The Tallow Chandlers' Company are governed by a master, four wardens, and thirty-eight assistants; with a livery. Lower down on Dowgate Hill stands

SKINNERS' HALL, .

THE front of this building is very elegant, being composed of modern windows between pilasters, and a massy pediment, in the middle of which are the armorial bearings of the company. The apartments are very stately; the hall-room being neatly wainscoted with oak, and the parlour with cedar. In this hall several lord mayors kept their inayoralty, and the East India Company kept their courts, for which they paid a rent of 400l. the beginning of the last century.

The company purchased their hall and four small tenements in this parish, and two tenements in that of St. Martin Orgar, in the reign of Henry III. and had licence of mortmain from the king to hold them. It was afterwards called Copped Hall. In the nineteenth year of king Edward II. it was possessed by Ralph de Cobham, who had also five shops adjoining.

This Ralph de Cobham was a branch of the noble family of the same name in Kent. His brother Stephen was created knight of the Bath by Edward I. and was summoned as a baron to parliament. Ralph assisted Edward II. in his French

ageyn, and if ye may not do it, ye shall tell it unto the Kyng or to those of his councell of whom ye shall understande for to be certeyne that they shall enforme the Kyng thereof. And ye shall trewly and rightewisely trete the peeple of youre Baillèe. And Right ye shall do to every Persone, as well to straunge as to priuey, to Pore as to Riche in that that longeth to you for to do. And that for Highnes, nor for Riches, for Gift, Promys, Fauour nor Hate, ye shall no wrong do to eny Persone, nor to no Man ye shall the Right lette. Ye shall not take, by the which the Kyng may lese or be the which the Right may be lettyd. And also that ye shall sette goode kepyng upon th assise of Brede, Wyne, Ale, Fysh, Flesh, Corn, and of all other Victualles. And also of Weeyghtes and Mesures in the seide City doyng sadde and due Execucion upon the Defautes that there shall be founde accordyng to all the Statutz thereof made not repeled. And that in all Thynges to the Meire of the seide Cite longyng for to be done well and trewly ye shall have you, and doo; So God help you and Holy doing."

wars, and was suminoned to parliament in the eighteenth year of that reign. He left Edward III. heir to all his lands.

How this house came to be thus alienated is uncertain; it is not improbable that some affront having been offered to the fickle Henry or his equally inconsiderate grandson Edward, the house was torn from the first purchasers and bestowed on Ralph de Cobham or his family.

Edward III. seems to have been guided by more justice in the commencement of his reign than his predecessors. He incorporated the company in the first year of his reign, and having possession of Copped Hall, restored it to its proper

owners.

At this time the Company of Skinners were divided into two brotherhoods of Corpus Christi, one at St. Mary Spital, the other at St. Mary Bethlem; but Richard II. in the eighteenth year of his reign granted, that they should consolidate the two bodies by the name of the Fraternity of Corpus Christi of Skinners; and on Corpus Christi day, it was customary in the afternoon, for them to make a grand procession through the principal streets of London, "in which," says Stow, 66 were borne more than one hundred torches of wax, (costly garnished) burning light, and above two hundred élerks and priests in surplices and copes, singing. After which, came the sheriffs' servants, the clerks of the Compters, chaplains for the sheriffs, the mayor's serjeants, the counsel of the city, the mayor and aldermen in scarlet, and then the Skinners in their best liveries."

The Skinners' Company was in a flourishing condition when sables, lucernes, and other rich furrs, were worn by the monarchs, nobility and gentry of England. This is noticed by Henry Lane, in a letter to Hackluit, the collector of voyages, in 1567, when speaking of furrs, he says, "It was a great pity but it should be renewed, especially in courts and among magistrates, not only for the restoring of an old worshipful art and company, but also because they are for our climate wholesome, delicate, grave, and comely, expressing dignity, comforting age, and of long continuance,

and

and better with small cost to be preserved than those new silks, shags, and rags, wherein a great part of the wealth of the land is hastily consumed."

