opposite Bow-church, to see the Lord Mayor's procession The rooms, balcony, &c. were hung with crimson damask for their reception.

The equipages of the nobility and other distinguished guests, following or mingling with the Royal cortege, made the whole very extensive and brilliant ; quite at the close came, in one chariot, Earl Temple and the Right Hon. William Pitt, then in opposition, and styled "Patriots:" they were honoured with such hearty acclamations on the whole of their road, that "the Court," in consequence, left the civic feast "dissatisfied, and the minions of State grafted discontent with his faithful citizens in the royal breast."

The show on the water was very brilliant. The Lord Mayor landed at the Temple stairs: where he was met by his state coach, drawn by six beautiful iron-grey horses, richly caparisoned and adorned with ribbons. All the Companies made a very grand appearance; the Armourers and Braziers, the Skinners, and the Fishmongers, particularly distinguished themselves. The first named company produced a man in complete armour; and an Archer riding erect in his car, having a bow in his left hand, and his quiver and arrows hanging behind his left shoulder. The Skinners were distinguished by seven of their Company being dressed in fur, having their skins painted in the form of Indian Princes. The ancient pageantry also was, for the last time, revived. These were at the expense of the Fishmongers, and consisted of a statue of St. Peter finely gilt, a Dolphin, two Mermaids, and two Sea-horses; which, we are told, "had a very pleasing effect."

The procession being ended, the Royal Family were conducted by the Sheriffs to Guildhall. At its entrance, they were received by the Lord Mayor, who, kneeling, presented the City sword to the King; which being returned, it was carried before his Majesty by his Lordship to the Council Chamber, where the compliments of the City were made, and where his Majesty conferred the honour of knighthood on Nathaniel Nash and John Cartwright, esquires, the two Sheriffs, and on Thomas Fludyer, esq. brother to the Lord Mayor. The Lord Mayor, Sir Samuel Fludyer, was himself already a Baronet.

The Royal Family were then conducted to the hustings; when they all sat at one table, and no other person with them. The Ladies in waiting on the Queen had claimed a kind of right by custom to dine at the same table as her Majesty; but this was overruled, and they dined at the Lady Mayoress's tables, which were no less than three in number, and served in the most elegant manner, in the apartment called the King's Bench. Other ladies of distinction, not accommodated there, had an entertainment at the Town Clerk's house. The Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and their ladies, had a table spread for them in the lower hustings.* A table for the Privy Councillors, Ministers of State, and others of the nobility, was on the right hand, on ascending the upper hustings; another for the foreign Ministers on the left. On each of these tables was placed at the upper end half a side of cold roast beef, in one of which was stuck a flag with the Royal arms, and in the other a flag with those of the City. The Common Council had tables allotted to them in the body of the hall. The Judges, Serjeants, &c. dined in the old Council-chamber. The attendants upon all the company were plentifully regaled in the Court of Common Pleas.

The seven Aldermen of the Entertainment Committee, set on the dishes, and attended the Royal table. The Lord Mayor stood behind the King, in the quality of Chief Butler (as at the Coronation), and the Lady Mayoress waited on the Queen; but were, soon after the Royal Family were seated, desired by their Majesties to go to dinner.

The entertainment consisted of three courses, beside the dessert. When the second course was being brought, the Common Crier, standing before the royal table, demanded silence; and then proclaimed aloud, that his Majesty drank to the health and prosperity of the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council of the City of London, and the trade there

* That is, at the west end of the hall. There is a view of this entertainment in the Gentleman's Magazine for December 1761. It shows two oriel windows then remaining in Guildhall at the western extremities of the side walls.

of; and added thereto, that her Majesty also drank, confirming the same; whereupon the band of music immediately played the march in Judas Maccabeus, accompanied by the side drum.

The Common Crier then came to the Lord Mayor's table, at the lower end of the hall; and, the music ceasing, he again demanded silence, and proclaimed, that the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council drank, "Health, long life, and a prosperous reign to our most gracious Sovereign George the Third," upon which the music immediately played the latter part of Mr. Handel's coronation anthem, God save the King, &c. The music again ceasing, the Common Crier demanded silence a third time, and proclaimed that the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council, drank “Health and long life to our gracious Queen Charlotte;" upon which the band played again. The healths of the rest of the Royal Family were in order drank at the Lord Mayor's and the other tables, but not in the same ceremonious public manner.

After leaving the table, the ball was opened by his Royal Highness the Duke of York and the Lady Mayoress; and minuets were danced by some others of the Royal Family, the nobility, &c. until one o'clock. Their Majesties then retired; the Lord Mayor, with the sword of state carried before him, the Sheriffs, and Gentlemen of the Committee, conducting them to the Hall gate. The streets through which their Majesties passed to St. James's were illuminated in the most brilliant manner.

The following is the bill of fare, as served up by Messrs. Horton and Birch :

For the King and Queen, each four services and removes. The first service nine dishes, consisting of tureens, fish, venison, &c.; the second of nine dishes, a fine roast, ortolans, quails, knotts, ruffs, peachicks, &c.; the third, eleven dishes, of vegetable and made dishes, green peas, green morrels, green truffles, cardoons, &c.; and the fourth, nine dishes, of curious ornaments in pastry, jellies, blomonges, cakes, &c.

For eight of the Royal Family, four on the right hand of the King, and four on the left; each four services before them, as follows. First service, seven dishes, consisting of venison,

turtles, soups, fish of every sort, viz. dories, mullets, turbots, bets, tench, soles, &c.; the second service, seven dishes, of ortolans, teal, quails, ruffs, snipes, partridges, pheasants, &c.; the third, nine dishes of vegetables and made dishes, green peas, artichokes, ducks' tongues, fat livers, &c.; the fourth, nine dishes, of curious ornaments in cakes, both savoury and sweet, jellies, and blomonges in a variety of shapes, figures, and colours.

Between each service were placed on the table nearly a hundred cold ornamentals, and a grand silver epergne, filled with various kinds of shell fish of different colours.

The total number of hot and cold dishes at the royal table was four hundred and fourteen, the dessert not included.