the lath and plaster work and shows how such timber houses were constructed. The antiquity of the houses in High Petergate, and the mediaeval narrowness of the street, enable one looking towards Bootham Bar to realize the former appearance of the approach to a gatehouse from within the city. The approaches to the other Bars have been widened and their aspect changed. A characteristic of York is the frequent occurrence at street corners of an ancient church surrounded by its burial-ground.

The business of the city was in the hands of its freemen. Their privileges were great. Only a freeman could trade in the city, and his sons might become free on attaining their majority. He had also the right of voting for the city’s representatives in Parliament. The freedom of the city was granted to outsiders who served an apprenticeship of seven years to a freeman, or by purchase or gift. No one was admitted to the freedom without taking an oath

THE SHAMBLES

before the Lord Mayor, and the freeman was sworn to present to the Lord Mayor any unfranchised man who attempted to trade within the city and to take charge of his goods. Each trade had its own guild ruled by the Master, Wardens, and Searchers. Two of these trading companies are still in existence, the Merchant Adventurers and the Merchant Taylors. The hall of the former guild is in Fossgate. Over the entrance is their arms and motto Dieu nous donne bonne adventure. Steps lead from the courtyard to the hall with its three gables, the barge boards of which are carved with the leaves and fruit of the vine. The hall is a timber and plaster building and consists of two rooms which have panelled dados and open roofs. Each room is 60 feet long and 25 feet wide. The walls of the courtroom are adorned with paintings of past governors as well as a full-length portrait of George the First. The chapel stairs are approached by a large trapdoor in the floor. Service is held there on Charter Day (26 March). Of the old standards for weights and measures, there is left a brass yard measure. The scales are of the date 1790. An oval tobacco-or snuffbox belonged to the ancient company of “Linnen Weavers”. On the anniversary of the execution of Charles I, the Merchant Adventurers in compliance with the will of Jane Stainton attend service in All Saints’ Church. Pavement, to be reminded of their latter end.

The Merchant Taylors’ Hall, a brick building, is in Aldwark. In the smaller room is an inscription setting forth that:—“This Company has beene dignified in the yeare 1679, by haveing on their Fraternity eight kings, eleven dukes, thirty earles, and forty-four lords.” On St. John the Baptist’s Day the Merchant Taylors attend service at All Saints’ Church, Pavement, in accordance with the will of John Straker, who died in 1667.

St. Anthony’s Hall, on Peaseholme Green, accommodated those of the city guilds which had no hall of their own. The hall, on the upper floor, 81 feet long and 58 feet wide, was divided into a nave (28 feet wide) and aisles, and was 40 feet high. It possesses a fine timber roof with embattled wall plate. The arched principals spring from corbels depicting angels with shields. Two oak tables remain. One carved “This table done at the cost of the sadlers”. The other “This done at the charges of the joyners and carpenters and masons”. In 1705 St. Anthony’s Hall was converted into the Blue Coat School.

On the opposite side of the street, a gabled house, now the Black Swan, was occupied by the family of Bowes, a member of which, William, was twice Lord Mayor of York. His descendant, Sir Martin Bowes, born in the house, became Lord Mayor of London. Sir Martin presented a sword four feet long with a hilt of silver gilt to his native city. The blade is engraved “for a remembrance to the Mayor and Communaltie of this said honorable Citie”. The sheath was originally covered with crimson velvet garnished with stones and pearls.

The various craft guilds took part in the Mysteries and Miracles, which were rudimentary dramas, founded on Bible history or on the stories of the lives of the saints. Each of the fifty-four crafts produced a separate pageant. The plays took place on Corpus Christi Day, which fell the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, and were enacted on movable stages which could be wheeled from place to place. The performances, which were carried on simultaneously in a dozen different stations in the city, enjoyed a great popularity, and this was one of the reasons for building the Guildhall, that a commodious theatre was needed for these productions.

During the sixteenth century plays were performed in the Guildhall by itinerant companies of players, who attached themselves either to the sovereign or to some prominent nobleman. The stately hall is divided into nave and aisles by two rows of octagonal oak pillars which support timber arches carrying a low-pitched roof. The windows are filled with modern painted glass depicting events in the history of York. The room behind, with its panelling concealing staircases, is that in which two hundred thousand pounds were paid to the Scottish army for handing over Charles I to the English Parliament.

The towers and spires of the churches add much to the charm of the city. Though the churches are small, they are full of interesting objects. The earliest work is the tower of St. Mary, Bishophill Junior, which exhibits all the features of pre-Conquest architecture. St. Mary’s, Castlegate, possesses an extremely interesting stone of the eleventh century, recording that, “This Minster was set up by Eferaud and Grim and Æse in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and St. Mary and St. Martin and St. Cuthbert and All Saints and was consecrated in the year——”

The old church of St. Lawrence, with the exception of the tower, has been taken down and a new church erected on an adjoining site. Sir John Vanbrugh, the dramatist and architect of Blenheim and Castle Howard, was married in the old church. The doorway to the nave has been preserved and rebuilt as the tower doorway. This beautiful example of Norman work forms the subject of one of the pictures. The tower is now the only relic of the eight churches which formerly stood within the area of the present parish. During the siege of York in the seventeenth century, this churchyard formed the base of the Parliamentarian attack on Walmgate Bar, three thousand men being engaged. As a consequence, the church was demolished, but subsequently rebuilt. The quaint parish stocks are within the churchyard gates.

The three Norman doorways of York are all curiously enough in the Walmgate district. The nave of St. Denis was taken down in 1798; the aisled choir and a modern tower now form the church. The old Norman doorway to the nave was rebuilt with square pilasters instead of shafts and forms the new entrance. In the north aisle was buried Henry, Earl of Northumberland, who fell at Towton. Percy’s Inn, an old palace of the Earls of Northumberland, stood opposite the church. The finest Norman doorway is that at St. Margaret’s Church. The arch is of four orders, adorned with the signs of the Zodiac. The piers have a double chevron and carved imposts, whilst the shafts have carved