Sacramento daily record-union., 1889-09-29

WnOle proceeding Is previously arranged
affair, well understood by all those taking
part in it.
Both the Guild Hall and the Mansion
House, the latter the Mayors official resi-
dence, are crowded with the portraits of
hundreds of men, illustrious either in con-
nection with the city and its affairs or
prominent in the history of their country.
1t is however, remarkable illustration of
the cotemporary estimate of true greatness
that most of the men whose features look
down from the official walls are unknown
save to the antiquarian. Great in their
own time, they are now and for ages have
been forgotten. This much cannot be said.
however, of the noted Sir Richard Whit
tington, the typical merchant of the Mid
die Ages, who, at a time when the upper
classes despised trade and traders, by sheer
force of industry and ability, raised him
self from the lowest to the highest rank,
and compelled formal recognition of his
talent from the King. To him the knight
hood was no honor, for even now he is
known, not as Sir Richard Wilmington,
but as Dick, and if the truth must be told,
his fame mostly relies on his alleged con-
nection with cat which DESTROYED the
mice infesting the house of the King of
Morocco, and, thereby pleasing the King,
enriched to poor boy, as you will read in
the story books.
Next to "Honest Old Dick" and equally
well known, is the amiable face of the
learned and pious Sir Thomas Mere, the
philosopher, theologian and lawyer, who
once filled an important office in the city
before he went to displaying his talents on
a more consr ;c92us and dangerous stage,
as Lord Chancellor to the much-married
Henry VIII. More recognized, better
than any man of his time, the peril of a
monarch's favor, for when congratulated
on his influence with the KING. he
shrewdly replied, "If we were at war with
France, and he could win castle at the
price of my head, the price would Ue
paid" The sterling integrity of the
author of utopia" finally, indeed. cost
him his life, for his stern refusal to sane
ton the Kings divorce so enraged Henry
that the Chancellor was sent to the Tower
thence to trial, "the most notable cri n
inal who had pleaded at the bar for
thousand years." thence to the block. The
portrait preserved by the city of London
was done IN his own time by a cotemporary
artist, and is, therefore, of the greater
value.
Since the Lord Mayors show has been
laid aside the installation of the Lord
Mayor is comparatively tame affair.
His election is a foregone conclusion.
since every member of the ninety-one city
companies, who practically select the
Mayor, knows who is to succeed the Mayor
In office, and on November 9th, clad in
his gorgeous robes of office, with his Off
clal chain about his neck, he takes his
seat IN his equally gorgeous chariot. and
with small civil and military process
sion, proceeds to the Mansion House
where he is inducted into office. The
great event Of the day is really the ban
quet, to which all the Cabinet Ministers
are invited, and in their speeches there is
generally foreshadowing of the imperial
policy for the winter session of Parlia-
ment.
The plate used on this occasion is
scarcely surpassed in magnifcence by the
crown plate of England, much of it being
solid gold. Among the table appoint
ments, however, are several vases and
tankards, known as "the living cups"
which are the leading features of yerv
~ SLiOhy. W llSn Iue IOdSlS DeSlQ
the Mayor, at the head of the table, rises,
takes in both hands the cup of wine to
drink the first. Immediately the persons
on his right and left both rise; the cup is
passed by the Mayor to the person on his
right, and when this man receives the
tankard his right-hand man also rises, so
that there are always three standing, the
man who is drinking the toast, his right
hand man and the man on the opposite
side of the table, the cup travelling back
and forth across the board with every
potation. The custom is relic of Saxon
times and of savage manners. During the
Saxon and Danish days assassination was
a matter of every day occurrence, and not
lntrequently at feasts, when the drinker
took the cup in his hands he was, while
drinking, stabbed by treacherous COM
panion. Thus, health drinking became
dangerous business in more than one sense
of the word, and to guard against one of
its perils no member of a social gathering
would drink unless another became his
pledge or security that no harm would
come to him while SO engaged. The
pledge, or pledges for frequently one was
deemed insufficient, stood by with drawn
weapons to guard the drinker and to the
present day this curious record of bar.
barous age is preserved, not only in the
Lord Mayors feast, but in the annual ban
quet of nearly every civic corporation in
England