At this period the Skinners were numerous and wealthy; they also contributed very liberally towards the necessities of the state, and gave considerable employment to the tawers, or preparers of white leather, and other of the poorer classes of people throughout the realm. But the merchants, both English and aliens, having engrossed their trade, and exported the skins which they had procured from pedlars and petty chapmen, that the skin trade in England was very ma◄ terially injured: this caused a controversy between the Skinners and the Eastland merchants. The consequence was, that the company petitioned queen Elizabeth "that no pedlars or petty chapmen might gather or engross any skins or furs of the breed of England, but under licence of two jus tices of the peace: that those who were thus licenced should not make sale of any such skins or furs so gathered by them, except to some persons known to be of the trade of Skinners, and that all others might be restrained to buy and transport them."

The Eastland Company, opposed this petition, and on the other hand required," to have free licence to buy, provide, and engross in any place whatsoever, and of all persons, all manner of coney-skins, raw or tawed, and at their pleasure to transport them, in, any bottom whatsoever, unto any place, yielding the ordinary custom,"

The Skinners' Company had also powerful resistance from the mayor and aldermen, who wrote a letter to the lord treasurer, urging" that this practice of the Skinners, that all the skins of the breed of England must first pass through the hands and property of some freeman of that company, before they should be transported, would be to the exceeding great prejudice not only of the liberty of the city, but of all other traders into foreign parts, within this whole realm. And the patent being ready drawn by the advice of learned council, and in great forwardness to be signed by the queen, they prayed the lord treasurer to be a means to stay the same, till

such

such time as he should be better informed touching the great inconveniences which would grow thereby: for which purpose they had appointed certain of the aldermen and others to attend upon him."

It does not appear what was the result of these various applications; it is not however improbable, but that the skinning trade declined from this period; for the fur-borders, except to robes of estate, were disused, and only the articles necessary for carrying on the manufactures where skins formed a principal part were continued.

During the last century, however, the trade has resumed its importance, and has increased equally with the other vast branches of commerce. "The skins, and the hair of beasts, manufactured, become parchment and vellum, leather, of which are made boots and shoes, saddles, harness and furniture for horses, gloves and garments, coaches and chairs, household stuffs, covers of books, drinking vessels, and furrs for cloathing, hats and caps. These portions of trade render the skin manufacture a very considerable concern. The several sorts in use are,

- This company support the FREE-SCHOOLS of Tunbridge; Kingscleer, and Basingstoke, in Hampshire; Woodstock, Oxfordshire, and Hackney;

ALMSHOUSES, of Great St. Helens, and Mile-end;

5

EXHIBITIONS

EXHIBITIONS to twelve poor scholars from Tunbridge and other schools;

LECTURES, at Basingstoke, St. Michael Basishaw, and Woodstock. They dispense annual gifts to the following parishes:

IN LONDON,

Alhallows, Lombard Street
St. Gabriel, Fenchurch
St. Sepulchre

St. Bartholomew the Less

St. Dunstan in the West
St. Antholin

Tunbridge

Bidborough

Speldhurst

Alhallows, London Wall
St. Michael Bassishaw
St. Botolph, Bishopsgate
St. Swithen

St. Giles, Cripplegate, and
St. Margeret Moses.

Woodstock, in Oxfordshire. Basingstoke and Kingscleer, in Hants. Hackney, in Middlesex.

HOSPITALS, Christ's, and St. Thomas.

PRISONS,-Newgate, Ludgate, and the five Compters. And they expend in general charity between 7001. and 1000l.

The government of the Skinners' Company is vested in a master, four wardens, sixty assistants, and a livery, the members of which, on account of their opulence, pay no quarterage. Every person admitted to the freedom of this corporation must be presented to the lord mayor.

Six kings, five queens, one prince, nine dukes, and others of the lesser nobility have been members of this company.

Below this hall, on Dowgate Hill, was formerly a college of priests, denominated JESUS COMMONS, "which was well furnished," says Stow, "with brass, pewter, napery, plate, &c. besides a fair library, well stored with books." There is no account when, or why this foundation took place; but it was bestowed on a number of priests, who were to keep commons there; and upon a vacancy, either by death or re. signation, others were admitted. Upon the dissolution of religious houses, the college was converted into tenements.

ELBOW LANE was in Stow's time called PATERNOSTER LANE; but more remotely, LES ARCHES; at the corner was a great stone house, called OLD HALL, which had formerly belonged