Fast days, were forbidden, (as well as those real breaches of good manners, swearing and drunkenness), as will be seen by the following entries, which appear in the books of St. Giles's parish. 1041. Rec. of the Vintner at the Catt in Queene Street, for p'mitting of tipling on the Lord's day 1644. Rec. of three poore men, for drinking £ s. ds 1 10 0 on the Sabbath daie at Tottenham Court 0 4 0 Rec. of Mr. Richard Bigg, for a fault 0 12 0 0.1 0 0 30 1645. Rec. of John Seagood, constable, which 0 12 0 1646. Rec. of Mr. Hooker, for brewing on a P. and given to Lyn and two watchmen, 1 4 0 Watchmen continued to use the Halbert, instead of the Staff, so late as the 4th of Queen Anne, (anno 1706) as appears from an order of Common Council of that year, which directs, sufficient Watch shall be kept in the City and libermen of strong and able bodies, provided with cananthorns, and sufficiently armed with Halberts." 1643. Rec. of four men, travelling on the Fast Rec. of Mr. Wetherill, headboro', which 1648. Rec. from the Citty marshall, sent by £ s. d. 0 10 0 3 4 - 0 5 0 Rec. from Isabel Johnson, at y° Coleyard, for drinking on the Sabbath day 1652. Rec. of Mr. Huxley and Mr. Morris, who were riding out of town in sermon time on a Fast day 1654. Rec. of William Glover, in Queen Street, and of Isaac Thomas, a Barber, in Holborn, for trimming of bearde on the Lerde's day. [The sum is not stated.] 1655. Rec. of a Mayd taken in Mrs. Jackson's ale-house on the Sabbath day Rec. of a Scotchman drinking at Robert · 1656. Rec. of Hen. Colewist in Maslyn Fields, for breach of y Sabbath ́ 158, Rec. of Joseph Piers, for refusing to open his doores to have his house search ed on the Lorde's daie 040 0 5 0 020 - 0 7 0 1559. An entry occurs of "one Brooke's goods sold for breach of the Sabbath," but the produce is not set down. 0 10 0 * The Forts, most probably, was the Redoubt with two flanks, which had been constructed near St. Giles's Pound, by order of Parliament, in 1643, when the whole of London was surrounded by earthen lines and fortifications. CITY TAVERNS. In a black-letter Poem of Queen Elizabeth's reign, intituled " Newes from Bartholemew fayre,' there is a curious enumeration of Taverns in London, name "There hath been great sale and utterance of Wine, But chiefly in Billingsgate, at the Salutation; The Swan at Dowgate, a Taverne well knowne ; *The following directions for making Ypocras, which was a favourite drink of our fore-fathers, were extracted from Arnold's "Chronicle." The Crafte to make Ypocras. Take a quarte of red wyne, an vnce of synamon, and half an vnce of gynger; a quartir of an vnce of greynes [of longe pepper,] wythe half a lb. of suger: brose alle these not to smalle, and then putte them in a bagge of wullen. clothe (made therfore) with the wyne, and lette it hange ovir a vessell tylle y° wyne be runne thorow.'-We may presume that the wine should be poured over the spices when boiling, hot, otherwise it would extract but little of their strength and flavour. The Ressaite to make Ypocras. For a galon and a pynt of red wyne, take synamon iij. vncis, gynger tryed an vnce, greynes and longe peper di. vnce, cloues and masys, a q'rt' of an vnce, spignard a qua’tir of an vnce, suger ij lb. The Bore's Head in Old Fish Street; Three Crowns in the Vintry; And now, of late, St. Martin's in the Seutree: The Windmill in Lothbury; the Ship at th' Exchange; King's Head in New Fish Street, where Roysters do range: The Mermaid in Cornhill; Red Lion in the Strand ; `Three Tuns in Newgate Market; Old Fish Street at the Swan. Several of the above Signs have been continued to the present day, in the very places mentioned; but nearly all the original buildings were destroyed in the conflagration of 1666, and the few which escaped have been rebuilt, or so altered, that their former appearance has altogether vanished. STEALING OF THE CROWN, BY COLONEL BLOOD. The daring, and all but successful, attempt made to steal the Crown from the Tower in the reign of Charles the Second, is one of the most curious incidents in the English annals. The ensuing account of that transaction has been principally deduced from Bailey's "History of the Tower," and Strype's edition of Stow's "Survey." Strype's narrative was detailed from a relation of the circumstances by old Edwards, the only sufferer on the occasion, and from a manuscript supposed to have been written by Sir * See Heath's" Chronicle of the Civil Wars," p. 580, and Strype's Stow, Vol. 1. p. 92–96: edit. 1720. Strype says that he had "this relation from the favour of Mr. Edwards himself, the late keeper of the Regalia;" meaning, probably, the young Edwards' mentioned in the narrative. 6 Gilbert Talbot, who was master and treasurer of the Jewel-house, at the time of the attempted robbery. Soon after the appointment of Sir Gilbert (about 1660,) the Regalia in the Tower first became objects of public inspection, which King Charles allowed in consequence of a reduction in the emoluments of the master's office.* The profits which arose from shewing the jewels, Sir Gilbert assigned, in lieu of a salary, to an old confidential servant of his father's, named Talbot Edwards, who was entrusted with the care of them, and who was keeper of the Regalia when the notorious attempt to steal the Crown was made by one Blood, † a desperate ruffian, on the 9th of May, in the year 1673.; *Harleian MSS. No. 1813. He was the son of a blacksmith in Ireland, and deemed small crimes beneath him. He rescued one of his associates who had received sentence of death, in Yorkshire, from the officers as they were leading him to the gallows.. In Ireland, he laid a plot for surprising the castle of Dublin; and seizing the magazine there, and usurping the government; but, the conspiracy being discovered by the Duke of Ormond, the night before its intended execution, some of the party were apprehended and suffered as traitors; whose death, Blood, and the other survivors, bound themselves by a solemn oath to revenge upon the Duke's person: and he, with five or six others, accordingly attempted it in the most bold and determined manner: his grace fortunately escaped, and Blood, in consequence, fell into some disrepute amongst his comrades. To redeem his credit, therefore, he is said to have formed the design of stealing the Regalia, which, he thought, would fully compensate for all his former miscarriages, |