Page:The Victoria History of the County of Surrey Volume 3.djvu/759

 BOROUGH OF GUILDFORD

��Municipal Corporation Act of 1835 the borough was governed under the charter of Charles I. 83

The borough is now divided into six wards. The corporation, since 1904 ; has consisted of the mayor, six aldermen, and eighteen councillors. The Earl of Onslow is high steward, and there is a recorder. The boundaries of the borough were enlarged in 1 83 5, and again in 1904, on the latter occasion the aldermen were increased from four to six, and the councillors from twelve to eighteen.

A book containing the minutes of the gild meetings has fortunately been preserved ; and the entries in it offer abundant proof touching the importance of this institu- tion. The Close Rolls of 1324" and 1352" contain writs directing in one case the bailiffs and in the other the mayor and bailiffs to furnish the members of Parliament with their expenses. The pay- ment in 1361 was voted at a meeting of the gild mer- chant. 86 Probably the absorp- tion of civic functions by the gild tended to produce two courts, with separate meetings, but identical functions. 87 The regular meetings of the G'tlda mercatoria were on the Mon- days after Hilary and Michael- mas, respectively. The 'Great Law Day ' or borough court was on Monday after Hoke Tide, but the former meetings are also called law days. The business was certainly of the same kind. Thus in I 5 3 7 the meeting of the gild enacted certain sanitary regulations ** with regard to the kennels of the inhabitants, which may be compared to another entry made at the meeting of the law day in 1529 : 'The mayor commandeth in the King's name that victuals brought into the market be good and lawful and wholesome. That no common poulterer buy any victuals in the market before eleven of the clock. That no baker buy any corn before ele- ven of the clock. That every man sell by lawful weights and measures, and that they be assized by the King's standard.

��they sell a gallon of the best ale for I \d., and of stale ale for zJ. That the tipplers sell by lawful measure and set out their ale signs. 89

The social aspect of gild life seems to have been accorded somewhat undue prominence at Guildford. Members were elected on the Monday after Hilary to provide a bull for baiting on the Monday after St. Martin, subject to a penalty of 2O/. each in de- fault. 90 The expenditure for some of the feasts is given. In 1 364 the brethren paid for bread 5</., ale 13*. 6J., meat 3*. \id., wine %d., spices 3/. 6t/., wafers 3/., garlic 2<"

���HOUSE OPPOSITE ST. NICHOLAS'S CHURCH, GUILDFORD

��That butchers bring

the skins of their beasts and sheep to the market and shew the same openly during all the market. That the bakers bake good bread and according to assize. That the brewers make good and wholesome ale, and that they sell none till it be tasted by the ale-taster. That

��The local record of the courts breaks off in 1738, and is resumed in 1761.

In 1 66 1 the corporation feasted Charles II, and presented him with a piece of plate at the cost of 140, of which I oo was borrowed. On the other hand the Puritan regime in corporations manifest! d

��88 Par/. Pafers (1835), xxvi, 2, 71 et expenses were reduced from 2OIbid. 1349-54, P- 4*9

84 Printed in Gross, Gild Merchant, ii, 94. It is remarkable that the members'

��\^I^. fir diem in the course of one de- cade.

87 Mr. Gross says, with reference to the

later history : 'It is difficult to detect any 6 Hen. VIII ; Add. MS.6i67,fol. load. difference between the two courts, the > Gross, Gild Merchant, ii, 96. '

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