countries, namely-Valerian earl of St. Paul, that had married king Richard's sister, the lady Maud Courtney, and William the young earl of Ostervant, son to Alhart of Baviere earl of Holland and Hainault. At the day appointed, there issued forth of the Tower, about the third hour of the day, sixty coursers apparelled for the jousts, and upon every one an esquire of honour, riding a soft pace, then come forth sixty ladies of honour, mounted upon palfreys riding on the one side,* richly apparelled, and every lady led a knight with a chain of gold.

"Those knights being on the king's party, had their harness and apparel garnished with white hartst and crowns of gold about the harts' necks, and so they came riding through the streets to Smithfield, with a great number of trumpets and other instrumeuts of music before them.

"The king and queen, who were lodged in the Bishop's palace of London, were come from thence with many great estates, and placed in chambers to see the jousts, the ladies that led the knights were taken down from their palfreys, and taken up to chambers prepared for them. Then alighted the esquires of honour from their coursers, and the knights in good order mounted upon them, and after their helmets were set on their heads, and being ready on all points-proclamation made by the heraldsthe jousts began, and many commendable courses were run, to the great pleasure of the beholders."

In 1409, the tenth of Henry IV., a joust in Smithfield was preceded by a play, performed at the Skinner's Well, which was carried over eight days, and was attended by "a great part of the nobles and gentles of England."‡

"London for its theatrical exhibitions," says Fitzstephen, "has religious plays, either the representation of miracles wrought by holy confessors, or the sufferings of martyrs."

In 1391, the parish clerks of London performed before the king and queen, and the whole court, at Clerkenwell for three successive days. Richard II., who appears to have had an excessive partiality for all kinds of spectacles, took great delight in the displays of the worshipful company of parish clerks; and in one instance the citizens who had given offence by a riot against the Bishop of

* This modification in the equestrianism of ladies, was introduced into this country by Anne of Bohemia-"the 'good queen "-Richard's first wife.

†The badges of his mother-the Fair Maid of Kent.

+ Stow.

Salisbury, found means to pacify the exasperation of the vain and sensitive king with one of these favourite exhibitions, which lasted eight days, the subject being the Creation of the World. Not only the court, but likewise a great part of the nobility and gentry of England graced the Clerkenwell on this occasion with their presence. The Company of Skinners performed at the other well, which took its name from them, as the Clerkenwell from the clerks. They were near cach other. Stow, after enumerating other wells of London, says of the latter

"The third is called Clerks well or Clerken well, and is curbed about square with hard stone, not far from the west end of Clerkenwell church." In very ancient records this church is styled "Ecclesia Beatae Mariae de Fonta Clericorum."

A small pump which now represents this celebrated well is incribed as follows:

The Elms at Smithfield was a place of execution from unknown times, but there is no specific account of the use of the gibbet here, before the death of Longbeard and his companions. Among the many instances of cruel punishment by which the annals of this place are polluted, a variety no less striking than remarkable is mentioned by Hall, in the instance of one Rouse, a cook, who in 1531, was boiled to death for destroying the lives of sixteen persons in the family of the Bishop of Rochester

by a mess of poisoned porridge, which had been prepared for the prelate himself, but who had abstained from partaking of it, and escaped.

In 1541, Margaret Davie, a young woman, underwent the same punishment for a similar crime.* The appeal by battle, or duel, said by Pennant to have been derived from the Kamp fight ordeal of the Saxons, was an outlet of the legal cul de sac, which continued open down to recent times. In the case to Ashford versus Thornton, in the year 1818, an illustration of this kind of club law furnished matter for curious anticipation. The defendant in this case had been acquitted upon an indictment for the murder of a female under peculiar circumstances. This acquittal proving unsatisfactory to the relations of the murdered woman, the right of trial by battle was claimed by the brother and next heirs of the deceased, but the expectations of legal antiquaries were frustrated by the voluntary abandonment of the prosecution. In the following year an Act (59 Geo. III., cap. 46), was passed to abolish all criminal appeals, and trial by battle in all cases both civil and criminal.† The incident of the fight between Horner and Peter in Henry VI. part 2, is founded upon an affair related by Holinshed, as follows:

"In the same year also, 1446, a certain armourer was appeached of treason by a servant of his own. For proof thereof, a day was given them to fight in Smithfield, inasmuch that the said armourer was overcome and slain, but yet by misgiving of himself, for on the morrow, when he should come to the field fresh and fasting, his neighbours came to him, and gave him wine and strong drink in such excessive sort, that he was therewith distempered, and reeled as he went, and so was slain without guilt. As for the false servant, he lived not long unpunished, for, being convict of felony in court of assize, he was judged to be hanged, and so was at Tyburn."

According to a precept to the sheriff, preserved in the Exchequer, the barriers for this occasion were brought to Smithfield from Westminster. The area was covered with sand and gravel, and the place of combat strewn with rushes. In the return of expenses is the following item :

"Also paid to officers for watching of ye dead man in Smythe felde ye same day and ye nighte yt ye battle was doon, and for horsehyre for ye officers at execucion doyng, and for ye hangmans labor xj. vid."

* The punishment of burning at the stake, for certain crimes, was continued to a late period. Evelyn states-" 1652, May 10: Passing by Smithfield I saw a miserable creature burning, who had murdered her husband." Vestiges of Old London. -Knight's Encyclopædia, art. Appeal.

The parties were William Cater, the master, and John David the false accuser. Stow says the name of the latter passed into a byword— "If ye serve me so I will call you Davy."

The parties undertaking the trial by combat were required to make oath that they were not in any compact with the devil, by which to gain his assistance. If the defendant won, or was able to continue the fight till starlight, or if the appellant cried craven, then the defendant was acquitted of the charge, and the appellant was to pay damages to the accused, and was likewise subject to further penalties and disabilities. But if the defendant was vanquished, he was directly given over to the executioner, and hung upon a gibbet erected near the place of combat. The weapons used in these encounters were selected according to the rank of the parties, and the gravity of the charge. Those of knightly rank fought with the lance, sword, and pole-axe. The sword and buckler, the quarter staff, and, in some cases, a long pole to the end of which was attached a heavy sandbag, were for men of inferior degree. An encounter of a very determined character took place here in 1467, between the Bastard of Burgoigne, and the Lord Scalesbrother to the queen-the first day with the lance, without advantage on either side. On the next day the Lord Scales overthrew his opponent under his horse, and the king commanded the Marshal to help up the Bastard, who said—

"I cannot hold me by the clouds, for though my horse fail me, I will not fail an encounter companion," but the king would not suffer any more that day. On the third day the doughty champions renewed the fight on foot with pole-axes; and the Lord Scales obtained the advantage, by striking the point of his axe into the headpiece of the Bastard, but the king prevented further proceedings by throwing down his warder, and the Marshal separated the combatants.*

In later, and less stalwart times, certain indulgences were allowed to the contending parties, in the trial by battle, including the attendance of counsel, whose business was to cover a client by the detection of any flaw or informality in the proceedings, and a surgeon with his ointments, &c.; and parties who were held in restraint for any length of time previous to the duel, were allowed to take instructions in the art of fencing. Lord Rea, who was engaged in an affair of this sort in the reign of Charles I., was indulged with a seat, and wine for his refreshment, and was permitted the use of nails, hammers, files, and even scissors, bodkin, and needle and thread. Among the many and varied scenes and events which mark the annals of Smithfield, one of the most striking and serious was the assemblage of the commons of Kent and Essex in the year 1381, under the leading of Wat Tyler, and incited by the harangues

* Stow.

f Rushworth's Collection.