Middlemen in English Business 213 



sale thus by auction the herrings were divided between the host and 

 other freeman buyer in equal proportions. This system was a very 

 ingenious device for the prevention of monopoly prices at the will of 

 a fortunate host. 



Sometimes the hosts engaged in fishing directly, and were the 

 owners or employers of boats. ^ Instance of the operations of an early 

 fish merchant is found in the will of one WiUiam Godell of Southwold 

 in Suffolk. He owned many ships, some of which were engaged in 

 Iceland, some at home.- During the famous Fish Fair at Yarmouth 

 the merchant hosts hired great numbers of "Cobles" which came from 

 the coast towns to the north — Scarborough, Whitby, etc., and " Barks" 

 which came from the coasts of Kent and Sussex.^ At Rye in Sussex, 

 ''in the winter season every particular fyssherman" had "his shoppe 

 unto hymselfe" and did his retailing. But during "the somer tyme" 

 many of the shops were closed up while the fishermen were at sea 

 fishing; the hosts then had both wholesaling and retaiUng to do.^ 



Salesman. It was the policy and practice of the government to 

 prohibit agency on the fishmarket at BilUngsgate. For instance in 

 1699 a statute forbade any "Fishmonger to engross . . . any 

 Quantity of Fish, but what shall be for his own Sale or Use, and not 

 on the Behalf of any other Fishmongers exposed to Sale."^ On the 

 other hand it was considered undesirable that "oastes" act as factors 

 for the London fishmongers in the Sussex ports.^ These efforts to 

 enforce personal sale by the owners appear to have been actuated by 

 fear that the factor by acting for several principals or by other ways 

 would foster monopoly. But since a big portion of the fisherman's 

 time was spent at sea and the times of sale were spasmodic and the 

 establishment of a dependable and dependent body of customers was 

 out of the question, the need of a system of factorage was great and 

 inevitable. There arose during the eighteenth century a class of 

 "salesmen" factors who bought and sold on commission; they did 

 not buy on their own account to sell again.'' 



1 V. C. H., Sussex, II, 266. 



2 Gardner, Hist, of Dunwich; V. C. H., Suff. IT, 292. 

 » Defoe, Tour, I, 7 In. 



••Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. V, 140; V. C. H., Sussex, 266. 



^Maitland, II, 791. 



6 V. C. H.. Sussex, II, 266. 



' The following data on the business of this class are gleaned from Rep, from 

 Com. H. C. X, 364 £f, which contains much testimony of salesmen as to the conduct 

 of their business. 



