"On the bridge, and in balconies on the banks of the river, stand the spectators,
Other recreation was afforded by fishing, as the Thames abounded with fish of all kinds, from the noble sturgeon and the salmon to the shoals of smelts and whitebait.
The river presented a gay scene, being the great highway for all classes of society, both for purposes of locomotion and for conveyance of goods. The traffic between the court and city was naturally carried on by wherries from London Bridge or Blackfriars to Westminster. The King and Queen had their royal barges, so had the noblemen whose mansions lined the south side of the Strand, each having stairs for approach from the river. Gower gives a charming picture of his meeting his patron, King Richard II., on the river, when the King summoned him to his barge and asked him to write "some new thinge." The poet obeyed by presenting the King with his "Confessio Amantis."
From time to time, gay pageants were seen on the Thames. The Sovereign would proceed in state from the Palace at Greenwich to the Tower, or from the Tower, Baynard's Castle, or other residence, to the Palace of Westminster, and the City guilds accompanied their sheriffs or mayors on their way to Westminster to take oath of office. The accounts of the Grocers' Company for the year 1436 mention payments for the hire of barges to attend the sheriffs' show; but John Stow, the historian of London, describes the water procession as an innovation made by John Norman, mayor in 1450. He writes: "This John Norman was the first mayor that was rowed by water to Westminster to take his oath, for before that time they rode on horseback. He caused a barge to be made at his own charge, and every company had several barges, well decked and trimmed, to pass along with him; for joy whereof, the watermen made a song in his praise, beginning, 'Row thy boat, Norman.'"
Of the more important buildings which formed conspicuous ornaments of the river's banks we shall speak when describing the royal palaces.
_Introduction of Christianity--Foundation of the See--The First Prelates: Mellitus, St. Erkenwald, St. Dunstan--Monastic Foundations--St. Paul's Cathedral: its Officials, Services, Shrines--Old St. Paul's Described--Paul's Cross and Spital Sermons--The Jewry--London Parish Churches--Lambeth Palace and Chapel--The Lollards' Tower._