Page:An Historical Essay on the Livery Companies of London.djvu/13



"Individuals may form communities; but Institutions must found a Nation."

HE LIVERY COMPANIES OF LONDON hold a high rank in the history of the City of London. Their wealth, the important trusts reposed in them, the noble charities and foundation schools they support, and their connection with the civic constitution of the Metropolis, make them not only of primary interest to every Liveryman, but when it is considered that they had the earliest share in laying the foundation of British commerce, that all trade originally concentrated in their fraternities, that their records are for the most part of remote antiquity, and afford pictures of the government, religious customs, habits and expenses of former times, it will be seen that few subjects are more important in a national point of view, or admit of more entertaining illustration. Not only does the history of the Companies offer a mass of most important information as to the trading interests of the community, but the ancient Charters themselves, although usually conceived to be the reverse of entertaining, disclose various curious facts, illustrating the simplicity of early times, and of the infant state of commerce. The City Records, and the valuable Collections in the Corporation and