Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 4.djvu/57

 ii s. iv. JULY io, mi.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

51

teenth century there was some friction between weavers and clothiers, and in the Weavers' Act of 1555 the preamble sets forth : " Forasmuch as the weavers of this realm have complained that the rich and wealthy clothiers do in many ways oppress them," &c.

A guild or fellowship of the clothworkers of Newbury existed in the reign of Henry VIII. ; and in 1601 certain privileges already held were confirmed to this guild by a charter of Queen Elizabeth. Mr. Walter Money contributed to the Journal of the British Archaeological Association, New Series, vol. ii., 1896, pp. 263-7, many interesting details of this guild, whish still exists. Thomas Baskerville, in describing a journey from Abingdon to Southampton about the time of Charles I., says of New- bury folk :

" They are a very sociable people, and to increase trade do keep great feasts, each several company, they and their wives, feasting together, especially the clothiers and hatters. For coming one day through the town, and staying at ' The Globe Inn ' to dine one of the companies, they and their wives, after they had heard a sermon at church, were met at c The Globe "* with the town music, who, playing merrily before them, the men in their best clothes followed them, and after them the women in very good order, two and two, neatly trimmed and finely dressed, all in steeple-crowned hats, which was a pleasant sight to behold."

Several families in Newbury bear such names as Weaver, Tucker, Dyer, and Shear- man ; and there is still standing in the town the Cloth Hall. The Guild possesses some items of corporate insignia, including the beadle's silver-mounted staff of office, and a belt with the arms of the Newbury weavers engraved on a silver shield, worn by the beadle at the annual festival.

There are other facts given in Mr. Money's valuable paper which appear to answer very directly the REV. J. W. OSMAN'S question. Mr. A. F. Pollard's article in the ' D.N.B.' upon John Winchcombe (Jack of Newbury), and Thomas Deloney's his Younger Yeares called Jack of New- berie, the Famous and Worthy Clothier of England,' should be seen. Leland refers to great clothier occupied "the whole lodgings of the Abbey," and " intendeth to make a j street or two for clothiers in the back vacant ! grounds of the Abbey."
 * Pleasant History of John Winchcomb/in
 * ' one Stump of Malmesbury," who as a

The bibliography of the subject includes first in importance W. J. Ashley's ' Econo- mic History,' vol. i. part ii. chap, ii., on the I Crafts (Guilds), and chap, iii., The Woollen '

Industry.' Herbert's ' History of the Twelve great Livery Companies ' includes the Merchant Taylors, vol. ii. pp. 382-530 ; the Drapers, vol. i. pp. 389-498 ; and the Clothworkers, vol. ii. pp. 643-64. In the case of the Clothworkers I append titles of various other books relating to them:

Charters (The) and Letters Patent granted by the Kings and Queens of England to the Cloth- workers' Company (1480-1688). Transcribed from the originals in the possession of the Com- pany. London, 1881. 4to.

Ordinances of the Clothworkers, Fullers, and Shearmen ; with a general account of their charters and constitution from Edward IV. to Elizabeth, n.d. 4to.

Ordinances (The) of the Clothworkers' Company, together with those of the Ancient Guilds or Fraternities of the Fullers and Shearmen of the City of London (1480-1639). Transcribed from the originals in the possession of the Company. London, 1881. 4to.

Towse, W. B. Selections from the Rules and Orders of the Court of the Clothworkers' Company, together with the ordinances or by-laws sanc- tioned by the judges in the year 1639. (London) 1840. 8vo.

The Royal Commission on Livery Companies* 1884, supplements Herbert's book very well.

Outside London the only considerable company which has had its history printed is the Merchant Taylors of Bristol, written by Mr. F. F. Fox (fifty copies privately printed, Bristol, 1880). The book is illus- trated, and includes a picture of the Merchant Taylors' Hall at Bristol. Two years earlier (1878) Mr. Fox published a paper on 'The History of the Guilds of Bristol ' which is printed in the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society's Proceedings, vol. iii., pp. 90-98. In 1889 Mr. Fox issued ' An Account of the Weavers of Bristol' which was also privately issued in Bristol and limited to fifty copies. There is a sheet in the B. M. dated 1630, " To all the clothiers of England The state of the difference between the clothiers and the City of London." A. L. HUMPHREYS.

187, Piccadilly, W.

KEATS, HAMPSTEAD, AND SIR C. W. DILKE (11 S. iii. 145, 176, 196). The Borough of Hampstead has now come into possession of the valuable testamentary gift made by the late Sir Charles Dilke, which finds permanent, appropriate shelter at the Central Library in the Finchley Road. The Libraries Committee is to be congratu- lated upon the method of arrangement adopted for displaying the various memen- toes of the poet to the best advantage ; also upon the choice of the inscription upon