In 1527, R.O. Ferdinando Rodericus described how on "9 November last as he was coming from a goldsmith's he was lured by a maid into the house of Francis Borowe, a milliner in Abchurch Lane next door to the said goldsmith's, where he was assaulted, wounded and covered with tar and filth by the said Francis and others and robbed of his cap and money. Lay at the point of death for 30 days after."