Page:Lancashire Legends, Traditions, Pageants, Sports, Etc., with an Appendix Containing a Rare Tract.djvu/142

 every twenty years, at which all the laws for the government of the corporation are passed, and at which all the privileges of the burgesses are first claimed. Including that called by Kuerdein the first guild, there have been twenty-one guilds, and those of 1802 and 1822 were presided over by the same individual, the late Nicholas Grimshaw, Esq., who was seven times mayor of Preston, and is the only mayor who has twice, at an interval of twenty years, presided over this festival. These ceremonials and the attendant festivities attract a very large number of visitors of all classes. At that of 1822, from fifty to sixty thousand persons were present. On the first day, Monday, September 2, the companies or fraternities assembled at eight, under their respective banners, and in their gayest attire. At 10.30 they were formed in order by the grand-marshal, and the mayor and corporation moved through their lines in procession to the parish church, accompanied by a large assemblage of nobility and gentry, amongst whom were the Lord-Lieutenant, and the High Sheriff of the county, the Earl of Wilton, the Earl of Stamford and Warrington, Lords Lindsay, Aylmer, Grey, &c. After divine service, the grand procession commenced, and the companies, decorated with the insignia of their trades, and headed by the bands of music, paraded the town in the following order:—1st, Tanners, skinners, curriers, and glovers; 2d, Cotton spinners and weavers, headed by their masters, and accompanied by machines in motion, mounted on stages, by which all the processes of the business were performed, from the steam-engine to the loom; 3d, cordwainers; 4th, carpenters; 5th, butchers; 6th, vintners; 7th, tailors; 8th, plasterers; 9th, smiths; 10th, gardeners; 11th, Oddfellows; 12th, printers and book-binders; 13th, Freemasons; the rear of the procession