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been long given, when one of the Alder-
men, returning from his ward, observed
two young men at play in Cheapside, and
many others looking at them. He would
have sent them to the Compter, but they
were soon rescued, and the cry raised of
'Prentices, 'Prentices! Clubs, Clubs! In-
stantly the people arose; by eleven o'clock
they amounted to six or seven hundred;
and the crowd still increasing, they rescu-
ed from Newgate and the Compter the
prisoners committed for abusing the fo-
reigners: while the Mayor and Sheriffs,
who were present, made proclamation in
the King's name; but, instead of obeying
it, they broke open the houses of many
Frenchmen and other foreigners, and con-
tinued plundering them till three in the
morning, when beginning to disperse, the
Mayor and his attendants took 300 of
them, and committed them to the several
prisons. While this riot lasted, the Lieu-
tenant of the Tower discharged several
pieces of ordnance against the city, but
without doing much mischief; and about
five in the morning, several of the nobility
marched thither with all the forces they
could assemble.
On the 4th of May, the Lord Mayor,
the Duke of Norfolk, the Earl of Surry,
and others, sate upon the trial of the of-
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fenders at Guildhall, the Duke of Nor-
folk entering the city with 1300 men.
That day several were indicted, and on
the next thirteen were sentenced to be
hanged, drawn and quartered, for the exe-
cution of whom ten gallowses were set up
in several parts of the city, upon wheels,
to be removed from street to street, and
from door to door.
On the 7th of May several others were
found guilty, and received the same
sentence as the former, and soon after
were drawn upon hurdles to the standard
in Cheapside; but when one was exe-
cuted, and the rest about to be turned
off, a respite came, and they were re-
manded back to prison.
After this the soldiers who had kept
watch in the city were withdrawn, which
making the citizens flatter themselves that
the King's displeasure against them was
not so great as they had imagined, the
Lord Mayor, Recorder, and several Al-
dermen, went in mourning gowns to wait
upon the King at Greenwich, when, ha-
ving attended for some time at the pri-
vy chamber door, his Majesty with se-
veral of the nobility came forth, upon
which, all of them falling upon their
knees, the Recorder, in the name of the
rest, in the most humble and submissive
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