the respective Wards are as follow: for the East regiment, Aldgate Ward, sixty men; Bassishaw, twelve; Billingsgate, fortyone; Bishopsgate Within, forty-four; Bishopsgate Without, fifty; Bridge, twenty-six; Broad Street, fifty; Candlewick, twenty; Coleman Street, thirty-six; Cornhill, thirty-six; Dowgate, twentyseven; Langbourn, sixty-seven; Lime Street, twenty; Porisoken, forty-five; Tower, sixty-six: total six hundred. For the West regiment, Aldersgate Within, and St. Martin's le Grand, eighteen; Aldersgate Without, twenty-one; Bread Street, twentyfour; Castle Baynard, forty-four; Cheap, forty-four; Cordwainer, twenty-two; Cripplegate Within, forty-four; Cripplegate Without, thirty-six; Farringdon Within, eighty-four; Farringdon Without, one hundred and ninety-two; Queenhithe, twenty-one; Vintry, twenty-three; Walbrook, twenty-seven: total six hundred. Each regiment is commanded by a Colonel, a Lieutenant-Colonel, a Major, ten Captains, ten Lieutenants, ten Ensigns, &c. all of whom are appointed by the Commissioners of Lieutenancy, who are, the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and their deputies; the Recorder, Chamberlain, and Common Serjeant for the time being, and one hundred and fifty-five of the principal Citizens appointed by his Majesty. Two Courts of Lieutenancy are required to be held every year; namely, on the third Wednesdays in January and June; but the Commissioners are also empowered to hold a Court as often as may be requisite: their usual place of meeting is at Barber's Hall. All the officers above the rank of Lieutenants must be freemen; but the sons of freemen are eligible to the offices of Lieutenant and Ensign. When embodied for service, his Majesty is authorized to put one regiment under the command of such General Officer as he may appoint, and to direct it to march to any place not exceeding twelve miles from the City, or to the nearest encampment beyond that distance; but the other is to remain within the City or its Liberties, to defend the same. By an express enactment it is also declared, that "the said Militia shall possess and enjoy all and singular the rights and privileges which were possessed and enjoyed by the ancient Trained Bands of the City of London." Besides the City Militia, and the Artillery Company, which is principally composed of a voluntary enrollment of the younger Citizens to the amount of about six hundred, the City has an additional force in the eleven Regiments of Loyal London Volunteer Infantry, and one Regiment of Volunteer Cavalry; yet these being principally composed of Citizen Tradesmen, their sons, clerks, and other servants, cannot, from obvious causes, be kept altogether in that effective state which, under other circumstances, might be desirable. The Volunteer Regiments had their origin during the late and the present war; but they were chiefly formed in the years 1798 and 1803, when the repeated threats of invasion from France, conjoined with other circumstances, rendered it expedient to increase the military force in every part of the Kingdom. The primary associations consisted of inhabitant householders of each Ward, acting under the general superintendence of local Committees, and eventually liable to be united into one body, and placed under the direction of the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen. In the subsequent arrangements made in 1803, other persons, not Citizens, nor inhabitants, but residing contiguous to the City, were permitted to associate; and the whole of the infantry was then distributed into eleven Regiments, having authority to elect their own officers, and, generally speaking, defraying all the expenses of arms, accoutrements, &c. out of their own subscriptions, aided by some inconsiderable funds collected in the different Wards. The City Volunteer Cavalry, which never exceeded one hundred and sixty, was formed into one Regiment. Whilst the alarm of invasion continued to exist, the Volunteers exhibited a most commendable activity in assembling at their respective quarters, and they very quickly attained an advanced degree of discipline; but when the course of Continental affairs * See preceding Volume, p. 582-3. had had assumed another direction, the attendance of individuals was gradually lessened, and, with little exception, the City Volunteers are at present in a dormant state, so far as regards military concerns. The returns, of late, have not been regular; yet should the presumed necessity again arrive, there cannot be a doubt but that these Regiments will attain as great a degree of effective strength as at any former period. In the returns laid before the House of Commons in March, 1806, after the general Inspection of the Volunteer force of Great Britain made in the preceding month, the