Then Sir Robert Hadfield took up the subject, and after great research and experiment discovered that by considerably increasing the percentage of manganese he obtained a metal with wonderful characteristics. I will not enter into technicalities, but only mention that motor cars without manganese steel for certain portions could not be relied upon. As a producer of excellent armour-piercing shells, Hadfield is well known to the steel world. His success in this line brought him a considerable order for them during the late war from America, which, with the consent of our Government, he carried out without detriment to our own supplies, numbering many thousands.

Projectiles, however, are not life-saving articles. During the war there were an immense number of casualties from fragments of shell, bullets, etc., striking the head. The French first adopted a metal helmet for protection, but being of a mild steel it was not very effective. Hadfield then made a helmet of manganese steel, not much thicker than tin, which kept out bullets in a wonderful way. Millions of these tin hats-as the soldiers called themwere served out to the Allied armies, and saved thousands of lives. The name of Hadfield may therefore be added to those other benefactors of the human race who are rightly held in remembrance.

S. EARDLEY-WILMOT.

LONDON'S ROLL OF FAME

I HAVE been re-reading an interesting, but little known, volume called London's Roll of Fame, which the Corporation of London compiled and published in 1884. It contains the complimentary votes and addresses from the City of London on presentation of the honorary Freedom to royal personages, statesmen, patriots, warriors, Arctic explorers, discoverers, philanthropists and scientific men, with their replies and acknowledgments.

It ranges in point of date from the close of the reign of George II. (A.D. 1757) until 1884, and is extracted mainly from the records of the Corporation. It is headed with two quotations:

'Felix prole Virum.'

VIRGIL, Eneid, VI. 785.

Fear'd by their breed and famous by their birth,
Renowned for their deeds.

SHAKESPEARE, Richard II., II. i. 52.

A learned, accurate and interesting Critical and Historical Introduction' prefaces the detailed contents, and many portraits and illustrations are incorporated.

There are four methods by which the Freedom of the City may be acquired: (1) by patrimony, the sons of a Freeman being entitled on attaining their majority to be enrolled as a matter of right; (2) by servitude or apprenticeship to a master who is already a Freeman; (3) by redemption, i.e. purchase; and (4) by gift conferred by the Corporation honoris causâ. It is to the last class only that the book relates. And when it is announced that the Freedom of the City is about to be conferred on some particular individual, it is to this honorary category alone that the allusion is made. All other admissions are perfunctory. Of late years there has been a tendency, which the Corporation are vigorously suppressing, to include the description 'Freeman of the City of London' in trade or professional advertisements, the implication being that the advertiser had been honoured in the same way as Pitt, Beaconsfield or Gladstone.

It should also be explained, to avoid popular misconception, that foreigners, who, of course, cannot take the Freeman's oath of

allegiance to the British crown, are not actually admitted to the honorary Freedom, but receive in its place complimentary addresses with gold boxes or swords, which are presented with the same pomp and circumstance as the real Freedom. During the war there was, it may be remembered, a popular demand for the cancelment of the Freedom to the Kaiser, who paid two memorable visits to the City in 1891 and 1907, and for his exclusion from London's Roll of Fame,' but as he had never been admitted a Freeman that drastic step was unnecessary.

The admission of distinguished Freemen is attended with an ancient, ornate and quaint ceremonial in the Guildhall, and the new Freeman has first to be vouched for by six leading citizens called 'compurgators,' who publicly assert that he is a man of good name and fame, that he does not desire the Freedom whereby to defraud the King or the City of any of their rights, customs or advantages, but that he will pay his scot and bear his lot, and so they all say.' The Chamberlain addresses him in laudatory terms, narrating the leading events of his career, and concludes by offering him 'the right hand of fellowship' as a citizen of London. The Lord Mayor presents him with a gold box or sword, with a parchment scroll reproducing the official record retained at Guildhall.

The book is divided into the periods of office of the various Chamberlains by whom the distinguished Freemen were admitted, viz., Sir Thomas Harrison, 1751-65; Sir Stephen Janssen, 1765-76; Benjamin Hopkins, 1776-79; John Wilkes, M.P., 1779-97; Richard Clark, 1798-1831; Sir James Shaw, 183143; Anthony Brown, 1844-53; Sir John Key, 1853-58; and Benjamin Scott, 1858-92. Of these Sir Stephen Janssen had been Lord Mayor in 1754-55, Wilkes in 1774-75, Clark in 178485, Sir James Shaw in 1805-6, Brown 1826-27, and Sir John Key in 1830-31, and again in 1831-32.

The first instance recorded in the book relates to the bestowal of the Freedom in 1757 upon William Pitt (afterwards Earl of Chatham) and Legge, the late Chancellor of the Exchequer, in testimony of the City's grateful sense of

. . . their beginning a scheme of public economy and at the same time lessening the extent of Ministerial influence by a reduction of the number of useless placemen; their noble efforts to stem the general torrent of corruption and to revive by their example the almost extinguished love of virtue and our country,

Pitt's reply was very brief, but expressed gratitude for so unmerited an approbation of my insufficient endeavours to carry into effect the most gracious intentions and paternal care of His Majesty for the preservation and happiness of his people.'

