CELEBRATION OF THE PRESENT MONARCH'S ACCESSION--MARRIAGE--AND VISIT TO
GUILDHALL.
The spirits of the Community were never more exhilarated than at the
auspicious period which gave England her present King and Queen. The
Coronation was necessarily similar to those described in _Londinium
Redivivum_; and the simplicity of our Church in the article of marriage
admits of little more splendour than that of dress, at all times superb
on such occasions in the British court. The fireworks, illuminations,
and behaviour of the populace, who were in some instances regaled with
beer round a bonfire, was generally decorous, and in some measure
compels me to silence as to incidents, except in one particular case,
when an odd scene of _midnight gratitude_ was exhibited to Earl Temple
and Mr. Pitt, who were returning _incog._ from Guildhall, where they
had dined on the 9th of November 1761. The instant those Patriots were
recognized, the multitude crowded round the carriage, impeded its
progress, and shouted with so much ardour, that the sleeping neighbours
were roused, and, when they had discovered the cause of the tumult,
heartily joined in the shouts with nightcaps instead of hats in hand.
The report of the Committee appointed to provide the entertainment on
the above day, will evince how well they performed their duty.
"At a Court of Common Council held June 17, 1762, the following Report
was presented to the Court:
"_To the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and
Commons of the City of London, in Common-Council assembled._
"We your Committee, appointed by your order, of the third
day of October last, to manage the entertainment for their
Majesties at the Guildhall of this City, on the then ensuing
Lord Mayor's Day, beg leave to report, that duly sensible of
the great honour done us in this appointment, we cheerfully
devoted our time and utmost endeavours to prepare and
regulate the said entertainment, so as best to answer the
intention of this honourable Court.
"In the preparations for the intended feast, your Committee
omitted no expence that might serve to improve its splendour,
elegance, or accommodation: whilst on the other hand they
retrenched every charge that was not calculated to that end,
however warranted by former precedents. Their Majesties
having expressed their Royal inclinations to see the
Procession of the Lord Mayor to Guildhall, the Committee
obtained Mr. Barclay's house in Cheapside for that purpose,
where proper refreshments were provided, and every care taken
to accommodate their Majesties with a full view of the whole
cavalcade.
"The great hall and adjoining apartments were decorated
and furnished with as much taste and magnificence as the
shortness of the time for preparation and the nature of a
temporary service would permit: the Hustings where their
Majesties dined, and the new Council Chamber, to which
they retired both before and after dinner, being spread
with Turkey carpets, and the rest of the floors over which
their Majesties were to pass with blue cloth, and the
whole illuminated with near three thousand wax tapers in
chandeliers, lustres, girandoles, and sconces.
"A select band of music, consisting of fifty of the best
hands, placed in a superb gallery, erected on purpose at the
lower end of the Hall, entertained their Majesties with a
concert during the time of dinner, under the direction of a
gentleman justly celebrated for his great musical talents;
whilst four other galleries (all covered with crimson, and
ornamented with festoons) exhibited to their Majesties a
most brilliant appearance of five hundred of the principal
Citizens of both sexes.
"Their Majesties table was served with a new set of rich
plate, purchased on this occasion, and covered with all
the delicacies which the season could furnish, or expence
procure, and prepared by the best hands.
"A proportionable care was taken of the several other
tables provided for the Foreign Ambassadors and Ministers;
the Lords and Gentlemen of his Majesty's most Honourable
Privy-Council; the Lord Chancellor and Judges; the Lords and
Ladies in waiting; the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, Sheriffs, and
Common Council; and many others, both of the Nobility and
Gentry: the whole number of guests within the Hall, including
the galleries, being upwards of twelve hundred; and that of
the Gentlemen Pensioners, Yeomen of the Guard, Horse and
Horse-Grenadier Guards, and servants attendant upon their
Majesties, and the Royal Family, and who were entertained
at places provided in the neighbourhood, amounting to seven
hundred and twenty-nine.
"And that this Court may form some judgment of the manner of
the entertainment, your Committee have hereunto subjoined
the bill of fare of their Majesty's table, and the totals of
the several bills on this occasion, amounting to 6898_l._
5_s._ 4_d._; which, your Committee have the satisfaction to
acquaint this Honourable Court, have been all ordered for
payment.
"Your Committee, likewise, having provided a great variety
of the choicest wines, took care that every guest should
be supplied with plenty and dispatch; and yet the various
services performed without hurry or confusion.
"For this purpose your Committee issued no more tickets for
admission than what (considering the necessary number of
attendants, amounting to two hundred and forty persons) would
fill the Hall without incommoding the Royal Personages for
whom the feast was intended.
"And to prevent as much as possible the intrusion of
strangers (too frequent on such occasions) your Committee
directed a temporary porch to be erected in the front of the
Hall, where gentlemen of trust were placed at three several
bars.
"Upon the whole, your Committee omitted no care or pains
to render the entertainment as commodious and agreeable as
possible to the Royal Guests, and in some measure expressive
of the zeal and veneration of this Honourable Court for
their august Sovereign, his most amiable Consort, and
illustrious Family, and of their sense of his gracious
condescension in honouring this City with his Royal Presence:
happy if they have in any degree answered expectation, and
are allowed to have done justice to the honourable trust
reposed in them. Signed this 15th day of June, 1762.
"_S. Fludyer_,
_Robert Alsop_,
_Richard Glyn_,
_Francis Gosling_,
_Thomas Long_,
_Robert Wilsonn_,
_Francis Ellis_,
_Henry Kent_,
_James Walton_,
_Charles Meredith_,
_John Rivington_,
_Thomas Cogan_,
_Edward Waldo_,
_W. Reeves_,
_Samuel Freeman_,
_William Tyser_,
_John Paterson_."