cons (where the Mercers' Chapel now is) to the cathedral.
There a requiem was said for Bishop William, as already described,[3]
then they went on to the tomb of Thomas Becket's parents, and the
requiem was again said. This done they returned by Cheapside to the
Church of St. Thomas Acons, where each man offered a penny. On All
Saints' Day (three days later) they went to St. Paul's again for
Vespers, and again at Christmas, on the Epiphany, and on Candlemas Day
(Purification). On Whitsun Monday they met at St. Peter's, Cornhill,
and on this occasion the City clergy all joined the procession, and
again they assembled in the cathedral nave, while the _Veni Creator
Spiritus_ was sung antiphonally, and a chorister, robed as an angel,
waved incense from the rood screen above.[4] Next day the same
ceremony was repeated, but this time it was "the common folk" who
joined in the procession, which returned by Newgate, and finished
at the Church of St. Michael le Querne.[5] And once more they went
through the ceremony, the "common folk of Essex" this time assisting.
There could not be fuller proof of the sense of religious duty in
civil and commercial life. The history of the City Guilds is full of
the same interweaving of the life of the people with the duties of
religion. There is an amusing incident recorded of one of these
Pentecostal functions. On Whitsun Monday, 1382, John Sely, Alderman of
Walbrook, wore a cloak without a lining. It ought to have been lined
with green taffeta. There was a meeting of the Council about this, and
they gave sentence that the mayor and aldermen should dine with the
offender at his cost on the following Thursday, and that he should
line his cloak. "And so it was done."

At one of these Whitsun festivals (it was in 1327) another procession
was held, no doubt to the delight of many spectators. A roguish baker
had a hole made in his table with a door to it, which could be opened
and shut at pleasure. When his customers brought dough to be baked he
had a confederate under the table who craftily withdrew great pieces.
He and some other roguish bakers were tried at the Guildhall, and
ordered to be set in the pillory, in Cheapside, with lumps of dough
round their necks, and there to remain till vespers at St. Paul's were
ended.

[Illustration: MONUMENT OF JOHN OF GAUNT AND BLANCHE OF LANCASTER.
_After W. Hollar._]

[Illustration: MONUMENT OF BISHOP ROGER NIGER. _After W. Hollar._]

[Illustration: MO