Stray Notes On The Livery Companies.

mysteries of tbe City of London , " the Bakers . They had long existed by prescription , though they did not obtain a character until the first year of the reign of Henry VIII . ( 1509 ) . Sixty years afterwards the ivhite and the brown bakers groiv so amicable that Elizabeth granted them a charter of incorporation as one body . However , in less than sixty years ( 1621 ) they separated

, and obtained new charters , and it took them over sixty years more ( 1686 ) to agree again , so as to obtain a fresh charter of incorporation . This document gave them poAver over all the bakers within twelve miles of the City ; and it was not until 1821 that this jurisdiction was taken from them by the abrogation of the bread assize .

But the Fishmongers , who were originally tivo companies , the salt and the stock ( i . e ., stick , or " dried" ) , seem to have quarrelled most . For 300 years unity and separation seems to have reigned by turns ; so that one is surprised to find them still wealthy , after frittering away so much money on charters . Had they , like tbe Vinters , sot up a pair of stocks for punishing mad , bad ,

or refractory members , and thus nipped trade-rebellion in the bud , the belligerent " salt" could have been converted into a " stock" fishmonger , jjto the benefit of many a quiet or poor member of the craft . The Joiners , too , notwithstanding their name , and though a legal trades-union , like their illegal imitators , quarrelled over the appointment of their officers , and

took their case into the Chancery Court . How cynical their motto , " Join truth with trust , " so like the Weavers , must have appeared . 'to them then ; and how satirical the motto of the Plasterers' Company , " Fachun est" — "Let brotherly love continue , " must have struck on -their ear as their ancient right of making Avooden ceilings was being filched away from them by these lath

and trowel men . The motto of the Wheelwrights , " God grant unity , " would have been a good prayer for these disunited joiners , and , so far as we know , their example too .

Of course such staunch trades unionists as these were protectionists to the finger ends , and none more so than the Stationers , who kept the Index Fspurgatorins of the Government , Avhich allowed them to " seize and destroy all books prohibited by Act of Parliament or proclamation ; " and as their charter enabled thorn to fine and punish all printers or sellers of books who were not members of their guild , they were completely

masters of the situation . Furthermore , they Avere a trading company , and were allowed the " liberty of prophesying" concerning the weather and foi-tunetelling in politics . But of all the trading companies , the Apothecaries seem to have been of most use to the public at large since their severance from the Grocers , or "Pepperers , " as they ivere anciently called . The "

public , too , have been benefited by the severance of the Barbers and tho Surgeons ; for between their two stools Dr . Sangrado has come to the ground . The Haberdashers , on the other hand , swallowed up two smaller fraternities , the Hurrers and the Hatters , and are now very wealthy . So completely have the Hurrers been absorbedthat not only the term itself is

, very obsolete and cannot be understood by common people , but even its equivalent " cappers , " though understood , is now only to be found as a surname . Tho Loriners , too , _ since they have ceased to exist as a separate business , have decayed as a fraternity , and their name has been superseded by " bit-maker . " Another form of this word ( Lorimer ) exists as a surname .

However , amidst all these relics of the past , pleasing foreshadowings of the doctrines of the so-called advanced reformers shine forth liko diamonds iii ebony . B y an order of the Court of Mayor and Aldermen in 1420 , every cooper ivas commanded to make his mark in the world by stamping every barrel or kilderkin before it left his Avarehouse ; Avoe be to him Avho forged his

Stray Notes On The Livery Companies.

neighbour ' s mark or sent out a kilderkin deficient in quantity or defective in quality . Yet , notivithstanding the rigour of this law , the Coopers seem to have alivays acted up to their ancient motto , "Love as brethren . " The Glovers allowed females to become members of their fraternity , no less than six being received betiveen 1780 and 1802 ; and the Gold and Silver Wive-drawers

were the first to admit the Jetvs into fellowship . Before we close the article , having referred to a few of the mottoes of the Livery Companies , wo may as welt g lance at some of the others ; and one remarkable thing has struck us , the deeply religious tone which pervades them all , with but few exceptions . An underlying pun sometimes accompanies them ; nevertheless ,

this is not obtrusive , and does not mar the sentiment . For instance , what can be more beautiful as a motto for a fruiterer than "Arbor Vike Ghristus ; fruetns per fidem gnstamus" — " Christ is the Tree of Life ; through faith ive taste the fruit ; The Founders' motto is < God the only Founder . " The Glaziers ' , " O Lord , 'ive liht unto us . " The Masons' have " In the Lord

g g is all our trust , " of course referring to Christ as the chief Corner-stone . AVe are somewhat surprised that the motto of the Coach and Coach-harness Makers ' Company has never been seized on by some advertising coal merchant , a gas company , or a promoter of bogus societies ; for " Light cometh out darkness " would suit any of them better than the coachmakers . The

Innholders have a beautiful motto , " Como , ye blessed ! when I was harbourless , ye lodged me . " If report speaks true , when the stranger has money , ho is " taken iu " till all is gone . The Framework Knitters have , " Speed , strength , aud truth united , " a motto of Avhich the Luddites of sixty years back would not approve . The Patten Makers have , " Women receive support from , us , " a rather inapplicable motto to the age of goloshes . The motto of the Fanmakers has been only recently understood or

acted on , " Arts and Trades united . In recording the motto of the Butchers' Company , "Beneath our feet Thon has placed all things , oxen and sheep , " Ave may remark that this vain boast is not Avholly true ; for the lives of their fellow-creatures in England are not at their mercy , they not being allowed to sit on juries for capital- offence , and beef and mutton are not the summon bonum of happiness : There istoo

, , an anomoly in the bulls ( which are in their arms and " under their feet" at the same time ) being represented flying away . We pass to tho jSfeedlemakers' Company , Avondering how Adam aud Eve obtained the silver noodle Avhich the latter holds in her hand . We are told , too that the Carmen have no proper arms , aud Ave AVouder hoiv they carry their Avhips . The supporters of the

Coopers' arms are camels . AVhy these ivere chosen we cannot tell , unless as peripatetic water-barrels , calling to our mind that dirty cynic , Diogens ., with his barrel ou his head , prototype of tho cylinder head-gear of the modern gentleman . The supporters of the Distiller's arms aro a Russian ancl au Indian , Avith tho motto , " Drop as rain , distil as

as dew . " Surely here there must be au allusion to " fire water " and its effects on tho Indian . The supporters of the Clockmakers' arms are , Father Time on the dexter side , and an Emperor on the sinister , ivith the motto , " Tempus rerum Impercdor , " which , freely translated , might stand "Time tries all , " aye , and "conquers all . " The Cordwa ' mers' arms have no supporters , but their

crest is a goat ' s head , Avhich is emblematic of a goat's skin , out of which tho famous cordovan ( or Spanish ) leather was mado , and of which the word cordwaiuer is a corruption , thus loading us by easy transition to Cordova , and the banks of the bright Guadalquivir , ivith the town in all its Moorish beauty and the name so little changed from " Corduba , " ivhere M . Claudius Marcellus wintered B . c , 132 . Beside the above , Ave have other references to the con-