Oldal 129 [129]
TITHE CITY GOVERNMENT 107
currence of the aldermen they elected Thomas Juvenal to be " com¬
mon serjeant.” The "common clerk,’ now called "town clerk,” was
first appointed about the same time. Finally, in the reign of Queen
Elizabeth (1570) it was found necessary to appoint an officer to conduct
the ordinary correspondence of the corporation; he was called the
Kemembrancer, and was for a short time a kind of private secretary
to the Lord Mayor.
So far we have neglected the aldermen, yet, perhaps, of all the city
officials they are the oldest. We cannot tell why the title has remained
with them when it has been discarded everywhere else; but to under¬
stand its meaning we must first go back to a time very near that of
Alfred, under whom an alderman was a magistrate and something