442 
is not possible, but as the possibly incomplete references account 
for some 45,000 redeemed by the Chamber and doubtless 
destroyed, and taking into consideration how frequently they are 
now met with after a lapse of over 230 years, at a moderate 
estimate the total issue must have exceeded 50,000. 
Interest attaches to the fact that of the Traders mentioned as 
presenting Tokens for redemption, both Burton and Reed had 
issued Tokens, and Mris Joane White was the then recent widow 
of Edward White (dec® April, 1672) also a Token issuer. 
Membership of the Corporation then conferred very substantial 
advantages. Some three-fourths of the houses and lands in the 
City and its precincts was civic property, under the direct control 
of the Chamber, and as to most of this property, a Member almost 
invariably obtained a lease for an absolute term of forty-two years, 
but individuals outside the Chamber were only granted leases 
for the shorter term of twenty-one years, for three lives, or for 
ninety-nine years determinable on three lives. 
The account rolls of the various Chamberlains shew that of the 
large sums annually expended on behalf of the Council, com- 
paratively little was spent with traders who were not members of 
that body, and consequently not entitled to the prefix “ Mr.” 
invariably used when mentioning members of the Council in 
the accounts. The same rolls incidentally prove by the often 
curious complexity of goods noted as supplied by individual 
traders, that the ‘universal provider ” is not altogether a creation 
of modern times. 
Election as a Member of the Council was a privilege only 
to be gained by Freemen of the City, the Freemen having also 
the exclusive right of opening shops or carrying on any trade 
or handicraft within the City. These privileges were jealously 
guarded by them. They also shared in the profits derived 
from the common-lands of the City, and in accordance with an 
old custom had periodical merry-makings paid for out of the 
Council funds. Freedom of the City was obtained either by 
