Part 25 (2/2)

~arras~: tapestry for hanging; so called from Arras, in the north of France, where it was made.

~refectory~: the hall where the monks or nuns took their meals.

38. JUSTICE AND PUNISHMENTS.

~executive officers~: those whose duty it is to enforce the law.

~contrition~: repentance.

~securities~: stocks and shares; papers which can be of no use to the ordinary thief.

~Bridewell~: the site of a prison, now demolished. It adjoined Whitefriars, and may be seen in the map to the west of Blackfriars.

~amende honorable~ (French): when one who has done wrong gives satisfaction without loss of honour.

~pillory~: a framework supported by an upright pillar. In it were holes through which the head and hands of offenders were thrust. In this uncomfortable position they had to stand exposed to the insults of the mob.

~cogged~: loaded so as always to fall in a certain way.

~t.i.tle deeds~: writings drawn up in proper legal form to prove the possession of property.

39. THE POLITICAL POWER OF LONDON.

~Froissart~: an early French chronicler or historian who visited England in the reigns of Edward III. and Richard II., and died in 1401.

~besotted with~: stupidly and excessively fond of.

~commonalty~: the common people.

~Berkeley Castle~, in Gloucesters.h.i.+re, where Edward II. was murdered in 1327.

~a son was born~: Edward, Prince of Wales, born in 1453. After the Yorkist victory of Northampton in 1460 Edward's claim to the throne was set aside in favour of Richard, Duke of York, father of Edward IV. The Prince was slain at the battle of Tewkesbury, 1471.

~benevolences~: loans of money, supposed to be voluntary, really compulsory, made by merchants and other rich men to the king.

~charts~: papers; ~blank cheques~: orders on the bank for money with all except the amount required filled up and properly signed.

~factor~: if 2 3 makes six, 2 and 3 are each factors of 6; hence it is something which helps to bring about some result.

40. ELIZABETHAN LONDON. PART I.

~Stow~ (born 1525, died 1605): a famous writer in Queen Elizabeth's reign on the antiquities of London and other places.

~Whitechapel~ takes its name from a white chapel-of-ease built to relieve Stepney, in which parish this district was till 1763.

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