s thus elected are admitted into
office in the Guildhall on Michaelmas Eve, and preside on the following
day at the Common Hall held for the election of Lord Mayor. The Lord
Mayor Elect is formally installed in office at Guildhall, with a quaint
and dignified ceremony, on November 8th, and enters upon his duties
after a further ceremony at the Royal Courts of Justice on the following
day. The Livery also meet in Guildhall to take part in and to hear the
result of elections of Members of Parliament for the City. On all these
occasions an elevated hustings is raised at the east end of the hall,
and strewn with sweet-smelling herbs, the civic party being also
provided with nosegays. This old custom is supposed to have originated
in the days when the City was ravaged by pestilence, the herbs and
flowers being employed as prophylactics.

Now taking leave of the building, it is time to glance very briefly at
some of the important events which have taken place within these
historic walls. It was here, in 1483, that the Duke of Buckingham, sent
by Richard Duke of Gloucester, with his persuasive tongue, prevailed
with the citizens to hail the usurper as King Richard III. A different
scene was enacted in 1546, when Guildhall was the scene of the trial of
the youthful and accomplished Anne Askew, which ended in her
condemnation, her torture on the rack, and her martyrdom in Smithfield.
The next year saw the trial of the Earl of Surrey, one who was
distinguished by every accomplishment which became a scholar, a
courtier, and a soldier, and who, to gratify the malice of Henry VIII.,
was convicted of high treason. This unhappy period also saw the tragic
trial and condemnation, in 1553, of the ill-fated Lady Jane Grey and her
husband. The trial of Sir Nicholas Throgmorton at Guildhall in 1554, for
taking part in Sir Thomas Wyatt's rebellion, had a different result.
This trial is one of the most interesting on record for the exhibition
of intellectual power, and is remarkable for the courage displayed by
the jury in returning a verdict of "acquittal" in opposition to the
despotic wishes of the court, though at the expense of imprisonment and
fine. In 1642 Charles I. attended at a Common Council and claimed the
Corporation's assistance an apprehending the five members whom he had
denounced as guilty of high treason, and who had fled to the City to
avoid arrest. This incident is commemorated by an inscription affixed to
one of the pillar