One of the grandest spectacles in Old London was that of the Marching Watch on St. John's Day. Comprised in it were about two thousand men, some mounted, others on foot. There were "demilances" riding on great horses; gunners with harquebuses and wheel-locks; archers in white coats, bearing bent bows and sheafs of arrows; pikemen in bright corslets; and bill-men with aprons of mail. There was likewise a cresset train numbering nearly two thousand men. Each cresset--flaming rope, soaked in pitch, in an iron frame held aloft on a shaft--was carried by one man and served by another. Very imposing were the Constables of the Watch, with their glittering armour and gold chains, each preceded by his minstrel and followed by his henchman, and with his cresset bearer by his side. Then came the City waits (musicians) and the morris dancers--Robin Hood, Maid Marian, and the rest; after whom appeared the Mayor, with his sword bearer, henchmen, footmen, and giants, followed by the Sheriffs. All the windows facing the street stood open, and there was no lack of distinguished spectators. To quote Nicols:
Kings, great peers, and many a noble dame, Whose bright, pearl-glittering robes did mock the flame Of the night's burning lights, did sit to see How every senator, in his degree, Adorn'd with shining gold and purple weeds, And stately mounted on rich trapped steed, Their guard attending, through the streets did ride Before their foot-bands, graced with glittering pride Of rich gilt arms, whose glory did present A sunshine to the eye, as if it meant Amongst the cresset lights shot up on high To chase dark night for ever from the sky.
By the Setting of the Watch on Midsummer Eve appears to have been meant the stationing of these armed guards in various parts of the City, which they were to secure from harm on that night only. In the thirty-first year of his reign Henry VIII. abolished the Marching Watch, and substituted for it a permanent watch maintained out of the funds which had previously gone to support the great annual pageant. For harnessed constables Londoners now had watchmen equipped with lanthorn and halberd, whose duty it was to call upon the sleeping citizens to hang out their lights, as required on dark wintry nights: