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ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY in the lord mayor's court. ^-^ In 1583 the lord mayor requested that the order regarding carriers might be extended to the suburbs ; '" and in the following year he issued a proclamation on the subject of Sabbath-breaking. In this document he lamented the ' profanation ' of the day by the citizens ' in working, buying, selling, keeping open shops, making open shows, and using other unholy exercises ; ' he warned them of the wrath of Almighty God, and the probable withdrawal of His blessings from the City ; and finally forbade all secular employments on the Sabbath-day, and urged every person ' to do that service unto Almighty God which is requisite for observation of the same ' upon pain of imprisonment.^* From this time strict order was observed on this point in the City, and in 1587 the justices of the peace of Surrey were enjoined to take steps to procure a similar state of things in Southwark, where obedience was not readily yielded. ^^* A fine of bd. was imposed on those convicted of working on Sundays or holy days,**'^ and on those who came late or not at all to church.*'^ It was customary for the Privy Council to meet for business after service on Sunday, and this practice appears to have continued : ^" but there was a growing feeling that business should not be transacted, nor public gatherings, except for worship, held on that day.^-' After the accession of James I there appears to have been a change of feeling in London on this subject. In 1614 the lord mayor wrote to the Lord Chamberlain that he had been ' much maligned ' for endeavouring to keep the Sabbath day holy."^' The publication of the ' Declaration of Sports ' in 1 6 17 naturally encouraged those who held the less austere view,"*" and in 1629 the lord mayor complained that Sabbath-breaking was again very common in London. Buying and selling were carried on : inn-holders suffered markets to be kept by carriers in most rude and profane manner in selling victuals to hucksters, chandlers, and all other comers ; carriers, carmen, cloth-workers, water-bearers, and porters carried their burdens ; watermen plied their fares ; drinking and swearing were common.^ Warrants were issued for the arrest of all such offenders, but this the Bishop of London seems to have regarded as an encroachment on his jurisdiction."'* With the triumph of the Puritans came severe laws for the stricter observance of Sunday,""' and fines for any breach of the Sabbath were once more enforced."'* The observance of Lent and of the weekly fasts was during the reign of Elizabeth a matter rather of political than of ecclesiastical interest. This is clearly shown by the Act "'^ of 1562, which required the 'fish days' to be kept ' for the benefit and commodity of this realm, to grow as well in main- «" Corp. Rec. Letter Bk. Z, fol. 21 1. ™ S.P. Dom. Eliz. clxiv, 28. »" Corp. Rec. Letter Bk. Z, fol. 387^. '" Acts of P.C. xv, 271. '"St. Olave's Southwark Chwdns.' Accts. 1589-91 ; St. Margaret's New Fish St. Vest. Min. 1594, &c. "" St. Margaret's New Fish St. Vest. Min. 1606 ; AUhallows the Great Vest. Min. 161 5. "' Acts, of P.C. passim. "' Corp. Rec. Journ. xxiii, fol. 198^; Letter Bk. BB, fol. 42 ; Gardiner, Hist, of Engl. , 173. "' Anal. Rememb. 359 (iii, 159). Various parishioners of St. Benet's Paul's Wharf were fined about this time for breaking the Sabbath ; Chwdns.' Accts. 1614-16, 1618-19. "° Gardiner, Hist, of Engl, iii, 247-8, 251-2. "' Lamb. Lib. Misc. MS 943, p. 129. «» Ibid, in dorso "^ B.M. Pressmark 517, k, 11 (16) ; S.P. Dom. 26 June 1657. '^' St. Botolph Aldersgate Chwdns.' Accts. 1657-8, &c. ^" Stat. 5 Eliz. cap. 5, sec. 14-23. 323