numbers of each Regiment are stated thus: In addition to the above forces, which may be considered as more peculiarly belonging to the City in its corporate capacity, there are several N 2 *It should be remarked, that a principal cause of the numbers of those, 'Present under arms,' being, comparatively, so few, was, that at the time the Inspections were made, the weather had set in with uncommon severity: from the circumstances of finding their own arms, and defraying their own expenses, the City Volunteers are also accustomed to regard themselves as more independent than any others. several other Volunteer Regiments of Infantry, that have been raised for the purpose of protecting the immense property within its walls; as well under circumstances of internal commotion, as in case of invasion. These are the East India Volunteers, the Bank Volunteers, and the Volunteers of the Excise Office, and of the Custom House; all which are composed of the officers and servants of their respective establishments, the Directors and principal Clerks having the entire management, command, &c. The East India Volunteers are divided into three Regiments, and one Artillery Regiment; which consist of the following numbers, according to the Returns made in December, 1810, and April, 1811: first Regiment, five hundred and twenty-two men; second Regiment, five hundred and forty-two men; third Regiment, five hundred and thirty-two men; Artillery Regiment, eighty men: total 1,676. The Bank Volunteers, as appears from the Returns made on the first of April, consist of one Regiment of five hundred and forty-six men; and of a Supplementary Corps of one hundred and eighty-nine men. The Excise Office Corps consists of about five hundred and ninety men: and that of the Custom House of nearly four hundred. The origin of the ECCLESIASTICAL GOVERNMENT of London, is involved in similar obscurity to that which enshrouds the remoter periods of its Civil and Military Establishments. Without regarding, however, either the story of King Lucius, and his conversion to Christianity about the middle of the second century, or of the Arch-Flamens, which the visionary Geoffrey of Monmouth, has judged proper to seat at York, Caerleon, and London, there can be little doubt of there having been a Bishop of this City, previous to the year 326; at which time Restitutus was present at the second Council of Arles, in France, and subscribed his name and style in these words: Ex Provincia Britanniæ Civitate Londinensi Restitutus Episcopus. The names of twelve or fifteen other Bishops of London, have also been given,* as possessing the See between the times of Lucius and the coming of St. Augustine; See Godwin's Cat. p. 182; and Strype's Sto v, Vol. II. p. 118. St. Augustine; yet no dependence can be placed upon the accuracy of the list, and whatever might have been the extent of the prevalence of Christianity in this Diocese, it had certainly been afterwards supplanted by the Pagan worship of the Saxons. * After the landing of Augustine, and the conversion of the Kentish Saxons, that Missionary, who had been appointed by Pope Gregory as the Apostle of the English,' constituted Melitus, one of his companions, Bishop of London, in 604; and, about six years afterwards, the Cathedral of St. Paul was founded by King Ethelbert, uncle to that King Sebert who then reigned over the East Saxons, and whose Kingdom, which included the Counties of Middlesex and Essex, and part of Hertfordshire, was commensurate with the extent of the present Diocese. Melitus was afterwards expelled by the three Sons of Sebert, who, with their subjects, had relapsed into Paganism; and, for nearly forty years, the See remained vacant. At length, through the persuasions of Oswy, King of Northumberland, Sigebert the Good, who succeeded to the throne of the East Saxons, about 653, became a Christian, and appointed a Northumbrian Priest, named Cedda, or Ceadda, as the second Bishop, after the reerection of the See by Augustine; and "that charge," Godwin remarks," he attended painfully many years." He died of the Plague in 664; and soon afterwards his place was supplied by Wina, a Frenchman, who had been expelled from Winchester, and is stated to have purchased the See of London from Wulfhere, King of Mercia; he was "the first Simonist," says the above author, "that is mentioned in our histories:" he died about 674. Erkenwald, the fourth Bishop, son to King Offa, expended large sums in building at St. Paul's, "and increased greatly the revenues of the same, and obtained for it, of divers Princes, many notable and important privileges." He also founded the Monastery at Chertsey, in Surrey, and the Nunnery at Barking, N 3 *For particulars see preceding Volume, p. 185. note. * Ibid. 210. ↑ Ibid. in |