THE ARMOURER'S PRENTICES




PREFACE



I have attempted here to sketch citizen life in the early Tudor
days, aided therein by Stowe's Survey of London, supplemented by Mr.
Loftie's excellent history, and Dr. Burton's English Merchants.

Stowe gives a full account of the relations of apprentices to their
masters; though I confess that I do not know whether Edmund Burgess
could have become a citizen of York after serving an apprenticeship
in London. Evil May Day is closely described in Hall's Chronicle.
The ballad, said to be by Churchill, a contemporary, does not agree
with it in all respects; but the story-teller may surely have
license to follow whatever is most suitable to the purpose. The
sermon is exactly as given by Hall, who is also responsible for the
description of the King's sports and of the Field of the Cloth of
Gold and of Ardres. Knight's admirable Pictorial History of England
tells of Barlow, the archer, dubbed by Henry VIII. the King of
Shoreditch.

Historic Winchester describes both St. Elizabeth College and the
Archer Monks of Hyde Abbey. The tales mentioned as told by Ambrose
to Dennet are really New Forest legends.