English Gilds.

known from other remains that it passed sixteen good acts , touching among other things the condition of labourers , ancl regulating beggars and common nuisances . In this Parliament , it Avas ordered that two writs should be sent to every

Sheriff in England , both commanding him to make public proclamation throughout the shire , the first calling upon " the Masters and Wardens of all Gilds and Brotherhoods" to send up to the King ' s Council in Chancery returns of all details as to the

foundation , statutes , and property of their Gilds ; the second calling on " the Masters , and Wardens and overlookers of all the mysteries and Crafts " to send up , in the same Avay , copies of their charters or letters patent , where they had any . These Avrits were sent out on the 1 st of

November , 1388 , the returns Avere ordered to be sent in before the end of February next ensuing . These returns were made 480 years ago- Many of them must be lost , as it is known that there Avere Gilds in places of Avhich no return is left . But of these there are still extant official returns of more than 500 ot the Brotherhoods which Avere

once scattered over the land . Many are Avritten in Latin , some are in the old French of the time , and still more in English . In some instances , the barest facts are given on a single strip of parchment , Avhilst others enter so fully into detail as to

occupy several skins . The dates of their foundations range for the most part from early in the thirteenth ancl throughout the fourteenth centuries . Some , however , date from older times .

The Parliament thus acknowledged two classes of Gilds , the Social Gilds and the Gilds of Crafts , in the fact that separate Avrits were issued for the returns from each . Mr . Toulmin Smith Avas anxious to correct a

general misapprehension as to how far the religious element entered as an essential part iuto the foundations of Gilds . " These Avere not , " he said , "in any sense superstitious foundations ; that is , they were not founded , like monasteries and priories , for men devoted to what Avere deemed

religious exercises . Priests might belong to them , and often did so in their private capacities , but the Gilds Avere lay bodies , and existed for lay purposes , and the better to enable those Avho belonged to them rightly aud understanding ^ to fulfil their

neighbourly duties as free men in a free state . " Although they provided more or less for

religious purposes , this is to be regarded as incidental only , which is curiously illustrated by the fact that of three Gilds in Cambridge , one excludes priests altogether , another does not allow them to to take any part in its management ; the third has

a chaplain , but if the funds get too low for the support of the poor brethren and provide a chaplain as Avell , the chaplain has to be dispensed with .

There Avere few who did not provide service in church , and for the decent burial of their members , which in some instances consisted of a most elaborate ceremonial . On some occasions the poor were fed and clothed " for the soul ' s sake of the dead . "

The brethren and sistren usually all Avent to church on the day of their general meeting . Many of the Gilds maintained lights in the churches before the altars of their patron saints . Women were freely admitted in all the Gilds ,

there being but five exceptions out of the five hundred—a noteworthy fact for the advocates of "Women's Eights . " Chaucer is quoted as helping to understand the sort of people composing the Gilds , by his

description of those Avearing one livery ( ancl necessarily of one Gild ) AVIIO joined the pilgrimage to Canterbury : — " An Haberdasher and a Carpenter , A Webbe , a Deyer , and a Tapisier ,

AVere all y-clothed in o' livere Of a solempne and grete fraternite , Full freshe and new hir gere ypicked wan Hir knives were ychaped not with brass , But all with silver wrought ful clone and wel , Hir g-irdeles and hir pouches every del .

AA el served eche of hem a fayre burgeis , To sitten in a gilde halle on the dels , Everich for the wisdom that he can , AA as shapelich for to ben an alderman . For cattell hadden they enough and rent , And eke hir wives wolde it well assent . " ( To be continued . )

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TURTLE Sour . —NOW that tho "charity feeding " season is over , we may , without distressing the feelings of those philanthropists -who believe that turtle soup is the proper medium for extracting tho benefactions of the tender hearted , inform them that a very considerable proportion of the soup of which they have disposed during the last

four months is not made of turtle at all , but of conger-eel . A large trade is carried ou in the Channel Islands in the conger-eel fishing and tha subsequent dressing of tho fish for the London turtle-soup market . — Food Journal