Page:Mediaevalleicest00billrich.djvu/97

 Stringer was a well-to-do widow, who appears in the Subsidy Roll of 1590 as an owner of land at Leicester. She may have been the widow of Roger Stringer, who was a Town Chamberlain in 1576-7, an Alderman in 1583, and an Auditor of Accounts for the South Quarter in 158 1-2. His Will was proved at Leicester in 1585, and he may have died in the previous year. The Will of Agnes Stringer was proved in 1603. Either Mrs. Stringer or her husband had advanced the £100 for repayment of a debt incurred by the Corporation in promoting the manufacture of cloth. The rest of the Twenty-four promised to pay 1s. 2d. each, and the Fortyeight 7d. each, quarterly, towards the payment. The Town Hall was mortgaged as further security.

A great feast was held at the new Leicester Guildhall in 1588, to celebrate the defeat of the Armada. The Earl of Huntingdon, his brother, Walter Hastings, who was in command of the troops in Leicestershire prepared to resist the apprehended invasion, Thomas Skeffington, of Belgrave, who was then High Sheriff of the County, and many other gentlemen of the neighbourhood were entertained by George Norris, the Mayor of Leicester. The event was commemorated on future anniversaries.

For these great civic banquets all the accommodation of the building was required. There were two long tables, known as the first and the second, which extended down the length of the Hall, and in the Parlour were also first and second tables, while room was found for yet another table in the chamber upstairs. Nichols gives the Bill of Fare of one Gargantuan Feast which contains more than 150 different items.

On other occasions the Hall was given up to theatrical performances. When companies of actors visited Leicester, they seem generally to have played at the Town Hall whenever it was available. In the year 1585-6, "The Earl of Essex' players" had a solatium paid to them of 20s., because "they were not suffered to play at the Hall." They were prevented from doing so probably by the alterations which were at that time being carried out there. The upper end of the building was used as a stage, and some of the hooks from which the curtain