Sixth, Christopher Croker. Alas! the world has forgotten Christopher. He was a vintner’s ’prentice. He was loved by Doll Stodie, his master’s daughter; and he burned to give her a better position; he joined the army of the Black Prince in France; distinguished himself there; went with him to Spain, and returned a knight:—
“And when Don Peter, driven out of Spaine, By an usurping bastard of his line, He craved some helpe his crowne to re-obtaine, That in his former glorie he might shine; Our king ten thousand sever’d from his host; My selfe was one, I speake it not in boast.
With these Don Peter put the bastard downe, Each citie yielded at our first approch; It was not long ere he had got the crowne; And taught his wicked brother to encroch; In these affaires so well I shewed my might, That for my labour I was made a knight.
Thus labour never looseth his reward; And he that seeks for honour sure shall speed; What craven mind was ever in regard? Or where consisteth manhood but in deed? I speake it, that confirm’d it by my life, And in the end, Doll Stodie was my wife.”
Seventh, John Hawkwood, the Prince of Mercenaries. He, too, belonged to the Black Prince and was knighted by him.
Eighth, Hugh Caverley, silk weaver, who also became a knight in France and signalised himself afterwards by slaying a monstrous wild boar which devastated Poland.
Ninth, and last, Henry Maleverer, grocer, Knight Crusader and Custodian of Jacob’s Well:—
“And thus with love, with honour, and with fame, I did return to London whence I came.”
It is a curious list, and shows what legends of former citizens had grown up in the minds of the people. They had clean forgotten the old Patron Saints of London, St. Erkenwald and St. Thomas à Becket; they had forgotten Philpot and his splendid achievement over the pirates of the North Sea; they had forgotten Waleys, Mayor of Bordeaux and of London; they had forgotten Dick Whittington; they had even forgotten Gresham, and in place of the men who had made London and brought wealth, prosperity, and freedom to the town, they remembered mythical adventures and traditions of battle and of victory. One would like to know more about the popular belief in “London Worthies.”