'TOO PEWTER AND THE REVIVAL OP ITS USE. 



putes between members of the guild, it was often decided that the one 

 of the litigants held to be in the wrong should invite the other 

 with his wife to supper, " and then to be merry together and so 

 to be lovers and friends henceforth." 



A very high standard of commercial morality was enforced. For 

 instance, no pewterer was allowed, under a penalt}^ of a fine of 20s. 

 (prol;)ably equal to £10 of our money) to say to a prospective cus- 

 tomer that his goods were superior in quality to those of others. 



The following is a specimen of the amenities obtaining at the time 

 between the English and those of the sister kingdom: "Thomas 

 Wolshire shall pay for his opprobrious words toward Richard Scot, 

 saying ' He j)layed the Scot's part and had the Scot's heart,' lOd." 

 Members had to attend the funerals of their confreres on pain of 

 fine, unless they had a reasonable excuse. 



Not onl}^ apprentices, but unmarried journeymen lived in their 

 master's house and accompanied him to church on Sundays. They 

 were not to absent themselves until after the afternoon service, when 

 they were permitted to amuse themselves with shooting at the butts 

 and dancing. On the other hand, the company was resolute to 

 defend the rights of members, and once, for example, forbade any 

 of the craft from serving any persons belonging to the Saddlers' 

 Company until a claim against it by a pewterer had been satisfied. 

 Adulteration of metal, as before mentioned, was severely punished, 

 sometimes by expulsion, the culprit being described as acting con- 

 trary to his oath and " like no trewe pewterer and to the great 

 slaundre of all the pewterers in London.'' Sometimes on giving 

 an undertaking and a surety not to repeat the offense he was received 

 back, but was made to pay a substantial fine. In cases when the 

 offense Avas not very flagrant the punishment was to make the culprit 

 change his mark, this being equivalent to a fine, in consequence of 

 the loss of time and the expense of re-marking his stock and oblit- 

 erating his old mark. 



The statute of apprentices having been passed in 1503, the com- 

 pany, in 15G4, issued an ordinance that each member of the livery 

 should be allowed to take one apprentice, the master and wardens 

 might have three, but only on condition that they employed two 

 journeymen. Misbehaving apprentices were sometimes sentenced 

 to be whipped in the liall. No member was allowed to sell old pew- 

 ter bought secondhand, and no pewterer was to act as scullion even 

 for the lord mayor himself, nor to repair or clean pewter except at 

 his own worksho]) — a suggestive rule foi- maintaining the dignity 

 of the craft. Gilding i)ewter was strictly forbidden, except when 

 given as a present to friends. To insure pi-oper registration, tlie 

 members of the livery were accustomed to set up their marks in the 

 hall. 



