Guilds.

" 13 . A trade regulation concerning the admission of apprentices . " 14 . Settles fines for ' eontrarying' against the rules . " 15 . Settles fiu-ther penalties for disobedience to the rules , and regulations as to apprentices . " TAA'enty-nine brethren haA'e signed these rules . At the same time they were SAVorn ( ficlem fecerunt ) well and faithfully to keep and fulfil them . " We gave some time back the ordinances of the Guild of Blacksmithssigned by

, sixty-fiA'e brethren , A . D . 1434 ( vol . v ., page 125 ) . Guilds can be traced back to Anglo-Saxon times , ancl during the Middle Ages exercised great influence on English social , and trading , and artistic , and operative life . A good-deal has been said about them lately , their origin , etc ., various opinions prevailing , ancl therefore we think it Avell to append Mr . Coote ' s lucid remarks on the subject , Avhich are perfectly satisfactory to our mind , as setting before us alike the " rationale" and the matter-of-fact AUGAV of the case : —

" Finding thus a succession of Guilds iu England from the seventh century to the present era , AA'ith nothing to show that they received then- creation from King Ine of Wessex , Ave may naturally ask , to AA'hat origin are Ave to refer these fraternities of our land ? " This has been a topic much discussed both at home and abroad . As might be expected , the opinions expressed upon the subject haA'e been various ancl

contradictory . " Lappenberg traces our English Guilds to the sacrificial feasts of the Teutonic tribes . This is perhaps the strangest theory of all . For what connection can reasonably be supposed betAveen a rendezvous of uncivilized Pagans and an association of Christian men combining for schemes of mutual benefit ? " Dr . Brentano rejects this hypothesis , ancl supports a A'ieAv of his OAVU in the

folloudng manner . He says , 'Neither Wilda , the principal Avriter on Guilds , nor HartAvig , who has made the latest researches into their origin , is able to discover anything of the essential nature of Guilds , either in Avhat has just been related about the old family and its banquets , or-in the sacrificial assemblies ; and it is only as to the one point of the custom of holding banquets on the occasion of anniversaiy festivals that Wilda is inclined to derive the Guilds from them . But of the essence of ' the Guild , the

brotherly banding together in close imion , AA'hich expressed itself in manifold Avays , in the mutual rendering of help ancl support , he finds no trace . The banquets AA'ere either casual meetings , to which every one , as he thought proper , invited his friends , or Avhich several people prepared in common , and Avhich did not produce any more intimate relationship than that already existing from the actual bond of the ' family , or state , or neighbourhoodor they were meetings in Avhich every one of the nation Avas ableor AA'as

, , obliged to take part . There appears in them nothing of any closer voluntary confederacy of the members Avithin or by the side of the union caused by the State or relig ion . Hartwig considers these objections of Wilda conchisire , and beheves that from the continued existence of Pagan ceremonies , even amongst the Religious Guilds , and from the custom of holding feasts , nothing whatever can be deduced Avhich is essential to the Guilds '

" Dr . -Brentano , having thus disposed of an opposite theory , goes on to attribute the Guild to the family , i . e ., the Teutonic family , the Guild being an instance of that union for mutual support which existed in that Teutonic family , and he sums up as fOIIOAVS : ' The family appears as the first Guild , or at least as an archetype of the Guilds . Originally its providing care dispels all existing wants , and for other societies