Page:An Historical Essay on the Livery Companies of London.djvu/14

 other Libraries, will most amply repay a perusal on this subject, as detailing the manner in which the Companies were first formed into Societies, their places of meeting before the erection of Halls, the curious customs which appertained amongst them (not the least of which was the admission of Sisters as Associates in the Fraternities), their feasts, their set mode of dress, or wearing a Livery—from which they derive their name—their religious ceremonies, their pageants, and the glorious part they have played in upholding the rights and privileges of the community against oppression and wrong.

The Livery Companies of London derive their origin from the early associations termed Gilds, which were either Ecclesiastic or Secular.

The Ecclesiastical Gilds were founded for Devotion and Almsdeeds.

The Secular Gilds were formed for purposes of trade and almsdeed. The whole of these associations were at first composed of persons actually and not nominally professing the trades from which they took denomination. The Charters furnish abundant information as to the kind of authority exercised by the Gilds before such Grants were made, and also of the manner in which they governed themselves.

These Gilds are of the most ancient repute. In the reign of Henry H they are spoken of as common Institutions. In the same reign the Exchequer History gives a list of 18, which were amerced as "adulterine," or set up without the King's License.

Various Companies received their Charters from Henry II, John, Henry III, Edward I, Edward II, Edward III, Richard II, Henry IV, Henry V, Queen Elizabeth, James I, Philip and Mary, and others.

The Steel Yard Merchants settled in London in A.D. 967, dealing in grain, flax, cloth, and linen;