The next famous Freeman was Onslow, who in 1761 had filled

the office of Speaker of the House of Commons for thirty-three years in five successive Parliaments. He accepted the honour, but declined on public grounds, and because of his official position, to receive the gold box voted by the Corporation. The same course, on the same grounds, was taken by Speaker Norton (afterwards Lord Grantley), who had the Freedom given him in 1777.

In 1764 an enhanced compliment was paid to Lord Chief Justice Pratt (afterwards Lord Camden), for, in addition to the Freedom and the gold box, his portrait was painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds and placed in the Guildhall. The Lord Chief Justice's reply was interesting, for he said that as the City of London had now given him a reputation he must take more than ordinary care to preserve their gift by the strictest attention to his duty, knowing that the best way of thanking the public for honours like those was by persevering in the same conduct by which their approbation was first acquired.

In 1780 Admiral Lord Rodney was voted the Freedom after his victories over the Spanish squadron and the French fleet. His portrait and a picture of the battle with the French were presented to the Corporation by Alderman Boydell and placed in the Guildhall. Lord Rodney replied with the modesty of naval men, ascribing his successes to the gallantry of the officers and men under his command and adding:

My life has been devoted to and is now almost worn out in the service of my King and Country, but the poor remains of it are still at the disposal of my Sovereign, whenever he thinks they can be usefully employed in supporting the honour of the British flag and in practising and extending the trade of the Nation and of its great Metropolis in particular.

In 1784 the Freedom was presented to William Pitt, the Prime Minister. At that time the notorious John Wilkes had become Chamberlain of London, and, in addressing the Premier, he concluded a speech full of political allusions in these terms:

Your noble father, Sir, annihilated party; I hope you will, in the end, beat down and conquer the hydra of faction which now rears its hundred heads against you. I remember his saying that for the good of the people he dared to look the proudest connections of this country in the face.' I trust that the same spirit animates his son, and as he has the same support of the Crown and the people, I am firmly persuaded that the same success will follow.

Pitt returned thanks in a single sentence which contained no reference whatever to what Wilkes had said. The record goes on to say that Pitt went to Grocers' Hall, where he was made a Freeman of the Company. Afterwards he was accompanied back to his house in Berkeley Square, as he had been brought from it, by a numerous cavalcade amidst general illuminations and emblematic devices. On his way home (according to Memorials

of St. James's Street, by Mr. E. B. Chancellor) he was attacked and waylaid by a determined band of ruffians armed with sticks and bludgeons, and had to take refuge in White's. Pitt's statue in the Guildhall, for which Canning wrote the inscription, is one of the best known features of that historic building.

The next noteworthy Freemen were the distinguished Admirals Grey (afterwards Earl Grey), Jervis (afterwards Earl St. Vincent), Lord Howe and Lord Bridport, who were admitted between 1794 and 1797. Jervis received a sword as well as the gold box; and his portrait by Sir William Beechey, R.A., was placed in the Guildhall as a gift from Alderman Boydell. To the compliment paid to Lord Howe the City added recognition of the gallantry of his men by paying into the hands of the Master of Lloyd's Coffee House' 500l. for the relief of the wounded. A portrait of Howe was painted for the Corporation by J. Northcote, R.A., and hangs in the Guildhall. Wilkes, the Chamberlain, in his address to Lord Howe, included an allusion which might with equal appropriateness be made to-day:

The naval superiority so essential to the safety, honour and dignity of our Island has been fully established and, we hope, lastingly secured under your Lordship's auspices. The Navy has always been considered as our first and firmest bulwark; and the same undaunted spirit which has, under your command, gained such signal conquests over a proud, insulting foe will, we are assured, continue to acquire fresh laurels and preserve to England the homage of old Ocean.

The association of Nelson with the Corporation is of interest. In 1797, with three senior admirals-Thompson, Waldegrave and Parker-Nelson was voted the Freedom of the City in a gold box, which was handed to him by Wilkes and modestly acknowledged. In the following year the Admiral wrote to the Lord Mayor this letter:

H.M.S. Vanguard,

MOUTH OF THE NILE,
August 8th, 1798.

MY LORD,-Having the honour of being a Freeman of the City of London, I take the liberty of sending to your Lordship the sword of the Commanding French Admiral, Monsieur Blanquet, who survived after the battle of the Ist [August] off the Nile, and request that the City of London will honour me by the acceptance of it as a remembrance that Britannia still rules the waves, which that she may for ever do is the fervent prayer of Your Lordship's most obedient Servant

HORATIO NELSON. This letter is reproduced in facsimile in the book with this explanation:

Admiral Brueys was in command of the French fleet on board the ship L'Orient. He was killed during the Action and the command devolved on Rear Admiral Blanquet, who surrendered to Lord Nelson. The sword is an ordinary dress rapier of blue steel with figures in gilt of the Gallic Cock