PEWTER AND THE REVIVAL OF ITS USE. 699 



the wardens to purchase hirge quantities of tin from the stannaries in 

 bulk and to retail the same at a small profit to the members, a plan 

 doubtless advantageous to all parties, as the profit was applied to the 

 payment of the general expenses of the guild. During the building 

 of the hall, however, which necessarily caused a great drain on their 

 resources, this practice was discontinued, but was resumed on the com- 

 pletion of the work. Part of the site was occupied by tenements built 

 at the same time by the company, and the rents of these and sums 

 received for the hire of the hall for wedding parties appear to have 

 materially increased its income. 



In 1504 a statute of the Parliament of King Henry VII abrogated 

 the right of any guild or company to make ordinances Avithout the 

 same having received the assent of the chancellor, treasurer, or other 

 officers of the realm, and at the same time rendered illegal the partic- 

 ular by-law which forbade members of such a fraternity from suing 

 one another in the King's courts. In the same Parliament an act was 

 passed in the interest of the pewterers to suppress hawking l)y ped- 

 dlers, the adulteration of metal, and the use of false scales and 

 weights. This statute was confirmed in the fourth year of the reign 

 of Henry VIII. 



In accordance with the first-named act of 1504, the ordinances of 

 the company were, after eighteen years' delay, submitted to the King 

 for confirmation in 1522, and duly assented to after the usual presents 

 and gratifications to courtiers and ministers. About this time the 

 im])ortation of foreign pewter was seriously competing with the 

 English trade, and after a considerable amount of lobbying and 

 bribery in Parliament an act was passed in 1533 totally prohibiting 

 the importation of foreign pewter, any so smuggled to be forfeited, 

 together with a fine to the amount of the value. The right of search 

 was again confirmed, and no foreigner was to be employed in the 

 trade under any circumstances and under heavy penalties, and no per- 

 son of foreign birth to be apprenticed. It was also forbidden for an 

 Englishman to exercise the craft anj^where beyond sea, and thereby 

 teach it to foreigners. Hawking was again forbidden, even when 

 exercised by duly qualified pewterers, none to be sold except in a shop 

 attached to a dwelling house, or in open fairs and markets. It is 

 curious to note here that the Pewterers' Company republished these 

 acts in a book form so late as 1741. 



As an instance of the tight hold kept by the company on its mem- 

 bers, it may be mentioned that at a court held in March, 1550, it was 

 decreed that Robert West should bring his wife upon Friday next 

 to " reconcile herself to Mr. Cacher and others of the company for her 

 naught}^ misdemeanor of her tongue toward them." 



No man was allowed to set uji in business without first submitting 

 to the miister 'and wardens a specimen of his work. In case of dis- 



