The London Livery Companies.

THE LONDON LIVERY COMPANIES .

AT first these companies were organised as mutual benefit associations for the several trades . Goldsmiths , for example , joined the Goldsmiths' Company , and were protected b y it in their ri ghts ; in case of sickness they received , if needing , pecuniary aid . A man , no matter how high his qualifications , could not practice his trade , or " mystery , " in the cit y of London till approved by the company established to regulate that trade . Some of the companies ,

or guilds as they are now called , still exercise the authorit y once accorded them by common consent . Thus the Apothecaries' Hall still licenses druggists ; and the fishmongers still exercise the ri ght of inspecting aud putting out of the market decaying and unsavoury fish ; and this too , notwithstanding the fact that there is not a bona fide fishmonger in the Fishmongers' Guild at the present time .

The companies are of ancient ori gin , some of them dating back more than six hundred years . For a long time they had no charters from the king , and therefore no right such as corporate bodies now have . Edward III . and Richard II . chartered some of them , ancl immediatel y they began to assume an importance that previously they had not aspired to . They made every tradesman under their jurisdiction wear a dress that was peculiar to his trade

, hence the name " livery company . " At one time no person could follow a trade without joining a company , but this rule has been abrogated . A still greater innovation was brought to pass AA'hen persons of wealth and distinction who did not know or practice any trade were allowed to become members of a guild on payment of a fee . The livery companies , collecting small money assessments regularly of every member , found after a time that

their funds were accumulating . They invested their surplus in lands and buildings , at first in London and later in various parts of England and Ireland . About a dozen out of some eighty companies have become immensely Avealthy . It is a matter of history that some of the richest guilds were pounced upon and robbed by crowned heads in a polite way . As far back as the sixteenth and seventeenth centuriesthe soverei were compelling these rich guilds to

, gns contribute money to help cany on foreign wars . Henry VIII ., Queen Mary , Queen Elizabeth , and Charles I ., demanded and received large sums of money , in some instances from £ 50 , 000 to £ 100 , 000 . As the kings and queens seldom repaid the money , the guilds may have purchased power to conduct their affairs with a loose justice ancl without fear of being called to account .

the principal companies are the Mercers ' , Grocers ' , Drapers ' , Fishmongers ' , Goldsmiths ' , Skinners ' , Merchant Tailors ' , Ironmongers ' , Vintners ' , Cloth-Workers' and Haberdashers ' . So rich and powerful did these companies become - that persons were glad to avail themselves of their influence , and in several instances royal personages became members and attended their sumptuous banquets . Queen Elizabeth belonged to the Mercers' Company , James I . was a cloth-worker ; Charles II . and William III . were and Henry

grocers ; VII . was a merchant tailor . After a time the livery was abolished , and the larger guilds were found to have a membership of several hundred persons , a majority being laymen or non-craftsmen . When it was discovered that the power for good or evil lay in the hands of the non-professional majority , they sought to limit the admission of tradesmen , ancl as the slow centuries passed by they so far succeeded in diverting the trade guilds from their original intentions

that with two or three exceptions no company allowed craftsmen to become members and enjoy the fruits of the funds gathered in the first instance by their -workmen brethren in the far-away early times . About forty of the guilds built halls for their meetings , and in those erections gatherings -were held from time to time for mutual benefit , for discussion , or for social intercourse .