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Lord Mayor, he invited the King and
Queen, with the above masquers, to an
entertainment in Merchant Taylors Hall;
and on this occasion they came in proces-
sion into the city, in exactly the same
order, and with equal splendor and ap-
plause as at Whitehall. Whitlock's Me-
moirs.
During this unhappy reign, great dis-
putes arose between the King and the city,
in relation to ship-money, loans, &c. the
city was deprived not only of the new
plantation of Ulster in Ireland, which
had been granted to the Lord Mayor and
citizens by King James I. but fined
50,000l. Several of the Aldermen were
imprisoned, for neglecting to send to court
an account of such persons as were able to
lend his Majesty money, and the Lord
Mayor and Sheriffs prosecuted in the Star-
chamber; the five members whom the
King himself went with a guard to seize
in the Parliament House, took refuge in
the city, and were conducted back by wa-
ter to the House of Commons, by a great
number of citizens, while the Trained-
Bands, as a farther guard, marched by
land to Westminster. But even in the
midst of these disputes, while the King
was actually opposing the liberties of the
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citizens, he granted them several charters,
by which he confirmed all their former
privileges, and added some new ones.
At length the Lord Mayor, contrary to an
order of Parliament, endeavouring by
proclamation to raise troops for his Ma-
jesty, he was committed to the Tower;
and several articles of impeachment be-
ing brought against him, he was, by the
sentence of the House of Peers, degraded
from the Mayoralty, and rendered inca-
pable of bearing any office, or receiving
any farther honour.
There being some time after but little
prospect of an agreement between the
King and Parliament, and the greatest
part of the city being averse to all thoughts
of an accommodation, the Common Coun-
cil passed an act for fortifying the city with
out-works; agreed that all the ways lead-
ing to the city should be shut up, except
those entering at Charing Cross, St. Giles's
in the Fields, St. John's street, Shore-
ditch, and Whitechapel, and that the ex-
terior ends of those streets should be for-
tified with breastworks and turnpikes,
musket proof; that the several courts of
guards, and rails at the extreme parts of
the liberty of the city, should be fortified
with turnpikes, musket proof; that all
the sheds and buildings contiguous to the
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